ThanosReXXX

"and you can see a demonstration of this in the video above... "

What video?

The Blades were the best theme ever, PERIOD. People who don't like them miss the point of the reasons why. It's not just about the aesthetic.

Of course, if the initial impression is bad, and personal taste is obviously always a thing, then it might be a turn off at first glance, but the Blades theme was clean, simple, fast and effective/efficient, things that most definitely can NOT be said about any of the newer themes, ever since Microsoft decided to go all "Windows 8 tiles style" on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

And to this day, it's still a muddled clutter, with options that should be readily available hidden everywhere behind sub-menus and what not, and even making things customizable isn't always the best solution.

Far as I'm concerned, the Blades should come back, and to not bother any of those that are opposed to the idea, they could simply add it as an additional and/or downloadable theme. Shouldn't be too hard to do and I'd easily dare to wager a bet that it would be popular as hell.

@Nightcrawler71 If only that was an OG Xbox game, which is what this article is about.

Mind you and all kidding aside, I'd love me some Blur as well, personally, but obviously, that's an Xbox 360 game, so unfortunately, that title doesn't fit the bill concerning this article.

I'm happy that it offers something to those that want it, but personally, I have no use for browsers on consoles, and I don't see the use of them either, especially since it's far easier to either just use my PC or my smart TV, which both have instant access to any browser I want, instead of having to be forced to use Edge, a browser I personally don't prefer.

And besides that, having to switch on a console to use a browser is a bit of an unnecessary step, in comparison to the other options that I have available.

But, to each their own, obviously, so if you ARE happy about it, then that's ultimately a good thing. Options are always good, so the more, the merrier, even if they aren't for all of us.

@PJOReilly @FraserG Great list, guys. A list with 50 games would probably have been better, though, seeing as you've missed quite a few games that are absolute must-haves or must-plays, for the OG Xbox.

I've already seen several mentions for Outrun 2/2006, and titles mentioned such as Jet Set Radio Future, Genma Onimusha and I've also see someone mention Advent Rising, which was quite a unique game, and that should have probably have made the list for that reason alone.

And a personal favorite of mine, and one that I am highly surprised to see missing on this current list, is the absolutely EXCELLENT arcade fps Black, yet another absolute must-have for every Xbox owner or newcomer.

It still plays wonderfully to this day, has a very satisfying "feel" to it, and the other wonderful thing about it, is that it was made by the brilliant minds at Criterion, and with this game, they showed that they weren't just good at making arcade racers.

So, for them to come up with such a solid fps game on their first effort in the genre is quite the achievement, and for that, and for all the other aforementioned reasons, it should most definitely have deserved a spot in the top 30.

Ooh, Crimson Skies. Simply brilliant game, and still holds up very well, even today. Don't believe the haters...

Blinx is an acquired taste, but it sure is a unique game, and the gameplay gets better, once it truly sinks in how you can make the most of it. The second game does improve upon the first in some ways, but on the other hand, it isn't as unique as the first.

@FraserG Me too, as it is a game that deserves the attention, because it's great. Funnily enough, I did somehow miss/forget it even existed, even though I did have a demo of it on my hard drive.

@FraserG You're very welcome. I see you've updated the link for Battlefield 1. I hope more people will be able to take advantage of that now.

The other link is still for the non-discounted version of Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, though. The only one that's discounted is the Definitive Edition, which (strangely enough), also contains the standard version, which on its own still costs $49.99...

Anyway, here's the link for the Definitive Edition:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/p/middle-earth-shadow-of-war-definitive-edition/9nrmqnr8h423?

After finding out that rather odd but welcome difference in price between the two versions, I went ahead and bought that, so in a way, you guys posting the link towards the non-discounted version ultimately led me to that one.

@FraserG Looks like a rather big error on the price for Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. If you click on the link, you get the version that costs $49.99. Strangely enough, you can also select the Definitive Edition with all the current DLC, which costs only $11.99. That one also has a + behind the price, probably hinting at even more in-game purchases.

Either way, it's still not $9.99...

Also, concerning Battlefield 1, for all the people interested: choose Battlefield 1 Revolution instead. That does not only contain Battlefield 1 but also all of the DLC and it only costs $2 more.

@everynowandben P.S.
You may have found the meaning of the word from the dictionary/the internet, but what we're talking about here, is the very definition of what constitutes clickbait, so without that context, we don't get the full picture.

And so, I quote:

"Clickbait is a text or a thumbnail link that is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow that link and read, view, or listen to the linked piece of online content, with a defining characteristic of being deceptive, typically sensationalized or misleading.

A "teaser" aims to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make readers of news websites curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content. Click-bait headlines add an element of dishonesty, using enticements that do not accurately reflect the content being delivered.

