LtSarge

The key factor that made the 360 such a great system was the technology. Compared to Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft was a pioneer in this department, especially in terms of developing an all-encompassing online infrastructure. From party chat to online multiplayer to a seamless online store, Xbox was at the forefront with its technical offerings. Not to mention achievements, the avatar and so on. All of this, combined with fantastic first-party and third-party games, made it a very compelling system to own.

@Savage_Joe I read your sentence at first as "If you hope your Xbox has suddenly disappeared". That would be crazy, if my wishlist first disappeared and then my Xbox. I would be freaking out!

I have a lot of physical games on Xbox but wouldn't mind at all if Xbox went all digital. I'm already listening to all my music through Spotify and I'm watching all my movies/shows on services like Netflix and HBO so it makes sense for me to do the same with games in the future.

The only problem is that we aren't there yet with streaming games as Xbox cloud gaming still isn't good. If I can stream games without waiting in a bloody queue and with good quality, then I'm all for it.

@BaldBelper78

1) You still have to buy the games on PlayStation/Nintendo, while on the Xbox ecosystem you can play them much cheaper with Game Pass.

2) This will help Microsoft's case for future acquisitions against organisations like FTC as they can use these games and more in their argument that they won't make acquired IPs exclusive to their ecosystem.

3) This will overall help make Microsoft's older games more popular. Just like how Sony has been bringing their older games to PC. So play their new games first on Xbox or wait to play them later on other systems.

Either way, I don't really see anything negative about this. The more people who get access to these games, the better. Both for consumers but also for Microsoft. It's all part of a new long-term strategy for them.

Finished Dead Space (2023) on Series X earlier this week, so I'll be playing other games from Game Pass this weekend.

Started up Jusant. It's a pretty cool game but the mechanics have made me frustrated on more than one occasion. I am enjoying it overall though. It's a good palate cleanser after Dead Space and before I continue my playthrough of Like a Dragon Gaiden.

I'm also in the mood for some portable gaming, so I think I'll be continuing my playthrough of Professor Layton and Pandora's Box on 3DS.

Will be mostly playing on Series X but also a bit on Switch this weekend. Got a month of Game Pass so I'm playing through Cocoon, Forza Motorsport, Dead Space (2023) and Like a Dragon Gaiden. This will keep me busy for the rest of the month, lol. Not to mention Persona 5 Tactica next week.

I'll also be playing the new Mario Kart DLC. Going to play as my boy Funky Kong who I used to main during the Mario Kart Wii days. So much nostalgia!

Wrapped up Spider-Man 2 so now I have some time to check out some titles on Game Pass. I'll be playing the Dead Space remake as well as Cocoon.

It's been years since I played the original Dead Space. Absolutely phenomenal game. This franchise and Resident Evil are my favourite horror series. The games are just such a blast to play.

I think it's good but definitely not one of the best. Granted, I vastly prefer the open world AC games over the traditional formula.

This is kinda the problem with people wishing for franchises to return to their roots. This new entry is just more of the same. Sure combat is better than ever but it's just more stealth, combat, assassinations and so on that we've seen in the series' dozens of entries. At least the open world games were different experiences.

I like Mirage but it's not a game that'll leave a lasting impression on me.

@HonestHick @Pikachuuuu You guys couldn't be more wrong. If there's one good person at IGN, it's Luke Reilly who reviews the racing games. He's a huge racing enthusiast and you can tell in the reviews that he absolutely loves racing games.

Forza Motorsport 7 got 9.2/10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0jbv3kJkJQ

Forza Horizon 5 got 10/10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98wujVDdnNQ

It doesn't matter if they improve upon the game's technical issues. The game is fundamentally not that good. It's a bland shooter with little variety and unsatisfying gameplay. There are plenty of other shooters more worth your time than Redfall.

@Zaphod42 I looked up some info about the EDF series since I know nothing about it but I am interested in checking it out as well. Apparently 2017 is a great game but 2025 is underwhelming. Not to mention that there's an updated port of 2025 called 4.1, which is available on PS4 and makes 2025 basically obsolete.

So the consensus seems to be to get 2017 and grab 4.1 instead of 2025. A local store has 4.1 for only €15 on PS4, so I think I'll be getting it if I like 2017. EDF 5 is also on there for around €15, which is seemingly the best game in the series.

Bought Asura's Wrath and Zone of the Enders HD Collection. A lot of people have compared Final Fantasy XVI to Asura's Wrath and so I just had to get it now that it's on sale for only €4. Zone of the Enders has been on my wishlist for years, so I decided to finally buy it now.

