Xbox Series S/X: Thread 03

[nonny]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-09-27-halo-infinite-multiplayer-feels-great-but-theres-a-question-mark-over-battle-pass-progression

Pretty much sums up my own thoughts...

[nonny]

https://www.gamesradar.com/halo-infinite-multiplayer-week-2-open/

Next week's flight is open to everyone

[Neon Ignition]

Thing with Halo is that if it's caught between having to remain true to its old form and the progression of its rivals it will mean that it will be forever playing to a shrinking audience. Fearful of upsetting a core fanbase but not appealing to a new one either. To be honest, the whole Game Pass fuelled 10 year life span for Infinite feels like something of a death knell for the franchise.

I don't doubt that the multiplayer will be maintained by the GP player base coming through but once its shelf life is over I can see the Halo franchise as having withered away from a marketing perspective unless MS plans for regular major seperate single player projects to maintain its market presence. There's a reason Activision still keeps doling out yearly entries despite Warzone being a cash cow.

[Lebowski]

Its a culture problem it seems with Microsoft, and all their biggest franchises seem to be stuck with a real lack of innovation, They don't seem to have any new massive franchises on the horizon too, (Bar Starfield from the Bethesda Acquisition) Take Forza Horizon Bar the slightly improved visuals theirs nothing new there, its like they pick up their cars and plonk them in a new location each game. Gears of war used to be a system seller but they don't seem to know what to do with it anymore and its a solid title but doesn't draw the same numbers as in the 360 days.

Franchises that failed last gen like, State of decay, and Crackdown are no doubt mothballed now too which is a real shame as with a bit more budget thrown behind them they could both be something really special. I loved the first state of decay once you got past the poor frame-rate for the hordes, it was a solid survival game, balancing scavenging, dodging the hordes and trying to keep your base and people safe was a unique and fun experience that just needed a bit more polish. And Crackdown take the GTA template and apply it to a future city where your a super powered up cop how can you mess that up?

[nonny]

I think there is an element of playing safe with a few franchises whilst taking risks with others to be fair.

Halo Infinite I think ia running that fine line between being faithful and fresh. I don't think the multiplayer needs a complete overhaul personally but I hope the campaign is a return to form where Halo 5 failed and 4, whilst I enjoyed it at the time was pretty safe in it's structure.

Forza Horizon 5, yeah it's just the prettiest version of that same structure that made the previous games popular. I think that is fine for now given that in the sidelines Turn 10 is starting from the ground up on Forza Motorsport.

Starfield, Redfall, Fable, Perfect Dark... That is where I see the risks being taken. I think out of all of those Fable could be something really special... We know playground games can deliver graphically, I now just want to see what they can do with this genre and franchise.

Same goes with Gears. Gears 4 and 5 were decent but merely expansions of what the series was known for. With UE5 and time on their hands I would like to see the coalition really push the boundaries on that one.

Honestly it's a similar issue with Sony. GT7 and Horizon Forbidden West look like more of the same, Miles Morales was a full title albeit built on the same foundation as it's predecessor... Etc...

I don't think either of these companies want to take major risks on all their property every time, but with Microsoft there is definitely more riding on them.

[Neon Ignition]

Sony works well as they iterate but always have something new on the pipeline as well. Whilst not everything works out they keep a conveyer belt of properties rolling out.

GT is iterative as hell but they've attempted to bring in other racers like Motorstorm and DriveClub to mixed success.

They have loads of cinematic third person adventures but instead of simply making Uncharted XIV they branch out the IP's and spins on the takes. Whilst all fall under the same umbrella game type it can't be said that Uncharted, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Horizon, Days Gone etc offer the same experience as each other. Each have their own spins and those that work then allow Sony to retire those that work less well with replacements to hand.

Microsoft has very much stuck with what works and those victories have done them proud but they've left IP after IP in their trail. Gears is pretty worn out, it would be a small step to make a third person experience in a similar mould based on Halo. Forza Horizon retooled Forza Motorsport to great effect, now we're five games deep why not attempt retooling the experience to repurpose PGR's structure etc

The revival and rebuilding of Perfect Dark and Fable hopefully suggests they're finally picking up on the formula. Killer Instinct was a great update and other IP like Banjo are utterly wasted when Xbox isn't even catering to some markets they suit at all.

[wakka]

Agreed. Sony do make a lot of games that follow a pretty similar template, but they definitely deserve credit for putting big money behind new characters and new worlds. They were hugely aggressive last generation, launching Horizon, Days Gone and Ghost, plus completely reinventing God of War and Spider-Man.