The "-bait" part of the term makes an analogy with fishing, where a hook is disguised by an enticement (bait), presenting the impression to the fish that it is a desirable thing to swallow."

Clearly, none of that is going on here, as @antdickens has also already explained.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about it. I bid you a good evening.

@everynowandben Seriously though, no offense, but now you're just being stubborn for the sake of it. You have two people (one of which actually being the site manager for this site and NintendoLife) explaining to you what the facts REALLY are, and still you're digging your heels into the sand.

It's perfectly fine if you don't agree with an article, but rather than dumping on it, why not simply forego the negativity, which adds absolutely NOTHING constructive, and only causes unnecessary irritation/annoyance?

Having an opinion is also perfectly fine, so you're welcome to it, but the same applies to that. If your only contribution is to post negative comments underneath articles or items that you don't like, then you're not really a positive addition to the site's community.

@Nerdfather1 Thanks for understanding. But having said that, I could have been a bit milder in my criticism, so my bad on that part.

Still, my criticism was definitely warranted.

@everynowandben Good for you, completely adult behavior. Again, clickbait is not what you seem to think it is.

If this were clickbait, then the article should either be completely different from what the title mentions, making it misleading, or it should be non-informative, adding nothing to what was already mentioned in the title.

Neither of these apply here, ergo: no clickbait. Instead of posting criticism that is actually constructive, the first thing you did in this comment thread was to accuse the website and the author of the article of posting clickbait.

@Nerdfather1 If you want to share things like that with other players who will know what you're talking about without spoiling it for people who haven't played it, you can put that part of your comment behind spoiler alert bars, like so:
hey! you actually clicked on the black bar!
(click on the black bar to reveal the text underneath)

And still, pound for pound Konami has delivered a FAR larger amount of more superior football games than EA ever will. For the absolute football fan and purist, there is no other choice but Pro Evo.

Damn the graphics, you wouldn't and shouldn't even have the time to look at player's faces if you're dribbling and passing balls around from one side to the other, while also trying to maintain a strategic oversight...

No, it's all about the mechanics and the gameplay, and in PES, these are still superior to EA's supernatural shenanigans: I've never seen someone sprint that fast in an actual live football match, and adding more tricks and loot boxes/micro transactions with every new iteration does also NOT a better game make...

Having said all that, looking at those stills isn't doing Konami any good. It looks more like as if Messi has been added as a bonus character to the undead horde of Left 4 Dead. Or maybe they added a zombie mode to PES...

@Originut Yup, it was actually free a couple of months back, but luckily, it's still cheap even if you have to pay for it. Also be sure to grab the free add-ons. I think they should be added automatically when downloaded on Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S, but I'm not sure.

Already got most of them, and I'm not particularly interested in what's left. Can't end this comment without a recommendation, though: Frontlines: Fuel of War. I still have it, and I've always found it to be a highly entertaining war game. And at that price, it's basically a no-brainer.

@themightyant Ah, okay. You had me wondering there for a moment...

Well, there's plenty of so-called lapboards, combining all the features of a keyboard and mouse, but completely tailored towards couch gaming, so that could be an option for some people:

• https://www.ign.com/articles/best-lapboards-for-gaming
• https://www.amazon.com/Couch-Keyboard/s?k=Couch+Keyboard
• https://www.androidauthority.com/best-gaming-lap-desks-1106617/

@themightyant Razer Tartarus? Did you perhaps mean the Razer Turret? It's featured in all three links I posted above.

Apparently, a free to play shooter is all they were able to come up with to "surprise" the worldwide gaming community.

Perhaps they are so busy and tired of all the current negative goings-on concerning the sexual harassment cases, that their creativity has been gimped to a point where all they can come up with is an unimaginative stress reliever. Or stress creator, if shooters aren't your strong suit...

I never even knew that The Touryst was also on the Xbox platform.
I always thought that Shin'en games were exclusive to Nintendo. Guess I was wrong, then.

And with those helicopters, they'll add another 30GB's, at LEAST...

Far as I'm concerned, this is a must-grab for every fighting game fan, so if you don't have it yet, do yourself a favor and get it now.

The only thing I would like to see being discarded, is the highly annoying tutorial part where you have to pull off moves and button combinations that become more and more impossible to get right:
I can manage most of them, but there are always some where I either get the timing or rhythm of the button pushes wrong, and it never registers, meaning I'll find myself stuck in training limbo forever.

I already hated that when they had it in Mortal Kombat, and I still hate it today in games like these.

Still, regardless of that rather annoying part, I couldn't make an easier recommendation for a fighting game, especially now that it's still up for grabs as a freebie.

