Ralizah

I just skipped it. Keighley's events always suck. If E3 doesn't properly return, I'll just watch the showcases the manufacturers put on themselves from now on. At this point, everyone realizes what a smart idea the Nintendo Direct format is anyway.

@Dezzy70 Between third-party partnerships and first-party releases, Nintendo is at the point where they're publishing a noteworthy exclusive every month in 2022 on average. That doesn't sound like they're having issues to me.

That's actually really cool. It's apparently on mobile as well, so I might need to download this on my tablet.

The footage I've seen has been pretty dreadful. It looks like one of those unfinished Unity games that Steam is filled-to-overflowing with.

@Stocksy I order games from this company for a friend of mine pretty regularly (he doesn't want to put his cc online), and there's never been an issue with their products aside from the long wait time to get the games in the first place.

@NEStalgia Gran Turismo 7 is on PS4, though.

@NEStalgia There hasn't been a year without at least a few notable exclusive releases on Switch. It's been the most consistently well-supported console this gen in terms of exclusive content.

@ShadowofTwilight22 Microsoft is probably walking on eggshells until the Activision/Blizzard acquisition goes through.

@awp69 They have a lot of stuff announced, so if they follow through, late-gen Xbox Series will be pretty appealing.

Hopefully once the GP machine is warmed up properly these droughts will be a thing of the past.

@Kooky_Daisuke Don't get me wrong: it's not a good look, for sure.

But most people buy power consoles for third-party games, so as long as people are struggling to find next-gen hardware, Microsoft will remain competitive.

The funny thing is that it's very possible the chip shortage could ease up when Microsoft's fleet of first-party exclusives are finally starting to ship out.

@Kooky_Daisuke Demand for next-gen hardware has been extremely high for a couple of years now, and as long as Sony is struggling to push out hardware, XSX will continue to sell well.

@awp69 Nintendo's 2022 is pretty stacked in terms of noteworthy exclusives.

And even if GoW fall through, Horizon FW and GT7 are still out there.

That's a weird oversight.

Achievements support in really old Xbox games would be a pretty cool addition, though.

@SplooshDmg A 3080 Ti? I hope you didn't need that kidney you probably needed to sell.

PC is really turning into the ultimate gaming platform, isn't it? Sony is increasingly turning to PC for support as it struggles with this chip shortage. All MS games release on there now. It gets its own version of GP. Almost universal Japanese game support. Even Nintendo console-exclusive stuff like MH Rise releases on there.

It even has hybrid play appeal via the Steam Deck!

It's wild, considering I'm old enough to remember when PC gaming sucked compared to consoles.

I understand Microsoft isn't laser-focused on console sales anymore, but they really do need to do something as a gesture for the people who bought their next-gen console. Especially on top of that issue that cropped up recently with digital games on Xbox and widespread discontent about Halo Infinite.

@Alstil This sort of thing is why I'm kinda glad Nintendo hardware is still a couple generations behind on a technical level. Games take SO MUCH LONGER to develop now. It's nice having a system where fun, colorful exclusives still release pretty consistently on a system I can carry around with me (I'm actually gaming on Switch Lite almost exclusively lately, since the original model is a little hefty for my liking).

Even on Switch's off-years, they still manage multiple first-party game launches.

@Korgon Yeah, the Cyberpunk comparison is worrying.

I've been wondering why we haven't seen almost anything about a game that was supposedly launching this year, and this just concerns me even more. It actually does remind me of how Cyberpunk kept getting, like, half-year delays, which we eventually learned was just them scrambling to put together something playable (on PC; console releases were a total mess).

@NEStalgia XC3. Splatoon 3. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. New Pokemon gen. Still plenty of stuff to look forward to on the Nintendo side. Especially considering they ALWAYS have some surprise late-quarter release they reveal in the middle of the year.

Bayo 3 wouldn't surprise me, either, although I won't be grabbing that.

Wow, going the entire year without even one major first-party launch, huh?

