@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.
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.
@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.
I would say, Nintendo is "cleverer" than their peers, not necessarily that they're cleaner. Nintendo wrote the book on sketchy business before Silicon Valley was a thing. I never take anything they do at face value, albeit, Iwata was special, and his era marked a very different Nintendo.
Although I think we get divided into a camp where you think the current Nintendo generation is best ever and I think I'd count maybe 8 games that I feel are stand out games, while the rest became a soulless formulaic copy paste horror show indicating the point where Nintendo became a mobile developer. That's not to say that they have NO great games this gen, but I just don't get the hype.The catalogue on any other Nintendo system except the N64 seems so much more diverse and vibrant. I'd even take the Wii library which I thought I'd never say. And when the Switch launched I was 400% into it and thought it would be the best Nintendo ever. I ended up disappointed, and did not anticipate that.
That doesn't excuse Microsoft's own horror show, mind you. Or Sony's. But I can't say I have a great feeling about any of the big 3 this gen. Nintendo became a mobile dev, Microsoft half finishes everything and releases it 2 years late, and Sony just markets slop with so much budget people eventually believe it's good. But to me, Switch is the platform of choice for anybody that likes to paint everything in their home beige, and will argue that bisque does not count as beige.
Nintendo's selling better, and managing money better, that's one thing no one can take away from them. Of course it's also because they've perfected ensuring no value is on offer and every potential penny is extracted while also not looking like Dr. Evil while doing so to the masses.
@Ralizah I'd somewhat disagree or counter some of that.
Nintendo does maintain a consistent schedule of exclusives (except when they don't), however they do so by introducing a lot of very small "filler" projects, which are of a level of simplicity that would not pass on any other platform but theirs and mobile, due to their Disney-like fan cultivation, while also charging the same price as major releases for them. I.E. The Nintendo method there is not available to competitors.
Yes, Nintendo doesn't buy and close developers all the time -DIRECTLY, but the implication they simply never cancel projects or teams that suggests isn't true. As their "studios" are not studios but rather management power teams that lead an outside contract pool of development, they can shutter projects entirely, and the staff isn't "Nintendo" staff that gets left behind. EG the Metroid Prime 4 original team went SOMEWHERE when the project died. Alpha Dream "shut down" but as they were "independent" they just closed and weren't shut by Nintendo. Except they were basically only independent on paper. Nintendo's not as squeaky clean as their optics portray.
True about hardware prices, though a difference is Sony/MS generally subsidize hardware at launch and make thin margins, while Nintendo charges for profit from the start. Maybe a better strategy, may look better, but again, it's not altruism, it's that they started higher margin to begin with. And Nintendo is cautious with trends. They get led by the bubbles too, they just hold back a generation before doing it to let everyone else take the falls first and use the lessons so they don't have to.
And as above, NINTENDO isn't laying off hundreds or thousands becaus they never bothered hiring them to begin with. They third party contracted them so that when a project is cancelled, or even releases, "Nintendo" never lays everyone off. They end the contract. What the contractor does with the employees no longer needed, well, insert Reggie "Not my problem" GIF.
This shall net them an extra $8000 a year in margin, while also cutting sales of near-zero down under the rounding error of margin so we can just call it zero no. Amy should be proud. I did not think there was a way to sell even less consoles, but they're inventing ways where business school says they should not exist. Microsoft. Innovation.
At this point Microsoft and AMD should cut their losses and just send everyone that bought an Xbox Series a free 6700XT and a box of caramels.
The major redemption arc of Xbox this past decade has been Phil rebuilding Japanese relationships and starting to get Xbox on parity with PS with Japanese games, which makes up probably 75% of all games I play. This rapid transition from that Xbox to this new corporate Nadella-run Xbox just over a few months has turned Xbox into the exact same call of duty box I'd ignored for half of the last generation. We had to live through Jim turning PS into a loathsome product and now get to see Satya do the same to Xbox. I should not feel better about my freaking Meta device than my Xbox or Playstation, but here we are.
@x3King84 @PsBoxSwitchOwner Phil put on a good show at "e3"/SGF and I really thought maybe things were better than we thought and he's really still energized. Right now I'm thinking Phil "retires" Jan/Feb. And Sarah won't be far behind. Their jobs must be miserable now.
@themightyant I picture Amy slapping the ruler on her desk every time Phil or Sarah say anything that sounds like it would make Xbox a desirable product. I swear they just have the AI running the company now using only the instruction of "find the highest margin solution."
