@Mustoe again I agree, and we agree they're both just as bad, but I think the impression of coming on an Xbox site to badmouth Xbox exclusively creates the impression of console warring in favor of other brands when those brands are in fact also bad. Is not about defending Xbox because others are bad it's about not creating the image that others are good because Xbox is bad. "Xbox bad" instantly reads to most as "ps better".
@GuyinPA75 Yeah, at the old price I found some value in it. Little gems like little kitty big city I would've have never tried were nice to find. But at the new price I'll cancel. The big Microsoft games will cost about the same if I wait for sales, and heading PC,I probably won't even get it for PC. Way cheaper but again steam and 3rd pay keys mean I'll break even at best but own it, and I'm not playing all the indies much with a huge backlog of bigger games while my indies come mostly down to VR and even meta has an old Gold like sub for $60 a year for that. For me the gp math doesn't add up anymore. It might for PC, but then might as well do sales
@Mustoe I half agree, except when the console alternative is PayStation: For the Payers, feels like kind of a magic coin toss for the biggest tossers really.
There's PC, of course, but then we're the biggest losers. Jensen needs a new $5m leather jacket made of gamer centipede.
"Rational decisions." BRB, gonna head to a mirror store to pick up Zel's Christmas gift.
Zelnick is the only executive in gaming that actually makes me think "Huh, maybe Kotick wasn't so bad, after all."
I get the business sense behind not being on 3d party subscriptions, but his continuous panning of subscriptions while nearly all his company's revenue comes from GTA5 Online which is, basically, a backdoor subscription model, his hypocritical in the worst of ways. He doesn't mean he's against subs. He means he's running a backdoor sub for a single game and that's more profitable by far than a 3rd party catalog sub.
@cburg "We bought randy Randy!" and "Rational decisions" are two incompatible statements that do not belong in the same boardroom together.
@GuyinPA75 TBF Game Boy Color games are way, way better than most of the paint by numbers AAAAAAAAA games suits like Zelnick sell.
@Markatron84 People were definitely asking for the remaster. Specifically, shareholders.
The remaster doesn't exist because the game needs to be remastered. The remasters exist because it turns catalogue games into new releases by way of magic.
@InvaderFromSpace They put ads into Windows 11's Start Menu, ad didn't back down even with uproar. I don't give it 2 years. Microsoft wants to be Google selling ads through everything.
@Zenszulu " I would be more concerned that the person still has Christmas ornaments under their TV in August."
I mean, you'll just have to put them up again in less than a year. Why bother taking them down?
@HonestHick Sony from what we've seen is just making their own proprietary upscaling tech to rival NV/AMD. MS is doing that too, but I can guarantee you MS is going to lean HARD into pushing AI/NPU tasks on NeXtbox. Nadella already talked about Minecraft where you ask it how to build the hammer and it shows you, then it can go through your inventory and gather the ingredients etc. Basically AI playing the game for you...the future of gaming is AI driven Let's Plays according to Nadella
But MS will push AI into their hardware and into their game designs very very very hard. Because that's their corporate imperative in all things right now. Only problem is if the industry doesn't adopt that at large they're an island again, and studies show that AI is an anti-marketing term. Markets to investors, but not to consumers who are less likely to buy something if it says AI. And NeXtbox will launch years AFTER the AI hype craze ended. It'll either be revolutionary, or leave Xbox as a pariah chasing corporate's Copilot goals from 4 years back. Gotta go with the pessimism angle when talking MS
70 million? Heck even Sony's struggling to push that these days! And I think Switch 2 will be quite a drop from Switch 1's unlikely success.
That's one theme I see overall is gaming consoles as a concept are just going to be less and less broad a market. The high end shifts to PC, and the masses shift to mobile (or cheap laptops running indie games.) We talk about Xbox and console and all that but I do think the gaming landscape has radically changed, so that there's more types of games that can run on more types of devices, and less of the possible gaming market needs or wants a "box to play games on." It has a market but it's a focused, specific market. Not nearly as big as it used to be.
And I do think XB sees that and tried to get ahead of it, but its right hand and left hand couldn't agree on how to do it so they asked their left foot to try to do it, and then it got tangled, and then Amy Hood just cut it off.
@HonestHick The hurdle MS really faces is image. I'm confident they can make great hardware, they always make great hardware. Ironically it's the software that usually lets it down, bad policy, and ultimately, the Xbox brand, in the broader gaming market is just associated with "fail" at this point. The mass casuals don't know better, but they do know "PS is what everyone buys", and the Switch market won't change. How does MS change their image from the in the know gaming market from "failure"? It's going to take more than a reboot and a soft launch. They need to indicate they're a totally different organization. But the best they can seem to do is "we're kinda sorta Activision now?"
Yeah, not sure how I feel abut this. On one hand with SSD premiums even on PC, it's ridiculous the file sizes games are getting to, and it's not really practical anymore. OTOH, selling a full price $70 game that has basically no local data and must be played on the cloud, is little different than Nintendo selling games like Control as cloud streaming only. You buy it and it'll just disappear when they decide it does.
With this game I understand why it's necessary, but it also makes me reconsider buying at launch as I was considering doing knowing it's still just a rental even if you pay full price. Was going to get on PC for the pending VR rig, but already have 2020 from the summer sale.
I mean, yeah, missing most FF stuff (and other third party stuff) on XB is a huge problem, but, this isn't news of a new release skipping XB, it's a reprint of physical copies of an existing release that happened to skip Xbox. An actual XB release probably will happen eventually, I doubt it costs much to port, so hitting ANY additional audience with games that old is free money. This is the same release that was originally mobile-only and skipped even Switch for ages, inexplicably.
Broadly against the psychological warfare that is modern marketing, and inserting it into paid products, let alone everywhere else.
Also confused as to how advertising is seen as so valuable companies throw so much money at it at all. Marketing budgets are so inflated, to the point that companies make more money selling ad space than actually charging for products. Advertising is massively overvalued and is a massive part of why most goods and services are far overpriced, it's the marketing, not the product, you're buying. (ignoring the PS advertising vs Xbox having none being a problem.)
And surprised that people are taking notice and exception to a McDonald's ad now. I distinctly remember Dorito's ads, Old Spice, Axe, TLoU TV show, all very much not Xbox or gaming related. This isn't new. It's hideous but not new.
@GuyinPA75 I think what I liked about it other than gameplay, and lack of Flood, and that absolutely killer atmosphere, is the different pov of the Halo world. We're used to seeing super-badass MC rampaging through some nameless alien surface blowing everything to kingdom come. Or blasting through Earth once. ODST showed us the universe for "everyone else" that's not a superhuman and dign't get bogged down in the ancient tech ancient conflict mumbo jumbo that went kind of off the rails into self indulgence. In a way it brought it more back to the CE roots in terms of theme and tone.
I's kind of funny Ben mentioned it feeling almost like a horror shooter, considering IIRC this is the only Halo game that does not include zombies lol. Lack of the pace-breaking Flood is one of the reasons I love it, I think. And if they'd added them here it would just have felt like a cheap Half-Life ripoff.
@ParsnipHero I'm sorry, what's a Bungie? Did you mean Spiderman 3 Asset Team #6?
Only in video games and tech is 15 years a "long time"...
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I think ODST is the best game of the Halo franchise. It's maybe hard to compare to the original CE, that's so iconic and is so redefining of a genre. But IMO ODST is better and more memorable than any other Halo. I want ODST2. Or a whole subseries. I never loved Halo again after ODST, it all felt like a letdown.
@datamonkey Even R&C Rift was just smoke and mirrors, not "next gen." Lots of us said at the time it was nothing fancy, just a glorified fast loading screen on an SSD, and people defended how amazingly next gen it was and used The Power of the PS5!(TM).
Then Sony released it on PC. Minimum requirements:
i3 8100
8GB
GTX960
"SSD recommended"
It would have run on an XBone VCR just with longer load screens...........
@OldGamer999 That's just it though, at the present moment in time "games the previous generation couldn't achieve" just isn't a thing anymore. It's largely down to the silicon fab. Even when you look at PCs and the leaps, what we're seeing is that the high end cards, the >$1000 cards, get about a 50% leap every 2-3 years. The mid-range cards, get more like 15%. So it's a good 6-8 years outside the extreme price ranges to get just BELOW double the power. And thew way games work double the power means "barely perceptible improvements."