Glad I own a Switch. The graphics might be a bit fuzzy at times, but I'm drowning in fun games I want to play.

With that said, how far behind in development are they that they're fearing a Cyberpunk-type situation? CP2077 wasn't just lacking a few months worth of polish, after all.

Great deal.

My Wii U was a refurb. Bought it for $200, and I've never had any issues with it (apart from it being the Wii U, of course).

Haven't had any drifting issues with my Pro Controller.

The D-Pad, on the other hand...

@NEStalgia I'm 100% grabbing a Series S if they find a way to allow me to convert my physical 360 discs to digital downloads or something. Although, based on the description, I'm still a little foggy on how this would work if you don't already own a Series console with a disc drive.

There are a lot of deeply stupid people out there, and a large percentage of them are on the internet now.

@blinx01 Oh yeah, there's a reason these companies make their digital-only consoles so much cheaper. They control the prices, for one thing, but also, the more invested you are in an ecosystem, the less likely you are to stray elsewhere.

Same reason it's smart for Microsoft to not be stingy with how it handles GP (unlike Sony with the new PS+ upgrade). Any money they lose from people making use of 'loopholes' to buy in for cheaps also means those same people are more likely to invest money into that ecosystem as time goes on, since they're invested in it.

Yeah, I've been seeing this little guy go well south of MSRP in online deals lately. Quite bizarre, considering how hard it still is to find certain consoles and GPUs at MSRP.

Curious to see if sales increase appreciably once Starfield drops.

Danganronpa 2 was the best game on the PS Vita, and one of my all-time favorite adventure games. Even if the original didn't set your world on fire, it's still worth playing.

@ShadowofTwilight22 Allows them to pad out the GP update lists.

Also, it actually would be beneficial, since it means you'll have more time to play each game.

As a Microsoft outsider these days, the recent negativity around this title is interesting to me.

https://www.purexbox.com/reviews/xbox-series-x/halo-infinite

What happened to Halo being a triumph? The Breath of the Wild of Halo games with solid single-player content and "incredible multiplayer action!" I think it even won the Player's Voice award at TGA last year.

Now I'm hearing the game is unplayable, unfinished, and barebones.

I mean... even if the content updates are a little disappointing, isn't the base experience supposedly satisfying?

I'll be satisfied as long as we get a good amount of information on Starfield. For a game supposedly releasing this year, we know next to nothing about it.

@NEStalgia I'm sure there will be the customary Nintendo Direct. I do hope E3 shuttering doesn't mean the end of Treehouse streams, though.

@JDCII I have a PC that's probably a tiny bit more capable than the Series S, based on real world game performance in a number of titles, and I can get GP on that, so the little thing just seems needless to me if it can't play exclusives or discs from older Xbox consoles.

Also, I have a gigantic backlog, which also dissuades me from GP.

With that said, if GPUs continue to be impossible to find, I might eventually crack and grab a Series X to play demanding next-gen games that wouldn't run well on my current system. We'll see. Even not needing a 4K console specifically, a lot of games have been good about offering higher framerate and/or RT-enabled modes in exchange for running the game at a lower resolution.

Although, if Microsoft offers a slightly more expensive Series S revision with a disc drive (not holding my breath), I'll be very likely to grab that regardless. Love my 360 games, but I hate the controller.

@NEStalgia Windows might be Microsoft's home turf, but it's such an open platform and hosts so many different storefronts and services that everyone treats it like a neutral middle ground. I suppose the idea is that the PC player base is totally distinct from the player bases for the consoles. I'm sure that's true for some people, but it has never been true for me. Nevertheless, that perception exists, and within that framework, it makes perfect sense for Sony to put their games on PC but not Xbox, and to restrict games on PC game streaming services from running on Xbox consoles.

Nintendo is pretty much the one company left in this industry that isn't interested in dipping its toes into multiplatform waters (not counting the freemium apps they have on mobile storefronts, of course).

@Chaudy Demand for powerful next-gen hardware on its own far outstrips supply. As long as that's true, Sony and Microsoft could probably skate by for a good long while without any significant first-party releases.

