MinervaX

Remember back in the day when Square would crank out RPGs yearly, sometimes multiple a year?

This reminds me of that, and I love it.

Now I need to get off my rear and get caught up on this series!!!

@HarmanSmith Another thing that would be amazing is if somehow MS managed to add an Xbox runtime to windows so computers with certain specs could just run the Xbox Series X or Series S version of games we already own.

I never bought a PS4 pro.
I bought an XOX because I saw it for a deep discount on ebay that was under the MSRP of the Xbox One S.

TLDR: not much really. I think it would have to hit under $400-$450 for me to be interested. I already treat my PC as my "Xbox Pro".

Since Play Everywhere, every single first party game ends up having cross-buy and cross-save.

MS biggest achievement would be to lure more third party developers to adopt the Play Anywhere scheme where you can buy a game on XBox and also download it on PC.

@RedShirtRod You hit the nail on the competition point. That is the main reason. The international price shows what a market with poor competition looks like.

@Bobobiwan I was a PS4 fan girl, and I never got myself a Pro. I rocked my fat PS4 to its end.

I dont see the need for the increased visuals, honestly.

The video showcase actually stated that 3/4ths of players don't seem to care either, opting for performance modes over quality.

My biggest annoyance out of these mid-gen consoles are reviewers. I had to stop trusting reviewers because every reviewer would play the games on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, rarely bothering to test the performance of the games on the baseline (and most sold) models.

I was afraid xbox reviewers would do the same this gen but was glad they tend to at least try including notes on Series S performance. I fear starting next year, PlayStation reviews will become worthless, once again.

@datamonkey There are 5 states that have a 0% sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon)

Highest state-level sales tax in the us is 7.25% (California). If you count local taxes, highest sales tax is 9.55% (some areas of Tennessee)

So that does not explain those huge discrepancies.

@Ilyn Posted an updated price list here

It includes percentage increases that show how high a tax would have to be to get the price there.

There are 5 states that have a 0% sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon)

Highest state-level sales tax in the us is 7.25% (California). If you count local taxes, highest sales tax is 9.55% (some areas of Tennessee)

So cant see sales taxes having to do with the huge discrepancy.

I think it has more to do with the US being the one competitive battleground for Xbox. They may not be neck and neck, but they are strong enough that they need to actually compete.

Reposting here since its relevant, the regional pricing is out of wack!

€799 = $880.98 (+26%)
₤699 = $913.10 (+30%)
¥119,980 = $841.66 (+20%)

$699.99 is already crazy expensive, but why those insane fluctuations by country?

Add the disk drive for anyone with a back catalog that still wants access to their disk media:

$779.99
€919 = $1,013 (+30%)
₤799 = $1,043.49 (+34%)
¥131960 = $926.89 (+19%)

There is a sales tax in the US to keep in mind, but adding the percentage increase in parenthesis above to show how high a regional tax would have to be to make that break even.

@FraserG I think there is a good article hidden in this announcement about how 3/4th of players opt for performance modes over quality modes.

Even Sony's own video seems to say (ironically paraphrased) "you can get the performance you want and already get but the devs get to be happy because you see the pixels they want you to see"

I dont think we ever seen any platform holder or dev give us any stats on how many players pick performance modes over quality.

OH my what is it with those prices???

€799 = $880.98
₤699 = $913.10
¥119,980 = $841.66

$699 is already crazy expensive, but why those insane fluctuations by country?

edit to add estimate with the disk drive attachment bought separately

$779
€919 = $1,013
₤799 = $1,043.49
¥131960 = $926.89

And these costs are all without the disk drive!!! I have not seen enough but I will assume the new disk attachment for the new PS5 will work with this, thats another $79 in the US for anyone with a disk library like me.

The most telling bit of all of this, for me, is that in the video they themselves admit that 3/4ths of players opt to performance modes. I think that shows how little the bulk of the player base cares for the extra pixels. We don't need this. I will likely own one, in 10 years when I can get a used one.

Xbox does not need to chase this, there is next to no point on doing that.

I would love to go back to the days where games would take 2-3 years to develop and take 8-20 hours to beat.

More things like Assassin's Creed Mirage!

Not sure why anyone cares the game goes to another plastic box. I will still play the game on my device and ecosystem of choice.

Buying any Xbox Game Studios title on Xbox will mean the game is also playable on PC, giving me the maximum flexibility to play whatever way I prefer.

As far as exclusivity, I think its better to have timed exclusives than perpetual exclusives. Look how many fantastic titles are locked behind old hardware due to dumb exclusivity deals or first party stubbornness.

@Ooccoo_Jr this may actually be easier to understand than the current model.

Currently:
core gives you a handful of games and online access
Console gives you the whole library but no online access
Ultimate gives you both

Now each tier is an upgrade over the last.

