@ShadowofTwilight22 "Why is the only that has been developed for Game Pass in mind the only one that has multiplayer so bad that the devs have to constantly put out apologies or roadmaps?"
Because they are trying to undo the damage from Halo 4 and 5.
People forget this, or just missed it, but Halo 4 and 5 were absolutely panned for their MP by the community. Halo 5 was missing BTB, forge and split screen, had only around 3 gametypes. Halo 4 bled players and Halo 5 had a really small community in comparison to any other Halo (hence why you see Halo infinite going f2p to help attract players).
And Halo MCC was an absolute unplayable mess. 343i's response to that was to give a quick apology and to pretend like it was fixed.
All this created massive backlash from the community, and one of the biggest issues was their lack of communication with the community. They bought in Ske7ch back in 2016 to try to help the community feel better about that. The community has been really upset about the way they operate, and they continue to do this with Halo Infinite, so it too is bleeding players. So, I'm not surprised 343i are trying to appeal to the players through apologies.
@ShadowofTwilight22 "Also, lets not pretend that every IP has had smash hits in quality cause we both know Gears 5 and Halo Infinite are not the most lauded games in their series."
I've had to point out the problem with this logic over on Push.
Halo Infinite is rated higher than Halo 4 and 5 by fans and critics, and Gears 5 is rated equally to Gears 4 by critics and higher by fans.
Now, both games still have their issues, but these issues were present in 2015 and 2016, before the launch of GP, and in fact, the quality seems to have gone up. So trying to blame the issues on GP is dishonest.
"Forza Horizon has had consistent quality"
And this right here is a clue. Forza has had a consistent developer. Halo and Gears have both had new devs. If you compare Gears 5 and Halo Infinite to their original trilogies, then yeah, you are going to see a problem, but within their current devs, their quality has been far more consistent. And again, improved slightly.
The problems of Gears 5 and Infinite are caused by their dev, not GP.
@themightyant Gamespot is the source of that quote from what I can see. They get their info from Deadline, who do not say "Global hit Halo".
They do say "Domestically during the first quarter, Paramount+ saw strong engagement and consumption led by Halo, 1883, Star Trek: Picard, live events and the NFL. Internationally, Acapulco Shore was a top acquisition and engagement driver."
And Deadline look to be getting their info from the Paramount+ Earning Report press release of 3rd of May 2022. But that requires you to give up some info, and I don't get paid to do a reporter's job, so I'm stopping there.
@RevGaming This is exactly how both the PS4 and XBox One (and now the PS5 and Series) work.
I mentioned not too long ago how I tried to move my base PS4 upstairs where the connection is just WiFi, and it became useless (even more so than the xbox because of the way cloud save transfers work on PS).
The more shocking part is that people don't realise that this is the way both platforms work, and that they have worked this way for nearly ten years.
@pip_muzz I spent 5 years or so on the official Halo Waypoint forums giving constructive criticism and feedback for the most recent games (Reach, H4, and H5) and the franchise as a whole. We collected and delivered all sorts of evidence of the impact of different mechanics and such, and none of it was listened to.
Things we talked about included the art style, sprint (was a big one), and microtransaction economies. The art style only changed after Halo 5 flopped, sprint remains but continues to be nerfed to reduce the damage it does, and the micros continue to become worse.
I think "listening" in this case is like I how I tell my son I'm listening when he's trying to convince me he should stay up past his bedtime.
You know, for a company that refused to take out sprint because "people expect it", they sure are going out of their way to not do what people want here. Odd.
WB Games would be a great buy for the talent, but the IPs are weak.
The big ones, like Batman, LOTR, and Harry Potter, would be licensed and not owned, and for a company that wants to push IPs to different media, being stuck with just games is a bad deal. And they'll come a point when those are taken away from you. I suspect this is why MS passed over WB for Bethesda and Acti in the first place.
@Dezzy70 Well I'm all for MS setting solid targets for 343i to aim towards, but my personal assumption is that 343i have zero creative freedom, and Bonnie being Corporate, has zero creative vision. She's leading them based on what is statistically popular and profitable, and not what is creatively exciting or cohesive, and when a trend changes, she shifts direction for the games. That's why the studio has been chasing trends, development has been unfocused, and creatives have been leaving. It's a poor creative culture.
I'd argue, it's why Joseph has been brought in. He has both leadership and creative vision.
Bonnie Ross, corporate vice president of MS, 343i head, was the one tasked with setting up and running 343i, and has done so from the perspective of an executive. She has major sway in MS, and complete control in 343i.
@BundyDanger "Punish" is a very strong word for wanting a system level standard of trials.
