Gaming Xbox Series X|S

Which of these do you prefer

  • Microsoft Game Pass

  • Xbox Game Pass

Results are only viewable after voting.
Barren.

In my defence this was my first console purchase since a supplemental PS3 in 2010 or so. I've really enjoyed the accessibilitiy and usability of the Series X, and that's the ecosystem my auld pals are in. Still, with crossplay now a thing I probably could have went PS5. I'm just not fussed for their exclusives though, bar early access to Dragon Quest titles and other JRPGs.

Realistically had I known everything I know now, probably would have still gone Xbox for the game pass deal alone.
 
altodevil said:
Barren.

In my defence this was my first console purchase since a supplemental PS3 in 2010 or so. I've really enjoyed the accessibilitiy and usability of the Series X, and that's the ecosystem my auld pals are in. Still, with crossplay now a thing I probably could have went PS5. I'm just not fussed for their exclusives though, bar early access to Dragon Quest titles and other JRPGs.

Realistically had I known everything I know now, probably would have still gone Xbox for the game pass deal alone.
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Yeah if you just skipped previous generation then Xbox is a good experience. It allows you to catch up on many big titles for free through GP or cheaply through store, you will have plenty to play. For someone who owned either console and was more or less up to date with big releases there’s very little (but that actually is also quite valid for PS5 to a slightly smaller extent).

PS5 would probably still have a bit more to play though as it had some bangers in the previous gen.
 
Bosws87 said:
How many baron console generations do you have to go as an Xbox loyalist, until it clicks?
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As opposed to what? Like 2 extra games might be worth playing? :lol:

And even those get slated plenty in the ps5 thread.

Let’s be honest. Gaming isn’t in a great place.
 
VeevaVee said:
As opposed to what? Like 2 extra games might be worth playing? :lol:

And even those get slated plenty in the ps5 thread.

Let’s be honest. Gaming isn’t in a great place.
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Isn't it? Depends on your interests, I guess. Between indies, AA and AAA games, I've never had so many top quality options available to me.

Maybe if you're looking solely at the AAA market, with ballooning budgets, poor ports and dodgy monetization in some places, it doesn't look great. But as a whole, gaming is in a fantastic place for me.
 
VeevaVee said:
As opposed to what? Like 2 extra games might be worth playing? :lol:

And even those get slated plenty in the ps5 thread.

Let’s be honest. Gaming isn’t in a great place.
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It's not the best year for sure, but this is a standard Microsoft launch and console generation post the highly successful 360 and people keep getting pulled back in.

I think gaming in general is pretty stale now, but i've seen a few things recently that give me great hope.



 
Bosws87 said:
It's not the best year for sure, but this is a standard Microsoft launch and console generation post the highly successful 360 and people keep getting pulled back in.

I think gaming in general is pretty stale now, but i've seen a few things recently that give me great hope.



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Yep, stuff like this is going to be very interesting (and scary).

Not just in VR, with mics in general. Although there's a depth of "HA! SAD!" going on there :lol:
 
altodevil said:
Barren.

In my defence this was my first console purchase since a supplemental PS3 in 2010 or so. I've really enjoyed the accessibilitiy and usability of the Series X, and that's the ecosystem my auld pals are in. Still, with crossplay now a thing I probably could have went PS5. I'm just not fussed for their exclusives though, bar early access to Dragon Quest titles and other JRPGs.

Realistically had I known everything I know now, probably would have still gone Xbox for the game pass deal alone.
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I've been talking about my friends with this lately. First party games have mostly been a disappointment (not that I care for Halo anyway, and excepting FH), but I still get plenty of value from GamePass. With additions over the last 3-4 months like Valheim and Persona 5 Royal I've had plenty to play, along with my 5 year long Sea of Thieves obsession. There still plenty in there I want to play as well, along with Ravenlok this week.

With that said, Xbox need to sort their first party shit out. I'm now concerned about the Fable game, that's a series I love and I'm pretty concerned about the state it'll arrive in and, now, what kind of game it'll be. I wouldn't in retrospect change my decision as my group of mates are all on Xbox as well, plus the PS games just don't appeal to me aside from Demon's Souls, I can go get a PS5 if I want, I just don't have the inclination. However I understand why one of my friends downgraded to a Series S and got a PS5 and another bought a PS5 alongside his X.