The very high end keeps getting better and better and better. 4090 is a monster. 5090 should be even more amazing monster. 6090 should be an unimaginable monster. 7090 (which probably will cost close to $3000 by the time it comes out) might even drive dual 8k VR displays at 120fps. Meanwhile 7070 will probably be "runs noticeably better than 4070." It's a weird era where the high bar keep getting higher ,and with it ever more extreme price points to get it. The mid range just sits on a treadmill jogging in place. Consoles are forever stuck on that midrange treadmill unless you want a $1500 console, meanwhile they won't sell at $500
We're at a point where the the main difference between the latest phones and tablets and thin laptops vs a $1600 4090 is basically what resolution it runs and what framerate, and how many shaders and how much RT can be used. Even phones have pretty high levels of geometry and texture support now. Otherwise it's all kind of the same.
The gfx arms race is over. It's dead. There's no wow left. Outside vr there never will be. I think where future "generations" will be able to do something that "couldn't be done" before is in features. Things like requiring an NPU for AI tasks and things. OTOH, none of that "couldn't be done" on a previous gen because there's nothing an NPU can do that a GPU can't do at a slight performance hit to graphics. But like Nvidia and DLSS revisions, they'll keep locking software features behind new hardware paywalls.
Then they'll pat themselves on the back for using eco friendly (aka cheaped out to bare minimum) packaging
@BacklogBrad I totally agree, people keep holding onto "biggest technical leap" quote and I keep trying to remind people. Look what 4090 is. Look what 5090 is expected to be. That's literally the very bast graphics money can buy and technology can produce at sky's the limit any pricepoint and those are $1600, probably $1800-2k for the 5090, just for the GPU. And the consoles are partnered with AMD which already said they're not making a 4090 competitor, they couldn't but it would be cost ineffective. Anyone that thinks a sub-$1k console will even get close to that, they're dreaming. A top of the line 2024 PC will still curb stomp a PS6SY, because there's no way they're approaching even that level at a price anyone will pay.
Technological leap almost certainly means AI, or ARM, or using chiplets instead of monolithic dies, or perfect past gen emulation on an ARM handheld. All of which is a huge technological leap. Most of which isn't marketable in a way consumers will notice or care. AI is actually turning out to be negative marketing with studies showing consumers are more likely to NOT buy something that says AI. I think the AI marketability buzzword will be dead by the time the console launches.
As I jump back toward PC, and as a VR enthusiast probably need to go high end, I'm looking forward to the future of games moving DOWN in the hardware requirements. Maybe get a 4090 and not upgrade until 2034!
@SleeplessKnight I get the "the games sell consoles" bit, to a point, but at the same time it doesn't fit the reality today outside Nintendo, who's somehow managed to build their own little world. But, ignoring XB who "has no games", if we look at PS, their games don't sell amazingly relative to install base. It's the big multiplats that drive the hardware sales mostly today. It's why Sony (and XB probably) needed to extend to PC to get another platform ecosystem for their games, because the 1st party games aren't "must buys" by most hardware owners anymore. They'll sell a few million at best. Unfortunately most console buyers aren't really buying consoles because "Gears 10 and Uncharted 15" are on them. They're buying them because Fortnite water looks glossier on it. Once upon a time FFXVI would have sold to almost everyone that bought a PS5. Today? Eh. It did ok. Very different world. Except Nintendo. IDK how they keep their bubble running. Targeting kids for generations certainly has a lot to do with it though. They get the kids because it's kid friendly and they get the adults that miss being kids.
@OldGamer999 That's the problem with consoles being cheap PCs. There's nothing to show off. The best a console can do on day one is imitate a middle of the road PC. It'll always be inferior to high end PC, and it doesn't have anything unique to it, unlike PS2, PS3, to really pull out amazing tricks that make even high end PC gamers envious. PS2 did that. PS3 did that. But that's now how consoles are built now.
@datamonkey The problem with this gen is, while it never lifted off, PC hardware continued evolving, and devs just seem to target the latest PC hardware. The NV30's launched the same week as the consoles. NV50 is launching soon. The consoles come from the NV20 era, 3 eras behind where hardware will be in 2025. So by the time the gen was ready to "lift off" the hardware was already obsolete and left behind. Launching in 2020 was idiotic. It felt too soon at the time after the mid-gens, and 4 years later, it feels it even more so. They launched another last gen console in 2020 but with an included SSD and less pitious CPU and called it next gen. It's about as next gen as an iPhone 11 vs iPhone 12.
PS5/XSX will be supported long, I think but not as long as PS4 because the install base isn't going to end up nearly as large, I think.
This sounds more software related than hardware design related. Sounds maybe more like DirectX hiring than anything to do with hardware. "working closely with hardware engineers and game devs." Definitely DirectX, or firmware, or drivers or something on that level. "Compression" and "Emulation" being mentioned is interesting. Could be handheld related at least? Or involved in getting gaming to be up to par on ARM?
@Lup I think we really hit the end of "generations" last gen. Consoles are nothing more than really cheap, subsidized gaming PCs now. You buy a new one to upgrade your GPU, not for a new "generation." I imagine XSX/PS5 will be well supported through the PS6 gen. Especially as we've redefined form factor as the most important aspect, with Xbox going head first into handheld, Nintendo restructuring around it, Deck/PC getting a second wind on handheld, and Sony...ok, whatever they're doing. And with game budgets exceeting profitability. Seems like next "gen" will actually be about de-escalating the gfx race and building games around how MANY form factors it can run on rather than pushing state of the art anything. It's really a necessity not a choice at this point for games.
And of course Nvidia will still have a $2000 behemoth of a video card and pump money into a few showcase devs to make it seem worthwhile.
......and then there's us VR fans for whom it will still be inadequate....
@Pabpictu RSR and NIS work at the driver level and are applied to any game as well. It's DLSS and FSR that need to be baked into the game. It's really the same thing as RSR and NIS, except that it works with the Qualcomm SOC's (or Intel for that matter) without needing AMD or Nvidia graphics. Which is a good thing for competition and all, but it's irritating that they tout it as soooo unique.
The one thing you're right about is that it uses the NPU, it's also hair splitting, a bit more power on the GPU to use for RSR/NIS is probably more cost effective than having a whole NPU added, but, again it's useful for the Qualcomm chips, as they do have an NPU and do not have a discrete GPU. For any dedicated gaming build (NeXtBox, or PS build) it's six to one if it goes for adding an NPU for upscaling or just allocates a little more GPU spec for it.
It mostly still comes down to "having upscaling without AMD/Nvidia GPU hardware" being the main benefit. (presumably including Intel Arc, which also is a plus for a number of reasons.)
@Friendly I think that's just a loose wording. It explicitly says stand alone, not a hybrid. The "add-on" verbiage in context doesn't appear to be a literal statement that it's a console peripheral, it means it's not "the console itself" (I.E. not a setup where the handheld is the next Xbox with a powerful dock, it's a separate device from the console.) Also (I didn't watch the original video) but as others are saying the word "add-on" wasn't from the original source.
Whatever will or won't become of Xbox, or even the next main console, I think it's more or less a given that a stand alone native playing handheld is going to happen, along with or before the next console.
I think people are wildly misinterpreting the quote. Xbox pessimism has reached a new level lol. The comments are filled with people talking about a "dockable streaming device"? Nothing in the above talked about a streaming device. It's talking about what we already speculated/had confirmed, there will be 2 consoles, a handheld (portable S) and a power console. Nothing here changes that expectation.
Phil, when asked about that "hypothetical" handheld, as to if they were to do such a thing would it be native or streaming, and he confirmed it would be native - and it has also been compared to Ally etc by Phil in "hypothetical" conversations.
Yeah, there's nothing to trust about what Phil says these days, but when pointedly asked if the hypothetical XB handheld would be streaming or native and he answers native...it kinda answers that. Plus with Fire Stick and the like there's not a purpose to a handheld streaming WiiU.
While we know nothing for certain, it's basically more or less already been confirmed the handheld exists, and plays games natively. What we don't know is what games it plays natively or how it slots into the hardware stack. What we can assume is it's probably a WoA Snapdragon based Ally-like PC that will rely on MS's proprietary AI up-scaling, will probably be less powerful than Ally depending on when it launches, but will probably get gobs more battery than Ally X.
