RiverGenie

@Titntin so i can ask a relevant question related to the article, first short sentence. To be extremely clear the question: As a gamer what is the point of being concerned about sales figures & player count?

I am already doing everything I can to help by engaging with said game or buying if applicable. Everything that happens & decisions regarding the game / dev team is out of my hands. So to me its a waste of time being concerned about it.

Beyond this particular article I am tired of folks using a games relative success or not as a tool to bash others with. Look at Push Square using Steam as a metric to say it failed (Pure Xbox are not innocent in that regard either with other games.)

I guess its all stems from me just being old & tired of seeing the same nonsense playing out over & over every time a AAA or any game is released, sigh.

@Kienda why does it matter? are you a stockholder?

Me I am just a gamer so I just play the game, its either fun or it isn't (Doom is fun to me in short bursts.) The number of other folks playing it is completely irrelevant to me and has no baring on my enjoyment.

I really don't get this obsession with sales metrics that many folks seem to have. Its really frustrating to me that I want to talk about games, the mechanics and so on but all we seem to get "but it didn't sell well on x, y or z platform". Yaaaawwwnn!

I have a little hand held air duster i got from Amazon for 25 quid or so. Just set it to lowest setting and blow out the dust every couple of months or so. Series X has stayed whisper quiet since I got it.

Not even a little bit. I never have been for these sort of things and I never watch them.

I will check out news articles or a show summary for anything that looks interesting out in the next couple of months. Anything beyond that I don't have the energy to care about when it comes to games.

Probably Doom & some Minecraft on Xbox.

I also picked up The Outer Worlds: Spacers Choice Edition for £3.99 for the PS5 so I will probably get stuck into that too

I have never gone out of my way to accumulate points they just add up as a natural part of me playing games on gamepass & store purchases.

I occasionally get a £5 store credit but that's it for me. To be honest they could remove it completely & I probably wouldn't notice or care if I did.

@themightyant I mean it's not like I lost anything playing it day minus five either. I had my fun then And can still enjoy future improvements with Ng+

Will maybe come back for another run through with new game plus once its added.

@Kaloudz Vampire Survivors you don't click any button and that is extremely popular & addictive.

I don't get it either but there a game for everyone I guess.

If I didn't already own it that would be an amazing price. To echo others get the complete edition this is one of those games that it's well worth the extra few quid (or $) for many more hours of story content.

I got this covered no worries ... looks down back of sofa for some spare pennies

@devil76 I tried Ex33 and played through act 1 but I gave up at that point as I wasn't really enjoying it. For me its an odd mix of really slick & then somewhat cumbersome gameplay with the cumbersome part being the souls like bits.

I can see why folks latched onto it and like Ex 33 but it's just not for me.

Just done first couple of chapters which are tutorials for the most part. The combat feel more deliberate & less frantic which for me is a good thing but it still retains the DOOM feel so thats good too.

Its a good start but not played enough to comment on it as a whole.

The Outer Worlds 2 & Subnautica 2 are the highlights for me from that list but they also don't have confirmed release dates so I am keeping my excitement in check.

All the rest are a bit meh for me personally but it is a pretty diverse selection so I am sure other folks will find some fun in them.

@GADG3Tx87 um I am not sure why you think PureXbox need to justify the existence of the Series S. If it was Microsoft making this comparison I could see where you were coming from at least even if I don't agree with you.

However its not so um ..... yeah no????

What is the point of comparing a handheld to a home console!? They have different requirements & limits which makes a comparison pointless imo

Cool and I will give them all another full playthrough at some point.

I am kind of overloaded with gaming options right now and there are only 24 hours in the day so it might be a little before I get round to then though.

Hopefully the game play will rise up to match what I expect will be another visual show case.

Mostly still Oblivion but I am nearly done with that & it's been fantastic to return to this classic game.

I download Forza Motorsport after a long absence due to the buzz the recent update generated and its not been horrible which was a surprise. Even the multiplayer was dare I say it fun, I know right I was shocked too.

Did a few multiclass races plus a couple 1 hour endurance races and I didn't get killed in the first corner. Ok in 1 race I did get killed in the 2nd corner 😂but still it was fun. So Motorsport might stay on my hard drive for a little while longer.

Will also be poking around in Minecraft and exploring the vibrant visuals update.

