Gaming Xbox Series X|S

Which of these do you prefer

  • Microsoft Game Pass

  • Xbox Game Pass


Results are only viewable after voting.
I don't give a shit about all that, as a gamer this was supposed to be the big thing to look forward to.

It's Bethseda, we all wanted to hope but we all know deep down this will be a mess. And it already looks fecking awful graphically.

It was meant to be the next big Bethesda open world game following their tried and tested formula. Which it clearly is.

Not sure anybody expected innovation, which there clearly isn't.
 
Average show for me. I was brought around a little by Kojima and I liked Starfield.

Best Xbox news of the last week is that Shredder's Revenge is going in GamePass. I can't wait for that!
 
Think it looks great. Not convinced that it is coming out in the next 12 months though. At least, not sure that it should come out in the next 12 months.

If you don't like Elder Scrolls or Fallout then obviously you're not going to like this though. The gameplay and performance is always janky vs a tighter single player experience. It's the overall package that will hopefully make it stand out.

I agree and disagree.

I will be playing this the moment it drops, no doubt.

But come on, that engine is exactly what they've done to us time and time again, it's poor at very best. Which means there will be breaking problems on launch and it will look like shit. But that will be fine if the game plays well! But will it? That gunplay looks awful and the space battles look mediocre.

I truly hope I'm talking it down out of desperation for it to be good, I really do. But my Spidey senses are tingling.
 
Think it looks great. Not convinced that it is coming out in the next 12 months though. At least, not sure that it should come out in the next 12 months.

If you don't like Elder Scrolls or Fallout then obviously you're not going to like this though. The gameplay and performance is always janky vs a tighter single player experience. It's the overall package that will hopefully make it stand out.
Was hoping for evolution, innovation. Was hoping that MS money and oversight might help them to reach a higher level. Maybe that will happen at some point, but this wasn't the trailer to exhibit that. I've been playing their games since Morrowind.
 
:lol:

Waaah waaah waaaaaah!
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Average show for me. I was brought around a little by Kojima and I liked Starfield.

Best Xbox news of the last week is that Shredder's Revenge is going in GamePass. I can't wait for that!

All jokes aside, there were only 3/4 games that I'll likely pick up: Hollow Knight, Persona, Starfield and Coccoon

Obviously Kojima's next IP but that's a long way off.
 
Thought the environment variety and scale looked incredible. Wish they had given 5-10 minutes uncut though, but maybe that would have been a bad idea as it looks like they haven't come that far along with their gunplay.

Challenge with those cut together clips it was really difficult to tell how dynamic those environments were. With Cyberpunk I could get past the janky combat and gameplay because of the overall experience - but I thought the world felt very last gen. Hopefully that isn't the case here. Hard to tell from that.

Could certainly see Avowed being a tighter and maybe even overall, better experience. Real shame we haven't seen that yet..
 
Good scale - let's see if the worlds have enough soul and intrigue though

Agreed. Biome diversity looks great. If they're all empty as feck but a few dinosaurs though, it'll be for nothing.

Hoping we see more at the extended showcase in a few days. Hopefully this cut was just for the mainstream audience and there'll be a bigger deep dive.
 
Was going for evolution, innovation. Was hoping that MS money and oversight might help them to reach a higher level. Maybe that will happen at some point, but this wasn't the trailer to exhibit that. I've been playing their games since Morrowind.

What would have been evolution for you?

I think evolution for something like this would have been hard to convey to be fair. I think there's a chance there's some really good QoL improvements in there. What were you hoping for?
 
:lol:
Not completely inaccurate! (sorry @Redlambs)

Nope, I love games more than anyone in here.

I don't want to see the world burn, I want to see it thrive. Just because I know what I'm talking about in terms of graphics and game design, doesn't mean I don't just want to have fun. The fact I'm in here watching this live without getting the heads up and I didn't bother with the Sony one (where I did) should show that I really give a shit about the games and competition coming from MS.

I will call things as I see them, I always do. There's way more critical people in here than me btw, makes me laugh to see those comments get overlooked though :lol:



It was meant to be the next big Bethesda open world game following their tried and tested formula. Which it clearly is.

