Titntin

@themightyant He used to be a go to. His writting used to be excellent, some of the best on the net, but thats got less so in the last few years for me. As you say, he does sometimes appear to have a cause, and certainly for this game its to dunk it bad!
It wont be the first time I completely disagree with him if I do find this game as agreeable as I suspect.

Thanks PJ. I can see this already has some very strong scores from several outlets (eurogamer and gamer rant 100's for example). I've learnt to trust your views and I'm delighted you liked it as I was keen to try this one.
Skillup destroyed it in his video review, but I've very much diverged away from trusting him, we appear to value different things.
I'm hoping this does well for Bioware and now I have your view I feel I can buy this one and its likely to please me. Thanks for your views, as always.

This is one of the reasons I gave up using pc game pass. I had a lot of titles not working and several titles that were working were gimped compared to their steam counter parts. As I rarely play on PC anyway, I only buy on Steam if I am buying now.
I don't really understand why Microsoft hasnt ensured that their store and all games are the best they can be on the platform. This title specifically is one that many people might try with the service for the first time. Id imagine people who have problems are unlikely to want to use the service again, which is a shame.
I hope not too many people are affected.

I worked with crocs lead animator in my Bullfrog days. Good memories, but like many old titles I suspect its better as a memory. Hope Im wrong though...

... and it was never a playstation game, ive no idea why the author suggests it was. It has nothing at all to do with Sony.

That's sad news.
I don't know anything about the game they were working on, but I do know what its like to pour your heart into a games project and see all your effort thrown away. It sux and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
I hope he ends up somewhere where he can bring a title he cares about to fruition.

I still have all the machines.
But everything that's multi-plat is bought on Playstation. My wife won't use Xbox controllers and plays as much as me, so that was the deciding factor.

The others get used for exclusives.
I've recently bought Forza 4 and Forza 5 on steam as we were planning on selling the series X, but I appear to have lost the Series X box, so I've not put it up for sale yet Maybe I'll keep it and see if Avowed was worth waiting for... they are fetching so little on Ebay it seems hardly worth my while selling it, but its not been switched on since last September when I did not renew GP.

@Wisegamer You make a lot of fair points and we wont know in the near future, if at all. Im not going anywhere so if we do find out you have permission to chastise me in some future thread!
In the meantime, have a great evening.

I hope they are correct, but I fear that statement may come back to haunt them! I hope not though...

@Fiendish-Beaver Erm, thats simply not what the developer said? As far as I am aware from their press releases, you just made that up, and phrasing and context is all important.
If the developer lied to cover up a deal, that would be a first. The developer told us what was happening and has no reason to add anything or reply to idle speculation. Why would they, they have already told us what was happening?
Microsofts response was released on the morning that the forbes story was released and in direct response to it. That guy has been wrong more times than hes been right and has no evidence for his story at all.
You say you are looking at all the facts, but the only factual statement is the one coming from the developer. Unless you believe they are lying. So rather than looking at the facts, you are relying on 'hearsay' which is never evidence. If you did this for 30 years and still cant tell a factual statement from hearsay and supposition, then I can only imagine you were a newspaper journalist.
We are absolutely poles apart on this, you start off by simply making up a statement and think thats proving something? I think we would do best to move on as we will not reach an agreement on this and our back and forths must be getting ever more tiresome to read for others. Thanks for keeping it civil, as always! 👍
Have a good evening.

@Sol4ris I don't have a problem with anyone wishing to know why they don't get a chance to play a game - I'd like to know the truth of it myself.
But I do care about the truth and not spreading unfounded rumours and I will challenge unproven rumours being offered as fact, and I wont make up BS myself. Stupid to do in here, where unfounded rumours are often treated as fact, but I don't see offering an alternate viewpoint as 'having a problem'. That's your words and certainly not mine.
A comments section should be about having an adult conversation about alternate viewpoints, not a place for everyone to fall in line with whatever the most popular viewpoint of the day is.

Hats off to the guy - that's not the easiest thing to get working and it looks great!

@cragis0001 You could be right, maybe we will never get the full story. But even that's weird, as Sony as have done many an exclusive deal before and they have never been secret! Maybe the dev is lying, though I don't see any reasons why they would choose to do so. To be honest, I don't really care, another game not coming to Xbox doesn't make any difference to me as I play my 3rd parties elsewhere anyway.
I just hate the modern trend of of suggesting rumour and speculation is true, but hey, if people want to believe stuff , then let them believe Sony are eating the cats and dogs.

