Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

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countstex
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by countstex »

Indeed. A lot is based on assumptions right now of course, although everything is pointing to XBOX Series X being the cheaper given the complicated Sony storage solution and MS happy to take a hit to gain market share, but I think there are some happy folks sitting in boardrooms right now.
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Alex79
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

countstex wrote: June 18th, 2020, 5:42 pm If these rumours are even close to true this is going to be one crazy generation opening!

https://www.t3.com/news/xbox-series-s-l ... al-edition

I mean I'll be Series X personally, but for anyone happy living with 1080P gaming it will be a no brainer.
Why would the Series S be 1080p and not 4k? Genuine question. I'd be very tempted at that rumoured price, but I've still not got a console to take advantage of my 4k TV so... If this is a 1080p console, what would it offer over the current Xbox One S?
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countstex
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by countstex »

That's the compromise I believe, unless they end up with 3 consoles! It will have all the HDR and Ray Tracing of the Series X, but will max out at 1080P (though a 4K TV can upsacle that of course) I think it will only have 4-5 TFLOPS in comparison to the 10 of the PS5 and 12 of the Series X.
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Suits »

countstex wrote: June 18th, 2020, 6:31 pm I think it will only have 4-5 TFLOPS in comparison to the 10 of the PS5 and 12 of the Series X.
It'll be a Xbox One X-Pro then won't it !!!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by KSubzero1000 »

I might be interested in a cheaper 1080p Xbox Series S model, but no disc drive would be a complete deal-breaker for me.

Curious to see how that develops.
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Flabyo
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Flabyo »

$200 would be a massive loss leader and a hell of a gamble. Interesting if true.
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Angry_Kurt »

I really like the look of this, I could see myself playing Xbox games like a Vita or Switch whilst I watch stuff on TV that doesn't require much attention. Apparently this company has a good reputation for quality products too. I can see myself getting one once xCloud is out of beta.

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/a-new-xbo ... ur-mobile/
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

This looks great. Sadly only mentions Android support, but would be all over it if it can be used with iOS.

One thing I will definitely buy (if it comes west) is this mini Sega arcade cab with 36 games!

https://www.segadriven.com/2020/07/astr ... r-in-2020/

This is obviously a leak ahead of an official announcement, and we don't even know what most of the games will be, but there's a lot of quality stuff to go at from Sega's arcade archives so the line-up would struggle to be anything less than decent. And with an HDMI-out to plug it into a telly box, surely greatness is assured!

Watch them fuck it up now.... :roll:
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Angry_Kurt »

Really pleased to hear about xCloud getting included in Game Pass.

I can imagine myself buying one of those controller clips to play games using my phone as a screen, just hope xCloud comes to Apple devices. I'd always play AAA games on my TV but more than happy to play some 2D indie games on my phone and use it like a handheld whilst I watch TV.

With this announcement and provided xCloud works well enough, it's a real kicker for Stadia given the library of games Xbox can offer in comparison through Game Pass.
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James
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by James »

We're about 20hrs away from the Xbox Games Showcase event now (Thursday 23rd July @ 1700 BST.)

Hoping that Microsoft can knock this one out of the park. It seems there might not be any hardware, at least if Aaron Greenberg is to be believed, but there should be plenty of games.

I racked my brains for what we might see (in no particular order)...

Previously-Announced
Halo Infinite (343i)
Grounded (Obsidian)
Everwild (Rare)
Battletoads (DLaLa/Rare)
Age Of Empires IV (World's Edge/Relic)
Wasteland 3 (inXile)
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo)
Minecraft RTX and next-gen (Mojang)
Tell Me Why (Dontnod)
Hellblade: Senua's Saga (Ninja Theory)
Psychonauts (Double Fine)
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course DLC (Studio MDHR)

Expected
Forza something, probably Motorsport 8 (Turn10)
Fable something, sequel/reboot (Playground)
New game from The Initiative. Perfect Dark, maybe? (The Initiative)

What About...?
Minecraft Dungeons DLC (Mojang)
Sea Of Thieves Series X update (Rare)
We Happy Few release/rework, or something new (Compulsion)
State Of Decay 3 (Undead Labs)
Gears 5/Tactics DLC (The Coalition)
Elden Ring (Fromsoft)

Honestly, that's a lot to fit into an hour. I squeezed Elden Ring on there since it was revealed on the Xbox stage at E3 last year, and I'm an insufferable bore, but there's not a lot of room for third parties given that list of games.

