Titntin

@WildConcept6
I hear you mate. Its a shame I don't do the handheld thing as The steam deck or ROG are good bits of tech. I do have a £4K PC rig, but I'll admit, it's very rare for me to ever play it.
I'm much more a lounge gamer so really my box needs to sit under the telly with my sofa right in front of it. You can do this, but its a faff, so in reality its consoles I play - I have a PS5, Series X and Switch under the telly right now, but I've not used the series X in a long time, so I've agreed with the wife to sell it.
It's the PC I'm typing on right now - I bought a 48 inch LG c1 oled to use as may main monitor (I have another ViewSonic to the side as a secondary), but I barely game on the PC so it all seems a bit of waste to type stuff on the net. I occasionally dabble in UE5 development, so it gets used then a bit!
Seems like the whole Xbox echo system could suit you well, especially if they release a hand held, so you are in the right space!

@WildConcept6
Thanks for your reply. I completely get that what you need will vary from household to household. I rarely travel and never use a handheld - If I turn on the switch its docked!

The only thing I disagree with is that the Xbox app and store on PC is pathetic and always has been. Even when I had GP ultimate and there was a game I wanted to try on PC on the service, I'd end up getting it on Steam so it would work properly.. If they are serious about going across devices, they need to get their software front end correct and not provide us with the half finished nonsense they have peddled for so long!
<rant mode off>

@BacklogBrad
Sony have made it very clear they have no intention of developing their games for Xbox.
There is no financial incentive to do so at all as the market for full priced games on Xbox is very small in comparison and they most certainly would not want to scale the games down to work on a series S.
PC is a totally different market and Sony releasing some titles on PC a couple of years after launch will not cannibalise their sales at all.

MS gaming has been pretty clear up to this point - 'every screen is an Xbox' and they are clearly chasing the numbers they need to make proper profits. The test they did shows they can sell games on other platforms, and they clearly wont leave it at that - there will be many others.

I think many of you are correct, if they start releasing titles like Halo on Playstation, then the Xbox is dead, but it's already dead anywhere but the US and its trailing there too, so they are not exactly losing anything.
There will be another Xbox, but it will be a small PC with a custom version of the OS. Maybe, just maybe, that will be the best place to play games and could be the 'lounge machine' I've long wanted.

In the meantime, they will keep us guessing. It's quite clear from the word noodling we get from the suits, that if they have a specific business direction, they most definitely do not want to share it with us.

I'm not sure that looking on with envy is something that those who love their Xbox should be doing right now?
PC players can always have a better experience if their rig is good enough, and with the arrival of PS5 pro, it's likely that will be the best place for most console releases too, especially given about 70% of people who bought an Xbox have a series S.

If you love your Xbox, accept that there will be other versions out there that will offer better specs than you will get, but enjoy your platform for what you like about it. Gaming should be about enjoyment, not envy.

@AverageGamer I hope thats the case, and I dont have details of who went when, so I'll accept your assesment!
I would have far prefered it if the ip had gone to someone like ID - they would shake it up!
I will hope for a resurgence, but Im not gonna bet on one being delivered.

The problem I saw with Halo had much less to do with tech and much more to do with creative vision.
If they've simply changed engine but left this team run by the same people then we are just awaiting another failed product. This was their chance to ressurect this amazing IP, but calling the team a new name doesnt take away the problems this team has had making a compelling story or product.
Id love to be proven wrong, but I wont be, 343 just havent got what it takes whatever their company logo..

Not really getting this. This type of game screams out for 1st person and I can't imagine anyone playing halo 3rd person?
Where's co-op campaign?
This is an example of why you cant trust 343 with Halo imo, working on the things that wont help the title whilst features that should have launched with it day 1 are still not present.

Let's hope this is the new start needed in the rise of what has been such an exceptional game in the past.
Its too big an IP to leave dormant and 343 have shown they cannot get the buzz this title needed, so this change is needed and welcome.
I get the concerns of moving to UE5, but the look of the game can still be unique as long as they take the time to ensure it is.
It will free up more resource to spend more time working on bespoke systems for the game without having to develop an engine to keep pace.
It's a shame we will have to wait a while to see the fruits of this, but if it results in this once great title being universally enjoyed again, then that's a wait I'm more than prepared to take. Fingers crossed.