I think people are misinterpereting "add-on" - to mean "Portal-like peripheral". In context of the quote it's saying it's a stand alone device, not a hybrid dockable." I.E. The quote is trying to say it's 2 consoles, not a Switch like dockable hybrid single console. It's not trying to say it's a streaming accessory for XSY.
This is Xbox, they'll find some way to ruin it. They have the Brown Midas Touch. But I think it's still a sure bet it's a native handheld.
My question is: How exactly is this different from AMD RSR and Nvidia NIS?
Of course the answer is: It isn't. The only reason this exists is for the WoA ARM laptops that don't have AMD or Nvidia GPUs to use the former. And MS didn't invent it so it doesn't count. A Microsoft staple since 1992.
@MjJmediablogger There will be one because right now XB still depends on showing GP subscription growth, and if they end the console the majority chunk of their sub numbers vanish overnight. Even a failed next console will lead to less investor hysteria than watching the GP numbers collapse back to 2018 levels. A failed console is just a failed console. Failed GP is the end of MS's entire cloud sub gaming future.
@AverageGamer but Among Us is already on mobile. So is fortnite, warzone, Minecraft. Genshin, honkhai which aren't even on Xbox. Most of these are mobile native games on stores everyone already has, so the question remains, what is supposed to make people want to use the magic Microsoft store with a separate app? That's what they haven't really provided an answer for and seem to think it merely existing will attract people.
@AverageGamer But why make mobile native ports on 2 phone oses of console/PC games that mobile players generally won't play, while also pushing mobile cloud of the same thing while also selling a handheld? And why not just put halo on the app store where people are more likely to buy it than a special store download!
@Markatron84 Even better it looks like the AI bubble just popped and the big tech big AI stocks including MS are getting slaughtered. Buckle up!
@abe_hikura Yeah, exactly, there's no incentive to actually use this app store unless the games are cheaper, rewards are proffered, or they just pull their games from other stores (and I don't see that happening, their revenue would crater.) I get that having a store monopoly on iOS/Android is a big problem and competition needs to exist....but why a Microsoft Games-specific app store? Amazon app store makes more sense given it's about all apps and connects to Amazon and their own devices.
Feels very much like "we have a store too!" I guess achievement connections for some of the smaller indie type games would make a lot of sense.
@AverageGamer Considering they paid $70b for King and own Minecraft, one would think it'll be all about native games.
OTOH, this is Xbox so it's probably just a portal to download the Game Pass app.
This reminds me I need to cancel the renewal on my GS pro as rapidly as possible. I'll be sad when my local GS closes, it's nice having at least a game specific teen apparel store nearby, but....they're pretty rock bottom and GI was the one thing that still gave them a good image.
@Mustoe It's not a matter of snobbery. For the most part CoD players are dedicated CoD players. It's kind of it's own microcosm of the gaming world. People that aren't embedded in CoD just aren't going to care about it (for the most part), people that do, of course it's their "big release."
How has it been 4 years? Seems like just yesterday. We're still waiting fort Starfield to (fully) release. Still waiting for Arka...oh. At least we got Tang.....ohhhh....
I can not answer because the post would be removed due to inappropriate language.
There's really two types of gamers in the world. Gamers that care about CoD (and basically don't care about any other game) and gamers that don't care about CoD (and care about lots of other games.)
If you cared about CoD before now, you probably didn't really care about most of the other games anyway. If you didn't care about CoD before now, it's still non-existent to you now.
Kind of awkward to have such an all or nothing game act as the console's identity.
Great interview. This game is just a good time, beautiful world and design, I just wished it had a bit more "meat" on it, it felt like it abruptly ended way too soon.
Also a better name would be Pixar Souls. The difficulty is seriously way higher than the cute and cheery aesthetic would have you believe.
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@GamingFan4Lyf IDK, I've been running a non-gaming build with 10 fans, using only 3 mobo headers, and the 3rd is only really because of cable management, it would have worked on the 2. Though no doubt, a hub is a lot (lot!) cleaner than the mess of daisy chains and extensions. I bet you'd have been fine ignoring the broken case, but it would have bothered you if you're half as OCD as me
But if it ended up with a GPU upgrade and away from 8GB, it's a net win!
@GamingFan4Lyf Yeah that's kind of the worst case of rotten luck, though still less rotten than DOA motherboard which is still less rotten than "not DOA motherboard that has instability that seems to be windows or random and takes months to even figure out may be a bad mobo, but even then you're not certain and you know they'll never RMA it because it "works' and the only way you'll find out is buy another mobo and transplant everything to find out if that's the source of the problem."
Still, OTOH, what a weird case that even had a fan/rgb controller header onboard....more convenient for cable management (and a bit late now) but why not just use the fan/rgb headers on the mobo anyway?
Dang, most people would be lucky to have a microcenter near them. I also have one an hour away or so - to me I just consider that the Tokyo location and treat it as the same distance. Amazon is a lot closer.
I'm amazed at the pricing you can get prebuilds for these days "Back in our day" DIY was like 30% cheaper than prebuild and better too. These days seems you can get a prebuild cheaper than DIY, or at least close, albeit without the exact parts or specs you want, or some corners cut for a similar but not "as good" a part.
Yeah Micro Center seems really weird to me. What I've seen of them online the fact that they seem like they're just ripped out of the 90's with CompUSA and Computer City (miss those stores dearly) is the part that I actually love about them. And their pricing can be insanely good, and always in-store only. But at the same time, yeah, they have like a dozen locations for the country "conveniently located where you're probably not", and they ship basically nothing. I almost don't know how they stay afloat. Weird store. I want to love them but also can't.
Still that's an awfully discouraging and "return to the 90s" intro to the return to PC.
This generation I feel like BOTH XB and PS are "wait till next year" and pretty sucky if you have it just for exclusives. And I think with both of them that will change only in the latter years of the platform. Sony at a glance seems to have done better, but if you remove all the games they just paid 3rd parties $10 and a pack of gum to ignore Xbox, they haven't had much to show either. Neither company was ready to support a new console these past few years and it shows. By rights we should still be on PS4 Pro X1X and been perfectly happy. This generation was unnecessary. No games in the pipeline to support it properly, and not enough hardware upgrade to allow for really updated games.
@GamingFan4Lyf Whoa you went ahead and did the thing! Nice! Prebuilt though. What will 4chan think?
That sucks about the bad case. There's always that moment of dread when you fire the thing up and hope to not find something defective - and hope to not find it defective on either the case or mobo, the only parts that make you start from zero...
I'll be right behind I think. For the summer I'm mostly playing "handheld" and right now that means it's all PC anyway (Legion/Ally), so only thing left is to do the "big rig." The consoles have lost their magic, that's for sure.
They didn't say anything that Microsoft itself didn't say for a year and a half out loud, through a megaphone to make sure governments pitied them to let them buy ABK...
Inevitably whatever platform has the lowest install base will be one publishers save money skipping unless they can afford to port easily or expect enough sales.
Hyped for Titan Quest 2, that's many many years too late.
Darksiders (2025).....great, another reboot of a milked to death series.
Epic Mickey. That was a great game that shouldn't be lost to time, but....I fail to see how that could really play well without gyros. It was built entirely around the Wiimote.
@InterceptorAlpha Yeah, I use it CONSTANTLY. It's a DeWalt 8v. It looks like they still sell it but, as with everything in the modern world where "progress" does not specify the direction and destination being progressed toward, the current version is worse than the old version, where the driver is the same but it no longer has a clutch. My old one has a 12 position clutch which, I also use all the time. Gutted that I'll lose that whenever I have to replace it.
And this is all really on topic, because when we're talking Xbox, it's really appropriate to be talking about things getting screwed. Especially when trying to remove the back of the Deadpool controller.
@Ralizah Again, disagree. Nintendo's previous generations "small" games felt niche, not filler. The lowest effort game I could think of them having was Yoshi's Cookie on the NES. Switch by contrast is filled by games that feel practically AI generated, while even their "big" games short of Zelda, Odyssey, and Xenoblade feel increasingly simplified.
If they were charging $40, for the "filler" I could see it. The price of a 3DS title? Sure, time to get experimental. But they want AAA money for the small filler, too with a few exceptions. By the price tag they're setting the expectation the game should be treated like any AAA title, and if it falls short, it falls short. Don't want it to be judged as AAA? Don't price it as AAA. Price it there, and it should be judged there. You don't charge $5000 for a Casio watch and then expect people cut it some slack because, hey, it's not an Omega! Only Nintendo gets away with that because its fanbase is exactly the same as Disneys now. The only fundamental truth they understand is how to get into your wallet and stay there.