What does everyone else expect to see? And what wild hopes do you have?
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Flabyo »

Everyone’s favourite twitter analyst Daniel Ahmed has been making subtle Fable references all afternoon. But he also likes to troll so...

(For what it’s worth, I’m like 80% certain that playground are doing a fable game, but whether it’s far enough along to show yet... not sure)
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Scrustle
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Scrustle »

I think outside of the clearly obvious stuff like Forza and Halo, Fable is easily the safest bet for an announcement. I'd put it even up to 90% certainty. It's no secret that Playground set up a new studio, and have been openly looking to hire people with experience in RPGs, open world and fantasy games. And an artist who works at the studio also uploaded some of their work to their online portfolio that looked suspiciously like environments that would fit in to a Fable game. It's practically an open secret by this point. I'm somewhat excited for it. From less solid rumours, it sounds like something of a soft reboot that is going back to a more medieval fantasy setting, which I like the sound of. If they can get the mood right I'd be up for it.

I also think Forza might be one to look out for too. There's nothing revelatory about the idea that it will show up, and that it will be a Motorsport entry, since we're due for one of those in the release cycle. But the interesting part of it is that after FM7 didn't perform so well, Turn10 have made a big deal about taking their time with this new one and going back to the drawing board. So as someone who used to love those games, but kind of trailed off in favour of the Horizon series, I'm looking forward to seeing if they can reignite my interest, and what they have done to try to do that.

I guess I'm interested to see what Hellblade 2 is like, but I'm in a weird spot where I'm not too excited, but for contradictory reasons. On the one hand, the first game was so fantastic there's no question whether more of that would be something I would be in to, so it's almost like I don't need to see any trailers to get on board with it. But on the other hand, I'm still unsure if the idea of a sequel to that game even makes sense. So it's also hard to get too excited about continuing something that didn't need it. That unfortunately gives me Unravel 2 vibes. A sequel I didn't care for, to a game I love that absolutely didn't need one. Hopefully this isn't another case of that.

I'd like to see more new stuff from the studios they bought up though. Maybe another Ninja Theory project? A new IP that can carry on in the style of DmC? Something from Double Fine that shows what they can do when they don't have to be constricted by budget? Some unexpected third party collab? A new project from Compulsion might be cool too. I never played We Happy Few, but I've always detected they have potential from enjoying Contrast, their previous game before WHF. I'm sure they have some very talented and imaginative people who could make something really great if they managed to get all the pieces falling in the right places.

---

Oh, and that news about MS's services getting shaken up. Game Pass and XCloud getting merged, and now XBL Gold getting discontinued around the same time is all pretty interesting. Brings up questions about the future of the services Gold offered. While obviously the games they gave out with it felt like they were declining for a while, and kept making less and less sense in light of Game Pass, it seems obvious to axe that since there's a much better equivalent service they provide. But the online multiplayer is the big question. Will they roll that in to Game Pass too, or just make it free? I really hope it's the latter. For a while now it's felt increasingly silly to pay for online play these days, and discontinuing Gold, only to put that behind a paywall with a majority of unrelated stuff would come across as pretty gross, and kind of counter to the sort of direction MS has been going with its services lately. It seems like they've worked out this new system that is working pretty well for them now, and hanging on to a relic of when online play was still a novelty feels really archaic. Also coincidentally, this is all happening the same time I cancelled my auto-renew for Gold for the first time ever. I was expecting that would mean just no more online at all for me on the console, but hopefully not.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

This is probably the most I've looked forward to a conference/briefing/showcase (whatever we call these things now!) for a long time. There's just so much riding on it for Microsoft that it adds an extra layer of intrigue beyond just gawping at new video games.

They've ended up having a good but unspectacular generation with Xbox One, and while they've been making the right noises and smart moves on the services and hardware front for a while now, first party games have for too long been an issue for the platform vs the competition.