Did MS punish every XBLA dev?, are devs punished when they do free trial weekends? Are the devs that do trials now, punished? No, of course not. They are just communicating to MS they are OK with it and MS does the work.
To allow all games to be trialed first would just be a matter of figuring out an appropriate trial length, and MS would put that timer in place.
It would actually be a lot less "punishing" on devs than another system level feature, achievements, because the dev wouldn't have to put in all the time and effort of compiling and testing the feature.
@RevGaming "Sony doesn't use Crash or Twisted Metal anymore so you don't always have to have the same games since you started."
"Crash" as in Crash Bandicoot? Yeah, there's a very good reason that Sony don't do anymore Crash games. Activision own the franchise. And it did just get a trilogy remake and a 4th game, and a kart game.
Rumours are that Sony are rebooting Twitsed Metal for the PS5. And it has had a re-release on PS4.
Neither of these have really died, and as I've been saying, Halo doesn't need to die either. It's just the expectation that these titles remain a AAA mega blockbuster every time they launch, that needs to die, from both the customer and publisher.
Wish I knew exactly when it was I said that they'd do a Hero Shooter.
I think I said that Halo 6 would be a Hero shooter. Just after Halo 5, Hero Shooters exploded, and 343i know nothing but chasing the trend. Halo 4 wanted to be COD, Halo 5 wanted the lootbox, Halo Infinite is now going Battle Royale.
It's funny, for a company that didn't want to hire Bungie employees, and wanted to hire people who "dislike X about Halo", to try expand the series, they've done a lot of regurgatating.
One of the biggest draws of backwards compatability is being able to go back to old games and play this old content. If you are shutting down servers, it very much defeats that purpose.
Having recently gone back to Far Cry Instincts and finally completing the game after 15 years, I was thrilled. So much so that I am currently doing it with Perfect Dark Zero. And I'm only able to do this because 1) PDZ is still online after nearly 17 years, and 2) because it has bot and LAN support.
I find it silly that PDZ has the solution to keep both MP achievements achievable and MP modes playable, without servers, while also not shutting down its servers. And despite releasing before all these games, and the 360 Halo games, and none of them took that on board.
@RadioHedgeFund The Halo Infinite Review here on Purexbox has ads on the side of the page. The IGN youtube review for Halo Infinite has ads. The IGN videos for the tv show have ads. Angry Joe's Halo tv show review videos do not have ads.
I dare say that these strikes aren't about "making money off of other's backs" and monetisation.
Amazing how many people are more upset about a guy making videos in his house for a living than a company abusing copyright law.
That's OK. You guys keep defending big corporations treading all over your rights, I'm sure it won't have any negative and long terms affects to your rights.
@NEStalgia It's probably been a gradual shift. I believe it does stem back to the 80s and neoliberalism, but all us 80s babies are in our 30s and 40s now. This kind of consumer relationship is all that a lot of people have ever known, and it makes it easier for businesses to keep pushing that.
"The only part I disagree with is how it's more profitable, overall. It's only profitable if you land a winner."
I 100% agree with that. I only meant it's been profitable for the industry as whole. So, that the combined revenue has been increased. Not that everybody has seen the same kinds of profits from that. It's why I've been so vocal about publishers downscaling development rather than trying to upscale every project.
It's a mathmatical truth. People's time and money are finite. They can't spend it all on every game. Some will succeed, but not all can. By turning games in to a service, rather than a set experience, they now have to fight over a marketshare. That's why we differentiate between content and services, and why we track the marketshare of services like Netflix, and not the content it provides, like Squid Games
"its NOT compulsory or detrimental to those who are happy to just 'play' the base content as released."
The whole live service is designed to create FOMO and encourage spending. Even if not everybody falls for it, the whole thing preys on those with less self control. It's exploitive by nature. The fact is that it works, because the model is very effective and takes more money than the standard model. The industry has seen massive profits growth since they've been introduced, and more and more Publishers want to go this route because of this. If the model was truly "optional" then you wouldn't be seeing this type of money being spent on it. It's like saying gambling is optional. Technically it is. Practically, it's not.
"Halo Infinite's main 'issue' has been that 'lack' of extra content"
This isn't an issue exclusive to Halo Infinite though. Most Live Service games release extremely content lite. This is because much of the focus ends up going in to the content that will be monetised, and how best to "encourage" players to want to buy that content.
They treat the base game as an entry fee (which is also why so many have been going F2P, because it widens that net), and they treat the live service as the real product.
"JSF - for example...", "but for those that want 'more' because they 'enjoy' the core game-play"
There's nothing here that couldn't already be done, and done better, through DLC and pre-set timed events. Plenty of games use to have a setting that would change the decorations or seasons depending on in game time, or a set clock. You don't need a internet connection and live service to do that.