Also disagree on Alpha Dream. Nintendo was responsible for Alpha Dream's success or failure. They gave them their projects to work on. They just get plausible deniability at excising the losses. No they didn't buy studios just to shut them down. We know that "big corps" buy huge organizations just to obtain certain assets, patents, IPs then dispose of the rest of the company they never wanted to begin with and only bought to get certain properties. Or just to dispose of a competitor. Yes, Nintendo doesn't do that, they're not in a position to do that, and aren't in an industry that really works that way. That's good, but also apples and oranges to compare. Again not praising Microsoft and ABK, or Sony and Konica-Minolta, or Google and...well...everyone.
I do still strongly disagree on the contract situation. Those contractors workers are sent packing whenver a studio finishes or is cancelled by Nintendo just the same as Tango and Bungie. Nintendo just gets to PR distance themselves from it because "hey, wasn't us!" An unknown contractor gets to do it in the shadows. Like hiring a hitman "wasn't me, I didn't hold the weapon!"
The obvious exception is, yes Japan does do business differently, and it may not ALWAYS end that way, but that's not a Nintendo-caused difference.
I'd love to have the Nintendo back that existed between SNES to 3DS, but the Nintendo that has emerged since the Switch is from my perspective fusing very tightly with the mobile model and their output reeks of it. Again, some exceptions. But Nintendo is focused very tightly on what's big in Japan and especially what Japanese kids are into, and, that means mobile. I can understand why they'd chase the feel of mobile for their target audience. And I get why it's popular. But the more "mobile" Nintendo feels, the less satisfying I find most of their output. I'd give it about a dozen games that are big, high quality games worthy of the Nintendo name, and that's better than Sony/MS this gen, but people praise Nintendo too much as a business by just ignoring everywhere they're "modern industry" like everyone else. And people praise too much their filler games that are overpriced and under-quality, if they were any company but Nintendo using any IP but Nintendo (or Disney) IP, those games would not be so well received.
@M20B25 It was one of the very first "indies" - or at least one of the first to become "big". It was among the standouts in the early digital distribution era that made the X360 shine with it's Live Arcade service. A small bite-sized game with simple aesthetics that hearkened back to 16-bit/32-bit consoles was revolutionary at the time when all we had was AAA brown shooters. But it's not 2008 anymore. The indie scene blew up. Digital distribution is normal. And Braid isn't particularly special anymore.
@Mustoe Considering nobody actually buys Xboxen, and Game Pass also lives on PC, I don't really see how Game Pass is affecting the buying habits of the majority of gamers while PC remains the best for sales? There's a lot to criticize about Xbox, but that just comes across as an excuse to take a grumpy pot shot at Game Pass. It's irrelevant here.
@Pabpictu is right on this one, this is an industry problem. Especially a console industry problem. When the market is built around the most heavily marketed pop culture moments, stacked with rapidly increasing prices that change the market from "cheap high value entertainment" to "high cost entertainment", meanwhile other competitive products have moved into its old market that are quite literally "Free, and on a device you already have", why would sales not begin to plummet? Let alone sales of a "remaster" of an already available game that already looks fine, and was only popular because it was innovative 15 years ago, but is now just like hundreds of similar other things that are "newer."
And totally agree that GP was intended as, and should have been, a solution to the financial problems. But for whatever reason the public never embraced it and it's choking on its cost to revenue ratio as a result.
Simplifying it all the real problem in the games industry is a combination of the cost to produce what companies think customers want demands they charge a price higher than the market is willing to pay, and to make it more complicated, the market has now split into a majority unwilling to pay the current high prices frequently, opting instead to not buy at all, or to only buy the very biggest most highly marketed blockbuster evergreen games, and a market that would eagerly pay $500 per game just to get it on launch day. We've almost descended into an era where Neo Geo is the only console.
To simplify further the biggest problem the game industry has is oversupply. There's far too many companies making far too many games and the stores now have far too many games on sale such that the value of games necessarily MUST be radically lowered to App Store proportions. But every company looking to recoup spending far more than the market supports thinks they can get high prices for their work. Take a look at the Steam catalogue and try to identify EVERY game available to purchase. After going through a few thousand, identify why anyone would buy any particular given game? Amidst so much competition, what actual monetary value does any one game really carry? A few bucks maybe? Or free? Like the biggest games?
To "fix" the industry, supply must be radically cut. OPEC style. 3/4 of the current studios ought to be shuttered. Games should be limited to how many can release per year, industry-wide with licenses purchased to be allowed to release a game so that no more than a few release a year, and every game has its time in the spotlight and can command high selling prices. This is the solution Nintendo used with the NES to fix the industry after Atari crashed it because it looked...well....like this.
But obviously that cure may be worse than the illness. Still, as long as there are more games available to buy than anyone could ever even imagine buying, the value of each game isn't really close to what they want to charge. The only other fix is to limit the amount of time a game can be playable before it's "expired" by an authority. Enter subscriptions, GaaS, and "generations."
Greeeat, $70 billion, 2 years waiting for Xbox to stop playing Ace Attorney IRL and start making games, and what do we get? Mobile games. For $20/mo. "Next year"(TM)
Blizzard team to Nadella: "Do you not have phones?"
@Markatron84 LOL those controllers are the most relevant, on-brand, poignant thing Xbox has done this generation. When the closest thing to a brand identity is that Xbox is the a$$ platform, you know you've entered a new era for the medium.
Comments 6,665
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
@Mustoe again I agree, and we agree they're both just as bad, but I think the impression of coming on an Xbox site to badmouth Xbox exclusively creates the impression of console warring in favor of other brands when those brands are in fact also bad. Is not about defending Xbox because others are bad it's about not creating the image that others are good because Xbox is bad. "Xbox bad" instantly reads to most as "ps better".
Re: Take-Two CEO Says 'Rational Decisions' Result In No Day One Xbox Game Pass Releases
@GuyinPA75 Yeah, at the old price I found some value in it. Little gems like little kitty big city I would've have never tried were nice to find. But at the new price I'll cancel. The big Microsoft games will cost about the same if I wait for sales, and heading PC,I probably won't even get it for PC. Way cheaper but again steam and 3rd pay keys mean I'll break even at best but own it, and I'm not playing all the indies much with a huge backlog of bigger games while my indies come mostly down to VR and even meta has an old Gold like sub for $60 a year for that. For me the gp math doesn't add up anymore. It might for PC, but then might as well do sales
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
@Mustoe True to a point but also talking about one in a vacuum like that's the bad one and the others are good ones misses a lot of context
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
@Mustoe I half agree, except when the console alternative is PayStation: For the Payers, feels like kind of a magic coin toss for the biggest tossers really.
There's PC, of course, but then we're the biggest losers. Jensen needs a new $5m leather jacket made of gamer centipede.
Re: Take-Two CEO Says 'Rational Decisions' Result In No Day One Xbox Game Pass Releases
"Rational decisions." BRB, gonna head to a mirror store to pick up Zel's Christmas gift.
Zelnick is the only executive in gaming that actually makes me think "Huh, maybe Kotick wasn't so bad, after all."
I get the business sense behind not being on 3d party subscriptions, but his continuous panning of subscriptions while nearly all his company's revenue comes from GTA5 Online which is, basically, a backdoor subscription model, his hypocritical in the worst of ways. He doesn't mean he's against subs. He means he's running a backdoor sub for a single game and that's more profitable by far than a 3rd party catalog sub.
@cburg "We bought randy Randy!" and "Rational decisions" are two incompatible statements that do not belong in the same boardroom together.
@GuyinPA75 TBF Game Boy Color games are way, way better than most of the paint by numbers AAAAAAAAA games suits like Zelnick sell.
Re: SEGA Confirms Partial Delisting For OG Sonic Generations On Xbox
@Markatron84 People were definitely asking for the remaster. Specifically, shareholders.
The remaster doesn't exist because the game needs to be remastered. The remasters exist because it turns catalogue games into new releases by way of magic.
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
@InvaderFromSpace They put ads into Windows 11's Start Menu, ad didn't back down even with uproar. I don't give it 2 years. Microsoft wants to be Google selling ads through everything.