Sony did a really nice job overall with their recent event, but it was all largely as expected (from my perspective at least). With Microsoft having grown their first party stable so much so recently, and very little known about what fruit that's going to bear, I think there's more potential here for a few surprises and new IP, which is always exciting. Plus we know we're going to see huge franchises in Halo and Fable (latter not confirmed but widely rumoured) that are ripe for rebooting and recapturing of former glories, and it's going to be fascinating to see how they go about that process.

The Series X seems to be a really well thought out and brutally powerful piece of kit, just as Xbox One X was before it. But now it's time for the games, and I'm feeling optimistic we're going to see some pretty cool stuff tonight :)
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Flabyo »

Well that was fairly underwhelming. All very grimdark and pre-rendered for the most part.

Still, the commitment to gamepass is welcome, everything in that showcase is apparently going to be on it so I won’t be short of stuff to play.

Just would’ve liked a little more... whimsy.
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by DomsBeard »

Flabyo wrote: July 23rd, 2020, 5:59 pm Well that was fairly underwhelming. All very grimdark and pre-rendered for the most part.

Still, the commitment to gamepass is welcome, everything in that showcase is apparently going to be on it so I won’t be short of stuff to play.

Just would’ve liked a little more... whimsy.
Yeah out of all that I was most keen for new Life Is Strange and that'll be all done and dusted way before Series X.
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Flabyo
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Flabyo »

Worst kept secret in the industry is no longer a secret. Heh.

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Scrustle
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Scrustle »

Yeah it was pretty anticlimactic. Not that I'm particularly surprised by that. It seems to be the way things usually go with Xbox. Despite my musings, the only things that I did definitely expect to show up were Halo, Forza, and Fable. All three did, but the latter two were nothing more than "it exists", which I was hoping for more on, especially with Forza. They're still in "early" development after all this time? I mean, I'm not too upset, since I'd rather they take their time instead of having another FM5 situation, but they gave us basically nothing. Surely by now they would have something to show. Not a great answer to the GT7 reveal.

At least Halo finally showed something of substance. Looked like a step in the right direction, but I'm still sceptical. It seems like they are trying to recapture the sense of scale and mystique of the old games with the environment, but I'm not sure they pulled it off yet. The open level design could either be a really good way to expand out the Halo "combat sandbox" design, or turn it in to just another uninspired open world thing. And as for the story, that still doesn't seem to be going for the sense of mystery that the old games did so well, although I think that was something they might not have ever been able to recapture anyway. I did notice that brute bad guy mentioned the Arbiter was on his side. I wonder if that means the one we already know, or if there's a new Arbiter now. And there was the sound design too. Not liking that from what they showed. More short, punchy, characterless audio.

But despite Halo, the whole rest of the show was pretty meh. Hardly anything new, and what was new had nothing of substance. No fun surprises, nothing that really grabs the attention. And I agree about the tone of all the trailers too. All trying so hard to have that big epic feel where every other moment is that overly dramatic thump you hear all the time. It's another thing that MS seems to put in all their trailers when they do shows like this. All too self-serious and tonally flat, and also makes the few attempts at levity feel kind of insincere too. Rare's thing looked pretty at least, but still no idea what it is. Overall not doing a great job of selling me on the Series X.
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Flabyo »

Forza development I suspect has been hit really hard by Covid. Can’t get out there to scan the vehicles and tracks, get the audio etc...

Fable I suspect is further along than what they showed, but that’s one I have a feeling they’re going to sit on a little until after the console launch, it’s not a launch window title and the marketing is going to be *all* about Halo.
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Scrustle
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by Scrustle »

So apparently Halo Infinite is going to be a "platform", and they're not expecting to be making any full sequel for the foreseeable future. The article did also say this doesn't mean it's a service game, but come on, what else is that word supposed to mean? Not doing a lot to instill confidence...

https://www.ign.com/articles/halo-infin ... industries

(Also it turns out it wasn't the Arbiter mentioned in the trailer, but the "Harbinger", whatever that is)
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Re: Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

Post by NoMoreSpearows »

I just wanted to know if Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course was still a thing. Or The Artful Escape, whichever one is remembered by the higher-ups first.
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