pip_muzz

This game is obviously going to be divisive. As a fan of HR Giger and David Cronenberg, the Amnesia games and more I'm clearly the target market. But these niches are hardly mainstream, this is a game which COULDN'T BE more subjective for the player and one in which everyone remotely interested would do better in ignoring reviews altogether due to the subject matter of this game.

It's not a good look for Microsoft. The stories of Forza accounts and Xbox Live being banned due to inappropriate Forza Liveries are also well known (apparently anything remotely political is enough to get your account banned).
Something MS needs to get on top of and fast.
Not good enough

I used to be a frigate pilot, but then I took a blaster shot to the knee.

Fantastic list. If I had to pick x5 Criterion must -plays these are the exact same games I would have chosen. They belong in every gamers collection.

Sad to see Shift 1-2 underrepresented. Both some of the best racing games of their gen.
Definitely interesting that Most Wanted is massively outscoring Carbon... Nostalgia winning again in the polls it seems. Carbon did everything Most Wanted did with more added on.

Surprised to see so much negativity in this comment section.
From the Blink power itself to the general architecture of the buildings it's not exactly a stretch of the imagination to imagine the series being remotely linked.
They play similarly, they make sense together. The connection makes total sense in my view, and I've played all the Dishonored games.

I tend to pick up some games before they leave the service if I think they're well and truly worth owning and supporting. I've recently bought Hades, Procession to Calvery and Bug Fables for example. Great games which I found a shame were leaving the service in the first place.

Tying the songs to the weekly seasonal is unnecessary.
But the update looks solid. Can't complain at a new short Horizon Story, a new mode and a new radio station. Especially when it's for free.

@Kaloudz I know right! I feel like I can't read the website with my wife next to me in case she thinks I'm reading something other than gaming 😂😂 The scroll adverts need to be a little less raunchy here.

The fact that Call of Duty could end up on Nintendo as a cloud version alone means that the acquisition opens up the gaming sphere rather than shrinks it.
If the deal doesn't go through, I expect very messy lawsuits between MS and PS as a result.

I understand people may not agree with my opinion, but what I do not understand is why people would comment on an article about x8 very good games leaving Game Pass as a positive thing.
I've said it to Sony fans constantly and feel I need to say it here now, it's ok to criticise the things you like.
This month's list of games leaving Game Pass, combined with last month's is not a cause for celebration. No, it's not the end of Xbox, Game Pass or whatever, but wouldn't it be better as an Xbox fan if these games weren't leaving the service at all?
Arguing as to why they're leaving is like listening to Sony fans argue about the PS5 price increase being justified.
It should be ok to say it sucks that good games are leaving Game Pass without being made to feel like some kind of traitor!

@BlackMayge No offense taken buddy. I do also game on switch and begrudgingly PlayStation as well. But Xbox is my main console. Even though I've completed a lot of the games that have left the service and are leaving, I find it sad that they're no longer there for new people joining the service. I won't unsubscribe as it still is very good value, it's more me having a silly Sunday grumble 😅

@Royalblues one of the reasons I'm grumpy is because The Good Life was such a joyous play, I'm sad I don't have time to replay it before it leaves the service. 12 months isn't enough.
@Fishticon I've already said I've no interest in a "try before buy" service. If I'm curious enough to try I'm curious enough to buy. I thought Game Pass was intended to be a library of games that would stay and you could play/access whenever you wanted.
We obviously have very different interpretations of what the service is intended for, hence our disagreement.

@Fishticon I disagree. I signed up to Game Pass to play the 1st party games and new releases at launch, saving money as opposed to paying the high launch price for them. The idea of Game Pass being a "rental service" is a valid negative against it.
Knowing now that so many games leave the service so quickly is more likely to make me unsubscribe and simply buy each and every game at launch and support the Devs more.
It certainly doesn't help that almost all the games entering the service have a very short 12month contract it seems either.

I still think Game Pass is incredible value, but the quality of last year's games compared to this year's games is showing. All those superb Indies have lasted just 1 year on the service. If I feel the need to "buy" all the games leaving the service, then what's the point of me being subscribed in the first place?

Still unjustifiably expensive. I'd rather shuffle my games around a bit than essentially drop a Series S price on an expansion card.

@Kezelpaso that made me chuckle 😅 wishing everyone at Pure Xbox a good weekend

Oh nice. Here's hoping Horizon 1-3 are rescued from the circles of delisted hell in time for the Horizon anniversary soon as well.
Even if they aren't this is still a very good step!

@Kezelpaso If I trusted what 343i roadmaps say I'd have been playing Co-op at launch with my brother sat next to me. 😅🤣
I really wouldn't be surprised if the mission select is pushed back to Season 3 launch next year.

This is very good news. I was concerned this game would get forgotten about launching just a couple of days after the new Plague Tale.
Releasing it before that game gives it a better chance to shine. (And conveniently helps my playing schedule as well)

@darkswabber @Would_you_kindly Sony don't own Nioh at all. In Japan the game was a developed & published Koei Tecmo game. It was purely for the west that Sony had publishing duties.
I suspect the real reason for the lack of an Xbox version is that the games are several years old now and it doesn't make financial sense.

Shame for Xbox fans. Nioh 1+2 are sole reasons to own a PS4. Games so good that even the average Sony fan hasn't played them after looking at Push Square's Top 50 PS4 games.
The reason I'm so excited about Wo Long is because of just how good Nioh was.

