HarmanSmith

The rumored handheld and more games on the Play Anywhere program...

I know, a man can dream.

It would be cool if they included a PS5 photo with the caption "THIS IS AN XBOX".

@GamingFan4Lyf IIRC, aren't they called "mules"?

@Ricky-Spanish Hahaha, I was thinking the same!

I've just bought it with my reward points. Hope to see the sequel on Xbox too.

@Fenbops Agreed, Control is superb!

Loaded up and ready to go when I come home from work!

@Dm9982 @NEStalgia It's not an addiction, I swear! I can quit whenever I want...

Wait, maybe I will double-dip one more time, just for that new Atlus Ultimate edition...

@Medic_alert I get you, it seems like you have described my gaming habits, haha!

On topic: I have decided to go now with the Play Anywhere feature, so I am always looking for deals on games which have that feature, so I can buy it only one time and I can play it on my XSX and my Ally.

And for third party, yeah, Xbox is my go to, specially for newer games.

The Switch has been for exclusives and some games on the NSO service.

Love that they will include Player Immortality. Playing a game like Control with that feature, with an immortal Jesse Faden, is cool and relaxing as hell!

Can't wait for the Lake House DLC!

I'm going to try it out Firebreak, even if I'm not super into co-op FPS. Otoh, I'm a massive Remedy fanboy...

@Banjo- Glad to see you too, my friend!

Now that you mention it, I lost the chance to grab some good games on the Games with Gold program, like this one. And all because I played mostly on Team Blue prior to 2020. So, when I got back to Team Green, It was nice to see my old games I bought back on my 360 along with the chance to access all the cool exclusives I missed on the Xbox One era!

@NEStalgia Yeah, I remember those first two Hitman games... bought Hitman 1 physical on PS4 (a nice steelbook edition, btw), and then came the mess with Hitman 2...

I'm glad I bought the complete trilogy when it released on XSX. By that point, part of the mess was fixed, at least. It's a shame that this publishing mess put some gamers off, because I think ioi, now as a publisher, have a great potential to deliver something superb and something well planned right from the beginning.

The only downside to this news is that we haven't seen the game yet...which may be good or bad, depending on who you ask. I hope when they finally reveal something, a release date won't be too far...

@Banjo- Yeah, Ryse is very cool. In my case, it was one of the first games I played on Game Pass, on December 2020.

Great feature, @FraserG! Thank you!

I'm looking forward to more features like this.

@NEStalgia I know, I have been playing P5 on its Royal version recently (I've started the vanilla version two or three times: one when one friend lent me his copy, another one when I bought it, then I got sidetracked with another games, sold my copy when I sold my PS4, lol).

This time I bought it on the Xbox store on a sweet sale, and I'm playing it on my Series X/Ally. But I found some things intertwined on the main game, things I didn't recall being there on the original version, and I was like "shoot, what's this?". Not bad by any means, but a strange feeling nevertheless.

Maybe Sega and Atlus get their act together and start selling DLC, like they did recently with P3R.

But, you know...Sega always find a way to sabotage itself (jk!).

@NEStalgia I am almost sold! But I don't know if I'll buy it right now, or if I'll wait for a Complete/Royal Vengeance Edition for PS6/neXtBOX two years from now (in good Atlus fashion).

Oh, this game keeps looking better and better... I am now considering buying it day one (or close to launch date).

@Elbow I play Killer7 very often, and I got the Silver Case games (I think there are two) on the backlog. I love the No More Heroes saga (and glad 3 is on Game Pass), but I have not finished Travis Strikes Again for whatever reason.

Cool to see the team at TGS.

On a side note, glad that Metaphor:Refantazio will come to Xbox.

@Marxally For some reason, it doesn't show the Play Anywhere feature on my Xbox Store page, but it does say playable on PC, so I guess it's on the program!

Just the article I was waiting for! Thank you, @FraserG!

The Play Anywhere program is one of the main reasons I'm sticking with Xbox this gen - my main consoles are now my XSX and my ROG Ally. It is a shame that MS isn't adding many games to his program. I guess it is difficult to convince publishers to sell only one license to play on PC and Console (some even sell the same game both on the Windows Store and the Xbox Store - like 505 Games with Control, without cloud saves).