@JDCII I'd have been all over the Series S had it come with a disc drive, if only to re-experience my sizeable library of physical 360 games on. I don't need or want the 4K grunt of the $500 consoles.

@UltimateOtaku91 The funny thing is that, since Psychonauts 2 is on PS4 and The Show is on Xbox Series and GP, you CAN technically play Playstation games on your Xbox and Xbox games on your Playstation. And games from all three on the Nintendo Switch.

But I get where you're coming from and mostly agree.

After all, if Microsoft wasn't interested in locking down exclusives to strongarm people into their ecosystem, they'd be making damn sure their big releases were all going to Playstation consoles as well.

@NEStalgia

"They want their exclusives on their consoles....but release them on PC."

Major Bethesda releases like Starfield are going to PC/Xbox going forward, but not PS5. Console exclusivity is a thing.

"They claim streaming services are unsustainable, but then put their games on a streaming service that competes against their own streaming service that already runs on PC....."

AFAIK they claimed something like GP where exclusives hit the service on day one were unsustainable. There's no contradiction with them putting older games that have already sold the majority of copies they're going to sell on a premium-tier subscription. But you won't see, say, GoW Ragnarok on any version of PS+ at release.

"Why not just retain their own games for their own subscription streaming service that already runs on the target platform rather than going through bizarre gyrations to put it on third party services and then restrict the content from running on platforms that third party runs on that their own streaming service already doesn't?"

They want the games on PC, and probably received a payout to put it on GeForce Now, but don't want people on rival consoles to be able to take advantage of a loophole in order to stream them.

It's self-explanatory, regardless of whether you agree with the move or not.

Honestly, if you have a strong preference for playing games on a certain piece of hardware, it's usually best to hold off until third-party "exclusives" are ported to your system of choice, since nothing that isn't actually owned by the platform holder seems to stay exclusive for very long.

It's why I just wait for Switch ports of non-AAA games I want now. They always come eventually.

@Axlroselm I'd say there's a good chance of Triangle Strategy hitting Xbox, considering Octopath Traveler did previously. If nothing else, it's 100% coming to PC in a year or so.

However you play it, though, definitely get it. Best tactical RPG I've played in a long time, and it very much blows Tomoya Asano's other major projects out of the water. Probably my GOTY unless something else super impressive releases.

If I wasn't already fully booked through 2022, I'd probably have subbed for a month in order to play Trek to Yomi. It looks fantastic.

Actually, if it's short enough, I might anyway.

@IronMan30 In general, permanent exclusivity for third-party releases seems to be a thing of the past. Expect "Switch exclusive" Triangle Strategy to hit Xbox Game Pass in a year or so as well, if Octopath is anything to go by.

Many developers don't like having to spend extra time optimizing for weak hardware. It's why most demanding multiplats skip the Switch, and why the Series S will continue to receive underwhelming console ports compared to the Series X and both PS5s.

@isturbo1984 Why is it weird that someone would want to experience this game with the superior haptics in the DualSense controller?

Well, I split the cost of Pokemon Legends: Arceus with my nephew, bought Triangle Strategy for $10 off MSRP at launch, snagged XCOM 2 for $3 on Steam, and played Elden Ring for free via Steam family sharing.

Waste of money on Sony's part. Xbox owners don't seem to really be missing out on much with this.

I think it's probably a pretty good sign that Nintendo needs to update their hardware when games like this start skipping the Switch, lol.

Truly shocking news.

@mousieone Well, Disgaea 4 was on GP for PC, it seems.

Microsoft definitely still needs to get NIS on-board, then. Xbox consoles are pretty much the only modern platform NOT getting Disgaea games at this point. Ditto with Trails games.

Games like this might not have massive pull in and of themselves, but little exclusions like these add up over time. Thankfully, Xbox is doing so much better with Japanese games these days. Not up their 360-era highs, but the Japanese advantage Sony had early last gen has almost evaporated at this point. Even Vanillaware is breaking free from Playstation's iron grip again.