Not sure anybody expected innovation, which there clearly isn't.

Backtracking at it's finest!

I know what you mean though, you know I jest. However MS have been using this as the big "OH LOOK WE'VE CHANGED!" title, and it turns out it's exactly as mediocre as we all expected. It's not that I personally expected anything different, it's that I am a little bit sad that we all just accept the same thing.

Standards should rise, we've all paid a lot of money for a shiny new system. And that new system is running an engine that was obsolete 15 years ago.
 
Only maybe 3/4 I will play from the game pass additions. Then again I'm probably not the target given the only game I'm currently playing is Golden Sun on my retro handheld.
 
I agree and disagree.

I will be playing this the moment it drops, no doubt.

But come on, that engine is exactly what they've done to us time and time again, it's poor at very best. Which means there will be breaking problems on launch and it will look like shit. But that will be fine if the game plays well! But will it? That gunplay looks awful and the space battles look mediocre.

I truly hope I'm talking it down out of desperation for it to be good, I really do. But my Spidey senses are tingling.
If they don't change the engine for ES6 then I will be annoyed. This game was set out before the acquisition so it is what it is but I will always be hyped for a Bethesda game. I still play Skyrim now so I'm not upset by the graphics.
 
If they don't change the engine for ES6 then I will be annoyed. This game was set out before the acquisition so it is what it is but I will always be hyped for a Bethesda game. I still play Skyrim now so I'm not upset by the graphics.

They are not changing the engine for ES6. It's the Starfield one currently.

And it's not just about the graphics, it's the limitations all round.
 
Backtracking at it's finest!

I know what you mean though, you know I jest. However MS have been using this as the big "OH LOOK WE'VE CHANGED!" title, and it turns out it's exactly as mediocre as we all expected. It's not that I personally expected anything different, it's that I am a little bit sad that we all just accept the same thing.

Standards should rise, we've all paid a lot of money for a shiny new system. And that new system is running an engine that was obsolete 15 years ago.

I'm not backtracking. It's exactly what I expected to see. I still think it'll be a huge hit for Xbox and get lots of critical acclaim.

I've never said it's going to be the best thing ever or push the needle though. Haven't hyped Starfield up much at all to be fair.

On that innovation front, outside of BOTW2 and maybe Elden Ring (though even that I'm not convinced), what games have pushed the needle in recent years? I'd argue that should be the biggest criticism of Sony too - really high quality games with high production values, but usually very formulaic.
 
Starfield looks like No Man’s Sky, Fallout 4 and Star Citizen group orgyed and thats what was birthed.

Todd needs to bring that Morrowind sense of curiousity to this game, especially when it’s a space game which is begging to have that theme.
 
I'm not backtracking. It's exactly what I expected to see. I still think it'll be a huge hit for Xbox and get lots of critical acclaim.

I've never said it's going to be the best thing ever or push the needle though. Haven't hyped Starfield up much at all to be fair.

On that innovation front, outside of BOTW2 and maybe Elden Ring (though even that I'm not convinced), what games have pushed the needle in recent years? I'd argue that should be the biggest criticism of Sony too - really high quality games with high production values, but usually very formulaic.

Whataboutism aside, the problem is there's at least something always going on at Nintendo and Sony. MS have bought Bethseda, a company known for the same old games that were once great and now are good but you know at a cost.

For the record I genuinely didn't find out about what was going to be announced today upfront. I'm hyped for the VR stuff over at Sony, but I knew all about that ages ago so I didn't bother. I watched this today as a gamer hoping to see something. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed as that would mean I expected way more, but I am a little sad that most of it was pre-canned and they are still pretending to have "gameplay footage". It's still all clearly bullshots, and that is the same shit they've done from the start.

I remain a huge fan of the Xbox hardware, I remain disappointed in the fact it is still not getting utilised properly and that their game development division still haven't understood. fecking Americans.
 
Nope, I love games more than anyone in here.

I don't want to see the world burn, I want to see it thrive. Just because I know what I'm talking about in terms of graphics and game design, doesn't mean I don't just want to have fun. The fact I'm in here watching this live without getting the heads up and I didn't bother with the Sony one (where I did) should show that I really give a shit about the games and competition coming from MS.