@Elbow I totally get you - I was planning to buy Persona 5 Royal on Steam, but I saw this game is on the program, so I bought it on the Xbox Store - and it's really great to have the ability to play between console and a handheld PC (Sega seems to be very supportive of Play Anywhere). And yeah, it is totally bonkers that some XGS aren't on this program.

@Fiendish-Beaver Oh thanks for the heads up!

Yeah, I checked the Xbox app and there it is, the magic date of 7th of October is back. I'm back in the game for that 1000 points reward - that is, of course, If I can get some nice achievements this week

@NEStalgia Well, I'll get Vengeance when it gets a discount (and it will be a great chance to use my hard erned rewards points, lol).

And I will check Fantazio too - but man, a 17 hours prolog? I'll bet the full game it will be massive.

@NEStalgia Man, I am in the same boat...last Atlus game I have beat is P5S. Yesterday I started P5R as I finally bought on Xbox (which is on the Play Anywhere program, so I can play it on my Ally too).

But I have SH2, SMTIV waiting on the backlog.

FWIW, I loved SMTV gameplay wise (even though the story was very 'meh' - played it on Switch, but must likely I will sell it to buy the Vengeance version on Xbox) so I'm curious about how it did not gel with you.

@Fiendish-Beaver @Old_Man_Harper I'm the same.

I thought I was misremembering the date of 7th of October!

@NEStalgia Oh, thank you for the info. I'm a little peasant when it comes to this, lol! I didn't know that 8K was relevant for VR, as I'm yet to decide if VR is for me.

VR feels like it has (had?) the potential to be the "next big thing" in gaming, but so far, I haven't seen this "revolution" (as far as I see it).

Well, let's see what October brings...in the meantime, I will rock with We Love Katamari REROLL+Royal Reverie, a game I have always wanted to try, and now I can through Game Pass.

@GamingFan4Lyf Lol, that line will never get old!

@themightyant Totally agreed.

Back in the day, I remember I only had a handful of games to play on my PS2 (namely, Devil May Cry 1-3, San Andreas, MGS 2&3, Killzone, God of War 1&2, Killer7 and Silent Hill 2).

Between indies, digital distribution (making easier to get games which you can only import in the old days), freebies (like those of the Epic Store and Games With Gold), subscription services and more studios doing more games, I think I am provided for life with great games to play.

Cool! Now I can win some points by playing Game Pass titles on my Ally.

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm looking forward to Lake House too. I loved AWII. In fact, it's the only game I have bought ever on the Epic Games Store (and I think I will be the only one) to play it on my Asus Rog Ally.

@ralphdibny Was it that bad? IIRC, I downloaded it from PS Plus, but I never actually played it, lol.

Cheers, mate, happy gaming!

Thank you for the review!

I will get it eventually, as I have never played it, even if I am a great Suda51 fanboy.

@MinervaX Exactly this.

I have posted many times how great the Play Anywhere feature is. And yes, it would be great if MS could lure more devs into this. It's great to pay only once for a game and play it on PC and console, with cross saves and all.

So, with that in mind and getting back to the topic at hand, I'm very happy with my Xbox Series X + Game Pass Ultimate + Asus Rog Ally combo, so no, I'm not in a hurry to get a "Pro" version of any console yet.

Doom and gloom comments on 3...2...1...

@NEStalgia @armondo36 @WhiteRabbit Good ones!

Game Pass was a great and easy to understand proposition at an affordable price a couple of years ago.

But sadly, here we are now, with MS being the laughingstock of the subscription model with tiers that are harder to understand than a Kojima written plot 😂.

@NEStalgia Yeah, Satya has a more robust collection of promises on IA than the total quantity of games that are available on the Windows Store on PC, which is dishearteningly disappointing.

We have talked previously about this, and I may sound like a broken record, but that Play Anywhere feature could have been a killer one. Pay for a game on the Xbox/Windows Store and play it across Xbox and PC. But most games released on Xbox aren't even on the Windows Store! Shame that nobody (publishers and even MS and/or Xbox itself) wanted to support this program.

By the way, on topic, it may be nice if the Xbox Store would display which games support the Play Anywhere in a clearer manner (I think some games that have the feature sometimes aren't tagged as such, but I haven't checked the store in a while). But given that nobody cares about Play Anywhere...

GTA V as number 1... A 10+ year old game that still sells that good makes you think, uh?

