Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[Finsbury Girl]

The irony if it turns into a Halo "destiny"

No Molyneux hype on Fable = no buy

ps can I plant an acorn?

[Cassius_Smoke]

The halo demo was confirmed to be almost a year old... So why the hell would you show it? Get a later build to show!
We've got this video kicking around from a year ago... Yeah that'll do.
That's some half assed **** from MS.

[nonny]

The halo demo was confirmed to be almost a year old... So why the hell would you show it? Get a later build to show!
We've got this video kicking around from a year ago... Yeah that'll do.
That's some half assed **** from MS.

Where is your source on this? I have to say that is pretty disappointing if true but on a positive note what does it look like now?

There was the other report it'll get a ray tracing patch post launch so basically you'd conclude we haven't seen precisely how it will look on XSX.

[QualityChimp]

I wasn't sure if Halo was a remake at first as it really just looks like more of the same, just shinier.
There was even cloud pop-up at this point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7nkg_5ZfrM&t=1648s

Bored of new console just being shinier ways to shoot people.

Really enjoyed the Everwild preview. Glad Rare are still making games away from the well-worn path.

Also liked the look of Grounded, as it looks like a mix of the base-building in Fallout 4 and The Forest with the action of Honey I Shrunk The kids.

Avowed would have been funnier if the flaming arrow had hit someone's knee! Looks interesting though.

My tea was ready then, so I stopped watching.

[nonny]

Grounded has received some glowing praise so far from anyone who has tried the beta preview so I'm eager to try that out next week.

Ever Wild looks like the Rare game we've all wanted for a long time so that will hopefully be worth the wait.

Halo actually looks a **** tonne better watched in 4K but agree the pop in is distracting but it is definitely the sharper and shinier version of the original and for me personally that is absolutely fine.

We've had Halo 4 on the tail end of the 360 era and the poor campaign of Halo 5 from 343. If this is the original sandbox gameplay expanded to be full open world then I am down with that.

Some people might think that is too nostalgic and it isn't pushing the series forward which I understand but for me it's resetting the foundation. If they're now simply going to expand on it over time then it needs to set out the core gameplay on which it's based first. I'm happy with that base from what I've seen so far.

I notice in the map section of the video there is a tab for upgrades as well... So there is plenty they're not showing us just yet. Plus they've confirmed split screen and co-op so this is literally a love letter remake of sorts... At least for starters.

Biggest takeaway from the whole event is game pass is the absolute linchpin for how MS is measuring their success from here on out. Not console wars and how many sold, it's how many users of the ecosystem can they get on board concurrently across devices.

If you have game pass right now, knowing all that is coming as part of that service is incredibly good value. Whether there's individual games you dislike the service is what they're pushing.

[Digfox]

Game Pass right now is fantastic value, and this was a wondeful advert for it last night. It has a fantastic balance of first-party, indie and big AA releases.

Albeit what little gameplay and detail we actually saw. As an advert for XSX is was far less successful.

However my worry is that Microsoft are now adapting their games to better fit that model. In other words we are seeing an even bigger shift to GaaS; Forza, Fable MMO, Halo Destiny etc. It's been evident for a while MS are about services and it's clear their games have a strong Live Services element. Although I enjoy some GaaS games it's the old saying not everything needs to be one and I hope we still see strong offline SP games from MS.

[nonny]

That is my point... The Sony event was a console reveal, I mean they literally ended by showing the console.

Watching this event the product they're selling is game pass... Not the XSX. This just made it all the more confusing for people but when you look back at it knowing that it makes more sense.

I mean, Phil Spencer literally goes on camera and states clearly that this is "all available on game pass" with no mention on XSX other than to say it'll look best on that console.

Agree it seems they want some of the GaaS pie and unfortunately we've got Fortnite to thank for that. However that's only really been success due to cross play and cross save to massively increase the community. Apex Legends is moving to something similar... Plus COD is there now with Warzone.

If you build a wide community across devices then yes GaaS can work extremely well and you lose the negatives of being on a closed platform as an exclusive (i.e. low community numbers).

