Medic_alert

@Elbow the ps4 is a totally different argument though. Bigger install base and more powerful hardware make the job easier and more likely to be profitable.

But you have also pretty much made my point for me in that you appear to be very much in a minority.

There is no way an indie game should be putting in the extra effort if it doesn't happen easily.

I can't imagine people who are still on X1 are also the ones going out and picking up the latest indie hit.

It is surely a matter of time before bespoke hardware no longer makes sense.

The development and manufacturing cost won't be worth the effort if sales numbers don't pick up at some stage and with MS' current messaging there seems no reason to think it will.

@Cakefish I'd love a console/pc hybrid that has an element of being open source like the Steam deck.

I really don't know if there is a mass market for it though.

Steam deck seems to have done OK without blowing the doors off.

@antonioacm never going to happen.

Windows is just so present in every day life that most people will just stick with that they won't want the hassle of another OS - particularly one that might not support all their other apps and devices.

This is a discussion that only happens in the hard-core pc crowd despite how many people will say they hate windows - me included.

God that's a dumb analysis.

There probably isn't room for 3 traditional consoles at this stage with Sony and MS seemingly in a zero sum game between them. One loses the other gains.

But Nintendo sit in a slightly different niche and many gamers will choose Switch 2 as a second machine negating the place Nintendo holds in this discussion. Further, many Nintendo customers don't naturally fall into the bracket for customers of the other 2 and will buy nothing instead.

But the bigger issue with this analysis is that MS are actively trying not to compete with Sony on those terms moving emphasis to cloud, mobile and play anywhere strategies, while Sony continue to maintain and exceed previous hardware sales.

All of which makes this analysis seem a bit of a nonsense.

One of the biggest disappointments of this gen for me is the lack of disappearance of the load screen.

Admittedly this was more pushed by Cerny and Sony but game design was going to change forever... but then nothing could have been cross gen and so the load screen remains...

The chase for the casual gamer has been a thing forever. I have seen every company try and be cool, accessible, edgy and now be 'on everything'

Unfortunately it is only ever short lived and they always return to their core base.

The only thing I can think is that when the next generation of gamers come through they will be more used to the whole streaming of games and the tech will be better by then too.

Better reviews would have helped it a tonne.

I know some loved it for what it is but personally I thought it was a beautiful mirage - an image of what could be an amazing game but no actual game behind it.

@Gabrielmpf I do it too. I often forget what I have on there and usually find out straight after buying it somewhere else!

With the current direction of travel they will redefine me right out of the definition!

I will maybe still use some of their software but the flexibility they talk about is best achieved through PC gaming and not consoles.

Nothing to complain about from a consumer point of view.

I guess it is being used as an enticement to get people on that subscription train.

Feels a bit desperate - a bit like Epic giving away stuff every week and tonnes of people just claim them and never buy a thing.

I got Return to Moria for nothing this week which I really wanted to try but had no intention of paying lots of money for.

***edit*** Just realised this appears to be an EA promotion and not an Xbox one.

@mousieone just to show I'm not pulling this out my butt

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2023/03/xbox-is-helping-indie-devs-to-create-physical-versions-of-their-games

@Scummbuddy Xbox said themselves they were reducing the minimum number of discs you need to order in a print run a couple of years back to avoid this issue.

However MS have also released a number of games without a physical edition at all so appear to be contradicting themselves and their own plans.

@M20B25 it is a nostalgia play for a certain group of people who were kids in the PS1 days.

Every developer and their uncle was attempting this mascot platformed thing and to be honest none of them ever held a candle to any Mario title.

But to some they were important games growing up and that's what these releases are aimed at.

My position hasn't changed regarding Xbox and what I believe their future is.

They are gambling hard on the idea that hardly anyone is going to pay the premium of dedicated hardware and outright buying games when the newest title can be rented along with a tonne of other 'content' for a fraction of its retail price.

The hope is surely that the majority will sub and stream games and where they want native they will play on PC.

The cross-over of streaming and mobile will strengthen the position of the PC store by giving a huge amount of flexibility to the player without them needing to buy a dedicated box for any of it and MS will be taking a slice of it all.

If the gamble works, huge for Xbox and MS, if not they cut the hardware division out anyway and go third party making a nice little services and software revenue stream while cutting costs.

I don't think Xbox as a physical, native console is going to be around for long haul.

He is just guessing looking at his comments. No sources, plenty of wiggle room to be wrong.

Just 'insider' plop for engagement

Such a gamer response to show pictures of their own game library to prove there is demand....

Unless you intend to buy thousands of copies that is still 1 person!

@GamingFan4Lyf I hadn't noticed that, thanks for the tip!

Maybe I'm just not familiar with the visual language of the game right now.

They have bang on nailed the atmosphere and I really want to like it. It just feels unnecessarily fiddly to me.

I bought the deluxe edition of Jedi Survivor for £9, just a great deal!

I have the game on EA play but seeing as I will give up gamepass next year I figured at that price why not own it and the deluxe extras.

I think it was £7 something for the deluxe upgrade alone.

I'm trying not to get too excited about South of midnight but it is something I'm really looking forward to.

I'm getting a bit fatigued by the churn of modern games these days and this looks really different.

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Very early days on this game but my first impressions are definitely mixed.

The atmosphere is pretty bang on and playing through the intro is ace.

