Titntin

I thought regulars on this site hammered Sony for having 3 tiers?

Whilst choice can be good, it can also be confusing and I'd except anyone considering a sub but not up on the news to be confused by these offerings and simply not bother. I don't see that this will help their stagnant subs grow again, but I hope I'm wrong.

So thats all of us confused then - including Xbox leadership team.

I genuinely believe the next Xbox is a custom PC running a scaled down windows OS. If it's decent enough it may be the PC under the TV I've always wanted (all such offerings at present are very compromised).
I really hope there's a new Xbox, but I wouldn't bet on it with my own money...

@HeavyHoggJP dude, so kind of you to ask. Im afraid Ive just agreed with the wife to sell the series X.
Im on steam and psn though if they are any good. Id be very pleased to add you.

Love this game, do take a chance to try it, work past a little jank and its amazing!

Astrobot and Wukong still stealing my time.
I do want to find time for more Diablo 4 ahead of the expansion.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, have fun!

@HonestHick Cheers mate. GP is still the best deal in gaming and though Im slightly dissapointed, it doesnt mean I dont wish Xbox and its gamers happiness and success. I chose to drop GP as I believed it was helping to supress the sales and value of full price games at a time when studios and teams are collapsing. As an ex dev who can afford to buy my games, I felt it was something I needed to do, but it was a personal choice and I wouldnt expect others to do the same. GP plus a series console is clearly a great deal, it just doesnt suit me any longer. It is true though that the exclusives have been few, and a few of them didnt connect with me, but my experience of the platform is not going to be the same for many others.
Ive been sitting with the machine unused for a year waiting for avowed, but it makes sense for me to sell and put the £250 towards the pro price. Ill get most of the rest of the cost from selling one of the ps5s, Ill sell the original disk one with an extra 2tb and hope for £350. Not much left to find for a pro.

Maybe Ill take a leaf from sonys book and try and sell the vertical stand for £30 🤣

@HonestHick I hear you mate. As my PS is where I play 3rd parties (my wife cant use xbox controlers, the higher left stick forces her to rotate the left hand to hold it), Im only using it for exclusives, so its been gathering dust since last September when I cancelled GP. Once I saw the pro price I thought, 'drat, I will need to sell the series X to afford this!' Im putting it on Ebay next week.
For me its been a disaster, my least used console ever, and Ive bought just about everything since home gaming started when I was late teens. Might have been different if my wife could be comfortable with the controller... but probably not, its about games and the few there have been have dissapointed me. I still have a 3090 pc, so I can jump in if they release anything unmissable.

Im really hoping those let go in this announcement land on their feet too, theres so much turmoil in the industry it must be worrying times for them.

@GuyinPA75 Yes mate, I had a jaguar. I worked on a 3d racing game for the ill fated Jaguar CD (which we affectionaly called 'the toilet seat'. Tempest 2000 and AvP were the only really great Jaguar games...

@HonestHick I'll be waiting right there in the pre order queue too!
Most powerful console hardware ever? I have to be in.
I paid about £600 for a neo geo back when £600 was a lot of cash so in terms of what Im willing to spend on games, this is chump change 😊

Im dissapointed if not surprised that yet more staff are being laid off. I would hope such cuts are well targetted. Recent info from developers about waiting months for Microsoft to reply to emails suggest they need more staff in coms....
At least no studios closed, I hope all the ones Xbox has now stay open and healthy.

@OldGamer999 There was no smoke and mirrors? What are you on about? It was a low level look at why they made it and what they are trying to achieve with it, simple consumer information.
If you want comparitive performance figures you will need to wait till the tech press get a chance to test it.
When I watch a car reveal or an advert for a new BMW, I dont expect figures showing how it performs against the merc at the same price point. Thats why tech journos exist.