@JayJ Vibrant Visuals is essentially better lighting, shadows & reflections with a few other more subtle changes all of which enhance the game atmosphere imo.

The tricky line Mojang have walked with Vibrant Visuals is they have done this in such a way that doesn't lose the Minecraft feeling you refer to. It is added detail but still simple if that makes any sense at all.

That said I do expect modders and addon creators to push that envelope for folks who want that option once this is fully released and is no longer experimental.

@GamingFan4Lyf yeah its the most visually stunning option but its not in keeping with Mojang philosophy of parity across platforms. Vibrant Visuals offers a good compromise across pretty much every Bedrock platform.

@Kaloudz the pictures on here are bad. Best to see in game and i suggest looking for some water just to see an obvious difference.

@JON22. You are going to have to play with the custom options and dial things back. Series X can run everything on Ultra & maintain 60 fps but only on 50% resolution. Its a slideshow if you try to run native 4K. I don't have access to an S so can't suggest what you should use but I am sure you will find something that works well on the series s too.

@themightyant The biggest mistake that Minecraft & Microsoft ever made was showing that rtx video.

If you go into this expecting RTX you are going to be disappointed but vibrant visuals does give a different look in game. Something as simple as seeing reflections in water or light scattering through leaves or even just proper dynamic shadows for everything including yourself. It might seem simple but it adds a lot of atmosphere to Minecraft.

Also this is the basic bare bones that Mojang are releasing into the wild. I know a lot more is possible via mods as I have experienced it in testing when this was only on Minecraft Preview.

True its never going to be rtx but considering this works on most Bedrock platform including last gen consoles & mobile (not the switch though) which is something RTX can't do it's quite impressive.

Bounced off it hard, its really not my sort of game. Still it does highlight the benefit of gamepass as I was at least able to give it a chance at no extra cost.

One of the things added with this patch under the experimental options was a toggle to enable vibrant visuals (the pbr shaders that we are getting instead of rtx.)

Its available on all bedrock platforms except switch so that does includes xbox one & ps4 (which surprised me a lot honestly though I would temper expectations if you are on last gen given vibrant visuals makes a series x chug fully maxed.)

Couple of quick notes I couldn't get vibrant visuals to work if any mods or addons were enabled. If you are going to try vibrant visuals on your existing world make a back up first as there are reports of texture corruptions & other bad outcomes ( its still experimental for a reason folks!)

So click Create a new world, toggle the vibrant visuals feature on under experiments & then click create. Once your world loads up go into settings > video > graphic mode & pick vibrant visuals. Play with options to suit but on series x you can put everything to ultra and resolution to 50% and still maintain 60 fps, (You might want turn down brightness a touch to avoid it looking washed out but that's more a personal preference than performance thing.) Minecraft will chug to begin with regardless as it loads in the immediate chunks but give it a bit & you should be good to go.

I haven't had time to try it more than a few minutes but it seems similar to what was on Minecraft Preview as far as I can tell.

Vibrant Visuals have been a long time coming but its finally here & this is just the basic starting version. I expect modders & addon creators will turn the dial to 11 given time.

It really doesn't matter as long as it sells well.

Of course it will be increased it shouldn't but it will be. It's as inevitable as the sun rise but much less welcome.

And every other dev team with a release window this year breaths a huge sigh of relief.

They will now shadow drop it early instead just to piss off the entire gaming industry (the date is a lie!) 😉

So another extraction shooter I have no interest in personally. Seems to be a good time ahead for folks who do like the genre though.

@Ricky-Spanish While I understand given the headline and the Xbox focus of the site this is also on pc (& ps5) The devs are aiming at the sim racing crowd that play Assetto Corsa & iRacing for the pc folks.

While there will be some cross over its not aiming for Forza or GT7 for that matter. It is all car racing for sure but certainly aiming for a different part of the genre.

Wish listed Project Motor Racing yesterday after seeing some encouraging first impression on Youtube. It's a proper serious sim racer which is a big positive for me. I hope that aspect isn't watered down for the console version.

With this and Rennsport coming to console I might be actually use the sim rig again.

Its a tough marketplace deal with it.

@ButterySmooth30FPS I played through FC4 late last year via Ubi+ after trying & bouncing off SW Outlaws. I don't recall any issues or glitches being present & had a good time.