But some of the choices they have made are confusing to say the least. The stealth is bland and basic and the game world rules for getting a stealth kill are not obvious. I think you have to come out of a crouch to do it but why come out of stealth for a stealth kill?

Dropping your temporary weapons all the time is annoying too.

And it is lots of niggly things like this that are already bugging me.

I don't need handholding but neither do I think the game explains itself well enough.

I hope it gets better....

My first impression with this game is that I really want a patch so Indy doesn't throw the item away he is holding for every interaction!

It is so frustrating to have to keep picking stuff up again just because I used a key or similar!

My Xbox has had a bit of action this last week or so with Sniper elite V2 (now finished) and 3.

Easy going stealth with some fun game mechanics giving me a lot of old school fun.

That's genuinely awesome from MS. All hardware should be repairable at a basic level instead of this forced waste that makes you buy new stuff as soon as a product has a problem.

@Sol4ris saying something is done for clicks is not an opinion. It is either factually true or it is false, there is no subjective element to it.

The fact that a bunch of gamers throw their toys out the pram with talk like this when they don't get their way is pathetic.

Sounds like it just didn't hit the mark for this particular reviewer.

Lots of very high scores out there and an 86 on metacritic is not to be sniffed at.

Looking forward to finding out myself next week!

@OldGamer999 oh absolutely. Nothing would give me more pleasure than Indy being a 97 on metacritic and a game of the generation.

I have just lost all faith that Xbox can produce that.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for Doom and Fable!

@OldGamer999 I think a lot of what we have seen so far has been pretty safe and not really building on their previous work.

Like Starfield had all the Skyrim jank but took a step back in terms of environment and exploration.

Oddly enough though their best work seems to have come with projects that are much more risky and have little to no pedigree - Psychonauts 2, Pentiment and Hi-fi Rush.

All three of which are perfect gamepass games because they would likely have limited sales whatever happens but are also very good.

I wish it had the option to choose when you power down like on PS.

It is a much simpler system for those times when you just want to leave it doing something.

@OldGamer999 I'm a big fan of the PC gamer reviews, they are critical without being too harsh and align with my views pretty closely. They weren't hugely happy with the preview.

It sounds like a solid 7. I hope it proves to be a bit better than that.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I didn't say it was an Xbox thing. Just that it was scummy and that applies to whoever does it.

@Kraven the game is out tomorrow. They are holding it back to make more money.

@ChopperCampbell me too, I have always found them to be on the level.

I think they had a worse reputation some time back though.

@OldGamer999 the worry going around the various Internet forums is that Xbox don't have a lot of faith in it hence the last minute embargo.

No idea if that's true or not but it certainly feels like another reason not to buy into this early access gumpf!

@OldGamer999 midnight tonight in the UK I believe.

This is such a scummy practice and one that I wish people would avoid like the plague.

@Coletrain I really appreciate their response in saying that they won't make another one until a genuine upgrade is available.

@Coletrain I was trying to get something similar with the PS5 and the portal but it just isn't as good.

The Switch gave me a glimpse of what could be but that ends up with my collection being too fragmented and I often double dip for holidays etc.

I traded in some stuff for a Steam deck Oled and with some games have cross-saves I've had a glimpse of an almost seamless gaming future and I want that...

I'd genuinely forgotten it was a thing...

I'm swinging towards PC next gen.

I know the entry cost is mega high but in all honesty I don't think the consoles are offering the same value as before and if everything is on PC anyway, give me that and the flexibility that comes with it.

File sizes on Xbox are out of hand. Kraken compression on PS5 sure doesn't explain the difference. File sizes on PC are also way smaller.

What is going on here? Too many games on Xbox are way beyond 100gb now.

@Titntin feels like we have a very similar philosophy.

I found out a long time ago that I prefer space in my home to the short window of enjoyment I get out of having a thing in my house.

I still slip from time to time and nobody is perfect but we can only try and do our bit and put pressure on our governments and the businesses that have the real power to make them fix it.

@themightyant i went vegan 11 months ago on the back of completely falling in love with the ocean and its inhabitants, something that hits your carbon footprint hard!

@Titntin I am hugely environmentally conscious and a massive lover of all things marine and so the plastic thing is a huge deal to me.

I just cannot justify it anymore and have made every effort to reduce my impact - even when it isn't a directly positive effect on me.

It has been hard letting go of the physical games, it will be harder when we finally realise we are losing the planet.

@themightyant i agree with you entirely and it is not always straight forward as disc bad, digital good when it comes to environmental concerns.

But in terms of server farms there are elements that can make it much more eco-friendly. For instance basing them in areas with larger proportions of renewables put into the grid.

And they scale better than physical in this regard. I.e. you don't need anywhere near the extra emissions because 1 new user turns up, while making and shipping a disc etc increases the impact substantially.

The flip side of that is that if you buy physical and sell them on, or buy second hand you can half your damage in one go.

I guess the subscriptions numbers aren't going where MS would like if we are seeing this back...

@FraserG I have it in my Steam library. I had it all modded on my Steam deck before I sold it.

I just want an easy access console version if I'm honest, which is a bit lazy of me....

@Nintendo4Sonic no thanks and it was in the arcades mainly.

Definitely didn't own anything then.

I'm interested, mainly because Not Fifa 25 is one of the worst footie games I have ever played. Turgid, boring rubbish.

If Konami would release the 2020 game again with a 2025 update I'd buy that in a heartbeat.