@Markatron84 You forgot: "Nobody else is buying our subscription" Raise the price!
@Fiendish-Beaver @Mustoe Yep. Matrick's corporate Windows Xbox one was a joke I laughed at and bought a PS4. Phil came in and turned Xbox around, and the semi-independent Xbox under him was the platform we all loved. The underdog made for us. Ever since the new year it's been crystal clear he's no longer running the show and we're back to the corporate Xbox, and the corporate Xbox just sucks. Always has. I always thought the day Phil leaves is the day the Xbox ride ends and suits take over, but I must say it happened sooner and more spectacularly than I'd imagined, with Phil being silenced but present instead of leaving. (yet.)
@HotGoomba Yeah, Nintendo gets a free pass too often for "nintendo doesn't have these kind of problems" and "Nintendo plans so perfectly and isn't closing studios" but it's not really true. Nintendo's setup is a little too shiny really, they avoid the problems by simply never having staff to begin with. Most of their "studios" consist of the core team/team leads/management-only. Then the actual work is all contracts to outside companies. Thus the work conditions, employee issues etc are never "Nintendo". And they never close studios because....they just expired a contract. Who knows what happens on the other side of that contract. They always smell like a rose.
@Jenkinss I see what you mean about sentiment vs sales, but still, back in December they couldn't give xsx away. Things seemed very opposite of good even before the PS5 announcement. And again I'm pretty sure the fact that the can't give away xsx is why they went with the PS5 plan. Clearly something went really wrong before that announcement. It's just the core fan conversation couldn't even pretend after that.
@HotGoomba true though Nintendo is almost entirely outsourced. Takehashi says if you include all their outsource they're about as big as Ubisoft. And Ubisoft is ginormous.
It's actually a pretty cool screwdriver, a rare practical use of gyros and accelerometers, twist motion left or right just once and it continues spinning at that speed, twist back and it slows, stops, reverses like a manual driver but then keeps going. Amazing little thing for quickly removing or inserting screws one handed.
@OldGamer999 Yeah, I think they're stuck in a multi-pronged hole. They're not really winning in console due to their own mistakes along the years, and it's a market that's shrinking, not growing, so I understand them not wanting to invest too heavily into it. Yet their subscription model depends on captive customers, and it's only going to be so popular on PC where there's Steam to compete with, mobile clearly has no interest, and I'm not convinced the cloud/TV market will be buying in in the kind of numbers they wanted because that market's mostly going to be very casual, and non-commital to recurring fees. Otherwise they'd own consoles. So their console base is really the only locked audience primed for gaming subscriptions. They're stuck with it even if they wish they weren't, unless they make a breakthrough in getting GP on PS/NSW, or (probably more likely) get bulk/wholesale contracts to get it bundled with cable packages, TV streaming packages etc (Xfinity including Game Pass, Netflix Ultra with Game Pass or something. I could see that being the ultimate future of Game Pass. And just like the Oprah Winfrey Network, you get to pay for it whether you want to or not because it's part of your streaming/cable bill. No Oprah? No football. So you have to buy Oprah. It would make sense operating like a tv network sub.
Beryllium: Clearly you do not understand marketing. Especially marketing expensive Rolex associated things to rich people seeking status without a lick of sense. See also: Apple.
@OldGamer999 Despite my pessimism on Xbox, I 100% guarantee there will be at lest ONE more generation of set top hardware (or Nintendo-style dockable hybrid but more powerful.)
Why? Because most of their GP subs still depend on it, and they need to maintain those numbers for investors and for further contract negotiation with streaming stick partners.
Also to assist in pushing Copilot AI into people's lives - it will guaranteed heavily leverage (read: Force it upon you at every single trigger pull whether you want it or not), because the whole company is bet on Copilot now, and nobody actually uses it or probably ever will.
So there will be another Xbox, worry not. Whether it will be a good console or not, or whether the brand will make the new box as popular as Copilot itself or not, is another matter.
All 3 suck: I think some of it is the state of the tech business. Or business in general. Or investment banking. Or something. Did you see Logitech's CEO propose with a straight face the "forever mouse" that will carry a subscription to make it profitable because it will be such excessive design, while she compared it to a Rolex? There is some sort of mental health issue that has spread among corporate CEOs. They all have suffered brain damage of some sort. Maybe there was a Russian attack at the last Bilderberg conference that released a nerve gas to make them all go mad? Who in their right mind would buy a MOUSE that comes with a subscription monthly to use your MOUSE?! Even an exotic top of the line gaming mouse is like $150 tops. Me and @HonestHick are two of the most obsessive input device connoisseurs on earth. I would not buy a $10/mo mouse or controller even if the thing were made out of solid Beryllium and the sticks worked on a psychic interface.