@BAMozzy The issue with Live Service, is that it requires an ever increasing time and money commitment. And with more games adopting the model, there's more competition for that time and money.
So for you as a gamer, you have to be more selective in the titles you invest in. Maybe you'll pick up "Jet Set Radio Live", but the chances of you staying long term are slim. Anthem and Halo Infinite are great examples of this.
So as a title, the Live Service game has just become a dead game anyway. Only now, you have a much less refined and focused experience than one that was designed as a 20 hour experience, and there's even the chance that the game just gets shut down anyway. Like Battleborn.
And also, it looks like you have a failed game too, that won't ever get a sequel.
They could release new versions of these games each generation for practically pennies, and make a nice profit in it. Many indies already do this, and they don't have the massive brand recognition on their title, but that's not good enough is it?. Profit has never been good enough, it has to be all the money.
The same mentality that ruined so many franchises a decade ago, is still ruining them today.
@ParsnipHero But how many BR fans are going to drop the BR they are currently heavily invested in?
How many Halo players are just dying for a BR mode? but never moved on to one of the others?
How many mid 2000s to mid 2010 games wanted to dethrone and get a piece of that competitive MP market from Halo and COD?, how manay succeeded?, and how many are left?
Back before Halo 4 launched I said that if 343i chases another audience, or an audience that has moved on, they will fail to attract those players, while also alienating the old players are are staying. It will please no one, and Halo 4 pleased no one. The MP died in a matter of months. At the time, even right past the release of Halo 5, players kept defending 343i's direction as "Halo needs to modernise or it won't survive", but to me, it always looked like the "modernisation" is what killed the community.
And again, I see that repeating. 343i chasing an audience that is already catered for, and players (and streamers) saying that Halo needs to stay on top of modern trends to stay relevant.
Like, even your idea of a Hunt clone, would at least be unique enough, and be a less crowded market enough, to draw an audience. Having a UNSC vs COV vs (AI) flood, sounds more interesting and more Halo than a BR mode. But that's just not the trend so that's not what the community is going to get.
So firstly, it wants to take on Fortnite, and Apex Legends, and Warzone, and PUBG.
And secondly, it wants to do that, against games that almost exclusively focus on the BR mode, while 343i already struggles to work on content for the open world campaign, and the Arena mode, and the unfinished Forge mode...?
If the ad was incorporated well enough to suit the immersion of the game. Like having an actual in game billboard of Spiderman 2 display an actual real world ad, or you turn on a TV in GTA and it plays an ad. That would all be fine.
But you know that in practice this will be constant banners and live streamed ads. And they can't even get away with it playing during loading screens because they are nothing like they use to be. Any company paying for ad space within a game will no doubt not want it to be a rare and short thing.
@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah, most xbox one S' had disc drives. If I remember correctly, the All Digital S launched quite late, so I don't expect it to account for many of the Xbone S market.
It's nice to see dev that is new to a series, go in to it with the understanding that they don't actually know what the fans like about the series, and trying to get that understanding.
It's a better approach than having the publisher force you to make a Dead Space 3 or RE6, or having a new dev think they know they know what you want more than you do and giving you a Halo 4, or DMC, or Turok, and effectively (or nearly) killing their futures.
You know, I've long said that Halo's productions should have been reduced to a B grade scale. Focusing on classic gameplay, no micros, and free updates. It's all the community needs. So I'm hardly surprised at this.
Despite part of the community's and MS' insistence that Halo "modernise" and remain a AAA juggernaut, its never worked out for 343i or the franchise since they took over. I think it speaks volumes to people's misunderstanding of what Halo is if the most praised 343i Halo, that launched against BF2042, is essentially dead after 6 months.
It's also worth noting that much of the MCC content is a decade or more old at this point, and people still like playing that old content. If your model requires constant content and endless cosmetics to keep your community happy, you don't really have much of a game.
Seriously, can we finally admit that GAAS doesn't create quality content, just filler?.
They've done really well with MCC. I'm looking forward to the cross play on the campaigns being fully implimented.
The only other things I'd ask for are very unlikely to happen (though in fairness, I thought the same about crossplay in MP). These would be 4 player co-op in Halo CE, and 2, and 4 player split screen in all games, and a massive Halo 2A MP update with more maps, armours, and vehicles.
@Rmg0731 Halo MCC currently has more players on steam than Halo Infinite does. I'm not surprised they've taken to bringing in Certain Affinity. It honestly feels like everyone that has been calling for 343i to shutdown and for CA to take over might actually get their wish.