I'm just really confused as to why Xbox/Bethesda thought it would be a good idea to rush Redfall to market. Say what you want about not having any games, but I think it's better to not have a game rather than a game that is broken, and a hot mess which drives a worse narrative that even if you had the games, they'd be a mess.

I'm also starting to get concerned that day one on gamepass means they think they can just release something that is unfinished and fix it along the way, like it's an early access for subscribers. I include Halo in that, because regardless of the quality of the released product, it's a MP focussed game that had sweet FA MP content on release, to me that isn't finished.

As Elon Musk would say: "Concerning".
 
Ainu said:
Isn't it? Depends on your interests, I guess. Between indies, AA and AAA games, I've never had so many top quality options available to me.

Maybe if you're looking solely at the AAA market, with ballooning budgets, poor ports and dodgy monetization in some places, it doesn't look great. But as a whole, gaming is in a fantastic place for me.
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It is for me anyway. The best games are more of the same but with higher fps and nicer graphics (which is good but..). I think it’s particularly noticeable in AAA games though yeah. The third party offerings have been pretty barren.

And there’s not much that ps5 is offering that’s actually anything special and even less that interests me personally. I’d probably play Spooderman and God of War.


Bosws87 said:
It's not the best year for sure, but this is a standard Microsoft launch and console generation post the highly successful 360 and people keep getting pulled back in.

I think gaming in general is pretty stale now, but i've seen a few things recently that give me great hope.



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I agree, it’s very stale. Feels like rinse and repeat.

AI in games could take things to a new level. Just using it to create more interesting npcs in open world games would go a long way. And better enemies in shooters.

As for Xbox, I’m plenty happy with Game Pass.
They need to sort their first party stuff out though.
 
I'm having a great time with games and have been for years. My backlog keeps growing too... Do not know what the feck some of you are talking about regarding gaming being stale, maybe play less crap?
 
VeevaVee said:
It is for me anyway. The best games are more of the same but with higher fps and nicer graphics (which is good but..). I think it’s particularly noticeable in AAA games though yeah. The third party offerings have been pretty barren.

And there’s not much that ps5 is offering that’s actually anything special and even less that interests me personally. I’d probably play Spooderman and God of War.



I agree, it’s very stale. Feels like rinse and repeat.

AI in games could take things to a new level. Just using it to create more interesting npcs in open world games would go a long way. And better enemies in shooters.

As for Xbox, I’m plenty happy with Game Pass.
They need to sort their first party stuff out though.
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Ive found the same as you, the odd indie game has peaked my interest but console gaming for me has always been the big triple A games.

I grew up on final fantasy, Metal gear solid, tomb raider etc and that’s still what I’m looking for on a console.
 
Bosws87 said:
Ive found the same as you, the odd indie game has peaked my interest but console gaming for me has always been the big triple A games.

I grew up on final fantasy, Metal gear solid, tomb raider etc and that’s still what I’m looking for on a console.
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To each their own but I don't get why you would limit yourself like that, it feels a bit arbitrary. Great games are found in all shapes and sizes.
 
Ainu said:
To each their own but I don't get why you would limit yourself like that, it feels a bit arbitrary. Great games are found in all shapes and sizes.
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I play others on more suitable platforms.
 
VeevaVee said:
As opposed to what? Like 2 extra games might be worth playing? :lol:

And even those get slated plenty in the ps5 thread.

Let’s be honest. Gaming isn’t in a great place.
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Gaming is in a great place! People whine all the time about things not being what they used to be as they remember the best of the past. I’ve had so many of my best gaming experiences over the last 10 years.
 