@RentedPanda "Looking forward to the eventual release of Fable: The Story of Xbox Project Planning"
But when will Game Pass Standard subscribers get to play it?
@OldGamer999 I figure they're either thinking there's no use having the quarter to themselves if they could save that to be able to interfere with Sony's big games marketing, or they're thinking CoD is going to sell soooooooooo many consoles and subs, can't have everything up next to CoD because they don't understand their own market. Or Indy isn't delayed, in which case I can kind of see CoD+Indy not wanting to stack it with Avowed so all the GP releases happen at once and cannibalize the marketing. It COULD be a sensible decision. We just don't trust them to make those so we assume it's not.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner I mean, they did say it would launch on The World's Most Powerful Console, didn't they? Not their fault if that's the PS5 Pro. Gotta keep the promise!
@GuyinPA75 Cloud cloud cloud was almost fine. The problem is his single track mind switched to AI AI AI, and then it became "local AI, local AI, local AI." The tech doesn't even have a known demand or use case yet, just theoretical "if IA becomes local corporations that don't allow cloud AI due to confidentiality issues will use AI."
In his single focus on AI/local AI and hoping it's ahead of the curve, he forgot about everything else including cloud, on top of it, which is why Azure is shrinking despite being the actual backbone of OpenAI!
Call of Duty Call of Duty Call of Duty Call of Duty?
Just making sure I have this right.
In fairness to MS, Nintendo held Pikmin 4 for like 6 years just to get the optimum release timing, and they do that regularly, so it's not like it's an uncommon thing in the business, but, MS coming off "xbox has no games (yet) (again)" and finally having a heavy release schedule coming up, that just feels dumb.
Strategically for them it makes sense, Sony's got nothing either, and MS needs to reserve their games for when Sony starts releasing something that isn't Concord which will mostly compete with Redfall for player base. But the whole generation from MS has been waiting for tomorrow. Meanwhile Sony was basically the same but with better optics because they had a few late PS4 games to release in PS5's window, and moneyhatted some Square stuff.
The real problem here is what little sales Series was going to have this holiday evaporates without any of their big games, unless Indy will release on time and will carry the holiday (and Call of Duty, Call of Duty, Call of Duty, which will still sell better on PS anyway.)
@Jenkinss Wait...when was Xbox firing on all cylinders in December? They couldn't sell the Series X for $350 bundled with Diablo IV. Which is, I'm, pretty sure why they started putting games on PS5 to begin with. As much grief as I give Xbox for their behavior, the market was pretty loud and clear: "
We won't even take these things for a burrito and a pack of gum." And I doubt the wider market that makes up most of their customer base even heard of he whole PS5 debacle.
I'm not saying that's helped or that the conversation of those "in the know" didn't change, but I think the platform's problems were well entrenched before that, which is what led to that to begin with. If it was selling well in December, I doubt the PS5 thing would have happened, or at least wouldn't have happened when it did, the way it did.
TBH I think the downward trend started after Redfall. Phil's dejected "we lost the console war" interview IMO was stark. Internally I think it already was a write-off at that point.
Edit: What's really amazing is that Meta Quest is actually growing faster than Xbox while Xbox shrinks and Quest 3 is outperforming expectations. Imagine the day when a VR-only platform starts outperforming a legacy console. Well, at least Microsoft has Flight Sim and Skyrim VR. Things are looking up.
Comments 6,846
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.
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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....
Re: Microsoft Announces Xbox Series X|S Price Increase For Japan
@x3King84 Japan is the trial market, we'll see how it goes there.
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
I would say, Nintendo is "cleverer" than their peers, not necessarily that they're cleaner. Nintendo wrote the book on sketchy business before Silicon Valley was a thing. I never take anything they do at face value, albeit, Iwata was special, and his era marked a very different Nintendo.
Although I think we get divided into a camp where you think the current Nintendo generation is best ever and I think I'd count maybe 8 games that I feel are stand out games, while the rest became a soulless formulaic copy paste horror show indicating the point where Nintendo became a mobile developer. That's not to say that they have NO great games this gen, but I just don't get the hype.The catalogue on any other Nintendo system except the N64 seems so much more diverse and vibrant. I'd even take the Wii library which I thought I'd never say. And when the Switch launched I was 400% into it and thought it would be the best Nintendo ever. I ended up disappointed, and did not anticipate that.