@NEStalgia Nah, man. I'll NEVER be ready to log in to PushSquare, much less buy a PlayStation. None of that kinda crap will be used in this household over here...

Glad I was able to amuse you. Hope you got the coffee stains out of whatever it landed on...

@UltimateOtaku91 I never said they weren't talented, just that Mortal Kombat IS their main IP, so for them to work on something else might take some getting used to, whereas them being able to take the IP with them would only result in progressively better games.

If the series stays with Warner and another studio has to take over, it definitely remains to be seen if they could achieve the same level of quality with it, or even continue in the spirit of the original.

Either way, it's all water under the bridge now, seeing as the rumor already seems to be debunked.

@UltimateOtaku91 While it's true that Warner owns the entire studio that makes the games and by extension their IP, I don't think Warner would sell NetherRealm without their main (only?) IP, because they haven't made much else, so selling them off WITHOUT Mortal Kombat is basically just the equivalent of selling people an empty box, and no company is gonna fall for that, unless they're infinitely stupid.

I'm therefore pretty sure that Mortal Kombat is included in the sale. The only other reason for buying a studio with no IP of their own, is to put them to work on other titles, which could be an option, but hiring people the regular way would probably be a far more cost-effective solution than buying up an entire studio at some kind of inflated bidding price...

Pretty much the same goes for TT games: even though they also make other games, they themselves hold the worldwide rights to develop LEGO video games (or rather: their subsidiary Traveller's Tales), not Warner Bros. So, even though they own the entire studio, the games would more than likely still come included with the studio, if they sell them off.

Go get 'em, Phil! You KNOW you want to...

Would be cool if they would then make an announcement trailer out of it and then use the "get over here!" quote from Scorpion...

@NEStalgia You shouldn't have mentioned Nintendo nude pics, though: it immediately kicked my sales & marketing brain in gear, and I thought: "pictures? No, MOVIES!"

I already came up with one title:
"The Leggings of Zelda - Skyward Wh... ", errr... I mean: Lady...

@Ralizah @NEStalgia Well, if they would sort of incorporate Games with Gold into GamePass, and for all I care rename it, like @Tharsman theorized, then I wouldn't mind, but removing it altogether and giving nothing in return to replace that for the people that supported you for all these years, that would be a real dick move, far as I'm concerned.

Forgot to mention in the previous comment that I also don't play online anymore, so the whole MMO stuff doesn't interest me either. When and if I play games, I want to chill, relax, hang on my couch and enjoy myself with a drink, a snack and a game. I don't care much for anonymous insane basement dwellers shouting "head shot" in my ears...

The very last game I actually did play online was Destiny 2, in co-op mode with one of my best friends who lives in another city, but other than that, my interest for it is below zero and I find it both annoying and worrisome that the focus has shifted so much more to online, while single player content either gets minimized or completely snowed under.

Either way, by stacking yearly subscriptions, I still got Xbox Live Gold until 2023, so we'll see what happens until or after then. Perhaps I'll buy another 12 months online to extend it into 2024...

Well, I'm happy for the GamePass crowd, if this is true, but I'm sad for myself. In my relatively busy life, where there's already VERY little time for gaming as it is, I most certainly don't have the time for the limited availability rent-a-thon that is GamePass.

I want to decide when and where I want to play what game, I do NOT want it to be dictated by some external calendar, and as such, I couldn't care less about GamePass if I tried. I just want my four monthly free games, and for the rest, I want to be completely freed of dumb@ss Microsoft executives that only make decisions catering to the in-crowd or the newer members.

I've been with Microsoft almost from the beginning, so where the hell is that bit of service and customer loyalty, then? /rant

Provided Grubby Jeff is right, of course, otherwise this comment was not made. No, really...

@NEStalgia You forgot about Mario's nipples...

EA: Even After that dreadful Euro 2020 penalty shootout, we'll still put Kylian on the front cover. That'll surely make the people remember him for all the right reasons...

@The_New_Butler My sentiments exactly. No time for this "always online" crap, and I hate to play against pimpled little school kids who have more time to "git gud", making the possibility of achieving even the tiniest modicum of success damn near impossible.

And seeing as I play games for fun and to be entertained, I suppose it's slowly but surely becoming time to fully dedicate my attention to my MASSIVE, multi-platform backlog...

@RedShirtRod Hey! You beat me to it by a split second...

Now all we need is another, actually good Judge Dredd game and my nineties needs will be fulfilled...

@StylesT "So the better players never lose on FIFA?"

Man, I wish I could have given you FAR more than just that one like for that ENTIRE comment of yours, because it hits SO many nails right on the head.

But, as already clear from your exchange, once people are firmly hooked on the Fifa Kool-Aid, there's no amount of logic that can make them understand that they're just talking out of the other end...