@Would_you_kindly for real?, they've been working on Halo games longer than 343i. It was formed during the Halo 2 days by ex Halo devs and they worked on DLC maps and Arena modes for every Halo since.
Both platforms still have an issue with day 1 downloads, required full game installation, always online designs, and no family groups.
I recently shared a story on here about how I tried to put my old PS4 upstairs, where my connection (on base PS4 at least) was less than 1mbs, and the console effectively became unplayable as a result. Wasn't helped by the archaic cloud save service.
MS completely deserved the criticism they got before the launch of the Xbox One, but it still baffles me how Sony came out of it unscathed.
Comments 1,237
Re: Sony CFO Says That Game Pass-Style Launches Would Cause Exclusives To 'Deteriorate'
@ShadowofTwilight22 "Why is the only that has been developed for Game Pass in mind the only one that has multiplayer so bad that the devs have to constantly put out apologies or roadmaps?"
Because they are trying to undo the damage from Halo 4 and 5.
People forget this, or just missed it, but Halo 4 and 5 were absolutely panned for their MP by the community. Halo 5 was missing BTB, forge and split screen, had only around 3 gametypes. Halo 4 bled players and Halo 5 had a really small community in comparison to any other Halo (hence why you see Halo infinite going f2p to help attract players).
And Halo MCC was an absolute unplayable mess. 343i's response to that was to give a quick apology and to pretend like it was fixed.
All this created massive backlash from the community, and one of the biggest issues was their lack of communication with the community. They bought in Ske7ch back in 2016 to try to help the community feel better about that. The community has been really upset about the way they operate, and they continue to do this with Halo Infinite, so it too is bleeding players. So, I'm not surprised 343i are trying to appeal to the players through apologies.
Re: Sony CFO Says That Game Pass-Style Launches Would Cause Exclusives To 'Deteriorate'
@ShadowofTwilight22 "Also, lets not pretend that every IP has had smash hits in quality cause we both know Gears 5 and Halo Infinite are not the most lauded games in their series."
I've had to point out the problem with this logic over on Push.
Halo Infinite is rated higher than Halo 4 and 5 by fans and critics, and Gears 5 is rated equally to Gears 4 by critics and higher by fans.
Now, both games still have their issues, but these issues were present in 2015 and 2016, before the launch of GP, and in fact, the quality seems to have gone up. So trying to blame the issues on GP is dishonest.
"Forza Horizon has had consistent quality"
And this right here is a clue. Forza has had a consistent developer. Halo and Gears have both had new devs. If you compare Gears 5 and Halo Infinite to their original trilogies, then yeah, you are going to see a problem, but within their current devs, their quality has been far more consistent. And again, improved slightly.
The problems of Gears 5 and Infinite are caused by their dev, not GP.
Re: Microsoft Creates Patent That Enables Xbox Discs To Be Converted To Digital
Well, I'd imagine that if that disc was sold, it would be registered to a new account and block the old one from the content.
But I don't see what problem this really solves. Physical owners would still be heavily tied to online and digital systems. WHich they don't want.
The only thing it really allows is the sale of digital content, but there's a better way to solve that.
Re: Halo TV Series Is Officially "A Global Hit" According To Paramount+
@themightyant Gamespot is the source of that quote from what I can see. They get their info from Deadline, who do not say "Global hit Halo".
They do say "Domestically during the first quarter, Paramount+ saw strong engagement and consumption led by Halo, 1883, Star Trek: Picard, live events and the NFL. Internationally, Acapulco Shore was a top acquisition and engagement driver."
And Deadline look to be getting their info from the Paramount+ Earning Report press release of 3rd of May 2022. But that requires you to give up some info, and I don't get paid to do a reporter's job, so I'm stopping there.
https://deadline.com/2022/05/paramount-paramount-plus-showtime-1235015093/
https://ir.paramount.com/events-webcasts-annual-meetings#menu
Re: Major Xbox Outage Leads To Confusion And Frustration Over 'Offline' Games
@SplooshDmg And MS already track connected hardware and family accounts, so there's no excuse for not allowing proper home sharing.
Re: Major Xbox Outage Leads To Confusion And Frustration Over 'Offline' Games
@RevGaming This is exactly how both the PS4 and XBox One (and now the PS5 and Series) work.
I mentioned not too long ago how I tried to move my base PS4 upstairs where the connection is just WiFi, and it became useless (even more so than the xbox because of the way cloud save transfers work on PS).
The more shocking part is that people don't realise that this is the way both platforms work, and that they have worked this way for nearly ten years.
Re: 343 On Halo Infinite S2: 'Please Keep The Constructive Feedback Coming'
@pip_muzz I spent 5 years or so on the official Halo Waypoint forums giving constructive criticism and feedback for the most recent games (Reach, H4, and H5) and the franchise as a whole. We collected and delivered all sorts of evidence of the impact of different mechanics and such, and none of it was listened to.