That doesn't excuse Microsoft's own horror show, mind you. Or Sony's. But I can't say I have a great feeling about any of the big 3 this gen. Nintendo became a mobile dev, Microsoft half finishes everything and releases it 2 years late, and Sony just markets slop with so much budget people eventually believe it's good. But to me, Switch is the platform of choice for anybody that likes to paint everything in their home beige, and will argue that bisque does not count as beige.
Nintendo's selling better, and managing money better, that's one thing no one can take away from them. Of course it's also because they've perfected ensuring no value is on offer and every potential penny is extracted while also not looking like Dr. Evil while doing so to the masses.
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@Ralizah I'd somewhat disagree or counter some of that.
Nintendo does maintain a consistent schedule of exclusives (except when they don't), however they do so by introducing a lot of very small "filler" projects, which are of a level of simplicity that would not pass on any other platform but theirs and mobile, due to their Disney-like fan cultivation, while also charging the same price as major releases for them. I.E. The Nintendo method there is not available to competitors.
Yes, Nintendo doesn't buy and close developers all the time -DIRECTLY, but the implication they simply never cancel projects or teams that suggests isn't true. As their "studios" are not studios but rather management power teams that lead an outside contract pool of development, they can shutter projects entirely, and the staff isn't "Nintendo" staff that gets left behind. EG the Metroid Prime 4 original team went SOMEWHERE when the project died. Alpha Dream "shut down" but as they were "independent" they just closed and weren't shut by Nintendo. Except they were basically only independent on paper. Nintendo's not as squeaky clean as their optics portray.
True about hardware prices, though a difference is Sony/MS generally subsidize hardware at launch and make thin margins, while Nintendo charges for profit from the start. Maybe a better strategy, may look better, but again, it's not altruism, it's that they started higher margin to begin with. And Nintendo is cautious with trends. They get led by the bubbles too, they just hold back a generation before doing it to let everyone else take the falls first and use the lessons so they don't have to.
And as above, NINTENDO isn't laying off hundreds or thousands becaus they never bothered hiring them to begin with. They third party contracted them so that when a project is cancelled, or even releases, "Nintendo" never lays everyone off. They end the contract. What the contractor does with the employees no longer needed, well, insert Reggie "Not my problem" GIF.
Re: Microsoft Announces Xbox Series X|S Price Increase For Japan
Wow. Just wow. Just....oh my !%#^#-ing wow.
This shall net them an extra $8000 a year in margin, while also cutting sales of near-zero down under the rounding error of margin so we can just call it zero no. Amy should be proud. I did not think there was a way to sell even less consoles, but they're inventing ways where business school says they should not exist. Microsoft. Innovation.
At this point Microsoft and AMD should cut their losses and just send everyone that bought an Xbox Series a free 6700XT and a box of caramels.
The major redemption arc of Xbox this past decade has been Phil rebuilding Japanese relationships and starting to get Xbox on parity with PS with Japanese games, which makes up probably 75% of all games I play. This rapid transition from that Xbox to this new corporate Nadella-run Xbox just over a few months has turned Xbox into the exact same call of duty box I'd ignored for half of the last generation. We had to live through Jim turning PS into a loathsome product and now get to see Satya do the same to Xbox. I should not feel better about my freaking Meta device than my Xbox or Playstation, but here we are.
@x3King84 @PsBoxSwitchOwner Phil put on a good show at "e3"/SGF and I really thought maybe things were better than we thought and he's really still energized. Right now I'm thinking Phil "retires" Jan/Feb. And Sarah won't be far behind. Their jobs must be miserable now.
@themightyant I picture Amy slapping the ruler on her desk every time Phil or Sarah say anything that sounds like it would make Xbox a desirable product. I swear they just have the AI running the company now using only the instruction of "find the highest margin solution."
@Markatron84 You forgot: "Nobody else is buying our subscription"
Raise the price!