@Zenszulu " I would be more concerned that the person still has Christmas ornaments under their TV in August."
I mean, you'll just have to put them up again in less than a year. Why bother taking them down?
Re: Microsoft Hiring Engineers To 'Define The Future Of Graphics' On Xbox
@HonestHick Sony from what we've seen is just making their own proprietary upscaling tech to rival NV/AMD. MS is doing that too, but I can guarantee you MS is going to lean HARD into pushing AI/NPU tasks on NeXtbox. Nadella already talked about Minecraft where you ask it how to build the hammer and it shows you, then it can go through your inventory and gather the ingredients etc. Basically AI playing the game for you...the future of gaming is AI driven Let's Plays according to Nadella
But MS will push AI into their hardware and into their game designs very very very hard. Because that's their corporate imperative in all things right now. Only problem is if the industry doesn't adopt that at large they're an island again, and studies show that AI is an anti-marketing term. Markets to investors, but not to consumers who are less likely to buy something if it says AI. And NeXtbox will launch years AFTER the AI hype craze ended. It'll either be revolutionary, or leave Xbox as a pariah chasing corporate's Copilot goals from 4 years back. Gotta go with the pessimism angle when talking MS
70 million? Heck even Sony's struggling to push that these days! And I think Switch 2 will be quite a drop from Switch 1's unlikely success.
That's one theme I see overall is gaming consoles as a concept are just going to be less and less broad a market. The high end shifts to PC, and the masses shift to mobile (or cheap laptops running indie games.) We talk about Xbox and console and all that but I do think the gaming landscape has radically changed, so that there's more types of games that can run on more types of devices, and less of the possible gaming market needs or wants a "box to play games on." It has a market but it's a focused, specific market. Not nearly as big as it used to be.
And I do think XB sees that and tried to get ahead of it, but its right hand and left hand couldn't agree on how to do it so they asked their left foot to try to do it, and then it got tangled, and then Amy Hood just cut it off.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Handheld System Will Sit Alongside 'A Series X Successor'
@HonestHick The hurdle MS really faces is image. I'm confident they can make great hardware, they always make great hardware. Ironically it's the software that usually lets it down, bad policy, and ultimately, the Xbox brand, in the broader gaming market is just associated with "fail" at this point. The mass casuals don't know better, but they do know "PS is what everyone buys", and the Switch market won't change. How does MS change their image from the in the know gaming market from "failure"? It's going to take more than a reboot and a soft launch. They need to indicate they're a totally different organization. But the best they can seem to do is "we're kinda sorta Activision now?"
Re: Review: Kena: Bridge Of Spirits (Xbox) - Slick Combat & Cute Companions Smooth Over Some Rough Spots
Pixar Souls FTW!
Re: Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 Allows You To 'Exit The Plane' And Walk Around
Yeah, not sure how I feel abut this. On one hand with SSD premiums even on PC, it's ridiculous the file sizes games are getting to, and it's not really practical anymore. OTOH, selling a full price $70 game that has basically no local data and must be played on the cloud, is little different than Nintendo selling games like Control as cloud streaming only. You buy it and it'll just disappear when they decide it does.
With this game I understand why it's necessary, but it also makes me reconsider buying at launch as I was considering doing knowing it's still just a rental even if you pay full price. Was going to get on PC for the pending VR rig, but already have 2020 from the summer sale.
Re: Square Enix's Final Fantasy I-VI Collection Returns This October, But Still Not For Xbox
I mean, yeah, missing most FF stuff (and other third party stuff) on XB is a huge problem, but, this isn't news of a new release skipping XB, it's a reprint of physical copies of an existing release that happened to skip Xbox. An actual XB release probably will happen eventually, I doubt it costs much to port, so hitting ANY additional audience with games that old is free money. This is the same release that was originally mobile-only and skipped even Switch for ages, inexplicably.
Maybe it'll be on the xbox mobile store lol.
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
Broadly against the psychological warfare that is modern marketing, and inserting it into paid products, let alone everywhere else.
Also confused as to how advertising is seen as so valuable companies throw so much money at it at all. Marketing budgets are so inflated, to the point that companies make more money selling ad space than actually charging for products. Advertising is massively overvalued and is a massive part of why most goods and services are far overpriced, it's the marketing, not the product, you're buying. (ignoring the PS advertising vs Xbox having none being a problem.)
And surprised that people are taking notice and exception to a McDonald's ad now. I distinctly remember Dorito's ads, Old Spice, Axe, TLoU TV show, all very much not Xbox or gaming related. This isn't new. It's hideous but not new.
Re: Talking Point: Next Month Marks The 15th Anniversary Of Halo's Weirdest Console Release
@Markatron84 In that exact order!
Re: Talking Point: Next Month Marks The 15th Anniversary Of Halo's Weirdest Console Release
@GuyinPA75 I think what I liked about it other than gameplay, and lack of Flood, and that absolutely killer atmosphere, is the different pov of the Halo world. We're used to seeing super-badass MC rampaging through some nameless alien surface blowing everything to kingdom come. Or blasting through Earth once. ODST showed us the universe for "everyone else" that's not a superhuman and dign't get bogged down in the ancient tech ancient conflict mumbo jumbo that went kind of off the rails into self indulgence. In a way it brought it more back to the CE roots in terms of theme and tone.
Re: Talking Point: Next Month Marks The 15th Anniversary Of Halo's Weirdest Console Release
I's kind of funny Ben mentioned it feeling almost like a horror shooter, considering IIRC this is the only Halo game that does not include zombies lol. Lack of the pace-breaking Flood is one of the reasons I love it, I think. And if they'd added them here it would just have felt like a cheap Half-Life ripoff.
@ParsnipHero I'm sorry, what's a Bungie? Did you mean Spiderman 3 Asset Team #6?
Re: Talking Point: Next Month Marks The 15th Anniversary Of Halo's Weirdest Console Release
Only in video games and tech is 15 years a "long time"...
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I think ODST is the best game of the Halo franchise. It's maybe hard to compare to the original CE, that's so iconic and is so redefining of a genre. But IMO ODST is better and more memorable than any other Halo. I want ODST2. Or a whole subseries. I never loved Halo again after ODST, it all felt like a letdown.
Ok...most of it WAS a letdown....
Also Nathan Fillion.
Re: Microsoft Hiring Engineers To 'Define The Future Of Graphics' On Xbox
@datamonkey Even R&C Rift was just smoke and mirrors, not "next gen." Lots of us said at the time it was nothing fancy, just a glorified fast loading screen on an SSD, and people defended how amazingly next gen it was and used The Power of the PS5!(TM).
Then Sony released it on PC. Minimum requirements:
i3 8100
8GB
GTX960
"SSD recommended"
It would have run on an XBone VCR just with longer load screens...........
@OldGamer999 That's just it though, at the present moment in time "games the previous generation couldn't achieve" just isn't a thing anymore. It's largely down to the silicon fab. Even when you look at PCs and the leaps, what we're seeing is that the high end cards, the >$1000 cards, get about a 50% leap every 2-3 years. The mid-range cards, get more like 15%. So it's a good 6-8 years outside the extreme price ranges to get just BELOW double the power. And thew way games work double the power means "barely perceptible improvements."
The very high end keeps getting better and better and better. 4090 is a monster. 5090 should be even more amazing monster. 6090 should be an unimaginable monster. 7090 (which probably will cost close to $3000 by the time it comes out) might even drive dual 8k VR displays at 120fps. Meanwhile 7070 will probably be "runs noticeably better than 4070." It's a weird era where the high bar keep getting higher ,and with it ever more extreme price points to get it. The mid range just sits on a treadmill jogging in place. Consoles are forever stuck on that midrange treadmill unless you want a $1500 console, meanwhile they won't sell at $500
We're at a point where the the main difference between the latest phones and tablets and thin laptops vs a $1600 4090 is basically what resolution it runs and what framerate, and how many shaders and how much RT can be used. Even phones have pretty high levels of geometry and texture support now. Otherwise it's all kind of the same.
The gfx arms race is over. It's dead. There's no wow left. Outside vr there never will be. I think where future "generations" will be able to do something that "couldn't be done" before is in features. Things like requiring an NPU for AI tasks and things. OTOH, none of that "couldn't be done" on a previous gen because there's nothing an NPU can do that a GPU can't do at a slight performance hit to graphics. But like Nvidia and DLSS revisions, they'll keep locking software features behind new hardware paywalls.