Things we talked about included the art style, sprint (was a big one), and microtransaction economies. The art style only changed after Halo 5 flopped, sprint remains but continues to be nerfed to reduce the damage it does, and the micros continue to become worse.
I think "listening" in this case is like I how I tell my son I'm listening when he's trying to convince me he should stay up past his bedtime.
Re: Certain Changes Are Proving Unpopular In Halo Infinite Season 2
You know, for a company that refused to take out sprint because "people expect it", they sure are going out of their way to not do what people want here. Odd.
Re: Rumour: Warner Bros' Game Studios & IP 'Supposedly' Up For Sale
WB Games would be a great buy for the talent, but the IPs are weak.
The big ones, like Batman, LOTR, and Harry Potter, would be licensed and not owned, and for a company that wants to push IPs to different media, being stuck with just games is a bad deal. And they'll come a point when those are taken away from you. I suspect this is why MS passed over WB for Bethesda and Acti in the first place.
Re: Jeff Grubb Suggests Another Square Enix Acquisition 'More Likely' Following Western Studio Sale
Nah, SE is going to go full Konami.
Re: Activision Blizzard Stockholders Approve Microsoft Acquisition
What I find funnier about the antitrust guys, is that Acti on their own is a much more likely to engage in less than above board activity.
Having them assumed by another company is actually a win.
Re: Halo Infinite Dev: 'None Of Us Inside Of 343 Look At This Roadmap And Are Happy With It'
@Ralizah The hype and the honeymoon phase wore off.
Re: Halo Infinite Dev: 'None Of Us Inside Of 343 Look At This Roadmap And Are Happy With It'
@Dezzy70 Well I'm all for MS setting solid targets for 343i to aim towards, but my personal assumption is that 343i have zero creative freedom, and Bonnie being Corporate, has zero creative vision. She's leading them based on what is statistically popular and profitable, and not what is creatively exciting or cohesive, and when a trend changes, she shifts direction for the games. That's why the studio has been chasing trends, development has been unfocused, and creatives have been leaving. It's a poor creative culture.
I'd argue, it's why Joseph has been brought in. He has both leadership and creative vision.
Re: Halo Infinite Dev: 'None Of Us Inside Of 343 Look At This Roadmap And Are Happy With It'
@Dezzy70 MS micromanaging 343i is the issue.
Bonnie Ross, corporate vice president of MS, 343i head, was the one tasked with setting up and running 343i, and has done so from the perspective of an executive. She has major sway in MS, and complete control in 343i.
Re: The Coalition Removes Gears 5 Feature As It Focuses On 'Future Projects'
"unlocking its achievements for all players"
If every game had done this, I'd have a lot more completed games and platinum trophies by now.
Re: The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Has Some Insane Xbox Achievements
I'm just 18 months away from getting the "Go Outside" achievement on Steam.
I have not been outside yet.
Re: Former Nintendo Boss Applauds Xbox's 'Fantastic' Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard
"[Activision Blizzard] was a bad culture, it's not just Activision...regrettably the gaming industry has had a number of these types of situations..."
I wish we had more of this from big voices in the industry.
Re: Reaction: Should Game Pass Ultimate Add Free Trials For All Xbox Games?
@BundyDanger "Punish" is a very strong word for wanting a system level standard of trials.
Did MS punish every XBLA dev?, are devs punished when they do free trial weekends? Are the devs that do trials now, punished? No, of course not. They are just communicating to MS they are OK with it and MS does the work.
To allow all games to be trialed first would just be a matter of figuring out an appropriate trial length, and MS would put that timer in place.
It would actually be a lot less "punishing" on devs than another system level feature, achievements, because the dev wouldn't have to put in all the time and effort of compiling and testing the feature.
Re: Reaction: Should Game Pass Ultimate Add Free Trials For All Xbox Games?
@PhhhCough Based, I came here to say this.
All games should have a trial period regardless of subscriptions.
In an age of Cyberpunks, customers need to be able to properly test the product they are giving their hard earned money up for.
Re: Halo Infinite Players Share Their 'Disappointment' Over 2022 Roadmap
@RevGaming "Sony doesn't use Crash or Twisted Metal anymore so you don't always have to have the same games since you started."
"Crash" as in Crash Bandicoot? Yeah, there's a very good reason that Sony don't do anymore Crash games. Activision own the franchise. And it did just get a trilogy remake and a 4th game, and a kart game.
Rumours are that Sony are rebooting Twitsed Metal for the PS5. And it has had a re-release on PS4.