Regardless of any of the above, I've always wanted Xbox players to get to try the game, as I love it and think its going to be one that many will enjoy...

A bit of variation in score here! I'd like to play it though and I'm hoping it will be as good as some are saying!

@Wisegamer Not commenting on a unsubstantiated rumour from Forbes, is not the same as stating the Devs are not being truthful is it?

We have one definitive statement from the devs - no other definitive statements at all.
Asking me to provide official documents is mere stupidity at this point - you know there is simply the official statement from the devs. With nothing else officially stated, that's what I believe as I believe in the theory of Occam's Razor.

I refuted a rumour with the only bit of factual information available, which is perfectly valid.

@cragis0001 I cant and wont try to explain anything.

The only official thing stated was the quote I posted from the developer, which I've taken at face value as I've never known a dev to actively lie about their own releases. Normally those who have done a deal simply stay quite and don't try and pretend it's something else as Game Science have done.

Would Sony have invested in such a game? Of course, Stella Blade is not a million miles away and was invested in, but as per most examples of this, it was stated and made clear it had happened, and sony made a lot of use of the game for promotion.
I haven't seen that with Wukong and I do see the developer offering another explanation.
The guy who started the rumour, Paul Tassi from Forbes, is on record as a stating "So insider info is really all we have, and a damaging memory leak may be the culprit. Hopefully it’s fixed soon and Xbox players get a much needed win after a tough year. "

Back to crimson desert - Its nice to see it looking so solid at this stage. There are clearly things missing - ground shadows for characters for a start, but the environments look solid and well built, and it certainly looks like most of the game systems are in place.
I remember seeing the original trailer and thinking 'it wont look like that once its delivered'. But this is shaping up nicely and will not look miles off what was originally shown.
Definitely a treat for next year then..

I suspect a youtuber of trying to get hits and probably either deliberately mis-representing, or deliberately misunderstanding Aaron.
I believe the Exec - they are all very used to how things get twisted and misrepresented, so I don't think he would have been so flippant with that viewpoint, even if he had felt that way.
It's also hard to believe that any long time gamer would not have a soft spot for one of the great IP's. It would be so great if they were to bring us a banjo game....

Thanks for the review. I'm torn on this one, I want to check it out, but might not want to spend full price on it...

@Wisegamer @Fiendish-Beaver The developer has spoken though and stated
""We are currently optimizing the Xbox Series X|S version to meet our quality standards, so it won't release simultaneously with the other platforms. We apologize for the delay and aim to minimize the wait for Xbox users. We will announce the release date as soon as it meets our quality standards."

Of course if you wish to believe they are deliberately lying to fit your narrative I can't change your beliefs. But the Devs have no need to lie at all and have stated it quite clearly.
If you still wish to go down down a conspiracy rabbit hole that's on you, but you have zero evidence.

As for a reply to you in 12 minutes, that's simply because I'm on the site due to a slow work day and replied quickly? Or is that some evidence of falsehood in your world?

@Fiendish-Beaver Still rolling out that old falsehood eh?
What company pays for exclusivity and doesn't promote it at all? None.
Got anything other than chinese whispers and bloggers to support your statement? Thought not.

It's good crimson desert is coming to all platforms, I like the looks of what we have seen!

@NEStalgia Lol! If you are really picturing me playing this with a VR headset on, then you may need to picture a sick bucket beside me!
I have a lot of sympathy for your views on what a game changer VR is, and I'd still love be part of that train. But I'm just not able to do it without getting ill, which is very frustrating.
I would not say it's impossible to see or appreciate the effort that's gone into these titles without VR. Given my development background I can assure you I can see the effort and every pixel that went into making the end result - it was my job to make this happen and I therefore notice things that maybe someone without my background might miss. VR can definitely help you appreciate these efforts more of course, as long as you can handle it

@Fenbops Ive not had much of an issue tbh, but I am using vrr which really helps. Bearing in mind my age, ive not noticed excessive input lag either, but that may be a bit different if you are sensituve to it. 😊

I was visiting family yesterday, but today is F1 race and Avatar day.
Im really enjoying Avatar and become unexpectedly involved in fighting for the Navi.

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

Thats good news imo. Im loving Wukong despite the fact its hard and Id love to see xbox players have a chance to try it. It wont be for everyone, but if it connects for you, its a big hitter.