Finally finished the campaign for the first time in Diablo 4, ready for the new dlc.
Also finished Astrobot, which is every bit as good as everyone says it is 😊
I tried some Revenant 2 last night and might continue that today, but Im still struggling to finish Black Wukong. Tbh, Im still trying to get out of chapter 2 after 48 hours, so Im making hard work of it!

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have a great time 👍

Appreciate hall effect sticks, but that d pad makes it an instant 'no'.

@themightyant yeah, not the right forum. But Nintendo have never laid off staff, and whilst that covers Wiu that also covers all other times, and thats because they are not slaves to the bottom line and believe in more than the company as a route to riches. I understand projections and readying for future conditions, but much of this is simply done to appease some shareholders as thet didnt quite hit 20% growth. Its obscene.

@8bit4Life I hear you bro. Its with dissapointment that Im putting mine on ebay too, but I stupidly haven't got the box - I never thought I'd get rid of a working games machine part way through its generation. Lets look on the bright side, ebay stopped its selling fees last week!

@themightyant Thanks for the reply. Absolutely agree abk are not pulling in half of xbox profits.
I understand the principle of ever increasing profits to feed sharehokders needs to make ever increasing profits, but I utterly reject the idea thats that the way it has to be. Whilst all companies have to make money to survive, companies used to have many other goals as well as bowing to the almighty $, and often saw the betterment of the people who make the company as one of those goals. There are still companies who do that, we dont need to look further than nintendo to see a company where the top brass will take bonus cuts or forgo then alltogether inorder to ensure they can retain and keep their teams.
As Ive gotten older Ive realised that the capatalist system I was raised in is no longer one I agree with, with money being more important than peoples lives. Too big a topic for here!

@themightyant if you removed the profits they bought with the abk merger, profits were down 1% year on year.
Its quite clear those 'extra profits' were bought, and the underlying buisness without the aquisition wasnt going anywhere. Im glad they bought some extra profits, but it will take a very long time to recoup the 70 billion it cost them.
Thats why they are engaged in so many rounds of layoffs and studio closures and I understand there are more to come. Thats not the behaviour of a company that just increased its profits by 45%.

It does astonish me that everytime anything is said that doesn't praise xbox or its games, you get fanatics popping up trying to blame sony or pretend there is some kind of bias.
PJ, in my opinion, is the best reviewer across these sites and has proven time and time again that he has a good feel for a good title and is able to call it when its not. He would clearly prefer to find it was a fantastic dlc, but there are still zealots here that will suggest he is somehow being untruthful to try and hurt the brand?
When most people, including paying customers on steam are dissapointed, that will be because its dissapointing, nothing to do with an imagined agenda.

Im not feeling any fomo and you'd hope GP has more to offer.
Sifu is a great game however and I heartily recommend it - its been on PS extra for some time.
Black Ops isnt my thing, but Im guessing plenty of players will enjoy it, so thats another good drop 😊

This is still a great game and well worth picking up. Its suprising how much of the later iteration's structure is already in place by this release!

@HonestHick Yes agreed mate, it was nice to see them spend localisation efforts for the region, big tick for them on that. Given they usually sell maybe 600 consoles a week there, it does indeed represent a vote of confidence, and indeed respect for the region which I also appreciate.
I did touch on it in my comment, but for those needing some jap style games on the system, this was a good show. Multi plat gamers such as myself will be used to consuming jap rpgs etc on the other platforms, so they were not the pull they may have been for sole Xbox players (Ive played most of the bigger announcements elsewhere, sometimes years ago).
My rating was based on whats left once those titles were stripped out, which is prehaps a little unfair, but the article is after individuals opinions and Im still not convinced on Indy, but Im hoping its better than it looks to me. Even once my series X is sold, Im still kinda rooting for xbox (not MS corp), as this buisness needs good competition.

Most forgettable xbox show Ive ever seen. They were on a roll with great shows up till this one which litterally had nothing for me. Tbf I already have the FF games elsewhere, so for those that don't I can see that attraction.