Neither of these have really died, and as I've been saying, Halo doesn't need to die either. It's just the expectation that these titles remain a AAA mega blockbuster every time they launch, that needs to die, from both the customer and publisher.
Re: Random: Oh No! Fan's 'Repaired' Halo Series X Gets Replaced With Standard Console
@Daz1380 From my experience, they don't even look at what broke in your old device, they just pack up a new or refurbed device and send it off to you.
This guy's console will end up on a youtube video titled "I bought a pallet of broken xboxes, let's see if I can fix them".
Re: System Shock Remake Is 'Nearly Complete' According To Developer
@Larry_Nightdive Yes it is. Arkane conceived the Prey reboot as a spiritual sequel to System Shock.
Re: Halo Infinite Players Share Their 'Disappointment' Over 2022 Roadmap
@SolarSailor Halo 3 had 7 new maps in the first 7 months, and by April 2008, you could download 4 of them for free.
@RadioHedgeFund Well, if you ask me.
This is why I say they should downscale the development instead of trying to turn everything in to a GAAS. It Fs with the development.
Sometimes, simpler is better.
Re: 343 Reportedly Prototyped Halo Infinite As 'PVP And PVE' Hero Shooter
Wish I knew exactly when it was I said that they'd do a Hero Shooter.
I think I said that Halo 6 would be a Hero shooter. Just after Halo 5, Hero Shooters exploded, and 343i know nothing but chasing the trend. Halo 4 wanted to be COD, Halo 5 wanted the lootbox, Halo Infinite is now going Battle Royale.
It's funny, for a company that didn't want to hire Bungie employees, and wanted to hire people who "dislike X about Halo", to try expand the series, they've done a lot of regurgatating.
Re: Report Suggests Ubisoft Could Be 'The Next Big Gaming Acquisition'
The only future acquistitions I want are Sony buying Konami, and either MS or Nintendo buying Sega.
If Ubisoft are to be bought, I'd rather see MS and Sony go 50/50 in order to maintain the market.
Re: Halo Infinite 2022 Roadmap Released, Campaign Co-Op Targeting August
An entire year and you only get 2 new maps.
Didn't I say that GAAS cosmetics and the BR mode would reduce the output of the standard content?.
Re: Multiple Xbox 360 Games Suffer Stealth Server Shutdowns
One of the biggest draws of backwards compatability is being able to go back to old games and play this old content. If you are shutting down servers, it very much defeats that purpose.
Having recently gone back to Far Cry Instincts and finally completing the game after 15 years, I was thrilled. So much so that I am currently doing it with Perfect Dark Zero. And I'm only able to do this because 1) PDZ is still online after nearly 17 years, and 2) because it has bot and LAN support.
I find it silly that PDZ has the solution to keep both MP achievements achievable and MP modes playable, without servers, while also not shutting down its servers. And despite releasing before all these games, and the 360 Halo games, and none of them took that on board.
Re: Aaron Greenberg Thanks Fans For Xbox Sales Growth, Hopes Series X|S Supply Improves
The idea that all three platforms are doing so well (and during a living cost crisis) is really impressive.
Re: YouTuber Angry Joe Threatens To Take CBS To Court Over Halo Dispute
@RadioHedgeFund The Halo Infinite Review here on Purexbox has ads on the side of the page. The IGN youtube review for Halo Infinite has ads. The IGN videos for the tv show have ads. Angry Joe's Halo tv show review videos do not have ads.
I dare say that these strikes aren't about "making money off of other's backs" and monetisation.
Re: YouTuber Angry Joe Threatens To Take CBS To Court Over Halo Dispute
Amazing how many people are more upset about a guy making videos in his house for a living than a company abusing copyright law.
That's OK. You guys keep defending big corporations treading all over your rights, I'm sure it won't have any negative and long terms affects to your rights.
Re: It Looks Like Bethesda's Redfall Has Been Delayed To 'Winter 2022'
They could delay it until summer 2023 and that would be fine.
Re: Sega Reportedly Bringing Back Crazy Taxi & Jet Set Radio As "Big-Budget Reboots"
@NEStalgia It's probably been a gradual shift. I believe it does stem back to the 80s and neoliberalism, but all us 80s babies are in our 30s and 40s now. This kind of consumer relationship is all that a lot of people have ever known, and it makes it easier for businesses to keep pushing that.
"The only part I disagree with is how it's more profitable, overall. It's only profitable if you land a winner."
I 100% agree with that. I only meant it's been profitable for the industry as whole. So, that the combined revenue has been increased. Not that everybody has seen the same kinds of profits from that. It's why I've been so vocal about publishers downscaling development rather than trying to upscale every project.
