Xbox Series S/X: Thread 05

[fishbowlhead]

Remember when we played 240p games on N64 at 16fps and then split that on to 4 player splitscreen

Not to be nitpicky but they usually went down to 10fps in 4player

[fishbowlhead]

LOL. It just took me two full evenings (around nine hours of my time, total) setting up my son's new Minecraft account on my old laptop so that we can play together. The MS Family Safety ecosystem and glitched out permissions were mainly to blame, followed by the latest version of Java not playing nice with with Win10 firewall settings within the LAN.

Total bollocks. IN future please remind me to think VERY carefully about sending Microsoft a single penny of my money ever again.

Nothing a 4090ti & the community can’t fix.

[Neon Ignition]

Like Steam and PlayStation, increasingly Nintendo too despite their set up being held together by cardboard and gaffer tape, the embedded importance of ecosystems to users is insanely hard to shake now and Microsoft has done everything they can to not only fail to get people into their Xbox ecosystem but to retain them too.

Like Epic throwing free games at people, Ubisoft trying to push its own portal or Microsoft itself launching Game Pass on PC - users still insist on buying it on Steam instead.

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Microsoft is losing ground on this front easily and has triple the amount of difficulty making that ground up, it would be a small stretch to imagine that those new PS5 users are migrators from Xbox. With Game Pass, it's still a great deal but frankly - this far in - it's clear that the vast majority of gamers aren't interested. If they're not interested then they have absolutely zero chance convincing non-gamers / so called 'casual's' to get on board either. Game Pass also defies that sense of ownership, meaning you can be signed up all the time or some of the time but still not feel part of the eco-system, it's too easy to step away.

That would be if the advert even made any effort to promote Game Pass. It simply repeats the word Xbox as though that name carries any real currency with the public anymore.

It's like the concept of an Xbox handheld, possibly the only reasonable idea left in the tin but at this point it'll be a lame duck release because by the time they get around to it Switch 2 will have a grasp on the sectors neck and Sony will undoubtedly counter with their own preferred alternative. Genuinely, Xbox consoles just don't fit into any of their intended approaches anymore and frankly I don't see any way left where Xbox Studios doesn't simply end up being an umbrella name for third party software arm that exists purely because of scale of owning Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, Fallout etc. When that day comes the shutters are going to slam down hard and loud on Double Fine, Rare etc.

[hudson]

dunno if they have specified, but is the Steam Deck going to be an xbox too?

[Neon Ignition]

According to their advert it already is!
Just don't ask them to play your existing console purchases. Or how to access their games. Or how it works on your chosen device. Or if there are any additional costs involved. Or...

[wakka]

I really feel like MS have got a cool line-up this Xmas. Flight Sim 2024, Stalker 2 and Indiana Jones all look like really interesting titles. Hopefully MS keep up their practise of porting to PS5, because I'd really like the first two on PS as well as Indy.

A couple of years ago I'd have even kicked around the idea of buying a Series X to play some of these but it's an absolute fool's errand these days to drop hundreds on an Xbox with the state of Microsoft's ambitions for the platform.

[Neon Ignition]

I have a feeling Flight Simulator 2024 will remain Xbox bound but I'd be amazed if STALKER 2 didn't make the jump to PS5 in reasonable time

[wakka]

I agree that seems plausible.

[hudson]

Wow, I still have not been able to get into MS Flight Sim 2024!

Some people are in...

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2024/11/xbox-is-making-big-changes-to-avatars-in-january-2025

[Neon Ignition]

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So... either it's a **** campaign or they launched it before the context it relates to... so... a **** campaign.

At least when Sega exited it felt like there was some dignity left intact for the DC.

[CMcK]

You might not think it’s a good campaign buts it’s got people talking which is surely the point of it. Have you seen the new Jaguar campaign? Utter tosh but it got a lot of attention.

[Neon Ignition]

I've never been a huge subscriber to the notion that generating buzz is in of itself good PR. When MS reveals its end of FY financials next year I'm fully expecting their hardware sales collapse to have accelerated over Xmas and I don't feel any of the devices their campaign shows will make up the difference. The issue is that even though the campaign has had time to bed in now, it's still atrocious at selling to people what Xbox actually is and why someone would want to play their games - or the various barriers each device have to entry.

[Neon Ignition]

[Neon Ignition]

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The not so Great Circle