VenomousAlbino

@NEStalgia I know right! It's the worst thing I've played in ages.

@outsider83 yeah, it's bewildering that people can't find ONE other thing to do for a few hours.

@LtSarge no worries. Also I completely forgot about Firewatch, I can reaffirm that you should definitely play that.

@LtSarge if you're looking into "walking simulators", I highly recommend Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch. Also, I suppose games by Telltale and/or Dontnod count, so get stuck into Tell Me Why (my 2020 GOTY) on Game Pass.

I've been slowly getting my way through Valkyria Chronicles 4 over the past week; I got £10 of store credit with Microsoft reward points and VC4 Complete Edition is currently on sale for £12 so I took a punt. So far I'm really enjoying it, as it sort of reminds me of a cross between Worms and Fire Emblem.

Other than that, I'm also 30-something hours into Yakuza: Like a Dragon and have been dipping in and out of some Game Pass games; Dirt 5, Monster Train and Superhot: Mind Control Delete.

Oh, and my everlasting quest to unlock everything in The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (on Switch) continues after 630+ hours.

@FraserG my Pure Xbox application form's in the post.

@FraserG Didn't I break this news yesterday? 😜

@PhhhCough well, as is what happened when I tried to play FF14 however many years ago, I created an account on mobile, verified it, tried logging in through the Xbox and it claimed it couldn't log me in.

You might not need Gold, but you do need a Square Enix account, and - surprise, surprise - anything to do with Square Enix's account creation/management system is utter dogsh*t and because of this I can't even play the damn demo.

Final Fantasy XIV, Outriders... I need to learn to just stay away from any Square Enix games that require you to deal with their account systems.

It's irritating when this happens but... go do something else? Or at least that's what I do.

I have the Switch, I have books, I have comics, I have subscriptions to more streaming services than I care to mention.

Nice. Another game to add to the to-do list.

I've always had a passing interest in hockey as well (although I forgot there were even NHL games until reading this article) so NHL 21 is also something I'll have a crack at as it's practically free.

@BlueOcean the demo wasn't close to great.

And the 2021 award for Least Surprising Reception goes to...

I'll give it a go. The wife and I are always on the lookout for decent co-op games.

I'd play a Musou game set in contemporary Britain where it's Black Friday at Asda.

@FraserG Superhot: Mind Control Delete got upgraded stealthily yesterday, as well. I wondered why it had disappeared from Xbox One games in my library yesterday evening, then noticed it has made itself at home in the Optimised for Series X|S games.

I started playing Dirt 5 this morning and it's... fine? Well, most of it is fine; I don't really get on with the pathfinder and gymkhana events (I've never liked the latter in the past, either).

Those sprint events, though... they can f**king do one. Whoever at Codemasters thought those races were fun wants a slap.

Midtown Madness 3 with the online servers switched back on, that's all I want.

It sucks for anyone who bought Anthem that they won't get the version of the game they were hoping for, but at the same time was anyone really expecting a story of redemption here?

I haven't played Anthem myself, but I did spend a good chunk of time watching my wife play it (which she did to completion) and it was evident to me that this game was fundamentally broken in so many ways that there's no way that EA was going to fully invest the resources required to overhaul it.

Again, it really does suck, but it really should act as a cautionary tale (like we needed another one) against pre-ordering and buying into the pre-releaae hype; the primary goal of publishing and/or developing games is to make money and this was further proof that a publisher and/or developer will spout any old bullsh*t to get consumers to put their hands in their pockets.

Being the age that I am, platformers have been the backbone of my gaming taste since I was old enough to hold a controller. Sonic Mania, Shovel Knight and Celeste are the highlights on this list for me personally.

Also, Banjo-Kazooie is the superior game out of the two N64 titles. Again, personally.

The shelf IS the secret.

xCloud app coming to shelves in Q3 2021.

Mine is 30-something % full, but only because I have one of the Seagate cards. Before I got the card, the internal drive was around 60% full and that was with me being VERY selective about what I downloaded; games like Destiny 2 and Forza Horizon 4 gobble up a good chunk of space by themselves.

@abe_hikura Yeah, that was my assumption. The silence speaks volumes.

I also see no mention of what owners of physical copies can expect to pay...

@NEStalgia or people could open their f**king eyes? If a ticket says "Baked beans, 40p" and you think the bottle of Jack Daniels someone dumped there is 40p, you're an idiot.

Eh. Like I said in another post, I've pretty much rinsed the game; add in the later games as expansions and we'll talk.

@Trainer and don't get me started on the classic line of "but it says on the shelf the item is £x" when an item goes through a checkout at a higher price than they expected. Yes, but if you actually read the item description on the ticket, you wouldn't look like a complete tit right now.

Even the most intelligent people turn into morons the second they step foot in a shop.

@blinx01 it also already looks beautiful with HDR switched on.

My first thought was "hell yes" but thinking about it, I've all but rinsed THPS1+2 so I'm not currently bothered about any potential upgrade. If there was a chance of THPS3 being added to the game as an expansion, though, I'd be up for revisiting the game on Series X.

@Freakdahouse @Stocksy you're both crazy.

@xMightyMatt14x @Scenes Yeah and it's the same with third party exclusives: Sony snaps up Street Fighter V exclusivity and it's fine; Microsoft does the same thing with Rise of the Tomb Raider and it seems like the only way it could've been worse would be if they'd also denied the Holocaust ever happened.

@Scenes yeah, for some reason when Sony buys a developer and makes all of its future games exclusive no one bats an eye, yet when there's even a whiff of Microsoft doing the same thing, everyone goes apesh*t.