Re: Sega Reportedly Bringing Back Crazy Taxi & Jet Set Radio As "Big-Budget Reboots"
@BAMozzy "That's NOT always the case"
It's a mathmatical truth. People's time and money are finite. They can't spend it all on every game. Some will succeed, but not all can. By turning games in to a service, rather than a set experience, they now have to fight over a marketshare. That's why we differentiate between content and services, and why we track the marketshare of services like Netflix, and not the content it provides, like Squid Games
"its NOT compulsory or detrimental to those who are happy to just 'play' the base content as released."
The whole live service is designed to create FOMO and encourage spending. Even if not everybody falls for it, the whole thing preys on those with less self control. It's exploitive by nature. The fact is that it works, because the model is very effective and takes more money than the standard model. The industry has seen massive profits growth since they've been introduced, and more and more Publishers want to go this route because of this. If the model was truly "optional" then you wouldn't be seeing this type of money being spent on it. It's like saying gambling is optional. Technically it is. Practically, it's not.
"Halo Infinite's main 'issue' has been that 'lack' of extra content"
This isn't an issue exclusive to Halo Infinite though. Most Live Service games release extremely content lite. This is because much of the focus ends up going in to the content that will be monetised, and how best to "encourage" players to want to buy that content.
They treat the base game as an entry fee (which is also why so many have been going F2P, because it widens that net), and they treat the live service as the real product.
"JSF - for example...", "but for those that want 'more' because they 'enjoy' the core game-play"
There's nothing here that couldn't already be done, and done better, through DLC and pre-set timed events. Plenty of games use to have a setting that would change the decorations or seasons depending on in game time, or a set clock. You don't need a internet connection and live service to do that.
Re: Sega Reportedly Bringing Back Crazy Taxi & Jet Set Radio As "Big-Budget Reboots"
@BAMozzy The issue with Live Service, is that it requires an ever increasing time and money commitment. And with more games adopting the model, there's more competition for that time and money.
So for you as a gamer, you have to be more selective in the titles you invest in. Maybe you'll pick up "Jet Set Radio Live", but the chances of you staying long term are slim. Anthem and Halo Infinite are great examples of this.
So as a title, the Live Service game has just become a dead game anyway. Only now, you have a much less refined and focused experience than one that was designed as a 20 hour experience, and there's even the chance that the game just gets shut down anyway. Like Battleborn.
And also, it looks like you have a failed game too, that won't ever get a sequel.
Re: Sega Reportedly Bringing Back Crazy Taxi & Jet Set Radio As "Big-Budget Reboots"
"Live Service", "Big Budget"
Video game publishers just never learn do they?
They could release new versions of these games each generation for practically pennies, and make a nice profit in it. Many indies already do this, and they don't have the massive brand recognition on their title, but that's not good enough is it?. Profit has never been good enough, it has to be all the money.
The same mentality that ruined so many franchises a decade ago, is still ruining them today.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Building 'Advertising Program' For Free-To-Play Games
@Grumblevolcano Yeah, that's a bad implementation of ads and justification of GP.
Re: Halo Infinite Is Apparently Getting A Gigantic Battle Royale Mode
@ParsnipHero But how many BR fans are going to drop the BR they are currently heavily invested in?
How many Halo players are just dying for a BR mode? but never moved on to one of the others?
How many mid 2000s to mid 2010 games wanted to dethrone and get a piece of that competitive MP market from Halo and COD?, how manay succeeded?, and how many are left?
Back before Halo 4 launched I said that if 343i chases another audience, or an audience that has moved on, they will fail to attract those players, while also alienating the old players are are staying. It will please no one, and Halo 4 pleased no one. The MP died in a matter of months. At the time, even right past the release of Halo 5, players kept defending 343i's direction as "Halo needs to modernise or it won't survive", but to me, it always looked like the "modernisation" is what killed the community.
And again, I see that repeating. 343i chasing an audience that is already catered for, and players (and streamers) saying that Halo needs to stay on top of modern trends to stay relevant.
Like, even your idea of a Hunt clone, would at least be unique enough, and be a less crowded market enough, to draw an audience. Having a UNSC vs COV vs (AI) flood, sounds more interesting and more Halo than a BR mode. But that's just not the trend so that's not what the community is going to get.
Re: Halo Infinite Is Apparently Getting A Gigantic Battle Royale Mode
So firstly, it wants to take on Fortnite, and Apex Legends, and Warzone, and PUBG.
And secondly, it wants to do that, against games that almost exclusively focus on the BR mode, while 343i already struggles to work on content for the open world campaign, and the Arena mode, and the unfinished Forge mode...?