Massive Spanner said:
There were 360 games?
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Halo 3
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 3
Mass Effect
Dead Rising
Fable 2
PGR4
Forza Motorsport 2
Forza Horizon
Crackdown
Lost Odyssey
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Blue Dragon
Viva Pinata
 
altodevil said:
Halo 3
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 3
Mass Effect
Dead Rising
Fable 2
PGR4
Forza Motorsport 2
Forza Horizon
Crackdown
Lost Odyssey
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Blue Dragon
Viva Pinata
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Most of the Microsoft ones of those have already gotten updates or hd remasters or whatever though.
 
VeevaVee said:
As opposed to what? Like 2 extra games might be worth playing? :lol:

And even those get slated plenty in the ps5 thread.

Let’s be honest. Gaming isn’t in a great place.
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This is just simply not true though is it?

As much as you try and denigrate Sony, they've released some top games in the last 3 years.

The indie scene is absolutely blowing up as well and the standard of indie games continues to improve.

All of this doesn't even consider the behemoth of Zelda due out next week as well as the strong Q3/4 we traditionally get.

It's looking like MS have borked another generation of consoles though. Hanging all their hopes on the Bethesda titles isn't going to end well IMO.
 
b82REZ said:
This is just simply not true though is it?

As much as you try and denigrate Sony, they've released some top games in the last 3 years.

The indie scene is absolutely blowing up as well and the standard of indie games continues to improve.

All of this doesn't even consider the behemoth of Zelda due out next week as well as the strong Q3/4 we traditionally get.

It's looking like MS have borked another generation of consoles though. Hanging all their hopes on the Bethesda titles isn't going to end well IMO.
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Great post would read again.
 
b82REZ said:
This is just simply not true though is it?

As much as you try and denigrate Sony, they've released some top games in the last 3 years.

The indie scene is absolutely blowing up as well and the standard of indie games continues to improve.

All of this doesn't even consider the behemoth of Zelda due out next week as well as the strong Q3/4 we traditionally get.

It's looking like MS have borked another generation of consoles though. Hanging all their hopes on the Bethesda titles isn't going to end well IMO.
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What isn’t true? The last page of the ps5 thread has people complaining about Horizon Zero Dawn. So many have said Tsushima was just another repetitive Assassin’s Creed type game, although the art direction does look nice. And I’ve named the ones I’d actually play if I had a ps5. I’m not interested in ‘denigrating Sony’. They do release polished and well made games, but they’re really just another game that we’ve seen before, with shinier graphics.

This isn’t another ps5 v Xbox argument though. It’s just the way games are at the moment, which is the point I’m making.

Zelda looks good, especially for nostalgia purposes, but personally I won’t be parting with hundreds of quid just to play one game (or two soon), although I was tempted to a while back. At least they pushed the boat out from what they’d done before with it.

Indie games are good at times but often lacking. Which ones in particular are you liking?

As for Xbox, as much as you try and denigrate it, personally was never particularly interested in the exclusives and bought it for Game Pass and vast majority of games that aren’t exclusive. So the generation is hardly borked for me from a console choice pov, and the many others that did the same. I do hope Starfield is great though, not because it’s an exclusive but because it will be right up my straße.

What’s borking this gen is the lack of quality third party games, especially AAA and AA. It’s been a poor show considering we’re nearly half way through the gen. To be fair I just want another GTA or Red Dead though.
 
Say what you will about PS5 exclusives but don't you think the metacritic scores speak for themselves? Redcafe thinks everything's shit don't extrapolate that out to the wider world.... That's just stupid.
 
Massive Spanner said:
i don't know how anyone can say gaming isn't in a good place. My backlog has never been bigger.
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Gaming is in great shape if you ask me. Same as all other media, repetition in terms of subject matter and styles but the sheer amount of quality games I’ve got to play through is frightening with loads to look forward too also.
 
VeevaVee said:
What’s borking this gen is the lack of quality third party games, especially AAA and AA. It’s been a poor show considering we’re nearly half way through the gen. To be fair I just want another GTA or Red Dead though.
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I think that's fair. It's a combination of things like covid and teams being bought/destroyed, but one of the things I think is actually impacting it is the changing landscape of gaming. Specifically the rise of streaming and the constant pressure for games to not be set in stone anymore and needing things like constant updates and even competitions. We are in a strange area of publishers not really knowing what to do next or where to go. But it is clearly true that with MS in particular, they just aren't getting quality content out for whatever reason.