Then they'll pat themselves on the back for using eco friendly (aka cheaped out to bare minimum) packaging
Re: Microsoft Hiring Engineers To 'Define The Future Of Graphics' On Xbox
@BacklogBrad I totally agree, people keep holding onto "biggest technical leap" quote and I keep trying to remind people. Look what 4090 is. Look what 5090 is expected to be. That's literally the very bast graphics money can buy and technology can produce at sky's the limit any pricepoint and those are $1600, probably $1800-2k for the 5090, just for the GPU. And the consoles are partnered with AMD which already said they're not making a 4090 competitor, they couldn't but it would be cost ineffective. Anyone that thinks a sub-$1k console will even get close to that, they're dreaming. A top of the line 2024 PC will still curb stomp a PS6SY, because there's no way they're approaching even that level at a price anyone will pay.
Technological leap almost certainly means AI, or ARM, or using chiplets instead of monolithic dies, or perfect past gen emulation on an ARM handheld. All of which is a huge technological leap. Most of which isn't marketable in a way consumers will notice or care. AI is actually turning out to be negative marketing with studies showing consumers are more likely to NOT buy something that says AI. I think the AI marketability buzzword will be dead by the time the console launches.
As I jump back toward PC, and as a VR enthusiast probably need to go high end, I'm looking forward to the future of games moving DOWN in the hardware requirements. Maybe get a 4090 and not upgrade until 2034!
@SleeplessKnight I get the "the games sell consoles" bit, to a point, but at the same time it doesn't fit the reality today outside Nintendo, who's somehow managed to build their own little world. But, ignoring XB who "has no games", if we look at PS, their games don't sell amazingly relative to install base. It's the big multiplats that drive the hardware sales mostly today. It's why Sony (and XB probably) needed to extend to PC to get another platform ecosystem for their games, because the 1st party games aren't "must buys" by most hardware owners anymore. They'll sell a few million at best. Unfortunately most console buyers aren't really buying consoles because "Gears 10 and Uncharted 15" are on them. They're buying them because Fortnite water looks glossier on it. Once upon a time FFXVI would have sold to almost everyone that bought a PS5. Today? Eh. It did ok. Very different world. Except Nintendo. IDK how they keep their bubble running. Targeting kids for generations certainly has a lot to do with it though. They get the kids because it's kid friendly and they get the adults that miss being kids.
Re: Microsoft Hiring Engineers To 'Define The Future Of Graphics' On Xbox
@OldGamer999 That's the problem with consoles being cheap PCs. There's nothing to show off. The best a console can do on day one is imitate a middle of the road PC. It'll always be inferior to high end PC, and it doesn't have anything unique to it, unlike PS2, PS3, to really pull out amazing tricks that make even high end PC gamers envious. PS2 did that. PS3 did that. But that's now how consoles are built now.
@datamonkey The problem with this gen is, while it never lifted off, PC hardware continued evolving, and devs just seem to target the latest PC hardware. The NV30's launched the same week as the consoles. NV50 is launching soon. The consoles come from the NV20 era, 3 eras behind where hardware will be in 2025. So by the time the gen was ready to "lift off" the hardware was already obsolete and left behind. Launching in 2020 was idiotic. It felt too soon at the time after the mid-gens, and 4 years later, it feels it even more so. They launched another last gen console in 2020 but with an included SSD and less pitious CPU and called it next gen. It's about as next gen as an iPhone 11 vs iPhone 12.
PS5/XSX will be supported long, I think but not as long as PS4 because the install base isn't going to end up nearly as large, I think.
Re: Microsoft Hiring Engineers To 'Define The Future Of Graphics' On Xbox
This sounds more software related than hardware design related. Sounds maybe more like DirectX hiring than anything to do with hardware. "working closely with hardware engineers and game devs." Definitely DirectX, or firmware, or drivers or something on that level. "Compression" and "Emulation" being mentioned is interesting. Could be handheld related at least? Or involved in getting gaming to be up to par on ARM?
@Lup I think we really hit the end of "generations" last gen. Consoles are nothing more than really cheap, subsidized gaming PCs now. You buy a new one to upgrade your GPU, not for a new "generation." I imagine XSX/PS5 will be well supported through the PS6 gen. Especially as we've redefined form factor as the most important aspect, with Xbox going head first into handheld, Nintendo restructuring around it, Deck/PC getting a second wind on handheld, and Sony...ok, whatever they're doing. And with game budgets exceeting profitability. Seems like next "gen" will actually be about de-escalating the gfx race and building games around how MANY form factors it can run on rather than pushing state of the art anything. It's really a necessity not a choice at this point for games.
And of course Nvidia will still have a $2000 behemoth of a video card and pump money into a few showcase devs to make it seem worthwhile.
......and then there's us VR fans for whom it will still be inadequate....
Re: Borderlands Described As 'Worst Movie Of The Year' By Harshest Critics
So basically, this is Borderlands, then?
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer Seems Interested In Microsoft's New AI Upscaling Technology
@Pabpictu RSR and NIS work at the driver level and are applied to any game as well. It's DLSS and FSR that need to be baked into the game. It's really the same thing as RSR and NIS, except that it works with the Qualcomm SOC's (or Intel for that matter) without needing AMD or Nvidia graphics. Which is a good thing for competition and all, but it's irritating that they tout it as soooo unique.
The one thing you're right about is that it uses the NPU, it's also hair splitting, a bit more power on the GPU to use for RSR/NIS is probably more cost effective than having a whole NPU added, but, again it's useful for the Qualcomm chips, as they do have an NPU and do not have a discrete GPU. For any dedicated gaming build (NeXtBox, or PS build) it's six to one if it goes for adding an NPU for upscaling or just allocates a little more GPU spec for it.
It mostly still comes down to "having upscaling without AMD/Nvidia GPU hardware" being the main benefit. (presumably including Intel Arc, which also is a plus for a number of reasons.)
Re: Xbox Exec Wants To 'Recreate History' When Bringing Call Of Duty To Game Pass
I read the headline and before reading the article, I knew, I just knew the source had to be Aaron Greenberg. And sure enough...
Nobody else uses hyperbole like "recreate history" when referring to a mundane event like "adding a game to a subscription service."
Re: Rumour: Xbox Handheld System Will Sit Alongside 'A Series X Successor'
@Friendly I think that's just a loose wording. It explicitly says stand alone, not a hybrid. The "add-on" verbiage in context doesn't appear to be a literal statement that it's a console peripheral, it means it's not "the console itself" (I.E. not a setup where the handheld is the next Xbox with a powerful dock, it's a separate device from the console.) Also (I didn't watch the original video) but as others are saying the word "add-on" wasn't from the original source.
Whatever will or won't become of Xbox, or even the next main console, I think it's more or less a given that a stand alone native playing handheld is going to happen, along with or before the next console.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Handheld System Will Sit Alongside 'A Series X Successor'
I think people are wildly misinterpreting the quote. Xbox pessimism has reached a new level lol. The comments are filled with people talking about a "dockable streaming device"? Nothing in the above talked about a streaming device. It's talking about what we already speculated/had confirmed, there will be 2 consoles, a handheld (portable S) and a power console. Nothing here changes that expectation.
Phil, when asked about that "hypothetical" handheld, as to if they were to do such a thing would it be native or streaming, and he confirmed it would be native - and it has also been compared to Ally etc by Phil in "hypothetical" conversations.
Yeah, there's nothing to trust about what Phil says these days, but when pointedly asked if the hypothetical XB handheld would be streaming or native and he answers native...it kinda answers that. Plus with Fire Stick and the like there's not a purpose to a handheld streaming WiiU.
While we know nothing for certain, it's basically more or less already been confirmed the handheld exists, and plays games natively. What we don't know is what games it plays natively or how it slots into the hardware stack. What we can assume is it's probably a WoA Snapdragon based Ally-like PC that will rely on MS's proprietary AI up-scaling, will probably be less powerful than Ally depending on when it launches, but will probably get gobs more battery than Ally X.
I think people are misinterpereting "add-on" - to mean "Portal-like peripheral". In context of the quote it's saying it's a stand alone device, not a hybrid dockable." I.E. The quote is trying to say it's 2 consoles, not a Switch like dockable hybrid single console. It's not trying to say it's a streaming accessory for XSY.