So this seems like it will just be the same game experience just using a different method to get there. I guess its a good thing generally but more so for other platforms that didn't have fps boost.

Well that is different to the usual delay announcements. Am excited for Borderland 4 and I have put many hours into the franchise over the years.

Doom & Revenge of the Savage Planet will do me fine. Dredge is worth a look if you haven't tried it before.

Nothing else really screaming must play which is just as well as I have games I want to play than I have time to play them as it is. Good times.

So 60 fps is still just 60 fps regardless of how they achieve it, right? Or does native have some advantage I am not aware of for a game this old?

Basically I am asking what the point is?

@PsBoxSwitchOwner The conspiracy is you equating a shadow drop teased for many many months as an attempt to hide things about Oblivion. Now if you have actual proof beyond Bethesda doing what it was said they would do please feel free to share.

E33 with all its polish didn't grab me immediately as a must play game. The characters & combat were annoying to me. Now i will go back at some point and give it a second chance but polish does not equate to fun for everyone.

Odd isn't it that different people like & tolerate different things.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Everything is a conspiracy these days eh?

It might come as a surprise to you but folks are having fun despite it not being any where close to perfect in many areas. Much like the original game really in that regard but yeah you just dismiss such rationales as rose tinted nostalgia.

Biggest issue I have had was a door opened but door way acted like door was closed so I couldn't enter room with my quest objective. Btw if this happens to you hard save, close game completely, restart & reload. It might take a couple of goes but it should clear eventually, hopefully.

I recall this happened in the OG version so its the authentic experience I guess. Sure the game stutters occasionally too but it runs fine most of the time.

The important thing for me is non of this has spoiled my enjoyment and its been a blast to return to this classic rpg.

I picked up Terminator Resistance: Complete Edition but then Oblivion dropped so I haven't played it yet. Figure I will jump in after I am done with Oblivion as a change of pace before playing Expedition 33

I am still enjoying Oblivion Remastered and really digging the old school new school feel it has.

Despite the narrative being pushed regarding these two game at the end of the day we got two outstanding RPGs to enjoy. No matter how you feel about the release schedule kerfuffle that can't be a bad thing.

Not going to score it as I haven't played nearly enough. All I can say is it didn't immediately grab me as something I must play right now.

I hope it lives up to the hype when I can put more time into it but Oblivion & Baldurs Gate 3 are more of priority to me.

Oblivion Remastered and having a fantastic time.

I created an orc pugilist and am punching everyone in the face. There is a bit of magic involved with some touch spells to drain health & fatigue but its mostly punching. Side benefit is because I don't use weapons I can sell everything so I am rolling in gold which is handy for buying houses.

I am still doing my patch 8 play through of Baldur's Gate 3 but its mostly Oblivion right now.

I go where there are games I want to play at a price that is acceptable. At the moment that's with Xbox & if that changes in future then i will rethink things then.

I don't care if their strategy is successful or sustainable long term or whatever it doesn't matter to me or interest me. I never understood why folks get so worked up about that stuff its just dull.

Seen a few streams & its not really my sort of game. Still it seems a lot of folks are enjoying it so good for them.

Elder Scroll IV: Relivion 😉

I spent just over an hour this morning just to have a look and I am not sure what to make of it. Not sure if I will like it or not and I can usually tell during the first golden hour.

I will go back and put more time into it but I have to say it didn't immediately grab me. So that being the case I am going to continue on with Oblivion and Balders Gate 3 before I do return to it.

Do you guys not have phones? - Mike Morhaime 2025

I have been quite vocal about my dislike of remakes / remasters of old games but I have to say this one has impressed me.

They have done just enough to update the game play, ui and so on to smooth over some jank but still retain it original charm. The same goes for the graphics update. It is leagues ahead of the original visually but it still feels like the original game at the same time.

As I said elsewhere if all remakes / remaster had this much care given to them I would be more accepting of them.

Its Oblivion warts & all with a fresh coat of paint

The remaster has smoothed over a lot of the originals warts with the updates to ui etc. Some still remain pop in, floating scenery & stutters are what I have experienced (in performance mode.)

The thing is non of that stopped me putting hundreds of hours into the original game and I don't expect any of it will stop me doing the same in this remaster.

Not usually a fan of remasters but if they were all of this standard I would be open to persuasion.

Too many great games!

It's a good problem to have👍