I'd still put Perfect Dark at number 1. A game that took everything that made Goldeneye 007 a great game and improved upon it every way (minus the Bond license of course).
If we really opened it up for all Rare games I'd rate it as
1) Perfect Dark
2) Donkey Kong Country 2
3) Banjo Kazooie

Its actually not Deathloop 😂 with Return to Monkey Island coming out the day before I'm playing that. A superb game.
I'll probably be starting Deathloop sometime Sunday evening though

This game could be delayed to 2026 and I'd be ok with it. The Devs must be going through a horrible time right now still. Wish them all the best

Definitely one of my most anticipated 2023 titles for sure.

The fact that Everwild is in that list of expected games makes it pretty clear it's several years out of date. This information is about as much use as a wet towel.

It's downloading onto my Switch as a type this. Absolutely love the Monkey Island games! I could have waited for a port but I want to play this now!

Have to say, the last couple of months the quality of games leaving Game Pass is pretty high.
MS could do with locking games down for longer than a 12month period. The last couple of months have seen better games leave the service than come in, and I say that as someone looking forward to Deathloop and having loved Two Point Campus

The Arc System Works fighters of Blazblue and Guilty Gear are amazing! Great Game Pass gets. Goldeneye will be amazing to play through again and I can't wait to start Deathloop next week (it's already Pre-Installed)

Normally I'd comment that the management at 343i should all be sacked, but since they essentially all have been lately I'm hoping that whoever is now in charge has the decency to release the Split-Screen co-op properly.

"Play it Day One on Xbox Game Pass"

That sentence alone is the whole reason Sony is throwing it's tantrum, complaining about gamers rights (funnily enough only the PS ones though) and being a real jackass on the subject. Sony knows with a marketing push and that sentence on buses, tubes and between football matches at halftime they'll lose a fortune.
Good, Sony should try to innovate themselves as a response to this rather than simply try to squash the competition with petty complaints.

@Banjo- I have copies of 1-3 in my PS2 and I even forked out for the remaster of 2 on Wii as well. These games are criminally overlooked and underrated in my view. Remasters of 1-3 would be a dream. I'd genuinely rate Project Zero 2 as the scariest game of all time.

@Banjo- fantastic to see a fellow passionate Project Zero fan here as well. I'll never forget playing Project Zero 1 on the PS2 way back when. I totally agree, one of the very best horror game series and very much worthy of mention alongside the Silent Hill series.

I remember modding my Wii with an SD card specifically to play this back in the day (Project Zero + Grasshopper/Suda51 combined is perfect anyday)
Can't wait and happy to pay & play for this again.

Ummmm I have the physical version. Seriously MS you can do one here. Don Mattrick levels of anti physical here

Hopefully $70 doesn't mean £70 again. I also won't be paying that much for a video game either. Regardless of what title it is. The prices will go up and up and up until companies hit the point where their profits no longer increase. If everyone buys games at £70 they'll be £80 next, then £90 etc... Until the entire gaming industry is funded through whaling by the console fanboys.

It's definitely good that she's going, but obviously not for the sad reasons of a family medical issue.

@UltimateOtaku91 What are Microsoft supposed to say that would please you?
"We promise to put Call of Duty on PlayStation until the end of time itself?!"
How can Microsoft commit to developing future installments for Sony consoles when we don't even know if in 3 years we're already on the dawn of another gen.

Considering Sony has had years of exclusive modes making Xbox the unattractive option for Call of Duty for quite some time, Jim Ryan can go do one.

@Markatron84 To use Doom as an example you've provided. That's the definition of Iteration.

ID software's earlier game Wolfenstein 3D was the foundation FPS, but rather than copy what they did before, they improved the game engine, added verticality (there weren't even any stairs in Wolfenstein for example). Other "Doom clones" as you call them actually innovated in their own way too. Hexen allowed you to select different characters with different abilities, Shadow Warrior focussed on melee combat etc...

Whereas an imitation would be something like Crazy Taxi being imitated by Simpsons' Hit and Run, or Mario Party with Sonic Shuffle.

I'll agree I'm being overly harsh on Metal Hellslinger, if I'm being overly harsh it's because I feel BPM is a VERY underrated game and so wanted that to get some more attention.

Also, it would be nice if you didn't resort to mockery if you don't agree with something I've said. I'm more than happy to have a proper intelligent discussion on the subject instead 👍

@Markatron84 it's not my fault you're unable to tell the difference between a game that iterates upon its predecessors rather than simply imitating it

@Markatron84 there's a difference from building upon what's been done before and just simply copying an idea.
Games are definitely iterative otherwise as you say, the industry will never progress.
But in moments like this when this game will get a lot more coverage due to its Game Pass launch, its well worth pointing out there is a game already out there that did this exact thing first. It's as much about education as anything.

As for the Paragon assets, depends if you judge a game on its artwork or gameplay concept. The art is definitely derivative, but the gameplay isn't.

This looks incredibly similar to BPM:Bullets per Minute! A rhythm based FPS shooter with a Doom metal soundtrack.
Considering BPM has been out for well over a year this looks a little too plagiaristic for my liking.

Two Point Campus for me. A superb game that took everything good about Two Point Hospital and improved it tenfold.

It's worth pointing out that the MCC updates were done by external studios such as Certain Affinity, under contract to 343i.
So even the turnaround's aren't attributable to 343i. All they have done is botch every game launch and outsource the fixing to someone else who is capable.

I think it's hilarious how modders and individuals can produce more content than a 750+person studio.

The Coalition are one of MS' most solid developers. Glad they're helping Undead Labs out.

@awp69 Immortality is super so far granted. I'm not saying every game coming is poor. But classics like Hades, Plague Tale, Bug Fables etc... Seem to be replaced with simulator after simulator after simulator.
It's not that good games aren't still coming. I loved Two Point Campus for example. But more good games are leaving than coming in is my point.

Hmmm not good. More games are leaving the service than coming in...
Have we hit the point of peak Game Pass already? The quality of games going to the ones replacing them is a little alarming.