I will call things as I see them, I always do. There's way more critical people in here than me btw, makes me laugh to see those comments get overlooked though :lol:
We're all just having fun, you're chaotic neutral at worst. :D

In all seriousness, the whole thing was a bit underwhelming, although I missed the start. I've rewatched a bit but it seems like there was no Hellblade 2, which is disappointing.
 
Would probably agree with @DixieDean that last year was better than this one, which is surprising as they should have been well set up this year. Understand the decision to only show games that are 12 months away but it definitely harmed them, especially since the next 6 months are basically empty.

They could/should have gone harder on 3rd party content. Even if you can play it elsewhere, day 1 gamepass is still great. Last year had things like Yakuza, Back 4 Blood and Hades coming soon.

I've always liked that MS took a back seat with the studios they've acquired. Think it's better for culture, and I didn't want them interfering with the process. But it does feel like some of the studios aren't handling the knock-on from COVID (not just COVID period itself, but even now with agile working and a huge lack of talent) that well - and being part of the MS gaming ecosystem should have really helped them ride that wave. Maybe they do need to take a slightly firmer hand if they want to have that consistent calendar of releases, which will definitely come, but taking longer than it should.

All for 2nd party relationships like the IO Interactive (Hitman makers) game, Contraband and the like but all these partner projects (Kojima today) just feel like distractions when you have a studio belt that large. I know it's a separate team, but they have enough 1p stuff to focus on and get right 1st.
 
They missed off some weird stuff that they could have at least mentioned, there's games in my Game Pass App such as Two Point Campus and Hello Neighbour 2 in the coming soon section which would have bulked out the 3rd party games a bit.

Edit - maybe they're PC only which is why they missed off some
 
Whataboutism aside, the problem is there's at least something always going on at Nintendo and Sony. MS have bought Bethseda, a company known for the same old games that were once great and now are good but you know at a cost.

For the record I genuinely didn't find out about what was going to be announced today upfront. I'm hyped for the VR stuff over at Sony, but I knew all about that ages ago so I didn't bother. I watched this today as a gamer hoping to see something. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed as that would mean I expected way more, but I am a little sad that most of it was pre-canned and they are still pretending to have "gameplay footage". It's still all clearly bullshots, and that is the same shit they've done from the start.

I remain a huge fan of the Xbox hardware, I remain disappointed in the fact it is still not getting utilised properly and that their game development division still haven't understood. fecking Americans.

Would love to see Xbox game pushing the needle. Just saying I was never expecting that from Starfield. Do think Gamepass gives them a chance to try new formats and be more adventurous but that hasn't really come through, not yet anyway.

I've seen lots of devs talk about the impact on teams of preparing content for these events, especially if it's gameplay heavy, so in a post-covid world I'm more than happy with gameplay clips, bullshots or whatever you wanna call it for the most part. Beats CGI trailers by a long way. Wouldn't say that was my issue today, though at least 1 or 2 extended gameplay sessions would have been nice. Starfield and maybe some forza. Last years Forza Horizon 5 race was really cool.

Definitely nowhere near maximizing potential yet. Don't disagree with any of that and would agree I'm disappointed too. Soon as I heard 'next 12 months' when we'd already seen Redfall and Forza, I knew there wasn't gonna be much else.
 
They missed off some weird stuff that they could have at least mentioned, there's games in my Game Pass App such as Two Point Campus and Hello Neighbour 2 in the coming soon section which would have bulked out the 3rd party games a bit.

Edit - maybe they're PC only which is why they missed off some

Wouldn't that have been even more filler though? There was already quite a bit.
 
What would have been evolution for you?

I think evolution for something like this would have been hard to convey to be fair. I think there's a chance there's some really good QoL improvements in there. What were you hoping for?
If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be telling you, I would be on the phone to Bethesda...

I think they should make a new engine though, draw on all those other studios under the same umbrella. Do what Capcom did and create an engine that they can use for their current and future games that actually looks good, stunning even. That RE engine has been great for them. Bethesda are supposed to be a flagship studio under XBox. Or that is what I was lead to believe anyway.
 