I love what I have now. I'll enjoy having more on tap. But is it necessary? Absolutely not. Do I want it? Of course I do. I wouldnt suggest anyone else buy it unless they have money to burn.
I'm in the process of selling my Series X (hopefully to someone who will use it), and Ill sell my original disk ps5 with a 2 tb upgrade- that covers much of the cost and the extra is chump change to me. Ill still have an original digital version with 2tb, but Ill have a pro as well. I hope eventually there will be plenty of software that rewards the investment, but until thats definately a thing, its not something most players should bother themselves with.

As part of a line up choice, the pro makes sense for those with pockets deep enough. Most people will be happy with, and still purchase, the base machine, I cant imagine people queing up with £700.
But I will get a pro... my new tv blurs more at 30 hz than the old one, so I really want 60 hz options when I can. Fortunately I already use one horizontally and Im fully digital, as it would hurt to pay for a stand and drive, the stand at least should be included

@Fiendish-Beaver
Amazon have at least one new free game a week. Most play through 'Amazon Luma', but some of the larger titles have their own launcher or will use the publishers launcher.
If you are a prime member anyway, with a PC, its a good service. Check out more here : https://gaming.amazon.com/home

@HeavyHoggJP yeah Im getting vessal of hatred. I only bought the game about three months back, and it was for main game with the expansion when it releases. I really like what Ive seen of it so far... 👍

Astrobot and Black Wukong. When Im tired of getting my butt kicked in Wukong, jumping into Astro is the balm I need.
I want to do a bit more in Diablo 4 too, but there's only so much time!
Whatever your playing have a great weekend..

I wasn't keen on the characters or some story elements, which made it difficult to fully enjoy.
I also prefer the more linear levels of earlier titles and felt the open world bits dont suit the title as well. Gears 3 was the pinnicle of this series for me.
Im hopefull a new title will be more Gears 3 than Gears 5!

@Vilome 'there are no other fantastic titles to play. Absolutely nothing.'
WTF are you talking about? This year is stuffed with them? Im a multi platform player, and xbox has been dry but theres a ton of great titles on other platforms. Currently playing Astrobot and Black Wukong, both of them absolutely stonking games, but Ive a ton on the backlog too, including some great switch titles. I've been addicted to games since space invaders launched in the arcades when I was 15, and ive never had a bigger back log than I have now.
If you dont like current games, you either on the wrong platforms, or you dont enjoy games anymore and need a new hobby.

Its ironic that you find my post strange whilst making such a weird post as your first post, having only just registered?

I gave it 90 hours and there were definitely elements of it I really enjoyed, but I' got bored walked away and don't intend to go back.

I am pleased they have continued to support it in the way they have though. Maybe if I didnt have so many other fantastic titles to play I would have tried it again with the improvements, but I'm not on GP now so it seems unlikely.
I'm delighted that many others have had a way better time though.

Thanks for this. I was wondering how they would land this one and it looks like they did it well.
Obviously its launch day on PS Extra so I'll play it there, but if it appeals and you don't have that option, it seems priced pretty reasonably!

I thought the idea of being a big publisher with big pockets was so you could 'spread bet' and use the profits from the big hitters to fund the more uncertain newer franchises?
Of course this is destroyed when you are driven by shareholder profits which demand ever rising dividends...and that why the most inventive games are most likely to originate from smaller publishers and independent studios that are not held simply to the task of generating unrealistic profits

You can't fault the commitment, and it's nice to see.
I am also aware that some people absolutely love this title, so maybe it does have a long future ahead of it.
I'm afraid I'd rather play skyrim than go back to this title, but for those that loved it, this must be exciting news.

Expeditions is a title I'd be well up for and is a good addition.
I'd urge you to try Riders Republic too if you have not already - there is a lot of fun to be had with that one...
Together with AOM, that makes this a decent list. Not enough to tempt me back on GP, but if you are on it, you have plenty to eat well!

I did try it, but I definitely aligned with the 59 Metacritic score, but I'm not into survival crafting types games and was hoping the LOTR lore and look would pull me through.
It didnt for me, but if you are more into survival/crafting and a LOTR fan, then this might work for you, and you can't argue with the price!