I tried out the demo of the Switch version of Immortals and really dug the combat; it's definitely something I need to check out, either on Switch or Series X.

ReCore is something I've been meaning to get around to. My wife was singing its praises a while back and generally if she likes a game then I'll like it, although that rarely works the other way around. 😂

@ultraviolet if it's sticking as closely to the Crazy Taxi formula as it appears to be, there won't be one.

I'd sooner grab the Crazy Taxi re-release and Spotify some Bad Religion and Offspring than play this, I think. Watching the trailer, there's just something really clinical and stale about Taxi Chaos.

@KAET oh, don't get me wrong, I'm sure having kids is highly rewarding and fulfilling for most people. I'm just not most people. I'll happily look after my many nieces and nephews and love them all to bits, but my patience and general mental well-being are too fragile to do it full time.

@KAET trust me, I won't. Both my wife and I have too low a tolerance for bullsh*t to have kids 😂

@dmcc0 this is why families are overrated. 12 years ago, my life improved exponentially when my wife and I moved in together and I no longer had to suffer through the torture of Saturday night television.

Probably more Yakuza: Like a Dragon; I'm about 30 hours in and loving it. I've been playing Cyber Shadow, which was a welcome addition to Game Pass; I'm always up for a retro style 2D platformer.

This is why I don't have kids. They're dirty and sticky and gross and if they were to touch my expensive things with their dirty and sticky and gross hands, they'd end up with one of my size 14's up the backside.

@Carck That's a good point; the PS3 download speeds were even worse than PS4.

@Snake_V5 Really? Because I was always seeing/hearing/reading how PS4 download speeds were garbage.

I spent most of last gen on PS4/PS4 Slim. When I switched to a base Xbox One (not even an S or X, and one that my wife had had since launch day, I might add), I was amazed how much quicker than PS4 it was.

@outsider83 because Microsoft pays the publisher/developer to get a game onto Game Pass. From what I've read/heard, the amount varies by game and is also dependant on how long the game will be on the service.

Microsoft certainly has the funds to be paying handsome amounts of money to companies in order to get games on Game Pass. There are around 18 million Game Pass subscribers, all paying $10-15 a month, which means that MS is seeing approximately $180-270m in monthly revenue from GP subscriptions; more than enough to secure a healthy mix/number of games. But Josef Fares says he doesn't understand the business model, so what do I know? 😶

@Tharsman that's one potential concern, absolutely. However, it's also concerning that a LOT of stock is being put into things like smart delivery and doubled framerates or anything of that ilk being free of charge.

Don't get me wrong, any extra features, graphical prowess, etc being offered for free is undoubtedly great... but we're not automatically entitled to it just because it's the consumer friendly thing for companies to do. Did you get free DVD copies of every film you owned on VHS? How about blu ray? CD's? MP3's?

Companies can't upgrade everything free of charge. As we've already seen, publishers are going to pick and choose which games they upgrade free of charge in order to balance things financially.

@Tharsman How developers will have to go about implementing something like doubling framerates will vary drastically depending on the game, rendering techniques, physics engine, etc. It's something that'll have to grow steadily over time, just like the backwards compatibility lineups on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

@Tasuki using The Walking Dead as a precedent for Tales of the Borderlands coming to Game Pass was less about them also being Telltale games and more about those types of games (The Walking Dead, Tell Me Why, Life Is Strange, etc) frequenting the services. My fault; I should've been more clear.

@Krzzystuff Borderlands Handsome Collection has been on there, along with some of the 2K Sports games, so hang in there.😀

If you're into the Telltale stuff and similar games, it's definitely worth checking out. Also, I have to bring up Tell Me Why. If you haven't played it, I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a go. It's on Game Pass, it out-Telltales Telltale in every way and was my favourite game of 2020.

@Krzzystuff all seasons of The Walking Dead are on Game Pass, apart from the most recent one, so it's entirely possible Tales from the Borderlands will pop up on there at some point. Honestly, when it comes to Game Pass additions, there are very few games you can rule out entirely.

Fantastic news. I was really enjoying the game and the world building, but had to put it to one side because the crashing got beyond a joke. I didn't want the otherwise great game soured and it's not like I have a shortage of games to play; there's always something in the backlog, on sale or on Game Pass to have a look at.

@Medic_Alert "From a personal perspective having games like Call of the Sea available to me essentially for nothing allows me to play things that I otherwise wouldn't."

This has always been something I try and hammer home to anyone who plays games but maybe doesn't follow the industry in general or keep abreast of as many games as possible as avidly as I do. Some of my favourite games are ones I've tried on a whim because they were included in PlayStation Plus, Games With Gold or Game Pass; games that I would otherwise be hesitant to spend money on because I wasn't sure they'd appeal to me. The greatest thing about any of these services is they get more games and a greater variety of games into the hands of more players.

I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

@Deadcow this is the exact attitude I take with Game Pass. I've logged between 100 and 150 hours on Forza Horizon 4 and have bought both expansions because a) it supports the developer, and b) it goes some way to showing Microsoft that their current Game Pass model works and will encourage them to keep it going. Same goes for Games With Gold; I'm VERY into Jurassic Park (it's my favourite book and film) so when Evolution went on GWG, I bought all the dinosaur packs and the expansions as they released. I figure that I've spent naff all on the base game, so the least I can do is show support for creators that have provided me with so much enjoyment.

And there are games I've bought once they've announced to be leaving the service; the next one I'll definitely buy before it leaves is Slay the Spire.