I really liked it. That's a good no nonsence way to present such a showcase and I thought it was a fun and diverse set of titles.
Nothing mind blowing but plenty I want to play. If we were grading it would get a B from me..

I see people are spreading the usual fud in here, in search of something to hate as usual:

'There are ten plaintiffs in all, many of which state they are PlayStation, PC and/or Nintendo Switch owners, with a few mentioning they currently play on Xbox as well.'
That's a quote from this very site.

People trying to make a quick buck, and it looks like they have succeeded too....

Here's hoping those frame rates stabilise so non VRR users can get a smooth experience...

Yuk! Sorry but I really hate this design, maybe I'm just an old man (with an old mans tastes), but there are so many other better designs available, especially for Xbox controllers
Still, nothing bad about choice

Sounds like a real treat!
I'm so proud of this studio to land such a complex game in the midst of such a terrible home situation. I can only hope the praise is universal and they are recognised for their efforts.
Відмінно!

Thats a shame. I thought this might be a fix for those that cant play Helldivers 2, but this is not what xbox players deserve.

Hopefully some tangible games that are available in the near future. Not really interested in more promises in some golden future, what's happening now!
Look forward to watching it.

@richyroo 280 staff and a 60 acre site and they develop a few DLC's?
I was a dev for two decades - there is no way you can say 'it's all on Sea of Thieves'... It's absolutely fair to say they have produced very little and I'm well aware of what they do on SoT.

I don't know much about this guy. Except that Rare's output has been very rare indeed.
Surely we need someone who knows how to get quality content out the door on a regular basis?
I wish him all the luck, but I'm not convinced this will give the brand a new momentum. Hopefully I'm wrong and he will shake what needs to be shaken....

@JaffeGaffe

lol at the royalties.

You are aware that sony own 5.5% of Epic? So Halo being developed on UE5 means Royalties indirectly going to Sony.
Funny how this business works eh?

From a business perspective getting King and its mobile games was a good purchase and will feed into MS's desire to be in mobile gaming.
For an Xbox player, I believe its been the end of the Xbox platform as I knew and enjoyed it, and has done very little to add any value to us being on the platform.

Xbox was better when MS corp let it do its thing. By spending 70 billion, xbox cannot operate independently any more and is now completely at the beck and call of head office and the shareholders.

I'd love to see more of this game. Still looks like a long wait though... hope its worth it!

Ive gone to my backlog and Im playing Avatar. Its a beautiful world thats well crafted and I like the efforts the devs went to to portray the culture of the Navi. If you trully hate ubi open world games with lots of side quests and a map full of markers, this will not be the game to change your mind. But I dont mind that style of game at all, and the Navi culture and a beautiful world have seen me trully become engrossed in this gem. Im glad Ive gone back to play this.
I have the Diablo 4 dlc to install and play, but having only finished the original campaign first time last week, taking over 100 hours to do so, I feel like I need a little break before diving in again!

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

@16BitHero Im all for games coming to all players, I genuinely am.
But if you try and see it from the other side, Sony are assisting develoment and spending cash trying get another unique selling point for their own machine and eco system.
You've only got to look at the article here about Halo and a possible PS5 port to see many of this sites users decry porting such games to another system, as the identity of a platform is mainly associated with games associated exclusively with them.

Microsofts buisness is now not specifically tied to a platform, so thats why they are moving in the direction of a 3rd party publisher, but Sonys buisness depends on an exclusive platform. It makes zero sense for them to put an exclusive desirable product on Xbox, and I think we can all see that.

This game looks like it could be real fun, but it needs to be technically competent before Id be tempted to buy it..

I'm really excited to play this soon. A 10/10 from PJ confirms I'm right to be excited. Happy days!

@NeoRatt The amusing thing is, certainly in googles case, you've no way of knowing if its safe and many items on the store are certainly not safe.... The 30% tax is just to line their pockets.

I do prefer the looks in white - I grew bored of the 'black box' syndrome years ago, so I wish this had been out when I got the black Series X!
Choice is good, I don't see why they don't offer lots of colours? Their competitors do..
Still, can't complain about lack of controller colours - Xbox do that better than anyone else.

Good news. It never benefits consumers when a handful of big players have all the control. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
As for Xbox, I'd still like to see it improve their streaming experience, it should be best of the bunch, and these improvements should go hand in hand with opening up the space to be more available to more people.