@Balaam_
Many people would not use offset sticks.
Anyone with a small hand will find the stick is too far away for the end of their Thumb. My wife has this experience and as a result she has to rotate her hand on the pad till the thumb is pretty much 45 degrees to the pad. Her horizontal and vertical movements will now be diagonals as a result. She hates it and it's one of the reasons we don't play much Xbox ( I dont have the issue fortunately).
I suspect the above issue is a big deal in Japan too where they often have smaller hands. I suspect its one of the reasons they will never sell xbox in quantity there.

Whatever else you believe, theres always a plethora of new games available this gen and its hard to go a month when your backlog and wishlist doesnt expand.
I might be letting myself in for a big dissapointment I know, but I think the new Dragon Age is going to work for me.

Trying to finish Astrobot, last few levels to do, but its getting a bit harder!
Still playing Black Wukong. Its been a struggle, but worth it. Im still only on the second stage, but nearly completed! Im level 65 just get here, lol.

... and Ive been playing Diablo 4 again ahead of the new dlc launch. I still haven't finished the campaign once yet, but got 92 hours in the game. Im so slow..

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have a great time!

@OldGamer999 You have rose tinted glasses on mate, some trully appalling games have been released in all gens.
Many of my favourite games are rated 6 or 7 by many sites. I dont rely on a generic mark to tell me what Im going to enjoy, I have my own needs wants and desires which rarely align with other peoples. A good score just means I might look and make my own mind up.

The one and only area I could agree with you is this desire to ship a product first and fix it later. Online consoles have meant this practise, which started on PC, is now prevelent across the industry. It simply means I rarely buy games on release unless I know they are not buggy. I trust Sony 1st party, they are pretty good on thiere own hardware, so I bought Astrobot on release and have not been dissapointed. Most other titles I'll wait till they are half price as they are normally much better. Thats easy to do when I have such a backlog. But even Sony get it wrong, Days Gone springs to mind, and some of their PC releases have not been steller..

Anyway, Im never gonna agree with you that the industry sucks these days, cause to me it clearly doesn't. But thats ok, we are allowed our own opinions!
You have a great day. 😊

@OldGamer999 The other explanation is that you are all getting older mate. Most people fall out of love with gaming as they get older and have families etc.
Ive see a lot of people confuse their growing tired with games as 'gaming is getting worse' instead of simply recognising it no longer has the draw it had when they were younger.
Im weird I know... Alone amoung my friends I remain as committed a gamer as I ever have been, and my wife also wastes 100s of hours gaming.
From my perspective, gaming has never been better, more diverse or fun across all platforms. Game ideas are no longer controlled simply by what the big publishers will allow and niche ideas that would never have been funded in the past now have several publishing models which mean those ideas can get out there.
Ive played every games machine since the Atari 2600 released when I was 13. Ive never had a bigger backlog of games I want to enjoy than I have right now (so many others say the same) and I believe its a golden time for gamers.
If you are not finding games to enjoy and love then you are simply moving on from a former love and wont admit it yet, as are many people in their mid 30s who used to have fun game nights with friends in their early 20s. Life moves on for some.

@GotRedOnMe73 I imported a PC engine hand held! Loved that thing. To be honest some of the shoot em ups were hard to play on it, but that thing rocked!
Thanks for giving me that nice memory this morning. I hope you have a great day 😊

@Utena-mobile Id' have to agree with both your points there. The Series X can more than outperform the ps5, its shame we dont see more examples where its clearly apparent.
.... and art design and interesting aethetics always trump tech. Even better when we can have both.

@Neither_scene Your right of course. Until I have the machine and can make my own comparisons its far too early to call it. From the material I have been able to see, it seems pretty competent. Couple that with my usual over optimism and Im over calling it.
Just from a technology point of view I find it really interesting how this will develop. Sonys picture processing in its TVs are generally accepted as being the class leaders, so they do have some form in this area....

@GotRedOnMe73 I didnt mention that bit, I am a complete sucker for shiny new tech! Ive bought just about everything since the buisness started, had to import it all in the early days as gaming wasnt much of a thing in the west back then. I bought a neo geo when they first appeared for stupid money (about £1600 inflation adjusted) , so the Pro didnt feel that bad.
I barely get time to play the switch that I have, but I'll be first in the queue for switch 2!