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Was hoping to see some news on Avowed, though I guess the 12 month thing means that hope was never getting fulfilled. Didn't really see anything I'll lament not playing there except Diablo 4.

Starfield looks like more of 2010s Bethesda, which was always likely but still very disappointing.
 
I'm not backtracking. It's exactly what I expected to see. I still think it'll be a huge hit for Xbox and get lots of critical acclaim.

I've never said it's going to be the best thing ever or push the needle though. Haven't hyped Starfield up much at all to be fair.

On that innovation front, outside of BOTW2 and maybe Elden Ring (though even that I'm not convinced), what games have pushed the needle in recent years? I'd argue that should be the biggest criticism of Sony too - really high quality games with high production values, but usually very formulaic.
Red Dead 2 - best and most detailed world and sandbox ever made.

God of War - one shot camera and some of the slickest combat seen at that stage.

The Last of Us 1/2 - Probably the best story game ever produced by a triple A studio.

Elden ring like you said. Hell even Horizon blew me away with the facial animations and dialogue. I think there’s been plenty of innovations across the board but Bethesda constantly let us down. I absolutely love Skyrim (probably my fav ever game) but it came out 11 years ago, they should be making massive strides in the years that have gone. Starfield just doesn’t represent as much progression as I hoped we’d see. You’re right about one thing though, it will still end up a bestseller regardless.
 
Was hoping to see some news on Avowed, though I guess the 12 month thing means that hope was never getting fulfilled. Didn't really see anything I'll lament not playing there except Diablo 4.

Starfield looks like more of 2010s Bethesda, which was always likely but still very disappointing.

Diablo 4 will be coming to PS5/PC mate, not exclusive to Xbox. So you can cross that off too :lol:
 
Funny seeing Xbox fans dep

Red Dead 2 - best and most detailed world and sandbox ever made.

God of War - one shot camera and some of the slickest combat seen at that stage.

The Last of Us 1/2 - Probably the best story game ever produced by a triple A studio.

Elden ring like you said. Hell even Horizon blew me away with the facial animations and dialogue. I think there’s been plenty of innovations across the board but Bethesda constantly let us down. I absolutely love Skyrim (probably my fav ever game) but it came out 11 years ago, they should be making massive strides in the years that have gone. Starfield just doesn’t represent as much progression as I hoped we’d see. You’re right about one thing though, it will still end up a bestseller regardless.

Xbox fans dep..?

Not sure I'd agree with the innovation of Red Dead 2 or TLOU personally. They follow the same formulas as tons of games before them but execute on certain things better than anything that came before them. Not sure they brought anything new to the table. Maybe TLOU really showed the industry that a narrative driven game could sell shit loads and compete with other mediums for it's storytelling but I think that's a stretch.

GOW probably a fair one with the one shot camera. Good to add to the list. Brilliant game. Even if we did agree on those, it's a handful of games from the past 9 years..

Horizon is super polished but there's nothing innovative about it.
 
Xbox fans dep..?

Not sure I'd agree with the innovation of Red Dead 2 or TLOU personally. They follow the same formulas as tons of games before them but execute on certain things better than anything that came before them. Not sure they brought anything new to the table. Maybe TLOU really showed the industry that a narrative driven game could sell shit loads and compete with other mediums for it's storytelling but I think that's a stretch.

GOW probably a fair one with the one shot camera. Good to add to the list. Brilliant game. Even if we did agree on those, it's a handful of games from the past 9 years..

Horizon is super polished but there's nothing innovative about it.
Not sure what I was going to say there, think a hangover from a previous life?!?

I think if a game at least pushes the boundaries of what is possible at that time then that’s innovative. Red Dead 2 was a masterpiece in so many ways even if some of its other systems were abit outdated. I didn’t even like TLOU but it’s certainly a heavily influential game. Bethesda are meant to be in that category of gaming. Innovators, some of the industry’s best and yet they never want to push the boundaries anymore. Those early fallout and scrolls games were a truly wonderous experience for gaming when they first game out, Bethesda just don’t have the drive to push it anymore and it’s a real shame.
 
I’ve watched all shows and the number 1 thing I really wanted was the release date to cowabunga collection and they have all let me down