This is Xbox, they'll find some way to ruin it. They have the Brown Midas Touch. But I think it's still a sure bet it's a native handheld.
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer Seems Interested In Microsoft's New AI Upscaling Technology
My question is: How exactly is this different from AMD RSR and Nvidia NIS?
Of course the answer is: It isn't. The only reason this exists is for the WoA ARM laptops that don't have AMD or Nvidia GPUs to use the former. And MS didn't invent it so it doesn't count. A Microsoft staple since 1992.
@MjJmediablogger There will be one because right now XB still depends on showing GP subscription growth, and if they end the console the majority chunk of their sub numbers vanish overnight. Even a failed next console will lead to less investor hysteria than watching the GP numbers collapse back to 2018 levels. A failed console is just a failed console. Failed GP is the end of MS's entire cloud sub gaming future.
Re: Microsoft's Mobile Gaming Store Is Being Tested Internally At Xbox
@AverageGamer but Among Us is already on mobile. So is fortnite, warzone, Minecraft. Genshin, honkhai which aren't even on Xbox. Most of these are mobile native games on stores everyone already has, so the question remains, what is supposed to make people want to use the magic Microsoft store with a separate app? That's what they haven't really provided an answer for and seem to think it merely existing will attract people.
Re: Microsoft's Mobile Gaming Store Is Being Tested Internally At Xbox
@AverageGamer But why make mobile native ports on 2 phone oses of console/PC games that mobile players generally won't play, while also pushing mobile cloud of the same thing while also selling a handheld? And why not just put halo on the app store where people are more likely to buy it than a special store download!
Re: Gamescom 2024: Five Xbox-Related Events You Don't Want To Miss
@Mustoe I asked Copilot+. It told me he's some guy named "Chris Pratt."
Re: Microsoft's Mobile Gaming Store Is Being Tested Internally At Xbox
@Markatron84 Even better it looks like the AI bubble just popped and the big tech big AI stocks including MS are getting slaughtered. Buckle up!
@abe_hikura Yeah, exactly, there's no incentive to actually use this app store unless the games are cheaper, rewards are proffered, or they just pull their games from other stores (and I don't see that happening, their revenue would crater.) I get that having a store monopoly on iOS/Android is a big problem and competition needs to exist....but why a Microsoft Games-specific app store? Amazon app store makes more sense given it's about all apps and connects to Amazon and their own devices.
Feels very much like "we have a store too!" I guess achievement connections for some of the smaller indie type games would make a lot of sense.
@AverageGamer Considering they paid $70b for King and own Minecraft, one would think it'll be all about native games.
OTOH, this is Xbox so it's probably just a portal to download the Game Pass app.
Re: Game Informer's Sudden Closure Is Also Bad News For Dragon Age: The Veilguard
This reminds me I need to cancel the renewal on my GS pro as rapidly as possible. I'll be sad when my local GS closes, it's nice having at least a
game specificteen apparel store nearby, but....they're pretty rock bottom and GI was the one thing that still gave them a good image.Re: Microsoft's Mobile Gaming Store Is Being Tested Internally At Xbox
We need new bingo cards printed.
Re: Talking Point: How Would You Feel If Xbox's Major Fall Release Is Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6?
@Mustoe It's not a matter of snobbery. For the most part CoD players are dedicated CoD players. It's kind of it's own microcosm of the gaming world. People that aren't embedded in CoD just aren't going to care about it (for the most part), people that do, of course it's their "big release."
Re: Next Month, It'll Be Four Years Since Xbox Acquired Bethesda
How has it been 4 years? Seems like just yesterday. We're still waiting fort Starfield to (fully) release. Still waiting for Arka...oh. At least we got Tang.....ohhhh....
Re: Talking Point: How Would You Feel If Xbox's Major Fall Release Is Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6?
I can not answer because the post would be removed due to inappropriate language.
There's really two types of gamers in the world. Gamers that care about CoD (and basically don't care about any other game) and gamers that don't care about CoD (and care about lots of other games.)
If you cared about CoD before now, you probably didn't really care about most of the other games anyway. If you didn't care about CoD before now, it's still non-existent to you now.
Kind of awkward to have such an all or nothing game act as the console's identity.
Re: Interview: Kena: Bridge Of Spirits - Blending Eastern And Western Themes In A New Xbox Adventure
Great interview. This game is just a good time, beautiful world and design, I just wished it had a bit more "meat" on it, it felt like it abruptly ended way too soon.
Also a better name would be Pixar Souls. The difficulty is seriously way higher than the cute and cheery aesthetic would have you believe.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Is Nerfing Its 'Weekly Console Bonus' In The UK
In related news, Microsoft is proud to announce the launch of XboxSucks.com, a site devoted to preaching the truth about how awful the Xbox platform is, and why Playstation is the best console other than Nintendo, both of which are just so much better than the terrible Xbox. Tune in weekly for Aaaron Greenbergs reviews of amazing Nintendo exclusives, while Sarah Bond gives us a tour of her elusive Blue Room dedicated to all things Playstation. Follow us in October as Phil Spencer treats readers to a breakdown of how the PS5 Pro makes Doom: The Dark Ages better than ever. Brought to you by Copilot+, Windows 11, and Amy Hood.
BUY XBOX SERIES X |$499.99|
Re: Xbox Shares Updated Release Schedule For Major Upcoming Games
@GamingFan4Lyf IDK, I've been running a non-gaming build with 10 fans, using only 3 mobo headers, and the 3rd is only really because of cable management, it would have worked on the 2. Though no doubt, a hub is a lot (lot!) cleaner than the mess of daisy chains and extensions. I bet you'd have been fine ignoring the broken case, but it would have bothered you if you're half as OCD as me
But if it ended up with a GPU upgrade and away from 8GB, it's a net win!
Re: Xbox Shares Updated Release Schedule For Major Upcoming Games
@GamingFan4Lyf Yeah that's kind of the worst case of rotten luck, though still less rotten than DOA motherboard which is still less rotten than "not DOA motherboard that has instability that seems to be windows or random and takes months to even figure out may be a bad mobo, but even then you're not certain and you know they'll never RMA it because it "works' and the only way you'll find out is buy another mobo and transplant everything to find out if that's the source of the problem."
Still, OTOH, what a weird case that even had a fan/rgb controller header onboard....more convenient for cable management (and a bit late now) but why not just use the fan/rgb headers on the mobo anyway?
Dang, most people would be lucky to have a microcenter near them. I also have one an hour away or so - to me I just consider that the Tokyo location and treat it as the same distance. Amazon is a lot closer.
I'm amazed at the pricing you can get prebuilds for these days "Back in our day" DIY was like 30% cheaper than prebuild and better too. These days seems you can get a prebuild cheaper than DIY, or at least close, albeit without the exact parts or specs you want, or some corners cut for a similar but not "as good" a part.
Yeah Micro Center seems really weird to me. What I've seen of them online the fact that they seem like they're just ripped out of the 90's with CompUSA and Computer City (miss those stores dearly) is the part that I actually love about them. And their pricing can be insanely good, and always in-store only. But at the same time, yeah, they have like a dozen locations for the country "conveniently located where you're probably not", and they ship basically nothing. I almost don't know how they stay afloat. Weird store. I want to love them but also can't.
Still that's an awfully discouraging and "return to the 90s" intro to the return to PC.
Re: Xbox Shares Updated Release Schedule For Major Upcoming Games
This generation I feel like BOTH XB and PS are "wait till next year" and pretty sucky if you have it just for exclusives. And I think with both of them that will change only in the latter years of the platform. Sony at a glance seems to have done better, but if you remove all the games they just paid 3rd parties $10 and a pack of gum to ignore Xbox, they haven't had much to show either. Neither company was ready to support a new console these past few years and it shows. By rights we should still be on PS4 Pro X1X and been perfectly happy. This generation was unnecessary. No games in the pipeline to support it properly, and not enough hardware upgrade to allow for really updated games.
@GamingFan4Lyf Whoa you went ahead and did the thing! Nice! Prebuilt though. What will 4chan think?
That sucks about the bad case. There's always that moment of dread when you fire the thing up and hope to not find something defective - and hope to not find it defective on either the case or mobo, the only parts that make you start from zero...