I remember spending an entire summer during high school binging through all the seasons (which at the time were around a dozen or so). It was so much fun and I enjoyed the show until it became harder to follow. It's crazy seeing how much it's evolved from being completely in-game to more cinematic.

I'm glad that they're trying to end the show on a high note when taken into consideration how terrible the company has become now. For people who don't know, Rooster Teeth has been involved in so many scandals and tons of fans have stopped following them. A lot of key employees have also left and thus, the company has become a shell of its former self. The quality of their content has drastically gone down and they're only getting a fraction of the views they tend to get on their videos today.

So hopefully the final season turns out good but I'm not surprised that the company's most important show is coming to an end when the company itself isn't doing too hot right now.

I'd give it a solid C, decent showcase overall. Lots of promising games but not enough gameplay or release dates to make me feel excited right now.

I do have to say that I was very impressed by the amount of Japanese content in the showcase.

More people should keep their eyes on Paranormasight. It's a Japanese horror visual novel game that provides plenty of scares, which is impressive for a visual novel. I'm really liking it so far. It's only on Switch right now but hopefully it'll arrive on other platforms in the future!

Like a Dragon: Ishin on Series X, Resident Evil 5 on PS4 and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story on 3DS.

I'll probably focus more on the latter two as I'm nearing the end for both of those games, but I do want to also delve into Ishin as I haven't played a Yakuza game for a long time. From the little that I've played of it this week, it's really good. Just what you'd expect from a Yakuza game. So much fun!

Well, if this is what you think about Dead Space, then I can only imagine what you'd think about Resident Evil 4, lol.

Agree with most people, a B sounds just about right. Forza and Redfall look great, and Hi-Fi Rush was a nice surprise. Overall very pleased with this showcase.

Will be playing One Piece Odyssey on Series X. I don't know anything about One Piece but the game is so far rather enjoyable. I like the turn-based battles and the characters are all unique and likeable.

@pip_muzz Hah yes, because you totally didn't start off your first reply to me with an unnecessary presumption at all.

Tell you what, I'll do us both a favour and make sure we don't have to see each other again. I'll go back to enjoying things in life while you can go back to taking fictional stories too seriously and living in constant misery. Cheers!

@pip_muzz I've played CE, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, CEA, 4, Spartan Assault, 5 and Infinite. So yeah, I haven't played much Halo.

The Halo games have fun gameplay but absolutely forgettable stories.

It's funny how you chose the obviously most annoying character in the show. Because everyone knows that one character ruins an entire show. Everything else that's good about the show doesn't matter. Wouldn't surprise me if you also hated the entirety of the excellent 30-hour campaign of Mass Effect 3 because of its 3 minute ending.

Learning more about characters like Master Chief, Cortana, Dr. Halsey, Captain Keyes and his daughter, it's an absolute treat. Because I can tell you right now, I know very little about these characters because you learn so little about them in the games. The whole point is that you have to absorb information from other media, such as the novels, in order to have a better understanding of the Halo universe. The games don't explain much at all. That's why the show is great and it's even set before Reach, which makes it a perfect starting point for newcomers to the franchise.

Currently watching the show and it's honestly the best Halo story that I've experienced. It certainly helps that it's a TV show so you get to spend more time with the characters, which you never did in the games until Halo Infinite.

@gollumb82 I know, that's why I bought a physical copy of Grid Legends and I'm playing through Grid (2019) through EA Play for only €4.

I bought a month of EA Play last week and decided to play some racing games. Tested Grid Legends first because I thought it only had a 4-5 hour campaign. Turns out it has a 4-5 hour story mode as well as a career mode that's dozens of hours long, which I had no idea about. I highly enjoyed my time with Legends that I ordered a copy of it. I'm not liking Grid (2019) as much as Legends, but I figured I might as well use up my month of EA Play playing through that game instead of buying it.

Either way, Grid is a fantastic racing series with a nice mix of arcade and sim handling. It also has great and varied tracks as well as absolutely gorgeous visuals. It's become my second favourite racing series after Forza.

Will be playing a lot of Grid (2019) on Series X this weekend. Absolutely fantastic racing experience, I highly recommend it if you're looking for another good motorsport series like Forza. I'll also be checking out the latest Mario Kart 8 DLC on Switch with friends.

I'll probably also continue my playthroughs of God of War Ragnarok and Pokémon Violet.

Will be playing A Plague Tale: Requiem and Sonic Frontiers on Series X, God of War Ragnarok on PS4 and Rogue Legacy 2 on Switch. Basically only new releases for me this weekend!

Will be playing A Plague Tale: Requiem on Series X, Resident Evil 5 on PS4 and AI: The Somnium Files on Switch. Fitting games for the Halloween weekend!