@NEStalgia I too have a non-Extreme Ally, and fortunately I bought it on sale earlier this year. So (or at least, I would like to think, 'cause I haven't checked the prices yet) this new upgrade will make the "vanilla" models of the Ally a little cheaper and make it a better value proposition for those still on the fence. Because, when the Ally does work as it should (and is not randomly crashing due to Windows), it is really a great device, all things considered.

@TheSimulator Oh, good point. I didn't read that bit about combat (or If I did, I forgot). Thank you!

@Paulbuck27 It's currently my GOTY.

Loved it, TBH. I even stayed up late to be played it at launch time. But I loved the first one, so...

About the hype...Was it really a "hyped" game? It got a very "quiet" marketing campaign, and Ninja Theory didn't lie about the type of game they were making.

I get why most didn't like it at all, but I don't know if people got their expectations a little too...unrealistic, let's say. From (nearly) day one, I knew Hellblade II was going to be a game too similar to the first one. Respect to Ninja theory for doing the game they wanted to make (now, let's hope the studio will live to make another game...).

All in all, it lived up to my hype, that's for sure.

@Jenkinss Is the mobile app store plan still alive? I remember having read about that here, but we haven't heard anything new.

But yeah, as NES and you have said it, it seems that the endgame for MS is the mobile app market.

@NEStalgia LOL! You made my day with that standardized aptitude test.

It is so true, indeed. They're succeeding on driving customers away by any means necessary.

Oh God...MS really wants to drag the Xbox brand to the ground, eh?

@NEStalgia "The only thing you can count on with MS is whenever they have a great thing going, which is often, they'll destroy it as fast as possible."

You're so right.

In april, I sold my vanilla Steam Deck and bought an Ally to have all major launchers available - yes including Epic (to play Alan Wake II on handheld, lol). And until then, I was not aware of the great idea that it is (was?) the "Play Anywhere" feature. Buy one license, and play it on Xbox and PC. In fact, when I booted up the Xbox app, I found out that many games I have bought on Xbox were ready to play on the Ally. And FWIW, most XGS games run great on the Ally (Pentiment, Hi Fi Rush, Psychonauts 2, Hellblade II, etc.).

But between the major publishers who don't play ball with the "Play Anywhere" program and the general lack of popularity of the Xbox brand, they had a great idea which lacks support to "get it there" and now it seems half-baked.

All this Game Pass tiers debacle is a pity, because this gen I was really excited with Team Green. Great features, great games (at least to me - even if some of them were already made by the studios they bought, like the aforementioned Psychonauts 2) and a great sub service (at least, the best of those I have tried, including Nintendo's and Sony's).

I mean, the GP service is still worth to me, mostly because I like the games included so far, I like to try indies and stuff, and I mostly like the XGS output. And yeah, the rewards, even if not that great as they once were, are nice, because I can win them by playing games I like.

But, all in all, I can't shake a certain feeling of unfairness. Because MS, in order to chase the "let's grow subs numbers (by rising prices, lol)" dragon, they have to squeeze more money from their users.

A pity, as I said, because they had everything to be a great platform - except for the right management.

It is a good point, indeed.

Recently, I have been playing old games (or new games with an oldies' vibe). Killer7 (doing my annual playthrough!), MGS2&3, RoboCop: Rogue City, GoldenEye 007...

I know it wasn't a hit, but man, I loved Hellblade II and its 6–8 hours of gameplay. Going now for my second run.

(IMHO, Killer7 and Hellblade combat systems are simple but fun).

@Banjo- Yeah, I have seen this kind of inconsistency. IIRC, most Sega/Atlus games are on the program (I even bought Yakuza: Like a Dragon on Xbox, and later I saw it on my PC library too).

But, for example, Soul Hackers 2 isn't on the program (even if it is listed on the Windows Store AND the Xbox Store).

But, while I found out about this, maybe I am gonna wait for a sale (played it the original to death, so there's no rush!).

It will be a "Play Anywhere" supported title? If so, count me in! (I played the vanilla version on Switch and I thought it was great).

@themightyant For all the flaws the reviews highlighted (short length, very similar to the first one, etc.) I didn't read much, at least in the reviews I read after I beat the game, that it was a highly polished release.

And yeah, agreed that the first one was more impactful and maybe more memorable in the end. But I loved Hellblade II all the same. It's a rare gem, a unique game (if we like that uniqueness or not is another issue, IMHO).