I'll be right behind I think. For the summer I'm mostly playing "handheld" and right now that means it's all PC anyway (Legion/Ally), so only thing left is to do the "big rig." The consoles have lost their magic, that's for sure.
Re: Phantom Blade Zero Dev Throws Shade At Xbox Before Studio Issues Statement
They didn't say anything that Microsoft itself didn't say for a year and a half out loud, through a megaphone to make sure governments pitied them to let them buy ABK...
Inevitably whatever platform has the lowest install base will be one publishers save money skipping unless they can afford to port easily or expect enough sales.
Re: Roundup: All The Xbox Reveals From The THQ Nordic Showcase 2024
@ValentineMeikin I thought it was basically considered finished after 3? Then the prequel?
Re: Roundup: All The Xbox Reveals From The THQ Nordic Showcase 2024
Hyped for Titan Quest 2, that's many many years too late.
Darksiders (2025).....great, another reboot of a milked to death series.
Epic Mickey. That was a great game that shouldn't be lost to time, but....I fail to see how that could really play well without gyros. It was built entirely around the Wiimote.
Re: Microsoft Harkens Back To OG Xbox With This New Transparent Xbox Series X|S Controller
@InterceptorAlpha Yeah, I use it CONSTANTLY. It's a DeWalt 8v. It looks like they still sell it but, as with everything in the modern world where "progress" does not specify the direction and destination being progressed toward, the current version is worse than the old version, where the driver is the same but it no longer has a clutch. My old one has a 12 position clutch which, I also use all the time. Gutted that I'll lose that whenever I have to replace it.
And this is all really on topic, because when we're talking Xbox, it's really appropriate to be talking about things getting screwed. Especially when trying to remove the back of the Deadpool controller.
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@Ralizah Again, disagree. Nintendo's previous generations "small" games felt niche, not filler. The lowest effort game I could think of them having was Yoshi's Cookie on the NES. Switch by contrast is filled by games that feel practically AI generated, while even their "big" games short of Zelda, Odyssey, and Xenoblade feel increasingly simplified.
If they were charging $40, for the "filler" I could see it. The price of a 3DS title? Sure, time to get experimental. But they want AAA money for the small filler, too with a few exceptions. By the price tag they're setting the expectation the game should be treated like any AAA title, and if it falls short, it falls short. Don't want it to be judged as AAA? Don't price it as AAA. Price it there, and it should be judged there. You don't charge $5000 for a Casio watch and then expect people cut it some slack because, hey, it's not an Omega! Only Nintendo gets away with that because its fanbase is exactly the same as Disneys now. The only fundamental truth they understand is how to get into your wallet and stay there.
Also disagree on Alpha Dream. Nintendo was responsible for Alpha Dream's success or failure. They gave them their projects to work on. They just get plausible deniability at excising the losses. No they didn't buy studios just to shut them down. We know that "big corps" buy huge organizations just to obtain certain assets, patents, IPs then dispose of the rest of the company they never wanted to begin with and only bought to get certain properties. Or just to dispose of a competitor. Yes, Nintendo doesn't do that, they're not in a position to do that, and aren't in an industry that really works that way. That's good, but also apples and oranges to compare. Again not praising Microsoft and ABK, or Sony and Konica-Minolta, or Google and...well...everyone.
I do still strongly disagree on the contract situation. Those contractors workers are sent packing whenver a studio finishes or is cancelled by Nintendo just the same as Tango and Bungie. Nintendo just gets to PR distance themselves from it because "hey, wasn't us!" An unknown contractor gets to do it in the shadows. Like hiring a hitman "wasn't me, I didn't hold the weapon!"
The obvious exception is, yes Japan does do business differently, and it may not ALWAYS end that way, but that's not a Nintendo-caused difference.
I'd love to have the Nintendo back that existed between SNES to 3DS, but the Nintendo that has emerged since the Switch is from my perspective fusing very tightly with the mobile model and their output reeks of it. Again, some exceptions. But Nintendo is focused very tightly on what's big in Japan and especially what Japanese kids are into, and, that means mobile. I can understand why they'd chase the feel of mobile for their target audience. And I get why it's popular. But the more "mobile" Nintendo feels, the less satisfying I find most of their output. I'd give it about a dozen games that are big, high quality games worthy of the Nintendo name, and that's better than Sony/MS this gen, but people praise Nintendo too much as a business by just ignoring everywhere they're "modern industry" like everyone else. And people praise too much their filler games that are overpriced and under-quality, if they were any company but Nintendo using any IP but Nintendo (or Disney) IP, those games would not be so well received.
Re: Braid: Anniversary Edition 'Sold Like Dogs**t', Says Creator
@M20B25 It was one of the very first "indies" - or at least one of the first to become "big". It was among the standouts in the early digital distribution era that made the X360 shine with it's Live Arcade service. A small bite-sized game with simple aesthetics that hearkened back to 16-bit/32-bit consoles was revolutionary at the time when all we had was AAA brown shooters. But it's not 2008 anymore. The indie scene blew up. Digital distribution is normal. And Braid isn't particularly special anymore.
Re: Braid: Anniversary Edition 'Sold Like Dogs**t', Says Creator
@Mustoe Considering nobody actually buys Xboxen, and Game Pass also lives on PC, I don't really see how Game Pass is affecting the buying habits of the majority of gamers while PC remains the best for sales? There's a lot to criticize about Xbox, but that just comes across as an excuse to take a grumpy pot shot at Game Pass. It's irrelevant here.
@Pabpictu is right on this one, this is an industry problem. Especially a console industry problem. When the market is built around the most heavily marketed pop culture moments, stacked with rapidly increasing prices that change the market from "cheap high value entertainment" to "high cost entertainment", meanwhile other competitive products have moved into its old market that are quite literally "Free, and on a device you already have", why would sales not begin to plummet? Let alone sales of a "remaster" of an already available game that already looks fine, and was only popular because it was innovative 15 years ago, but is now just like hundreds of similar other things that are "newer."
And totally agree that GP was intended as, and should have been, a solution to the financial problems. But for whatever reason the public never embraced it and it's choking on its cost to revenue ratio as a result.
Simplifying it all the real problem in the games industry is a combination of the cost to produce what companies think customers want demands they charge a price higher than the market is willing to pay, and to make it more complicated, the market has now split into a majority unwilling to pay the current high prices frequently, opting instead to not buy at all, or to only buy the very biggest most highly marketed blockbuster evergreen games, and a market that would eagerly pay $500 per game just to get it on launch day. We've almost descended into an era where Neo Geo is the only console.
To simplify further the biggest problem the game industry has is oversupply. There's far too many companies making far too many games and the stores now have far too many games on sale such that the value of games necessarily MUST be radically lowered to App Store proportions. But every company looking to recoup spending far more than the market supports thinks they can get high prices for their work. Take a look at the Steam catalogue and try to identify EVERY game available to purchase. After going through a few thousand, identify why anyone would buy any particular given game? Amidst so much competition, what actual monetary value does any one game really carry? A few bucks maybe? Or free? Like the biggest games?
To "fix" the industry, supply must be radically cut. OPEC style. 3/4 of the current studios ought to be shuttered. Games should be limited to how many can release per year, industry-wide with licenses purchased to be allowed to release a game so that no more than a few release a year, and every game has its time in the spotlight and can command high selling prices. This is the solution Nintendo used with the NES to fix the industry after Atari crashed it because it looked...well....like this.
But obviously that cure may be worse than the illness. Still, as long as there are more games available to buy than anyone could ever even imagine buying, the value of each game isn't really close to what they want to charge. The only other fix is to limit the amount of time a game can be playable before it's "expired" by an authority. Enter subscriptions, GaaS, and "generations."
Re: Report: Xbox Has Formed A New Team To Build 'Games Based On Existing IP' At Blizzard
Greeeat, $70 billion, 2 years waiting for Xbox to stop playing Ace Attorney IRL and start making games, and what do we get? Mobile games. For $20/mo. "Next year"(TM)
Blizzard team to Nadella: "Do you not have phones?"
Re: Microsoft Announces Xbox Series X|S Price Increase For Japan
@Markatron84 LOL those controllers are the most relevant, on-brand, poignant thing Xbox has done this generation. When the closest thing to a brand identity is that Xbox is the a$$ platform, you know you've entered a new era for the medium.
And they charge more for it....