First time in a long while where I'll be mostly playing games on Game Pass this weekend. Will be focusing on A Plague Tale: Requiem and also finishing up Scorn. Scorn is a weird case of a game that starts off bad but gets better and better, lol. If I hadn't given it another chance, I would've missed out on the parts that are really good.

I'll also be playing Yo-Kai Watch 2 on 3DS on the side. Moreover, if I finish Scorn in time, then I'll probably start up Resident Evil 5 as my next horror title.

I've honestly not played many horror games on Xbox, most of them have been on PlayStation. I've played Blair Witch and The Medium in the past on Xbox. The former was meh, but The Medium was great.

Now I'm playing through Scorn and FEAR. Scorn gets better the more you play and FEAR is an absolute blast. Fun gameplay, plenty of jump scares, it's genuinely a great horror experience. I highly recommend it.

@Kaloudz To be fair, the first one was not that good to begin with. Awful mini-games in between missions, bland level design, sometimes annoying boss fights and so on. No More Heroes 2 was much better though and I can't imagine NMH 3 being worse than the first one.

Finished Persona 3 Portable today, which means I'll finally be able to focus on other games this weekend! I think I'll be primarily playing Immortals Fenyx Rising and FEAR this weekend. I might also start up Yokai Watch 2 and/or Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight.

@Exerion76 Exactly, I'd also get annoyed listening to Mario's original voice all the time. It's fine in the games for a couple of phrases, but in long conversations? No thank you. I'm glad other people realise this as well.

@BartoxAbrasiveness Your post (#50) is probably the most sensible, well-written and well-expressed I've read on this article or on Pure Xbox in general for that matter in a very long time.

I genuinely don't understand people who get upset because we criticise their favourite product or service. I also don't understand people who tell others how they should utilise their money and free time. It's disrespectful to say the least. I'll do whatever the hell I want with my hard-earned money and my time and I can criticise a company as much as I like. That's my right as a consumer.

Fact of the matter is that we as consumers don't owe anything to Microsoft. It is they who want to sell us a service. They need to convince us it's worth purchasing. If they can't do that, then we're well within our rights to criticise them. We stand to gain nothing by being complaisant.

I sometimes genuinely worry that people think it's more important to defend a company that doesn't give a crap about you than to criticise it and potentially gain better products/services in return. One option nets you nothing, while the other gives you a non-zero chance of gaining something. The latter option is objectively better than the other. It's pure and simple logic.

@pip_muzz It's not a silly grumble at all. 2022 has to easily go down in history as one of the worst years for Xbox in general, if not the worst year ever. Literally no noteworthy first-party games this year since they've all been delayed. On top of that there's a mass exodus of titles leaving Game Pass. Just compare the same months from last year, only a handful of titles would leave each month and now it's double the amount leaving. It's a terrible time to be an Xbox owner now, at least for long-time users.

If I only had an Xbox right now, I would be even more frustrated with the brand. Thankfully though, PlayStation, Nintendo and third-party studios have made this an excellent year for gaming overall. 2023 can't come soon enough for Xbox.

I see that you picked a post that shows my beautiful side @FraserG

@Lup Haha yeah well, not everyone agrees that they should be called retro since the games still feel like modern games. Which is understandable considering PS3/360 got titles like Red Dead Redemption, GTA V, The Last of Us, games that still hold up well today.

However, considering we called N64 retro back in 2006 (i.e. ten years after it came out), I think it's fair to call PS3/360/Wii retro in 2022 (i.e. more than 15 years after they came out).

@gollumb82 The Forza games are one reason why I'm glad we can still buy physical games since basically all of them are delisted now. I own all Forza Motorsport and Horizon games physically, even Motorsport 1 on OG Xbox, but not Horizon 5 though since I played through it on Game Pass.

I think I'm going to be buying fewer games physically in the future due to Game Pass. I tend to never replay games because I have such a massive backlog that I'd rather play something new instead of something I've already played. So there's no point in buying everything physically henceforth for me. Not to mention that it's cheaper playing through the games on Game Pass. A Plague Tale: Requiem is a good example of that. I save €40 and storage space by playing it on Game Pass when it comes out.

@gollumb82 Oh nice! I'm actually the opposite, I love buying physical retro games, especially 360/PS3/Wii titles as I grew up with those consoles. I bought all three FEAR games on 360 years ago and I'm glad I can play all of them on Series X. Didn't buy FEAR Files though (standalone expansion to FEAR 1) and now it's too expensive sadly.

It's crazy though how much more enjoyable FEAR 1 is on Series X compared to 360. I'm actually having a blast with this game now!

