Xbox Game Showcase 2020

[portent]

I did not and apologize! I'm typing all this on my company MacBook Pro, and I loathe the track pad on it. It's overly large, and as I type my hands oft hit it, causing the cursor to move around, resulting in text errors. On occasion, it actually deletes text I've written as well.

That's what happened here. The full text was supposed to be:

Having said that, I'm not an elitist on platforms as you all know, and I'll recommend the PlayStation brand to someone if I believe it is the best product for how they want to game.

No worries, I did not assume you meant it that way, LOL.

 

[Juxtapose]

I say this because XBox got raked for a shoddy presentation before. Figured they would step it up

Oh, they absolutely could have done more, I don't disagree.

They did exactly what I expected though.

 

[Juxtapose]

No worries, I did not assume you meant it that way, LOL.

I always triple proof my work emails because of this dumb trackpad .

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I hope Halo has a better showing next time. I have a hard time wanting to drop money on an Xbox when PS5 will have Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Sony Santa Monica, Guerrilla Games, and Sucker Punch pumping out bangers the entire time. Now if Xbox DID get ahold of WB and Rocksteady / WB Montreal / Monolith / NRS and abused the DC comics and MK licenses, plus KI, and actually fucking used these studios competently, then we'd be talking.

 

[Juxtapose]

I hope Halo has a better showing next time. I have a hard time wanting to drop money on an Xbox when PS5 will have Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Sony Santa Monica, Guerrilla Games, and Sucker Punch pumping out bangers the entire time. Now if Xbox DID get ahold of WB and Rocksteady / WB Montreal / Monolith / NRS and abused the DC comics and MK licenses, plus KI, and actually fucking used these studios competently, then we'd be talking.

I hope so to, though I did like what I saw with Halo: Infinite.

Having said that, you don't have to pick up an Xbox Series X at this time. You have an Xbox One already, yes? You can play the game there for now.

And again, things like this are always subjective. Naughty Dog does indeed generally do good stuff (though all I see are people shitting on The Last of Us Part Two), as does Sony Santa Monica. Insomniac is pumping good stuff out recently, but they've had plenty of duds not too long ago (Sunset Overdrive, and Resistance come to mind). They're currently taking flack for Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales being at 30 FPS, and apparently it should also be DLC according to internet folk and not a new game held behind a paywall of a new platform. Guerilla Games is big with Horizon right now, but there's no reason to own a PlayStation for it as it's on PC; it's not an exclusive franchise. I've never heard of Sucker Punch's games being system sellers.

Microsoft is clearly not limiting by platform, even with their exclusives. Their games are going to be part of their brand overall, which will be playable on multiple platforms. If you're expecting their first party titles to only be on Xbox Series X, it looks like that won't be a thing.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I hope so to, though I did like what I saw with Halo: Infinite.

Having said that, you don't have to pick up an Xbox Series X at this time. You have an Xbox One already, yes? You can play the game there for now.

And again, things like this are always subjective. Naughty Dog does indeed generally do good stuff (though all I see are people shitting on The Last of Us Part Two), as does Sony Santa Monica. Insomniac is pumping good stuff out recently, but they've had plenty of duds not too long ago (Sunset Overdrive, and Resistance come to mind). They're currently taking flack for Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales being at 30 FPS, and apparently it should also be DLC according to internet folk and not a new game held behind a paywall of a new platform. Guerilla Games is big with Horizon right now, but there's no reason to own a PlayStation for it as it's on PC; it's not an exclusive franchise. I've never heard of Sucker Punch's games being system sellers.

Microsoft is clearly not limiting by platform, even with their exclusives. Their games are going to be part of their brand overall, which will be playable on multiple platforms. If you're expecting their first party titles to only be on Xbox Series X, it looks like that won't be a thing.

I like Uncharted 4 better than TLOU 2 (still really like it and is definitely worth playing though), all of Naughty Dog's games on PS3, specifically TLOU 1 and Uncharted 2 are pretty well regarded as some of the best games of their time easy. Insomniac's Spider-Man is really good, I imagine that is what Sony will have them stick with. Miles may be DLC, but I guarantee they are ramping up for a big Spider-Man release. Sure, Horizon isn't PS exclusive, but it's not on Xbox, I'm talking strictly about the incentives to buy an XBSX or PS5. Sucker Punch has done very well lately, Infamous Second Son was probably the first genuinely quality exclusive on either system of this gen and is still worth a play if you have yet to play it, as it's surely dirt cheap. Ghost of Tsushima, however is insane and very well received. Halo Infinite looks very disappointing visually, this isn't hyperbole, TLOU 2 on my standard PS4 looks better than Halo Infinite, I don't care if it's because TLOU 2 is 30 fps and Halo is 60 or open world or whatever, hardware from 2013 shouldn't under any circumstances produce better looking games than a new system. I understand Naughty Dog has had time to master the hardware, in the same way that TLOU 1 (and Uncharted 3 to some extent) were blowing peoples minds in terms of what they assumed the PS3 was capable of. Or even Halo 4 for the 360 in 2012. However, neither Uncharted 3, TLOU 1, or Halo 4 looked as good as the day 1 games on PS4 and XB1 like Killzone, Battlefield 4, or Forza (racing game I know, but still I think you get my point). Just kind of a let down ya know, I feel like I'd have to put a lot of faith in Microsoft to invest in an XBSX even though I know it will be a great system, if I'm buying a console, it better have exclusives. I may not buy an Xbox ever again if all of their games will be on PC, I'll just buy a PS5, gut it out till I get my degree and make big boy money and just build a damn PC ya know?

