VenomousAlbino

It's King. Microsoft heard your feedback and Halo Infinite is now a F2P match-three puzzler.

I stick with it for a few days and fell off it. It was just so clunky and laggy and there are more than enough superior alternatives if I want to play something online.

If the demo is any indication, this game is going to be awful. It's slow, the jumping feels off, the animation is God awful and I hate the character designs. I'm out.

A "good reason" for a rebrand screams "acquisition" to me. Not necessarily by Microsoft, though. EA just bought Codemasters; it's entirely feasible they're eyeing up some smaller dev teams to diversify the portfolio. And let's not forget Take Two was outbid in that very same acquisition.

@Ocat I tried playing it last year with one friend. We played for about three hours, doing quests, solving riddles, getting loot, really enjoying ourselves... then we were set upon by a gang of four players. We didn't stand a chance and lost a lot of loot. We never went back to it after that, mainly because we couldn't get two more friends to play.

Basically, what I'm saying is that playing Sea of Thieves solo is something that I have no desire to do. Make of that what you will.

@Benjamin just had a go. On the current UK marketplace, the only option is "redeem a code", while it isn't listed at all on the old UK Xbox marketplace. I fear this is indeed a case of it being delisted due to licencing issues.

Thanks though. I appreciate the attempted assist.

I'd like Microsoft to go back and sort out some (what I assume are) licencing issues regarding existing backwards compatible games. Earthworm Jim HD for Xbox 360, for example, is backwards compatible, shows up in the store on Series X and I would buy it in a heartbeat... if it were actually available for purchase.

@UltimateOtaku91 yeah, it's an utter pipe dream, but crazier things have happened. Did anyone honestly think we'd ever see SEGA not only put the entire Yakuza series (traditionally PlayStation exclusive) on Xbox, but that they'd make the entire series (prior to Like a Dragon) available on Game Pass and also make Like a Dragon next-gen exclusive to Series X for four months?

Surprise! Persona 5 Royal gets a Series X|S port and releases on Game Pass day one!

A man can dream.

@blinx01 I know, right?! The reflections in Hitman 3 look WAY better than those in Watch Dogs Legion (which does have ray-tracing), so I fully expect my eyes to melt in reflection-y ecstasy when it does arrive in Hitman 3.

Seeing some of the reflections and lighting, particularly in Dubai, I thought Hitman 3 already had ray tracing. It's going to look damn impressive when it actually gets implemented.

@eggsbox last time they disclosed numbers, Microsoft said there are over 15 million Game Pass subscribers. That means they're taking in $149,850,000 per month, or $1,798,200,000 a year, and that's going on the assumption that all those subscribers are only paying for basic GP and not Ultimate.

A lot of that money will get funnelled back into acquiring games and/or perks for the service, but Microsoft's goal here is to just get users into the Xbox ecosystem. Once they've hooked consumers in with Game Pass, they're more likely to buy DLC and other games on Xbox.

If it weren't financially sustainable, Game Pass would have been killed off a long time ago.

I'll be waiting until the Series X version releases before I even entertain the notion of playing Cyberpunk 2077. That gives CDPR a good 6-12 months to patch, iterate on and fix the game into something worth playing.

Hitman 3. I finished the final mission last night, so now it's time to get level 20 mastery in every level save for Paris, Sapienza and Colorado, which I've already done.

"Angst and emotion". F**k off 😂

Activision destroys another of its studios' creative potential. First Neversoft, then Raven, now this.

Great.

Every time I see The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav written down, I read "Satinav" as "satnav". Who names this stuff?!

Are there even that many backwards compatible Xbox and Xbox 360 games left that haven't already been given away with GWG?

I never got around to trying Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Asura's Wrath or Infinite Undiscovery, and I'd snap up Earthworm Jim HD if it were actually available for purchase/free with GWG.

Game developers/publishers need to wise the f**k up when it comes to day-one server/website overloading. How many times does it have to occur before they actually prepare accordingly? Bad enough the game didn't unlock until 1pm GMT, now I can't even start it without wiping my progress later?

I've heard mixed things, so this demo is most welcome.

You know it's slim pickings when WWE 2K Battlegrounds is deemed notable.

Zenimax and its subsidiaries like to announce games not too long before they're set to release, so it's possible Wolfenstein III could be announced for a late 2021 release.

On the "it'll never happen" side of things: Microsoft, bring back Midtown Madness.

@uptownsoul I have absolutely no interest in baseball or baseball videogames and even I know that The Show is consistently lauded.

