Videogame News

[Magical_Isopod]

I've had that on my 'play some time' list for ages. Wonder if I can get through it before it leaves. I don't really understand why MS exclusives are being removed from Gamepass though. I get licenses expire for stuff like Forza (which I think is horseshit, given we now live in an age where games can potentially be live for 10/15 years there's no reason licenses couldn't be in place for as long as a game exists) but other stuff actually published by MS like Quantum Break, I don't get why they'd remove it. There are a few other games that should seemingly be on Gamepass and aren't, too.

Companies license their stuff out for fixed terms, so whether it's music, cars, celebrity likenesses, whatever, when that term expires, continued sale would constitute breach of copyright or whatever. This has always been the case, but we never noticed it before digital media. It is, however, yet another reason why buying games digital is a complete waste of money if physical is an option.

[Magical_Isopod]

Oh, and according to Remedy's Twitter, Quantum Break is only being temporarily delisted as they work to renew licensing. Still - it will surely expire again in another few years.

[ratsoalbion]

I've had that on my 'play some time' list for ages. Wonder if I can get through it before it leaves. I don't really understand why MS exclusives are being removed from Gamepass though. I get licenses expire for stuff like Forza (which I think is horseshit, given we now live in an age where games can potentially be live for 10/15 years there's no reason licenses couldn't be in place for as long as a game exists) but other stuff actually published by MS like Quantum Break, I don't get why they'd remove it. There are a few other games that should seemingly be on Gamepass and aren't, too.

Companies license their stuff out for fixed terms, so whether it's music, cars, celebrity likenesses, whatever, when that term expires, continued sale would constitute breach of copyright or whatever. This has always been the case, but we never noticed it before digital media. It is, however, yet another reason why buying games digital is a complete waste of money if physical is an option.

It doesn't make any difference owning digital in a situation such as this. If you own it, you can still download it. It just won't be available to buy on the marketplace.

Hence me recommending buying it off the Xbox marketplace right now, while it's 80% off.

My digital library (around 90+ % of my 4000 games) features a whole bunch of delisted titles that I can still play, going back nearly 20 years.

[Rhaegyr]

Sad to see the response to Redfall from both critics and gamers alike - I thought this would be a great title considering the developer behind it and hoped it would be my groups next big co-op game.

Ah well! Let's hope it's a Sea of Thieves situation and in a year or so it's a belter.

[Truk_Kurt]

From what I've seen in reviews, for it to have a turnaround I think it would need some pretty fundamental changes. It seems to lack all the hallmarks of what makes Arcane games great in both the level design and player experimentation from the various abilities. Redfall just looks like a pretty straightforward shooter and I'm not sure how they could change that to make it something more unless they made some new maps and gave the characters more interesting abilities. Sea of Thieves looks like it had a better base to build upon. To be honest I haven't ever played Sea of Thieves but have they changed the fundamental gameplay at all since it released or has the turnaround come from them adding more content and wider variety of missions?

[Alex79]

Sea Of Thieves is basically the same game as launch, but just much more to do, more mission variety and stories etc. But the same can be said for No Man's Sky, core game largely the same. I think Redfall could be saved, the core idea still appeals to me.

[Alex79]

I am excited for the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, and also the triple pack of the first three games, up-rezzed. I know MGS3 Remake is coming to Xbox so hoping the triple pack does, too. Been wanting to replay these games for ages now and was annoyed they removed the HD versions for 360 from the digital stores.

[SludgeWizard]

I haven't watched the trailer yet, but I'm very happy to see Dragon's Dogma 2 on the list of announcements.

[Alex79]

I haven't watched the trailer yet, but I'm very happy to see Dragon's Dogma 2 on the list of announcements.

Yeah I enjoyed what I played of the first one. Ended up just stopping playing after about 40 hours and always meant to go back to it.

[Scrustle]

The online servers for Forza Horizon 1 and 2 are being shut down on Aug 22.

https://forza.net/news/forza-horizon-on ... es-closure

Very sad to hear it's finally happening, but to be honest, the online features of both games haven't really functioned properly for years anyway. This was already kind of the state of things unofficially. I've got a lot of good memories of the multiplayer of these games. Many hours spent hanging out in free roam, getting in to impromptu drift meets, showing each other spots. It also helped that traffic was removed or reduced in online lobbies, making getting around or setting high scores for speed zones much less of a hassle. I guess I'll never be able to get that final achievement in FH1 now either...