Core: handful of games and online
Standard: that plus more games
Ultimate: that plus even more games, many of them day one. Oh and streaming.

This is what I been predicting they would do for years now! Although I never thought they would increase ultimate’s price tag so high.

My biggest grudge here is that’s just 3 cars. Wish we had gotten Fast and the Furious Don’s Dodge and Ghostbusters Ecto 1 instead of 3 versions of the Delorean.

Historically Fable has no character creator, only a selection of female or male. It is always your actions in the game (alignment and development) that change your character's appearance.

I doubt that will be different in this entry, given that's one of the most iconic traits of the series.

That aside, I don't understand anyone complaining about the appearance of the character that has been used on screen so far.

And despite this the install will still eat 300 gb this time around! 🙃

My personal (meaningless) opinion is that Xbox does not need a huge library of exclusive games. They just need a small set of games and IPs that are only on Xbox, and a few other that are Xbox first.

When your operation grows as large as Xbox games studios had, it’s on their best interest to minimize risk on many releases by publishing on as many platforms as possible.

Ideally, the likes of Halo, Gears and Fable should continue to be Xbox exclusive.

A, cant see the show being better without it being a 4 hour show. We know for a fact they did not show everything they have under their sleeves!

My quick reactions:

• South of Midnight jumped to the top of my Xbox Games Studios want list. It looks phenomenal!
  • Indiana Jones looks amazing, they are nailing the vibe.
• Doom Dark Ages looks fantastic.
• I am oddly less into Avowed this time around, will still play it but perhaps its due to so many other things in the show overshadowing it this time.
• Fable still looking great.
• Intrigued by the Starfield expansion. I was a bit disappointed by the base game, but to be fair that's always the case with all Bethesda games for me. Their games only get **really** good (for me) when the expansions/dlc launch.

Many more things have me interested. They definitively had more to show than they had time and that's awesome.

@TheSimulator Gears "6" is E-Day and I don't see them talking about PS on an Xbox Showcase. Even what they said about CoD never mentioned PS by name.

If I did not already own 2 XSX, I would get that Special Edition Xbox for my office.

Maybe I can sell one of the XSX or turn it into a gift for someone in my social circle.

Already unsubscribed yesterday.

My advice to MS: just kill day one. Make it month 3, or month 6. Increasing the price is very likely going to come at the loss of a lot of loyalty (if some survived this week).

Hot air.

They know everyone working on games that are not “high impact” saw the writing in the wall and are panicking, likely already submitting resumes and getting ready to run before they get fired.

This is just an attempt at placating those developers to stick around “because we need you for awards… and we will fire you after we get those awards!”

I’m jumping ship. Bought my last Xbox console game. I’ll play the ones I own, but from now on Steam it is. No more GamePass I think either. I had a huge library of PS4 games and also jumped ship over disagreeing with their direction.

Honestly it sounds like Phill lost control of the ship, and someone else is now in command.

Honestly… it’s starting to sound like ABK acquired Microsoft instead of the other way around…

@HonestHick 343 is a sunk cost fallacy at this point. How m any times have they "fixed" things and "next entry will be the good one"?

I'm sure if they could "fix" 343, they could also had fixed any issues that was going on with Tango. Shutting it down does not only means them giving up on Japan directly but also indirectly. Whom is going to trust them now? Even if it was easy, what Japanese studio will sell out to MS now?

@themightyant Personally, I am sticking with my Xbox. I have two XSX and an XSS. But I'm not sticking with Game Pass. I just canceled that subscription and MS will have to work hard at getting me to re-subscribe. I have plenty of a backlog of games I own on Xbox digitally and will continue to play those games, but going forward, I'm just sticking to PC and Steam whenever I can.

@NEStalgia, for all purposes any PC is a Steam Box. I know its not as slick as booting right into the OS, but with minor fiddling you can have a dedicated PC always booting into big picture mode, and you can always go the extra mile if you feel crazy and install Steam OS.

@HonestHick reread my post. I understand layoffs. This is about stupid choices. Shut down studios that deserve it, like 343.

And I am not setting my money on fire. I'll continue using my Xbox to play all the games I own. I just won't be paying more on Game Pass. I got plenty to enjoy without having to give them money every month despite the fact that I don't actually play GP games every single month. They were getting a lot of my money out of pure good will. Thats over with.

The outrage is not about heart or soul or what not. It's about this being a stupid decision. I don't think anyone is complaining about the whole thing, the sore spot is Tango.

No one is taking the shutdown of Tango Gameworks well, me included.

Whomever made the actual call of shutting down Tango, you f#@%ed up. I'm canceling Game Pass. You will have to convince me to subscribe again, but that's going to be a hard sell.

@Randinator123 As much as I hate this, ZeniMax was not doing well and its very likely many of the studios would have had shut down.

ZeniMax was going to sell, regardless. And any potential owner would had shut down things left and right.