Massive Spanner said:
i don't know how anyone can say gaming isn't in a good place. My backlog has never been bigger.
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I sit in the middle really. I see plenty of games I still need to play (even console ones), but I do agree with Veeva that big hitters are either not materialising or if they do tend to be more mediocre than anything.


afrocentricity said:
Say what you will about PS5 exclusives but don't you think the metacritic scores speak for themselves? Redcafe thinks everything's shit don't extrapolate that out to the wider world.... That's just stupid.
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:lol: Too true. Though you can say that about the music/film/tv tastes on here too!
 
afrocentricity said:
Say what you will about PS5 exclusives but don't you think the metacritic scores speak for themselves? Redcafe thinks everything's shit don't extrapolate that out to the wider world.... That's just stupid.
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The same opinions are found all over the internet. Scores are bound to be good because there’s a lack of games doing anything different, which is exactly the point.

It doesn’t mean they’re not enjoyable and well made, so probably deserve those scores, but it is stale.

You don’t need to get so defensive.
 
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VeevaVee said:
The same opinions are found all over the internet. Scores are bound to be good because there’s a lack of games doing anything different, which is exactly the point.

It doesn’t mean they’re not enjoyable and well made, but it is stale.
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You haven't even played them though? I'm just saying, gaming is not stale and Sony have been putting out bangers...
 
I've played the sony exclusives, they're not bangers. Overhyped across the board. Even if you want to disregard that there just isn't many of them
 
Redlambs said:
Truthfully I think the GP is pretty stale so I can see why that would be extrapolated.

As Alock would agree, still the best and most original thing on it is SoT!
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I wish i could rope friends into playing that more. Thats a genuinely cool and unique game.
 
Redlambs said:
I think that's fair. It's a combination of things like covid and teams being bought/destroyed, but one of the things I think is actually impacting it is the changing landscape of gaming. Specifically the rise of streaming and the constant pressure for games to not be set in stone anymore and needing things like constant updates and even competitions. We are in a strange area of publishers not really knowing what to do next or where to go. But it is clearly true that with MS in particular, they just aren't getting quality content out for whatever reason.




I sit in the middle really. I see plenty of games I still need to play (even console ones), but I do agree with Veeva that big hitters are either not materialising or if they do tend to be more mediocre than anything.




:lol: Too true. Though you can say that about the music/film/tv tastes on here too!
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For PCs yeah the quality of AAA titles has been absolutely shocking. Mostly just terrible port after terrible port. On consoles they’ve mostly been fine though.
 
afrocentricity said:
You haven't even played them though? I'm just saying, gaming is not stale and Sony have been putting out bangers...
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Yeah but if Redfall was a ps5 exclusive you’d be chasing the delivery van down in your dressing gown again, so I’ll take that with a spoon of salt.
 
Massive Spanner said:
For PCs yeah the quality of AAA titles has been absolutely shocking. Mostly just terrible port after terrible port. On consoles they’ve mostly been fine though.
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Maybe the exclusives have been fine but the consoles have plenty of buggy messes getting released on them too. They're definitely not unaffected by the industry releasing stuff in a terrible state.
 
Massive Spanner said:
For PCs yeah the quality of AAA titles has been absolutely shocking. Mostly just terrible port after terrible port. On consoles they’ve mostly been fine though.
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Fair point. The missus seems happy enough with all the PS exclusives (bar Horizon 2, but that's only because of how annoying Aloy is :lol:) which is my metric because I haven't played them all myself.

For my part though, I just haven't been that interested in playing through much either console has released so I get where Veeva is coming from. Though rather than see it as stale, I just don't think there's many top tier games exclusive or otherwise that has interested me, which is a me problem more than anything. Though there are plenty of indie games to be getting on with, that scene is over-saturated if anything! My backlog huge there, on my desktop right now I'm legit looking at about 30 icons waiting for the click (old and new) not to mention anything I've missed on the GP or stuff not yet played on the Switch.
 
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