@Kraven Well written mate, I agree with everything you've stated.
I too am playing Wukong and loving it. Goty contender for sure for me.
Many more games to play and I intend to play some Diablo 4 too ahead of the expansion.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have fun!

@GamingFan4Lyf You need proven production tools and code base and the best programers who are up for the challenge. Ive worked on many published AAA and AA titles over 20 years and we never struggled to deliver technically.... though many titles were cancelled for all sorts of other reasons 😊

Shame you never got to deliver your shoot em up, I love that genre!

Definitely buying it, but not on xbox.
As per PJs review on this site, the game nails the vibe and atmosphere, and thats what I want most of all. I may wait a little as Wukong is taking me a lot of time to get through!

@freddones As has been proven time and time again this year, what execs say to journalists and what they actually do are often two completely different things.
But I don't have a direct view of the future, so you are welcome to believe what you will. I'd like to see all SE games on Xbox, but I don't believe I will. I'd be happy to be wrong.

@FraserG No need to apologise to me my friend, I genuinely appreciate everything you guys do here! It just looks little like another 'only cancelled on Xbox message' and I think there's enough real drama's without having a mistaken one
It's a drag though as I was planning on checking it out...

The title is a little misleading as it suggests the cancellation is for Xbox. The whole game has been cancelled though for every platform...

I'd like to think its true, but there's nothing on the release schedules for games where exclusivity clauses elapsed ages ago, so SE are certainly not being held back from delivering if they want to.
They are simply keeping all options open, but they will be watching sales of titles on Xbox to help guide their choices.

I'd love more people to be able to play the FF games, I played them on PS and loved em... would be great to see people on xbox sharing that joy.

@ValentineMeikin
" The metrics don't add up, and they haven't for years."
If you want to come up with some crazy conspiracy theory, be my guest. Such decisions are almost always driven by money though, so I find it bizarre to imagine that a company will throw away potential profit because they picked some side, or dislike a platform. Money is the only thing these guys ultimately care about, and every single decision will be driven by it.

@BlueSheepz Thats will be the engine they use to deliver those games mate. Many engines can simply be recompiled for a different platform with a few clicks. In those instances, its no expense to bring such a title to Xbox. There are several engines though, where its a little more work and I believe that in evaluating the work required to deliver vs the expected sales, sometimes that means they aren't gonna do that work.
Its supposition though on my part, I don't have dev friends working on such titles, so I'm not privy to the facts, just making my own educated guess.

Neva has been on my wishlist for ages... looking forward to seeing that one.

@ValentineMeikin Its quite clear.
The sales of games on Xbox don't produce much profit for them.
If this were a platform that encouraged full price game sales and had a larger audience who would consume them, then Capcom would ensure the titles were available, they are not stupid and know how to make money. They also know when not to waste money, and many other smaller game publishers are skipping platforms where they expect low sales - thats business unfortunately.

I knew P J would get this games 'vibe'. Ive come to relly on our tastes being similar.
It looks like they have created exactly the kind of immersive world environment Ive always wanted for a star wars game. Id be all over this just for the world immersion, so to hear it has a decent story and game mechanics too, is the icing on the cake.
So many games to play!!

Im not sure this is huge win or anything, its pretty old now.
But for those that enjoy these types of games, this is really full of fun content as long as you can handle a little clumsiness in terms of multi player collisions, which can get very frustrating. But the downhill biking is fantastically fast and furious, and the 'trails' bike sections are a big counterpoint once youve mastered the necessary skills. Flying around the landscape in your wing suit from event to event is the icing on an appetising cake. I hope this does come to GP and Id urge you to try it when it does. Work through some initial jank and many will enjoy it..