Maybe one day someone will set up a custom server for these games, or at least for the first one. People have already revived the original version of Xbox Live, so maybe that can happen for 360 games at some point too.

[Truk_Kurt]

https://www.footballmanager.com/news/fu ... oQ5inKeAV0

This all sounds really good, appreciate the transparency shown here too.

[Alex79]

https://www.footballmanager.com/news/fu ... oQ5inKeAV0

This all sounds really good, appreciate the transparency shown here too.

Might jump on FM25 with the new engine. I used to love football management games on my old Amstrad and even the one on the Megadrive, but stopped playing them when they got so complicated. I have been thinking about giving it a try again though recently, so maybe.

[Alex79]

Red Dead Redemption remaster coming to PS4/5 and Switch August 17th. Interesting to announce so close to release. Wish I'd not played it again last year as I'd have definitely bought it for Switch if I hadn't - still might anyway once it hits the sales. The price isn't too pretty though, £50...

EDIT: Seems to be £40 actually ($50 in the US). A little better.

[ratsoalbion]

NB: It sounds like it's not a "remaster" in any meaningful way, more of a 'port'/conversion.

Although it seems likely that the PS4 version will run and look better than the crappy PS3 version, I'd be surprised if it's an improvement on the amazing Xbox backwards compatible 4K version:
https://www.vg247.com/red-dead-redempti ... creenshots

[Truk_Kurt]

Red Dead Redemption remaster coming to PS4/5 and Switch August 17th. Interesting to announce so close to release. Wish I'd not played it again last year as I'd have definitely bought it for Switch if I hadn't - still might anyway once it hits the sales. The price isn't too pretty though, £50...

EDIT: Seems to be £40 actually ($50 in the US). A little better.

This was really disappointing news for me, I was really hoping for a remaster on the next gen consoles. And it goes against what Take Two said when they claimed they 'weren't interested in simple ports' for their old games.

[Alex79]

Yeah, shame it's not a full on remake. It does seem like a quick and dirty cash grab, and, again, it's not being done by Rockstar so the jury remains out on its quality when considering what the GTA 3 trilogy release was like.

[Alex79]

Although it seems likely that the PS4 version will run and look better than the crappy PS3 version, I'd be surprised if it's an improvement on the amazing Xbox backwards compatible 4K version:
https://www.vg247.com/red-dead-redempti ... creenshots

Yeah, I played it last year and even on Series S it looked amazing. Lazy, just like the GTA re-releases.

[Alex79]

Broforce Forever, a big free expansion to the best part of a decade old game, Broforce, releases today for all formats including Switch. If anyone hasn't played it, it's an over the top run and gun game who's characters are parodies of 80s action stars, so as you play you'll unlock versions of Terminator, Robocop, Indiana Jones etc. It's pretty fun and quite surprising to see such a big update for what seemed a largely forgotten game from 2015! I'll be going back to it for sure.

https://www.destructoid.com/the-broforc ... out-today/

[ratsoalbion]

It's on Game Pass too.

[See Mi Yah]

Has anyone here been following the Baldur's Gate 3 mini 'controversy' where a number of developers from various studios weighed in on a Twitter thread about how the game shouldn't set unrealistic expectations going forward? I think it's quite a remarkable response because the comments predated the release of the game by weeks. And even now, over a week after release, very few outlets have posted reviews of the game and due to its purported size not many people have beaten it. So from what I can see the main thrust of the enthusiasm surrounding the game amongst fans is that it's a well-made game that's not burdened with micro-transactions or season passes or massive technical problems. It's a big budget RPG from a studio that has gotten steadily better over the years and now they've finally broken through in a big, big way. I'm getting The Witcher 3 vibes from this trajectory.

I'm not stupid. I understand the argument that's been put forward and I absolutely would not expect this level of game from a smaller studio on a small budget. But Larian were once a small studio too and they worked and worked to the point where they landed the Baldur's Gate IP. And they'd actually pitched for it before but were rejected. They earned a shot at it and then having gotten the green light they absolutely delivered.

I'm the not the first person to make this point, but it's worth noting that these handful of developers and industry players will pipe up about a success story like Baldur's Gate III or Elden Ring and have a lot to say about what we should expect and why we should want out hand held etc. But where are they each time Bungie effectively locks people out of whole sections of a game they've paid good money for? Where have they been over the past few months as Blizzard trundle from one egregious milking exercise to the next?