Xbox Series S/X: Thread 05

[hudson]

PSA

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[Yakumo]

Hellbalde two is looking very nice. Almost like a real movie in some scenes.
I did enjoy the first one and will be looking forward to this one. I just pray that it gets a physical release.

[Brad]

Hellblade wasn't a great game as such but the atmosphere saves it and I completed it and started it again in VR recently.

[Neon Ignition]

https://twitter.com/MicrosoftRewa10/status/1768645619747377449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1768645619747377449%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Gaming tab reward is gone and users are now starting to get alerts that the Rewards app on Xbox is going to end next month

[endo]

Something fishy about that screenshot though. It's in 3 languages for a start... ("sur Xbox" is French, "Ganhar", "Resgatar" and "Nao, obrigado" are Portuguese and the rest is Spanish).

[nonny]

https://twitter.com/MicrosoftRewa10/...5Es1_&ref_url=

Gaming tab reward is gone and users are now starting to get alerts that the Rewards app on Xbox is going to end next month

Yeah they said this was coming. It's all now integrated into the dashboard under your profile.

Strangely only xbox specific redeemable rewards were there today when I looked. None pf the 3rd party stuff like Amazon, Argos etc

[Brad]

XBox digest:

Rewards got worse again (several times I think, I haven't done these for a while).
Some Xbox exclusives will come to PS5 at some point.
Think that's it.

[nonny]

XBox digest:

Rewards got worse again (several times I think, I haven't done these for a while).
Some Xbox exclusives will come to PS5 at some point.
Think that's it.

Hellblade II will have a photo mode at launch

Halo Infinite had its netcode completely overhauled and it's now amazing. Also had 7 new squad battle maps added.

Forza Motorsport had its car progression completely changed. It's now less time intensive for the player.

Hi-fi Rush launched on PS5 yesterday (and apparently has slightly better shadows than the Xbox version!)

The Quarry, Evil West and MLB The Show 2024 at are now in game pass.

A new Xbox dev kit was registered in Korea, pointing to new hardware coming.

Think that's it?

[wakka]

Can't believe you missed the Hellblade 2 photo mode Brad. You're on notice.

[Neon Ignition]

The Korean Dev Kit rating does seem to support the rumours of MS going 2026 with their next gen console. Biggest Third Party Console Inbound!

[Lebowski]

Halo Infinite had its netcode completely overhauled and it's now amazing. Also had 7 new squad battle maps added.

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it does it make a sound

Forza Motorsport had its car progression completely changed. It's now less time intensive for the player.

Time and tide wait for no man

Hi-fi Rush launched on PS5 yesterday (and apparently has slightly better shadows than the Xbox version!)

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones

Ancient wisdom

[hudson]

"Majority" of Xbox games will come to PS5 at some point, it's claimed


As some publishers express doubts about continuing to support Microsoft consoles.

Eurogamer

[Neon Ignition]

It's hard to work out what updates on this front are genuine and which are just people piggy backing the previous speculation but if sales of Xbox consoles are as low as is believed and there's not much hope of them recovering it's not hard to imagine we'll start to see publishers pull out. Nintendo's Wii and Switch were and are huge but not everthing releases on them because the market isn't necessarily there. Same as how support for Sega dried it back in the day, their history in the market mattered little to the dollar and dime reality. That in turn then just compounds the inevitability of the market withdrawal.

Less releases also means less Game Pass library options, it's a rabbit hole where it becomes entirely viable that not only is the end of Xbox consoles believable but also the eventual end of Game Pass itself.

[hudson]

I am not entirely sure if the handheld xbox is a good idea. I have a Steam Deck which I can access my Game Pass on. What do you all think of this? Is a handheld device a good idea for MS? Would you want it to play current Xbox content or would you be open to a new platform ala Vita/PSP (maybe this angle is a thing of the past?).

[Neon Ignition]

I think it would have been a great idea in 2020 for this gen, or even sometime in the wake of it. Come the arrival of the next gen I think it'll be too little too late. The novelty of the concept will be worn, the Switch 2 will have already stolen the limelight and narrowed the power gap. MS will have started releasing titles on that system too whilst the old advantage of brand power over Deck etc has been completely and utterly squandered by MS now. They very much feel and sound like a company where their hardware, software, finance etc departments have all just stopped talking to one another and are following different plans.