@mousieone A source for what?

@Xiovanni It's not getting the same amount of attention, but there's definitely a limit to what Microsoft is willing to host. For example, Inti-Creates had to cancel the planned recent Xbox release of Gal*Gun Returns once it was clear they'd have to censor it to some degree on that platform, which they weren't willing to do. Which is interesting, considering it's a remake of a game that originally released on the 360.

I agree, btw. One of the big reasons the PS1 exploded in popularity and support like it did was because Sony didn't have the same puritanical content standards that Nintendo was enforcing at the time.

Ironically, Nintendo is by far the least restrictive of the platform holders when it comes to what they're willing to host on their system now, and they've been poaching so many smaller Jp developers that previously worked primarily with Sony.

If I was an Xbox gamer, I know I'd want Microsoft to enter negotiations with NIS to port their games to Xbox consoles. It'd be very cool to see series like Disgaea, The Legend of Heroes, etc. go to Game Pass as well.

Edit: Nvm, apparently even some Disgaea games are showing up on Xbox, lol. The Legend of Heroes games are still a big hole in their JRPG support, though. No reason the Trails games shouldn't be on Xbox.

There'd be a massive backlash if Microsoft acquired a notable Japanese studio. It's just not a good idea.

If Microsoft wants more Japanese games, they can partner with companies to ensure support continues. I mean, they must have already been doing that to some extent, considering stuff like Dragon Quest, Yakuza, Octopath, etc. has been hitting Xbox in recent years. Even better is if they work with these companies to commission platform exclusives. Remember when they collab'd with Sakaguchi and games like Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, etc. were hitting the 360?

Stuff like that would be a massive incentive to pick up an Xbox Series console in the coming years.

Personally? I play almost nothing released by them, so this deal doesn't affect me either way. If I can get a Spyro sequel out of it, it'll have been worth it.

Not a huge fan of Microsoft snatching up giant third-party publishers in general, but it's probably better than Amazon or Google or Tencent getting them, so whatever.

I mainly hate the chatter this has inspired. Xbox fans cheering on further acquisitions of third-party publishers by the company. Playstation fans begging Sony to buy Square-Enix. It's gross, and, frankly, I'd really hate to see the major players in this industry all divied up in this way.

On one hand, it's pretty stupid to get mad over a silly profile pic, yes.

On the other, you all know as well as I do that if Sony snapped up some company whose mascot was synonymous with the Xbox brand and then an executive did something like this there'd be a bunch of butthurt Xbox fanboys yelling at him on Twitter.

@NEStalgia Honestly, the games really aren't ultra-challenging, per say, depending on your ability to recognize patterns. As you say, they just like to waste your time with their archaic progression systems, which gives the illusion of difficulty.

But I could live with that. What really offends me is how empty these games are. 30+ hours of plotless wandering around empty worlds killing random enemies and bosses with little in the way of music, side-quests/side activities, etc. to break up that tedium.

Dunno how Elden Ring will turn out, but it feels like they can crank these out so often because the games are only halfway through development when they're launched. Get the enemies models and level geometry into place and you're good.

@NEStalgia Git gud, scrub. A REAL gamer can play Souls games on DK bongos with their hands tied behind their backs.

That's fine. Not every game needs to be a million hours long, and there seems to be a ton of extra content for people who want to spend more time with it.

There are about a million things I'd rather see Microsoft throw money at than a Smash Bros. clone doomed to mediocrity.

Only one of these properties I care about is Spyro. A new Spyro game ala Crash Bandicoot 4 would be fantastic.

I liked Diablo 2 as a kid, but D3 hasn't really done anything to draw me back in.

@themightyant I was afraid it might be way more than I was picturing. The world is an absurd place sometimes.

This guy is gone the moment the deal clears. Probably the one unambiguously good thing about this acquisition, even if he'll be leaving with tens of millions of dollars at minimum instead of in handcuffs like he deserves.