I'm less worried about this because quite simply there has to be room for other game genres and experiences. They can't just go all in on large scale games because people still love single player story driven experiences as well. They have to offer choice plain and simple, which I think they will do with the game studios they now have.

[QualityChimp]

So, I totally agree with Game Pass being great value, but it doesn't really click with me.

Maybe it's because I'm a gaming dinosaur and years of growing up and as a kid only having one game for months meant I rinsed it and replayed it and that's now in my nature.

Maybe it's because I like paying for something and owning it, rather than renting it, which is essentially what these services are, even the "free" games won't work without a current subscription.
(Although I admit the move towards virtual over physical will make this more of a grey area as servers get switched off and licences expire etc, but that's a different conversation.)

Maybe it's because I'd rather pay for a game and play it until I've had enough.
It's really tough with anything using your free time to not think "I could be doing something else".
Even with a game you're enjoying, you still look at your backlog and upcoming games and think "what else should I be playing".
With Game Pass, there are hundreds of games you could be playing instead, which really doesn't help with this anxiety!

Maybe it's the thought of paying for a game not on the Pass that you really want to play when you're already forking out for Live and Game Pass smarts a little?

Maybe it's getting tied down to so many services that's starting to grate. Live, PS+, Nintendo Pass, Netflix, Prime, NowTV, Disney+ and so on. They want you to be attached to their services.

Maybe it's because when you have too much choice, you feel overwhelmed.
Sometimes I think the availability of pretty much every song, book, film and game whenever you want can stop you from appreciating what you have at that moment?

It's probably the dinosaur thing, though.

[wakka]

It’s definitely a very modern problem. We’re spoilt rotten for choice, and choice isn’t something that intrinsically makes you happy.

Still, you can’t knock the value of it!

[Digfox]

Agreed [MENTION=221]nonny[/MENTION]. Although I think MS adapting their games to the freemium model is how they make Game Pass sustainable. Will we ever see an MS God of War, Spider-Man or HZD (i.e. huge budget offline, SP with no MTX) on GP?

[Neon Ignition]

The trouble they will face is that they need their games to be GAAS titles for sustainability on Game Pass but as the market has already shown (and begun to move away from) there is only so much space for GAAS titles before you start seeing issues set in. Making a GAAS Halo makes a kind of sense but moving all the main franchises in that direction would be a big mistake. On the flip side expensive single players (which the market seems to be shifting back to) will be very hard to make a profit on via Game Pass without one of two things:

01 - A huge increase in the Xbox player base which is hard to see coming at the moment
02 - Several price hikes for Game Pass over the coming years which feels very likely

Given the stealth price hike Gold subs have just had dropped on them existing users should milk the cheap top up methods for Game Pass over the next 12 months just in case.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I think it'll be a little sad for both Halo and Forza to be GaaS. You'll basically buy 1 halo game all generation and have no more halo to look forward to. Sure it'll get big updates and stuff, but it's not the same and seeing a brand new one shown off.

[Digfox]

Well I think it's clear, the Game Pass model isn't just a flat subscription Netflix style. But more Amazon Prime 'add-on' purchases. Whether that be DLC, MTX or selling games by rotating them off the servive (20% off to keep playing).

[Neon Ignition]

I hope... hope that it means MS will get a lot more new IP's out over the course of the generation given the lack of Halo and Forza installments. To be honest, I'm already worried at the prospect of Forza Horizon 5 becoming a GAAS title as well. I'm likely to claim a free fortnight for each game as they come out and cane them like normal which is great value but I've got sod all interest in playing the same installment for months or years and by the time they launch a new one (343 have already talked about 10 years of Infinite) I will have missed all updates for Infinite and have been away from the series so long I won't care less about the new one. Much like how GTA6 is at the point were my anticipation is actively dropping with each year Rockstar dosses off releasing it.

[Junko]

The only stand out game was that new Rare one .... everything else looked current gen , Halo was shocking and not in a good way