Saying that Fifa is better than PES is like saying that McDonald's is objectively better than a 3 star steak restaurant..

PES was, is and always WILL be the better football game, at least: if you're a purist and want to play the game that offers the best and most realistic representation of the beautiful game that is football.

Let all the cool kids drink their Coke, and enjoy all the not so subtle advertising and monetizing that comes with it, and we'll just stick with the finer things in life...

Thanks, but no thanks, Microsoft. I don't need no crappy unknown prepaid-card payment service, I already use a FAR superior payment service that also offers all the benefits of worldwide online payments without the need for a debit or credit card.

You may have heard of it, Mr. senior director of global payments & risk: it's called PayPal...

All sarcasm aside: seeing as this was already always an option with Xbox Live & Marketplace for far longer than Paysafe has existed, they should have gone with that. It's fast, it's cheap, it's FAR more well-known than this new, rather convoluted service, and it offers great service and warranty in case you need to get your money back.

I've been using PayPal on Xbox for more than a decade, and I'm a very happy customer, so I wouldn't go from that to a service I've NEVER even heard of before. And having to top up credit from Microsoft themselves, means never being able to get cheaper subscriptions anymore, so that's another BIG thanks, but no thanks for you, Microsoft...

"It's at a point where, I think, it's not going to not get signed."

There MUST be a simpler way to say that...

@Magabro I'd like to see them play quite a bit better than they have so far. I'm not English, though. I'm an American living in the Netherlands, but football/soccer has definitely become my favorite sport to watch, next to boxing and martial arts.

@Magabro Yeah, Neymar is another one of those players I can''t stand. I still fondly remember all those memes they made from him rolling around for nothing during the world cup.

I just don't understand why, if you're that good, you need all that faking and drama. If you want to act, go to the theater. Football is a sport for real men, who can suffer to take a hit or two.

That's also why I like English and German football. More is allowed there, and they don't fall over like rag dolls when hit.

@Carck No, thanks, I'm fine. I just hate drama queens that fall to the ground and roll around with every light tap they get, and Ronaldo is simply an arrogant f****.

The sad thing is that he's a great and gifted player, but the kind of person he is and the behavior he displays is beyond arrogant, so for me, that HUGELY diminishes my appreciation for a player, and I do enjoy people getting put back in their place, getting served some humble pie, and this is exactly what has now happened, so yeah,
I enjoy that, because it's something of a deserved payback.

Same goes for the French, arrogant buggers as well.

@John117 It certainly is. I'm over the moon that they crushed the Portuguese. I'm completely reveling in all the salty tears from the Portuguese fans. Wonderful! Should also knock that arrogant douche of a Ronaldo a peg or two...

@The_New_Butler Well, what did I tell you? You simply NEVER discount the Germans, and they most definitely proved it once again. It was a highly enjoyable match, and they've deserved the win.

@The_New_Butler Yeah, that's definitely true. I was beyond dumb-founded when they gave away a 2-0 head start, making the match unnecessarily difficult, because that third goal was basically literally dragged away from the gates of hell.

Oh, well. Let's see what the Germans can do against Ronaldo...

@The_New_Butler Haha, yeah. The actual live game beat me to commenting on it. I was loving every minute of it. Can't stand those arrogant French b*****ds, so I'm glad they didn't win.

Next up for them is Portugal. That's my two least favorites against each other. Here's hoping it's going to be an absolute blood bath of injuries, so that whoever wins, won't perform good enough in the follow ups.

I'd put my money on Italy as well, but even though they haven't really shown much yet, I'm also never discounting the Germans. They're a weird bunch, but they do have this never give up mentality going for them, so who knows?

And I'm kind of a fan of the Dutch, because they play a nice, entertaining game of football, but I think that they won't reach further than the quarter finals, if even that, but we'll see.

As you've said, this tournament has already been quite weird so far, so maybe, all bets are off.

Enjoying the Euros?

I will be, once France and Portugal are kicked out...

Yeah, it was okay, nothing special. Gave it a B.

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It sure looked good, and it kinda got me interested, but game sizes like these should be banned. I'm not the type who wants to have to do a swap fest on his hard drive, every time a new game comes along.

Also makes me wonder if this will be digital-only. A disc version would probably require four or five Blu-rays, which already sounds surreal now that I'm typing this, so chances of that are probably slim to none, meaning that I won't be getting this game anyway.

Oh, well. Seeing as I'm not on board yet with the new generation, all of the above can be labeled as worries for tomorrow...

If this is even remotely true, then this will be GREAT news, and I welcome any initiative that will strengthen the position of the Xbox platform in the video gaming sector, so I'm all for it.