@PsBoxSwitchOwner No point in calling him out on outright lies, he never acknowleges them. You'll just get another essay of his Sony misinformation and hate rants which will completely ignore anything you have said.
Fact is, other developers on the alternate platform manage 60 all the time, as do 3rd parties on xbox. Despite selling you on the idea of 60fps, MS dont deliver and brazenly lie about why - 'creative choice' aint fooling no one.
Fortunately they have some decent studios which wouldnt dream of releasing a modern game at 30fps, like ID and the Coalition. They need to ensure the rest of their devs keep up.

Really enjoying Black Wukong i must say. Challenging for me, but Im enjoying myself..
Also still plodding through Diablo 4 ahead of the expansion. Its a big game!

Whatever you are playing this weekend, have fun!

@jesse_dylan see post #95

@NEStalgia I never said Elden Ring was a Sony game, just my game of the generation with Returnal close behind. Using PC port specs to analyse a ps5 release shows you have absolutely no developer experience at all. You live with your excuses and your choices, they are yours to make, but your angle on everything you write is obvious to see. The fact is, I play ps5 and get to play the vast bulk of releases with a 60hz mode. That wasnt my experience with my series X, and it should be. Everyone tells me MS are software specialists, but you wouldnt know it from their sub par releases.

@Fiendish-Beaver Im playing on ps5 mate. No issues in performance mode for me and its a goty contender for my tastes.
I think few people would have issues, so if you get a chance to try it, Id urge you to do so 😊

Im looking foward to path of exile 2 I must say, and Im still rooting for Avowed.
I hope Ara does well, but I cant help thinking Civ 7 has just stolen its thunder...

@NEStalgia
'They're all PS4 games with a graphical enhancement pack for PS5.' Thats a bit of a reach, and factually incorrect. Returnal is my fave game this gen along with Elden Ring and thats not a ps4 game. Or are you ignoring facts to suit your narritive?

@Fiendish-Beaver Im loving it. Its rock hard, and things youve come to rely on in games, like mini maps, or even a compass, just arent there, so you need to adjust your approach. Its a little rougue like in that you can farm earlier sections to increase skills until you are strong enough to get by certain bosses, and I really need that as my old reactions are struggling. Its def a goty consideration for me depending on how far I get 😊

@Fiendish-Beaver I can assure you this is not my first generation!
Your point would be sound, except it doesnt acknowledge the big difference that the new tv technologies have made. On older tv techs Ive never minded 30fps and some games often struggled to get to that. But on an oled for example, many people will percieve the flicker, and for me, that can often lead to headaches or motion sickness. Its not about people being 'nit picky', its a genuine problem for many with newer tvs.. I do wish it wasnt.
Im currently playing wukong in performance mode, which is great, but on the other modes its genuinely painful to look at...

Im glad to see they are reaching high with this and hope they stick the landing! Unfortunately its not likely to get me back into the game, but theres lots of people love this title and I hope this delivers for them.

As someone who worked for Bullfrog, I was very impressed by what I saw of this game.
If peter can deliver a couple of great games without over promised features, maybe he can regain some of the respect his earlier visonary games deserve. Hes a nice guy, he just gets very excited 😂

Im glad they got to extend the player base and make more money, the dev team must be re energised. I would expect that 1 million was the top end of their estimates, but I doubt we will ever know what they expected..

Cant believe how expensive these are! Not gonna see any sales spike with these units unfortunately. I expected better value at this point in the cycle.
Better off buying a cheap second hand one on ebay... Its where my series x is going and I dont imagine it will cost a lot.

Always nice to see new accesability options and so the controller is a really welcome showing.
I was going to write who on earth wants to play hide n seek in a car racing game, but I can see at least two comments where the mode appeals to the writter. Its not for me, like a great deal of forza 5 mp content, its lost its focus for me.
Im looking forward to trying the Diablo expansion when it launches... I bought it a while ago.

Given how small plantery areas are, Im not sure the vehicle has as much use as people imagine? However, it was fun enough in mass effect, so for anyone still playing this, they may get some fun!