@Fenbops Never a truer word said. The best ai upscaling offers better picture quality than native rendering. Internal rendering resolution as a metric has lost all meaning on PC and it will be the same on pro. In an extreme case this might mean a 1440 30fps game on ps5 will have 1080p 60fps version on pro with better output picture quality.
Dlss is the class leader currently, but Sonys new ai upsampler is already an impressive second, and as it develops via firmware updates it will get even better.
Options for devs are good and will let them offer different modes for different customers..

Exciting times, I always enjoy new tech that really changes things!

Disagree. Series X has too many games with poor frame rates and it does feel held back by series S. It seems to me there has been lack of pushing the series X and only a few titles that hint at what the series X would be capable off. As someone who appreciates tech in games and wishes to see platforms pushed hard, its been difficult generation, but particularly for xbox.
Ive also recently changed tv, and where I used to be able to handle 30fps for some titles, I now feel ill playing pretty much anything at 30 fps. Improvements in tech that help with frame rate consistency and offer higher refresh rates are therefore extremely welcome to me.
I acknowledge such machines are intended for a small subset of players (maybe 10%), but I'm part of that group, and will very much notice the changes. 20 years developing tech pathways for AAA games means you have to notice, and I cant turn that off.
Choice is good thing, and Im glad I get that choice elsewhere.

As Ive already acknowledged though, 90% of players wont notice much of a difference and certainly wont want to pay for it. I will definitely notice and enjoy, and I bought my pro within 10 minutes of it going live. My only regret was not getting the 30th anniversary one as my basket f****d up!

Fantastic game. A goty contender for me... even though my old man reflexes struggle with it and its not without its flaws. Whilst theres no doubt its been a huge success on PC, its also sold well on ps5 with best estimates being about 3.5 million. Not bad for a new IP and still early in its shelf life.
I hope it comes to xbox soon, everyone deserves a chance to enjoy it.

Given its at the TGS a lot of that would have gone down well for the territory. For the rest of us I found it pretty poor and easily the worst xbox show case I've seen in some time. Most of the recent ones have been bangers, this certainly wasnt.
Glad the pixel remasters have finally come to xbox though. Im still hoping for Indy to be great, but I still cant get excited for the 1st person gameplay we've seen. I hope my fears are not justified and it lands good, it certainly looks polished in presentation.

I wasnt blown away by this, it was long winded and boring. But at least many of the games may appeal to a jap audience.
The only bigger titles were ones wed known about for ages, and Im still struggling with Indy being 1st person, the actual gameplay looks lightweight and awkward but Im hoping it may feel better in person. The Diablo expansion looks sweet, I have that pre ordered already.
Its about time xbox got ff pixel remasters, but these titles and the mana games are pretty old news and didnt need the time spent on them.

All told this was poor show imo, very little new of any consequence, and definitely the pooerest xbox show Ive seen for some time as they had been getting their shows so right before.

Good stuff last night, and Im glad lots of good titles are on Xbox too.
Lunar collection was a surprise as was Legacy of Kain finally getting the remasters they deserve!
Hell is Us came from nowhere, but looks pretty interesting..

You really cant say you get no choice with xbox, so many controller options! My faves were the forza special editions, we have two of those..

@FarmDog08 Pretty sure the pixel masters are a deal. Thats great news..

@gollumb82 Well good luck with that, whatever you decide to do!
I invested £4k in a PC 2 years back, but PC gaming is not for me and I quickly remembered why I'd stopped it 20 years earlier. I spend half my gaming time on a PC playing with drivers, fiddling with settings or just being distracted by other stuff. I just wanna sit on the sofa, press go and game, so consoles are likely to be my main go to for as long as I can
Just me, but I dont have a problem with remasters, no ones forcing me to buy them and Im full to the brim with games, so the 'why dont they make' arguments dont sway me much. If my backlog were not so full, I might make more of an issue I guess!
Have fun! Youve planted the seed now, I might have to boot up a forza game 😂

@gollumb82 what an excellent thing to do! Myself and the misses love all the Forza games and we bought 1,2 and 3 on disc about 18 months ago and played them through in order. Its amazing what a solid game it is right from the off, with the series staples established pretty much right from the start, and 2 and 3 have some amazing designed courses and great looking environs. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Ive agreed with the misses that we are selling the series X, and the biggest regret of that decision for us is losing access to those fantastic titles. We have 4 and 5 on steam, but those first three titles still have a magic of their own..