It's finally October so I'm playing some horror games this weekend. I just started up the first FEAR on Series X and it feels great to play on this system compared to when I gave it a try on my 360. Quick resume makes jumping into the game faster, the Series X controller feels better to use than the 360 one and the game also has an FPS boost on Series X. Load times are also noticeably quicker. It just feels great playing this game on newer hardware, I'm looking forward to playing more of it.

I might also start up another horror game besides FEAR. I'm thinking about either Resident Evil 5 or DOOM 3 on PS4. Besides horror games though, I'll also be continuing my playthrough of Persona 3 Portable. I'm over 50 hours into the game now so I feel like I'm nearing the end soon. Hopefully I can finish the game within the next couple of weeks so that I can focus on other titles.

As always, Persona 3 Portable, Immortals Fenyx Rising and GTA Vice City but I've also started Dark Souls III. Really looking forward to giving this game a go!

Will be playing Persona 3 Portable, GTA: Vice City, LEGO Batman, Immortals Fenyx Rising and Team Sonic Racing. Hoping to wrap up some games this weekend, like Batman and Sonic.

I think this issue could easily be solved if Microsoft keeps releasing CoD titles physically/digitally indefinitely on PlayStation but doesn't offer them on a service like they will with Game Pass on Xbox. That's the main reason why they are acquiring all these companies after all, to bolster the offerings of Game Pass. That way they will still have a major advantage over PlayStation in that you can play CoD for a much lower price than on PlayStation.

Sadly though, reading between the lines, it sounds like Microsoft wants to take away CoD from PlayStation as soon as possible. Which I don't mind but if this is going to drag out then they should just make a sacrifice and keep CoD on PlayStation. Just get it over with, I don't care. I just want my ActiBlizz titles on Game Pass already lol.

I sure hope that consoles will go away and cloud gaming becomes the norm. I don't think people realise just how much money we spend on overpriced consoles (which are also hard to find) as well as individual games. Not to mention that we're at a point with gaming where each generation feels less and less distinguishable. I have a Series X and it doesn't feel any different from my Xbox One. It's more powerful sure, but games don't feel as significantly different as e.g. the jump from PS1 to PS2. So what's the point in constant hardware upgrades. I think it would be much better to have a smart TV with an Xbox app so that you can play new games through the cloud for years to come without having to upgrade to new hardware. It just makes more sense, it's more financially viable and convenient for the consumer.

Will be playing Immortals: Fenyx Rising on Switch, Lego Batman on Series X and Team Sonic Racing on PS4. Might also throw in some Persona 3 Portable if I'm in the mood.

Really enjoying Immortals so far. In terms of Lego Batman, I just finished up the Hero story so now I'm going through the Villain one, which is really fun thus far. And hopefully I'll be able to wrap up Team Sonic Racing soon!

@gollumb82 Haha well I'm honestly in a phase right now where I don't really feel like playing a single game like I've been mostly doing during the first half of this year. I kinda get easily bored now, so I try to switch things up as much as I can.

Will be playing Immortals Fenyx Rising on Switch, Persona 3 Portable on Vita, Lego Batman on Series X, Team Sonic Racing on PS4 and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance on Wii U. Lots of variety this weekend!

If you're an open-minded person who likes bonkers stories with slow-paced, albeit challenging and rewarding, gameplay that sets itself apart from most modern games in over-saturated genres then you'll love Death Stranding.

Will be playing Persona 3 Portable on Vita, GTA: Vice City on Series X, Doom 3 on PS4 and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon on Wii U. Really enjoying all these games so far!

Will be wrapping up Need for Speed: Payback on Game Pass, which has been an absolute blast to play, and then it's on to other Game Pass titles such as As Dusk Falls and Eiyuden Chronicle.

Might also play some Vice City on Series X and Persona 3 Portable on Vita.

@Retron If you rephrase it as:

"it seems like more good games leave the service than get added to it"

Then I agree with you.

@Japer83 Avengers was such a huge disappointment compared to GotG. It started out great but then it became a generic, money-grabbing crap of a mess. I'll probably give it another try on Series X this time but yeah, GotG is so much better than Avengers.

I'd go as far as to say that GotG is one of the best licensed superhero games ever made. The story is so concise and long enough to make me care about the characters, which rarely happens for me with these superhero games. I liked the GotG movies but I like the GotG franchise even more now thanks to the game. I'm genuinely very pleased with it.

Will be wrapping up a couple of games this weekend. I've already finished TMNT: Shredder's Revenge today and will be focusing on beating Guardians of the Galaxy next. If I have some time over, I'll continue my playthrough of As Dusk Falls.