Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[Brad]

I had steam pop up a video for halo infinite last night and at first I thought it was just some halo collection they were pushing. Didn’t realise it was a new game that’s how gash it looks. If it plays ok though then that won’t matter. Can they recapture the halo ce glory days?

[teddymeow]

Didn't Phil Spencer say a while back that they wouldn't show games that were more than 18 months or so out?

Then MS said that for the first two years or so all Series X games would run on the One X.

So, one of these is patently false! Either MS have back-tracked on not showing games which won't be out for ages or stuff like Everwild will be out by the end of 2021 but won't run on the One X.

Halo, I am sure, will be great fun to play. Having it look like a throwback to CE is great as I have fond memories of rinsing that on OG Xbox but I was honestly expecting a huge step up. I mean that FPS by the single Chinese dude they showed at the third party showcase looked better in terms of lighting and particles. They could have shown an example of how Halo will look with RT to gee people up a bit.

The people that laughed at Sony for starting their showreel with GTA V are now celebrating the fact that they are getting Destiny 2 (which is also coming out on PS5...).

What was the last Microsoft Studios AAA on Xbox One? Gears 5 late last year? Grounded is due in a couple of days but it's being released as an early access kind of thing. That's such a PC thing to do. I buy consoles to plug them in and play - not be part of some huge QA team.

GamePass is great (I'm subbed until May 2022) and the fact that every game shown was going to be on GamePass meaning I can dabble on stuff I might not normally play. The Gunk looked good but seems to riff on Blinx / Luigi's Mansion with the vacuum thing.

The way things stand neither machine is ready to launch later this year. My heart says I'll be buying a PS5 at launch even though it will be lacking games (damn Astrobot!!) but my head says wait until Ratchet. With the Series X, it's a hard pass and I'll just see which games come to the One X GamePass.

[CMcK]

Then MS said that for the first two years or so all Series X games would run on the One X.

That was only first party games from MS Game Studios.

I do wonder if Game Pass is really what MS was pushing the other night. It is gaining in value all the time.

[MartyG]

At this point I can't see myself buying either console at launch - in fact that combined cost cash might be better spent on a RTX3080ti instead

[CMcK]

I'll pick up the Series X at launch as the BC plus HDR, load times and low latency stuff will improve my embarrasingly large backlog of Xbox games. PS5 hinges on VR for me at present. And the M2 Shot Triggers series.

[teddymeow]

That was only first party games from MS Game Studios.

I do wonder if Game Pass is really what MS was pushing the other night. It is gaining in value all the time.

So Forza and Everwild which will both look aces but are clearly a ways away won't run on the One X.

So, which point have they backtracked on? Showing early or compatibility?

It's frustrating.

[CMcK]

So Forza and Everwild which will both look aces but are clearly a ways away won't run on the One X.

So, which point have they backtracked on? Showing early or compatibility?

It's frustrating.

Their messaging seems to be somewhat fluid. I suspect they are hoping to not have to develop Xbox One versions of games like Forza and Everwild. The fabled Lockhart / Series S console will hopefully encourage current Xbox One owners to jump to next gen more quickly negating the need for Xbox One ports.

[nonny]

I think I'm with Marty on this one. It looks flat due to it using basic lighting and I would assume now we know a ray tracing patch is part of the future update they've basically just stuck with an very basic lighting map as a placeholder right now.

Ray tracing and better textures would make for a pretty dramatic change but it remains to be seen exactly what is left to go into the build before launch.

That said this late in the game something is up. They must have known it wasn't good enough and I still don't understand why they didn't tack on a quick tech demo of how better it would look later in the dev cycle. I've heard some people comment on that being crazy but then they just showed us slowed down footage of Ori to show us what 120fps does for it. Why not show what they're aiming for with their prime franchise?

So maybe there is development difficulties, maybe it was already in a bit of trouble and lockdown made it a lot worse.... All we do know now is they've got 3-4 months to show improvement.

As for the genres on offer and then being exciting... I don't think there is alot first party on either new console to be honest. I think Ratchet and Clank was the stand out on PS5 but I it's not my kind of game these days. I also don't really care for Spiderman either... I truth if I do buy a PS5 in the short term it would be to play games I missed this generation not owning a PS4. I actually nearly bought a pro 6 months ago but held off because I can wait.

For me it's a similar thing with Xbox. I holding back on Control, Doom Eternal and a few other big titles to play them on the XSX. I'm also looking forward to playing Forza Horizon 4 more with all the improvements coming... So in truth apart from a few titles there really isn't much new on either console I need day one but the upgrade and backward compatibility is a nice thing to tide me over...

[Cassius_Smoke]

If it is due to basic lighting it's admitting that the demo they showed is unpolished. It's a game demonstration to get peoples interest in selling the game and a new console and they used an unfinished demo of a game due out in only a few months. The game has to go Gold, get burned on disks and shipped across the world, meaning those months until its out are only a matter of weeks for polishing to be done.
Either it's unpolished or it's an early demo, which is also pretty silly to show.

Edit: It's worth noting that none of this 'basic lighting' discussion has happened with any other games MS or Sony showed, suggesting its definitely something wrong with Halo.

[MartyG]

Edit: It's worth noting that none of this 'basic lighting' discussion has happened with any other games MS or Sony showed, suggesting its definitely something wrong with Halo.

I'm not sure we really saw enough of any other XBX games in terms of in-game footage to be able to say either way if it's going to be an issue in other titles.

[CMcK]

I don't think there was anything wrong with the lighting in Halo. Probably a combination of artistic choice and the time of day the action was set at.

[EvilBoris]

Definitely some weirdness going on.
Beyond that while baked , vs real-time lighting thing which means games day/night cycles always look worse, there was definately something up with it such from characters not casting shadows on the ground. But then there is some fundamental setup errors which have been made, such as the footage being captured with non cinematic gamma level.

[dataDave]

I can't think of any worse a time to make your flagship title look like something from 2010 on purpose because of artistic reasons.



What happened to this?

[Cassius_Smoke]

It sounds like excuses.
'its the lighting'
'it's the time of day'
'it's an early demo'
None of this is good enough for a flagship title on the brink of release.

Edit (again): it sounds like I'm having a pop at people. I'm not, I'm just pissed off and disappointed in the game.

[Digfox]

There have been rumours for years about Halo Infinite struggling with development from credible sources, along with multiple changes in Creative Director; Resetera thread.