@OldGamer999 off course it is! Cant help myself:)

@somnambulance Ouch. Sorry to hear about the car issues. Sometimes its hard to deal with expected expenses, never mind big suprise ones!
My only advice would be dont take my advice! When it comes to games and hardware I have little self control....

Once the f1 finishes for today, Im going to go and beat my head against a wall.... and by that I mean try and get a little further in Black Wokong, which is testing my poor old man reflexes bad! 🤣

Im also looking to finish off Astrobot as some light relief, its such a joyful experience.

... and I really want to get back to some Diablo 4, I keep meaning to and getting distracted..

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

Nintendo never need a reason to resort to letigious behaviour - it is their default reaction to almost anything.
Its one of the many reasons I dont love them as a company, just many of their games.
I dont think they will have issues based on the game concept, but many of the earlier assetts looked like they were stripped directly from nintendos game and I think this is where they are likely to be in trouble.

@JayJ I assume you trying to refer to myself with simplified us/them rhetoric and your language of hate and division?
I sit here with a long history of owning every single xbox since the beggining while I look at my current Series X and PC still sitting my front room. Ive also worked on several published xbox projects.
I have every right to comminicate and enjoy being on this site, a site I financialy support and where I often communicate with those who wish to engage in games related discourse - I have more posts here than anywhere else I go.
Im sorry you are so unable to tolerate any viewpoint that does not completely align with your own, but I belong here every bit as much as yourself and refuse to 'stick to my corner of the internet'.
I dont understand why you have to be so intolerant and devisive when you could be offering your own analysis of news pieces and sharing your own ideas to contribute to discussion instead of trying to spray mark you territory to chase everyone away? I can see from your second post that you support diversity, but not diversity of opinion?

I'll wish you well anyway, and hope you will eventually come to enjoy discussions with those who feel a bit differently than you do.

@sixrings Hey Im sorry you feel that way.
I dont see that reporting on the reported sku's of a Microsoft games product of such magnitude is necessarily PS news if its reporting that such a product appears to be missing from the series machines line up too. I dont really understand why you or others should be so sesitive to such a story and cant just read it or not.
However, I accept how you feel even if I cant understand.
Have a good day mate and I hope you find more stories and news that you do find relevant.

@shoeses Yes mate, I went through the whole Sega/Sony thing back when there was no social media to amplify it all. I was working for a company called Teque games in Greenwich London back then on a James pond game for the little sega handheld and an f1 games for the ill fated Atari jaguar CD. It was stil going on when I left Teque and joined Psygnosis in Camden.
Most of the silly arguments took place in the letters pages of games magazines back then, essentially forums before they started on the web.
The more things change, the more they stay the same! 😂

@GamingSince84 Im still enjoying you calling me a kid. I hit 60 last month kid, so that flippent dismisal is not appropriate but gave me a chuckle.
Your creative accounting is all your own mate, but if you wish to decive yourself about whats happening, thats fine, but dont expect the rest of to fall in line with your dellusions. The only way you could claim record levels of income is if you convieniently forget the 70 billion you just used to buy the profits. The shareholders havent forgotten and its that pressure thats forced the xbox unit to have to release titles on its biggest competitor.
Anyway, have a great day kiddo..

@GamingSince84 Exploded? If you remove the ActiBliz income that they bought last year, it fell by 1%. Do you wish to point to verifiable data showing an explosion in revenue outside of acquisitions , or are you just seeing what you want to see?

I don't know Sarah Bond well, but I did watch her 'interview' just after all those jobs were let go in acti bliz. That was the worst Ai generated speech and word salad interview I've ever seen and I have no time for her at all after watching that appalling performance.
People here will know I'm not into the 'cult of Phil', but I'd take him over her any day of the week.

I don't think anyone is likely to lose sleep over this (maybe one), but its a strange thing to have to report on for sure.
The only advantage a PS5 native port will have will be reading the SSD at ps5 speeds. I'm not as aware of the toolset for S/X, but maybe they do that already....be grateful if anyone with that knowledge could enlighten me!

@Pabpictu How extraordinary. If you don't like a story, simply move on, throwing your toys out the pram doesn't change the fact a news site will report on news.

Shame. In realist terms, I bet this program cost chump change.
Got to appreciate all those that did this work though..