Re: Xbox Reportedly Building 'Advertising Program' For Free-To-Play Games
I'm actually not against in game ads, in theory.
If the ad was incorporated well enough to suit the immersion of the game. Like having an actual in game billboard of Spiderman 2 display an actual real world ad, or you turn on a TV in GTA and it plays an ad. That would all be fine.
But you know that in practice this will be constant banners and live streamed ads. And they can't even get away with it playing during loading screens because they are nothing like they use to be. Any company paying for ad space within a game will no doubt not want it to be a rare and short thing.
Re: Here's A Look At The New Halo Infinite Multiplayer Maps Coming In Season 2
By the 16th of April 2008, For Halo 3, you could download 4 maps for free, and purchase a further 3 for $10.
By the 16th of April 2022, For Halo Infinite, you are waiting for 2 "free" maps, and you can purchase a pair of cat ears for $10.
GAAS, providing worse content, at a higher price, and taking longer.
Re: Xbox The 'Dominant Platform' For Digital Sales Of LEGO Star Wars In The UK
@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah, most xbox one S' had disc drives. If I remember correctly, the All Digital S launched quite late, so I don't expect it to account for many of the Xbone S market.
Re: Dead Space Remake Is Already Changing Based On Fan Feedback
It's nice to see dev that is new to a series, go in to it with the understanding that they don't actually know what the fans like about the series, and trying to get that understanding.
It's a better approach than having the publisher force you to make a Dead Space 3 or RE6, or having a new dev think they know they know what you want more than you do and giving you a Halo 4, or DMC, or Turok, and effectively (or nearly) killing their futures.
Re: Halo: MCC Is More Popular Than Halo Infinite On Steam Right Now
You know, I've long said that Halo's productions should have been reduced to a B grade scale. Focusing on classic gameplay, no micros, and free updates. It's all the community needs. So I'm hardly surprised at this.
Despite part of the community's and MS' insistence that Halo "modernise" and remain a AAA juggernaut, its never worked out for 343i or the franchise since they took over. I think it speaks volumes to people's misunderstanding of what Halo is if the most praised 343i Halo, that launched against BF2042, is essentially dead after 6 months.
It's also worth noting that much of the MCC content is a decade or more old at this point, and people still like playing that old content. If your model requires constant content and endless cosmetics to keep your community happy, you don't really have much of a game.
Seriously, can we finally admit that GAAS doesn't create quality content, just filler?.
Re: Dead Island 2 Reportedly Set For Re-Reveal This Summer
@Microbius You mean, everything the first two games weren't?
If you are wanting a single player story driven zombie game, you'd be best off playing TLOU
Re: 343 To Deliver 'Multiple Updates' For Halo: MCC Throughout 2022
They've done really well with MCC. I'm looking forward to the cross play on the campaigns being fully implimented.
The only other things I'd ask for are very unlikely to happen (though in fairness, I thought the same about crossplay in MP). These would be 4 player co-op in Halo CE, and 2, and 4 player split screen in all games, and a massive Halo 2A MP update with more maps, armours, and vehicles.
Re: Halo Support Team Certain Affinity Is Now Working On 'Evolving Halo Infinite'
@Rmg0731 Halo MCC currently has more players on steam than Halo Infinite does. I'm not surprised they've taken to bringing in Certain Affinity. It honestly feels like everyone that has been calling for 343i to shutdown and for CA to take over might actually get their wish.
@Would_you_kindly for real?, they've been working on Halo games longer than 343i. It was formed during the Halo 2 days by ex Halo devs and they worked on DLC maps and Arena modes for every Halo since.
Re: Uh-Oh, Xbox Boss Phil Spencer's Shelf Is Causing Speculation Again
He has pictures of family and freinds. So, family pass confirmed.
Re: Xbox Dev Clears Up Confusion About Ownership Of Games With Gold Titles
Imagine not screwing over your customers for tighter control and money. Amateurs.
Re: Microsoft Is Giving Away Free Gift Cards For The Xbox Spring Sale 2022
17 years of Xbox Live Gold, 800 digital xbox games. Still not worthy of a £4 gift card from MS.
Re: Infamous PS4 Video Wasn't 'Necessarily' Meant To Hurt Xbox, Suggests Ex-Sony Boss
Both platforms still have an issue with day 1 downloads, required full game installation, always online designs, and no family groups.
I recently shared a story on here about how I tried to put my old PS4 upstairs, where my connection (on base PS4 at least) was less than 1mbs, and the console effectively became unplayable as a result. Wasn't helped by the archaic cloud save service.
MS completely deserved the criticism they got before the launch of the Xbox One, but it still baffles me how Sony came out of it unscathed.