Josef Fares' head is so far up his own arse, he's choking on his own hair. Always has been, always will be.

@jrt87 thanks for the help 😊 now I'll be able to play MK11 in 4K AND Blazblue.

@jrt87 that's VERY handy to know. I've been looking into getting a fight stick that I'd be using on Series X and Switch. There are plenty of Switch and multi-format sticks but none of them seem to be compatible with Series X. The only one I could find was the Fighting Stick α, which is out in February. It's also unlikely to also work with Switch and costs £200. 😐

I have this pre-ordered and installed; I just need the 20th to hurry up and get here. Hitman and Hitman 2 were two of my favourite games of last gen.

I'd prefer it if it were all red but, even with the white, that is one sexy controller.

I really miss OXM as a whole, not just the demo discs. I know that the internet can and does provide far more up to date information, but I miss print media. That feeling when the newest issue comes through the door, flicking through it before work then diving in later in the day...

Even more so, I miss 360 Magazine. It had the absolute best forum community and reader participation.

Picked up Persona 4 Arena in the sale. I now have an overwhelming urge to spend £100+ on a fight stick...

That Pawn Stars meme cracks me the f*ck up. 😆

I'd also like to point out that nobody should need the incentive of easy/quick gamerscore to play The Gardens Between, What Remains of Edith Finch or Gone Home.

Also also: Old Man's Journey is another fantastic game with a reasonably quick and easy 1000G.

Shouldn't that be What REMAINS of Edith Finch?

Overwatch and Dirt 5 changed the requirements of some of their achievements. Do the rules not apply to them?

5 years. My niece had a 360 off us and I had to set it up for her because a) she was 6, and b) despite being about 2 years younger than me, there are corpses more tech savvy than my sister.

@JoakimZ Greedfall is definitely getting a Series X upgrade at some point (read about that recently) and I'm pretty sure The Outer Worlds is as well. I dropped off TOW pretty quickly, but maybe I'll jump back into it once the upgrade arrives.

@Axlroselm that's not something that can be applied to every person who jumped ship from PS4 to Series X, though. I went from Xbox 360 to PS3/Vita because of PS Plus, went onto PS4 and stuck with it until Game Pass really took off, at which point I jumped ship again to Xbox One and Series X.

A dearth of Japanese games might cause some people to abandon Series X for PS5, but not for everyone. I went through everything I mentioned above and I love Japanese games. My wife went through the exact same process and she hates them.

If Dying Light 2 and Elden Ring come out in 2021, I'll be extremely surprised.

@mousieone thank you 😊

@belmont yeah, I nearly jumped on Ultimax, before noticing that it's not backwards compatible. Anyone know what the differences between the two games are? If Ultimax is just P4A with more characters, then I'll definitely pick up P4A.

Fuzion Frenzy 3, obviously.

I'm surprised it took this long.

@WesEds I like that idea. From the ground up remakes of Kazooie, Tooie and N&B would be lush.

Banjo-Kazooie: Bird & Bear Trilogy, anyone?

All the moves Microsoft is making right now are consumer focused, so if Phil feels there's enough demand for it, then I could see a third "more traditional" Banjo at least being considered. There's also the conundrum of who'll develop it. Rare doesn't seem bothered and Double Fine is also out...

Also, Nuts & Bolts is my all-time favourite Xbox 360 game and I have no idea why people hate it so much.

@Varazadi @Bruvas yeah, I can't wait to see if that new IP is Titanfall or Star Wars. 😂

Marvel's Avengers. It's something I want to try but there's no way I'm buying it in light of its mixed reception and colossal player drop-off. If it comes to Game Pass, that might alleviate that latter issue, at least.

It was my birthday on the 23rd, so I ended up with quite a bit. WRC 9, Control: Ultimate Edition, Pikmin 3 Deluxe and £140; the latter will either be used to pre-order some stuff (Hitman III next month) or put towards one of those Seagate expansion cards.

Double Fine would be a terrible choice and the reason why is right there in the article: there's no inclination on Tim Schafer's part to do so.

Do you really want a hypothetical Banjo-Kazooie 3 to be developed by a man - and potentially, by extension, a team - who has no desire to make the game in the first place?

@UltimateOtaku91 it's even worse since they introduced role queue. If you want to play damage, you either wait up to 15 minutes(!) to get into a match or you get put into a match via backfill and the match ends as soon as you enter it.

@KelticDevil I despair, I really do.