I like your ideas NI and they make a lot of sense, but I'd like to see MS go even further and create some brand new major AAA stuff.

They do have Starfield going for them, which I'm really crossing fingers and toes delivers.

[Neon Ignition]

I'd be happy to see MS almost simply steal ideas as well, imagine Gears of War if it was executed from a single player experience just like the recent God of War was. Too much of the current Xbox catalogue still plays to the late Xbox/early Xbox 360 era and is increasingly dated.


It's a bit like Crackdown. They kept making sequels that felt like dated basic platformers because people loved orb collecting in the original. The game needed better movement and scaling. Make the orbs harder to get later on and a reliance on objectives and open world exploration via vehicles a bigger focus. Essentially the more you play the more it veers from GTA like to the classic Crackdown experience so you get a real sense of progression and of becoming super powered rather than spending 20hrs jumping.

[wheelaa]

Played a little bit of MCC yesterday.

As a result, my impression of HI, so far, is rather lessened.

I had my beef. I had my decent audio. I had my smooth control. I had zero wtf moments. I had zero suspicious deaths. I had quality responsive aiming. All from titles over a decade old.

343i have 2 utter fails in the Halo sphere (given how poor MCC was at launch, maybe 3). Touch and go right now, but I'm leaning more towards HI being the same story.

[Lebowski]

I think there is an element of playing safe with a few franchises whilst taking risks with others to be fair.

Halo Infinite I think ia running that fine line between being faithful and fresh. I don't think the multiplayer needs a complete overhaul personally but I hope the campaign is a return to form where Halo 5 failed and 4, whilst I enjoyed it at the time was pretty safe in it's structure.

Forza Horizon 5, yeah it's just the prettiest version of that same structure that made the previous games popular. I think that is fine for now given that in the sidelines Turn 10 is starting from the ground up on Forza Motorsport.

Starfield, Redfall, Fable, Perfect Dark... That is where I see the risks being taken. I think out of all of those Fable could be something really special... We know playground games can deliver graphically, I now just want to see what they can do with this genre and franchise.

Same goes with Gears. Gears 4 and 5 were decent but merely expansions of what the series was known for. With UE5 and time on their hands I would like to see the coalition really push the boundaries on that one.

Honestly it's a similar issue with Sony. GT7 and Horizon Forbidden West look like more of the same, Miles Morales was a full title albeit built on the same foundation as it's predecessor... Etc...

I don't think either of these companies want to take major risks on all their property every time, but with Microsoft there is definitely more riding on them.

I completely agree with GT7 and games like Little big planet that fail to innovate and seem stuck with how to evolve. But with Spider Man and HZD, where only just seeing the second versions of these games, so we've not reached that point of fatigue yet, Miles Morales was more billed as a add on than a full on sequel and even though i played Spider-man i was more than happy to dip back in with the improvements they made. The problem with Halo, Forza, and gears is where 6-7 games into the series with the same stuff coming out over and over again.

[nonny]

https://www.eurogamer.net/amp/2021-09-28-xbox-game-pass-gets-marvels-avengers-this-week

Avengers Assemble ... Took a while but here we go, into game pass soon.

[nonny]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/28/22697993/dolby-vision-xbox-series-x-s-feature-available-now

Dolby Vision officially rolling out now. Have tried this on a few games in beta and it's really good. My only grumble is my TV can't do 120hz and DV at the same time so I have to knock it back to 60hz which is a bit annoying.

[Atticus]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/28/2...-available-now

Dolby Vision officially rolling out now. Have tried this on a few games in beta and it's really good. My only grumble is my TV can't do 120hz and DV at the same time so I have to knock it back to 60hz which is a bit annoying.

That’s good news but shame it’s only for gaming initially … no mention of 4k UHD drive film support.

[CMcK]

That’s good news but shame it’s only for gaming initially … no mention of 4k UHD drive film support.

Surely that’s got to be on their to do list?

[Escape-To-88]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/28/2...-available-now

Dolby Vision officially rolling out now. Have tried this on a few games in beta and it's really good. My only grumble is my TV can't do 120hz and DV at the same time so I have to knock it back to 60hz which is a bit annoying.

Have they fixed the 120hz DoVi issue now? Pretty sure my CX can do both but the initial issue was the Series X itself. Must say on films I tend to think HDR looks marginally better than DoVi. It's properly set up too. I'm aware that DoVi is 'better' due to dynamic adjustment but I'd be interested to see how it performs in games. I'll download Gears 5 from Gamepass tomorrow and give it a blast.