Re: Xbox Exec 'Recommends' Tuning Into Gamescom Opening Night Live Later This Month
@Fiendish-Beaver @Mustoe Yep. Matrick's corporate Windows Xbox one was a joke I laughed at and bought a PS4. Phil came in and turned Xbox around, and the semi-independent Xbox under him was the platform we all loved. The underdog made for us. Ever since the new year it's been crystal clear he's no longer running the show and we're back to the corporate Xbox, and the corporate Xbox just sucks. Always has. I always thought the day Phil leaves is the day the Xbox ride ends and suits take over, but I must say it happened sooner and more spectacularly than I'd imagined, with Phil being silenced but present instead of leaving. (yet.)
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@HotGoomba Yeah, Nintendo gets a free pass too often for "nintendo doesn't have these kind of problems" and "Nintendo plans so perfectly and isn't closing studios" but it's not really true. Nintendo's setup is a little too shiny really, they avoid the problems by simply never having staff to begin with. Most of their "studios" consist of the core team/team leads/management-only. Then the actual work is all contracts to outside companies. Thus the work conditions, employee issues etc are never "Nintendo". And they never close studios because....they just expired a contract. Who knows what happens on the other side of that contract. They always smell like a rose.
Re: Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft
@Jenkinss I see what you mean about sentiment vs sales, but still, back in December they couldn't give xsx away. Things seemed very opposite of good even before the PS5 announcement. And again I'm pretty sure the fact that the can't give away xsx is why they went with the PS5 plan. Clearly something went really wrong before that announcement. It's just the core fan conversation couldn't even pretend after that.
Re: Microsoft CEO Reassures Investors That Xbox Is Focused On Console, PC And Mobile
@IOI and Hololens, and Windows Mixed Reality...
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@HotGoomba true though Nintendo is almost entirely outsourced. Takehashi says if you include all their outsource they're about as big as Ubisoft. And Ubisoft is ginormous.
Re: Microsoft Harkens Back To OG Xbox With This New Transparent Xbox Series X|S Controller
@InterceptorAlpha 😂
It's actually a pretty cool screwdriver, a rare practical use of gyros and accelerometers, twist motion left or right just once and it continues spinning at that speed, twist back and it slows, stops, reverses like a manual driver but then keeps going. Amazing little thing for quickly removing or inserting screws one handed.
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@armondo36 I think Square-Enix holds that record.
@OldGamer999 Yeah, I think they're stuck in a multi-pronged hole. They're not really winning in console due to their own mistakes along the years, and it's a market that's shrinking, not growing, so I understand them not wanting to invest too heavily into it. Yet their subscription model depends on captive customers, and it's only going to be so popular on PC where there's Steam to compete with, mobile clearly has no interest, and I'm not convinced the cloud/TV market will be buying in in the kind of numbers they wanted because that market's mostly going to be very casual, and non-commital to recurring fees. Otherwise they'd own consoles. So their console base is really the only locked audience primed for gaming subscriptions. They're stuck with it even if they wish they weren't, unless they make a breakthrough in getting GP on PS/NSW, or (probably more likely) get bulk/wholesale contracts to get it bundled with cable packages, TV streaming packages etc (Xfinity including Game Pass, Netflix Ultra with Game Pass or something. I could see that being the ultimate future of Game Pass. And just like the Oprah Winfrey Network, you get to pay for it whether you want to or not because it's part of your streaming/cable bill. No Oprah? No football. So you have to buy Oprah. It would make sense operating like a tv network sub.
Beryllium: Clearly you do not understand marketing. Especially marketing expensive Rolex associated things to rich people seeking status without a lick of sense. See also: Apple.
Re: Microsoft Harkens Back To OG Xbox With This New Transparent Xbox Series X|S Controller
@HonestHick I still have an honest to goodness Wavebird!
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@OldGamer999 Despite my pessimism on Xbox, I 100% guarantee there will be at lest ONE more generation of set top hardware (or Nintendo-style dockable hybrid but more powerful.)
Why? Because most of their GP subs still depend on it, and they need to maintain those numbers for investors and for further contract negotiation with streaming stick partners.
Also to assist in pushing Copilot AI into people's lives - it will guaranteed heavily leverage (read: Force it upon you at every single trigger pull whether you want it or not), because the whole company is bet on Copilot now, and nobody actually uses it or probably ever will.
So there will be another Xbox, worry not. Whether it will be a good console or not, or whether the brand will make the new box as popular as Copilot itself or not, is another matter.