@FraserG 'The messaging from Sarah is a bit vague..'
This stands alone as a true statement no matter what we are discussing! 🤣

@vrubayka Really? You can agree or not agree, but when the discourse in this thread, and indeed the article itself, is all about Xbox not having parity with the other versions of the game, then commenting that other versions will always have a performance difference anyway is absolutely bang on target? How is that not absolutely and completely relevent to the subject under discussion?
You twisting that to somehow imply I stated that 'Xbox was underpowered', when I clearly did not is the post that's irrelevant in this thread.
I cannot understand your logic at all? However I do appreciate that you took the time to try and explain what you were thinking, so thank you for that. I wish you a great day.

@vrubayka.
.. Erm, ok. Thats not stating xbox is outdated? The simple fact theres always been a better version on pc of any xbox game is simply the reality of it and it was a fact on series x launch day as much as now. It doesnt follow that xbox is outdated, its simply not a high cost pc.

@vrubayka
'This has nothing to do with Xbox hardware being outdated.'

I completely agree and never said any different so why are you addressing this to me?

Bless him. He does seem defensive and I get that, when you slaved away on a labour of love like they have.
But it cant be the players who are wrong, so mixed feelings mean they have to take the critical viewpoints on board and continue to develop the game in a direction where it will appeal to more of us.
Im unlikely to be tempted back in. My 90 odd hours was enough for me to ascertain it was not what I was after, but I really wish them luck. Bethusda are one of the all time great studios and any real gamer should want them to achieve universal acclaim again..

@BacklogBrad Well I'm not going to argue semantics with you at this point. If you believe that this is what 'evidence', is then we have a very different definition of that word. Having worked for Sony, and Xbox, and many other game studios, I too have sources, but I wouldn't treat anything I hear on the rumour mill as 'evidence'.
I've seen industry leakers with a good track record advise that every game from Xbox is hitting PS, but that's hardly evidence either.
That's OK - we are only having a conversation and we don't need to agree and I certainly don't. I've enjoyed our conversation though, so lets enjoy our games and see what unfolds for the future. Have a great day mate...

@BacklogBrad 'The door is open'
Only if you believe unsubstantiated rumours on Xbox Era podcast - certainly not a place I would choose to get unbiased accurate news. The door is absolutely not open and you have no evidence except clickbait hearsay to say differently.

As for how the business will develop for Sony and Xbox and Ninty, only time will tell and I'll be happy to watch it unfold no matter what happens. As long as I get great games, I've never cared what machine its on. My current preference for PS is mainly cause my wife can't stand or use Xbox controllers. They are not my fave either, but I'm happy enough to game on them!

Hopefully we will still be here posting in a few years and you can say ' I told you so!' as you play God of War on an Xbox

@BacklogBrad
Thank you. An rumour from two Xbox guys from back in april stating very very early talks? I guess we can agree to have different interpretations of that legitimacy, and I certainly wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it on Xbox. Which is a big shame as its a fantastic game and I'd be happy to see Xbox players enjoying it - it's the kind of title I'm sure many Xbox gamers would enjoy. Even I played it for a few months and I never play online shooters normally...

@BacklogBrad thanks for coming back to me and expanding your viewpoint.
Do you have a source please on these 'internal discussions to bring Helldivers to Xbox'? There's not much slips by me in terms of gaming news, so it's a surprise to me that I missed that! Sure you are not confusing that with the petition?
The Lego Horizon game was agreed when Lego and Sony both bought stakes in Epic and I understand that it was a 'one of' agreement for that one game but its impossible to source accurate data on that - I only hear that from so called 'insider sources' I still have from my 20 years in the business. They told me the PS5 pro would release at £500 though, so I can't pretend they are always accurate, lol!

Until PC's easily fit under a telly with no mouse or keyboard and no windows to contend with, they will never contend for the bulk of the console business. I have a £4K rig and barely use it to game for these reasons, and I'm not alone. I make do with the docked switch , PS5 and Series X and dont miss PC gaming at all (but I don't use handhelds or I'd be all over them!)

I do disagree with your assessment, but until we come to see what's to pass neither of us are going to show we are correct on this, and we are just bleating hot air I like to do that though, so thanks for giving me a chance. Have a good day..

Edit - just to throw a different thought out there, I've not heard anyone here mention that Sony own 5.5% of Epic games. That's a percentage (v small though) of all those UE5 royalty fees coming to Sony indirectly, and I imagine that would annoy many...