I just expected so much more from MS on this front.

In other words: we rather spend our development budget on Triple A high fidelity games with inflated budgets over original and innovative game experiences.

I am calling this now: South of Midnight will be a great game, but it will not perform "to expectations". Compulsion Games will be shut down soon after.

Did they ever deliver the offline play mode?

Honestly, I would be demanding refunds, not "offers".

I have been an ardent defendant of Xbox this generation, but shutting down Tango is the stupidest thing they could do. Arkane is not smart either, but Tango??? Their only Japanese studio? at the same time they keep trying to convince us they are taking Japan seriously??? 😒

Closing down Tango Studios may be one of the biggest mistakes MS could make right now… it completely undermines their supposed “commitment” to the Japanese market, and it leaves fantastic IP to die (Hi Fi Rush, Ghostwrite, Evil Within) just because the titles have not been blowout successes? It also makes Game Pass look weak… they insisted they were satisfied with the performance of those games but still shut them down… terrible look all around.

For the first time since the Series X was unveiled, my confidence on Xbox is plummeting. FAST.

I am positively intrigued about a world where platform holders publish games on competing platforms again. Yes... I said again. Atari and Coleco used to publish games on each other's platforms.

Today the fastest growing gaming sector is PC and mobile, neither driven by exclusives. Hell none has any first party exclusives.

Games industry has always been changing, and I'm genuinely excited about the way things are moving forward with this MS move and the rumor that Sony is going to bring Helldivers to Xbox.

Personally I never cared about pursuing these rewards, but I am likely not the target market. I rather spend my limited time playing what I want to play, not chasing fractions of a cent in rewards.

I do know some with limited means do rely on the program to pay their gamepass subscription and feel a bit bad for them.

I been playing on Steam a bit more lately, and seeing exploring things like trading cards and badges that make me wish Xbox out some time on similar features.

Allowing players to trade trading cards, and even sell them, could result in very similar community engagement goals and the community itself could be the ones paying for other players GP subscriptions.

Dear Microsoft: please save Eidos from Embracer!

PC will get 60 fps one way or another.

Xbox og: 15
Xbox 360: 81
Xbox one: 59
Xbox series X|S: 0

I doubt it, but who knows. Maybe they introduce a variant I cant live without.

@The-Chosen-one the gameplay could be identical and still not be a legal issue.

What Nintendo is likely to be investigating is if any of the assets used in the game were lifted from Pokemon assets and modified. I doubt that was the case but it’s worth looking into for such a large company with the finances to spend the time on it.

The internet outrage is, imo, absurd, but it’s Nintendo’s prerogative to look into this. We seen big lawsuits over way less. Anyone remember the lawsuit over using copyrighted images in a small component of the Resident Evil 4 logo?

I am exclusively a digital gamer on Xbox unless it’s me hunting down delisted titles. I am a bit disappointed there won’t be a physical release, but it won’t affect me.

I’m actually surprised about the $50 price tag. Even if the game is “only” 20 hours, I would have expected the standard $70 price tag.

I would love if we got more $50 games with 20 hours worth of play, especially if we start getting them again every 3 years.

@FraserG but are you ready for the game to become a yearly thing with casino.. I mean “surprise mechanics”?

As much as I like limited run games (I have way too many Switch copies) I always considered their Xbox initiative to be doomed.

I like physical as much as most physical fans, but I buy all my games digitally on Xbox.

Expecting otherwise is also expecting LRG to offer PC physical releases of every single one of their games, and they don’t even if they don’t have to pay anyone royalties to do so.

Hmmm… Crazy Taxi without the “crazy”… I kind of like the idea… if the driving mechanics feel good enough (ideally a bit arcade and not too sim) I might be interested.

This might sound crazy but I wanted a “drive around town for leisure” game forever… something without racing, without stress… although never could think how such a game would really be a game. Being a taxi driver sounds like the perfect way!

These days I buy all DLC for games I really like. Like, any Assassins Creed, I’ll get all campaign DLC.

I never buy cosmetic DLC.

I have not seen the first season, and know most fans hated it…. But this trailer looked good! I might catch up with this show!

@nomither6 If there was multiplayer in Origins, I ever touched it. I just remember enjoying the campaign and thinking the hate was not deserved.

I have a feeling they going to hold Hellblade to the end of the year, just for maximum impact, even if it’s ready. We will see a “fall 2024”, but no more than that.

Indiana jones may also be near the later half of the year and have no date, but will get a month.

Ara and avowed will likely get dates. Guessing Avowed coming in summer, Ara coming in the next 3-4 months.

I know it was not popular at launch, but still don’t get why Origins was ignored for this collection, and delisted entirely despite being BC (?)…

I don't see MS quitting the console market so long as its viable at all. The day they quit, its because it all moved to PC for everyone.