All 3 suck: I think some of it is the state of the tech business. Or business in general. Or investment banking. Or something. Did you see Logitech's CEO propose with a straight face the "forever mouse" that will carry a subscription to make it profitable because it will be such excessive design, while she compared it to a Rolex? There is some sort of mental health issue that has spread among corporate CEOs. They all have suffered brain damage of some sort. Maybe there was a Russian attack at the last Bilderberg conference that released a nerve gas to make them all go mad? Who in their right mind would buy a MOUSE that comes with a subscription monthly to use your MOUSE?! Even an exotic top of the line gaming mouse is like $150 tops. Me and @HonestHick are two of the most obsessive input device connoisseurs on earth. I would not buy a $10/mo mouse or controller even if the thing were made out of solid Beryllium and the sticks worked on a psychic interface.
Re: PowerWash Simulator's Next Crossover Teased As Free Summer Update Arrives On Xbox
@Vordus LOL, that's probably the best description!
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@RentedPanda "Looking forward to the eventual release of Fable: The Story of Xbox Project Planning"
But when will Game Pass Standard subscribers get to play it?
@OldGamer999 I figure they're either thinking there's no use having the quarter to themselves if they could save that to be able to interfere with Sony's big games marketing, or they're thinking CoD is going to sell soooooooooo many consoles and subs, can't have everything up next to CoD because they don't understand their own market. Or Indy isn't delayed, in which case I can kind of see CoD+Indy not wanting to stack it with Avowed so all the GP releases happen at once and cannibalize the marketing. It COULD be a sensible decision. We just don't trust them to make those so we assume it's not.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner I mean, they did say it would launch on The World's Most Powerful Console, didn't they? Not their fault if that's the PS5 Pro. Gotta keep the promise!
Re: Microsoft CEO Reassures Investors That Xbox Is Focused On Console, PC And Mobile
@GuyinPA75 Cloud cloud cloud was almost fine. The problem is his single track mind switched to AI AI AI, and then it became "local AI, local AI, local AI." The tech doesn't even have a known demand or use case yet, just theoretical "if IA becomes local corporations that don't allow cloud AI due to confidentiality issues will use AI."
In his single focus on AI/local AI and hoping it's ahead of the curve, he forgot about everything else including cloud, on top of it, which is why Azure is shrinking despite being the actual backbone of OpenAI!
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
@armondo36 Come on, that's not fair, Windows 95 was CLEARLY targeted for a 1996 release from the beginning.
Re: Xbox First-Party RPG Avowed Reportedly Delayed Until Early 2025
So, the reason for the delay is......
Call of Duty
Call of Duty
Call of Duty
Call of Duty?
Just making sure I have this right.
In fairness to MS, Nintendo held Pikmin 4 for like 6 years just to get the optimum release timing, and they do that regularly, so it's not like it's an uncommon thing in the business, but, MS coming off "xbox has no games (yet) (again)" and finally having a heavy release schedule coming up, that just feels dumb.
Strategically for them it makes sense, Sony's got nothing either, and MS needs to reserve their games for when Sony starts releasing something that isn't Concord which will mostly compete with Redfall for player base. But the whole generation from MS has been waiting for tomorrow. Meanwhile Sony was basically the same but with better optics because they had a few late PS4 games to release in PS5's window, and moneyhatted some Square stuff.
The real problem here is what little sales Series was going to have this holiday evaporates without any of their big games, unless Indy will release on time and will carry the holiday (and Call of Duty, Call of Duty, Call of Duty, which will still sell better on PS anyway.)
Re: Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft
@Jenkinss Wait...when was Xbox firing on all cylinders in December? They couldn't sell the Series X for $350 bundled with Diablo IV. Which is, I'm, pretty sure why they started putting games on PS5 to begin with. As much grief as I give Xbox for their behavior, the market was pretty loud and clear: "
We won't even take these things for a burrito and a pack of gum." And I doubt the wider market that makes up most of their customer base even heard of he whole PS5 debacle.
I'm not saying that's helped or that the conversation of those "in the know" didn't change, but I think the platform's problems were well entrenched before that, which is what led to that to begin with. If it was selling well in December, I doubt the PS5 thing would have happened, or at least wouldn't have happened when it did, the way it did.
TBH I think the downward trend started after Redfall. Phil's dejected "we lost the console war" interview IMO was stark. Internally I think it already was a write-off at that point.
Edit: What's really amazing is that Meta Quest is actually growing faster than Xbox while Xbox shrinks and Quest 3 is outperforming expectations. Imagine the day when a VR-only platform starts outperforming a legacy console. Well, at least Microsoft has Flight Sim and Skyrim VR. Things are looking up.