 

[CrimsonShadow]

The average consumer doesn't know the different between Xbox One S, Xbox One X, and Xbox Series X. The branding and marketing is really a mess, and I don't see this complicated launch strategy helping.

We've seen this before, when Nintendo hurt themselves with the 'Wii U' brand.

I really want the XSX to succeed, because I think that strong competition ultimately makes everybody better, and results in wins for the consumer. But, like with Xbox One's launch, Microsoft has a way of digging holes for themselves before the race even begins.

With Sony all you need to know is "PS5" and that's it.

 

[Juxtapose]

@Dankster Morgan I've heard fantastic things about Uncharted 4. My friends who are big Sony guys have generally said that game, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Horizon: Zero Dawn are the biggest exclusive games on PlayStation 4, the ones worth raving about. Games like God of War (2018), Infamous: Second Sun, etc. are certainly good, but nothing worth getting the system itself for. Overall though, they actually tend to go on about third party games over many of the exclusives.

Obviously that's there opinion and others might indeed be different.

For PlayStation 3 exclusives, yes, they definitely had some fantastic ones later in the console's life, which was good as they were sorely needed. It's just a shame Sony didn't have backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 4. It was buy our remasters, PlayStation Now, or nothing.

I thought Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales was an actual new game coming exclusively to PlayStation 5? One of the major pieces of criticism I've seen towards it is that people believe it should be DLC for the PlayStation 4 Marvel's Spider-Man. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

I can't comment on Ghost of Tsushima yet though as non of my friends have it. Not sure if they're going to.

Well, we'll see how Halo: Infinite looks on all three platforms when it launches. The game as a whole could be great on all counts, or it could turn out a dude. We'll know in about five or six months. One thing to keep in mind though, Halo 3 released on the Xbox 360 two years after the console launched, and it was slammed for "looking like Halo 2" (which it didn't). Yet it was still a fantastic game. Ironically, with the recent PC release, texture details that were present in the game then were super detailed, but weren't properly noticeable at 720p. The game did visually look better than people thought at the time. Digital Foundry discussed this in their recent PC tech review, and it's something I never knew myself.

For yourself, building a PC and sticking with a PlayStation 5 might indeed be the best option. What's great: Microsoft is the one who's empowering you as the consumer to have that option. It really doesn't seem like they're overly concerned if you buy the hardware or not, but they do want you to enjoy their games (and hopefully subscribe to Game Pass).

@CrimsonShadow Oh yeah, Microsoft's naming convention is pretty messed up. I would have been happy with a basic Xbox, Xbox 2, Xbox 3, Xbox 3X, and Xbox 4 naming convention. Simple and straight forward.

Time will tell if they're current direction, less focus on pushing hardware itself and more focus on pushing a brand and a service, pays off or not.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

@Dankster Morgan I've heard fantastic things about Uncharted 4. My friends who are big Sony guys have generally said that game, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Horizon: Zero Dawn are the biggest exclusive games on PlayStation 4, the ones worth raving about. Games like God of War (2018), Infamous: Second Sun, etc. are certainly good, but nothing worth getting the system itself for. Overall though, they actually tend to go on about third party games over many of the exclusives.

Obviously that's there opinion and others might indeed be different.

For PlayStation 3 exclusives, yes, they definitely had some fantastic ones later in the console's life, which was good as they were sorely needed. It's just a shame Sony didn't have backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 4. It was buy our remasters, PlayStation Now, or nothing.

I thought Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales was an actual new game coming exclusively to PlayStation 5? One of the major pieces of criticism I've seen towards it is that people believe it should be DLC for the PlayStation 4 Marvel's Spider-Man. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

I can't comment on Ghost of Tsushima yet though as non of my friends have it. Not sure if they're going to.

Well, we'll see how Halo: Infinite looks on all three platforms when it launches. The game as a whole could be great on all counts, or it could turn out a dude. We'll know in about five or six months. One thing to keep in mind though, Halo 3 released on the Xbox 360 two years after the console launched, and it was slammed for "looking like Halo 2" (which it didn't). Yet it was still a fantastic game. Ironically, with the recent PC release, texture details that were present in the game then were super detailed, but weren't properly noticeable at 720p. The game did visually look better than people thought at the time. Digital Foundry discussed this in their recent PC tech review, and it's something I never knew myself.

For yourself, building a PC and sticking with a PlayStation 5 might indeed be the best option. What's great: Microsoft is the one who's empowering you as the consumer to have that option. It really doesn't seem like they're overly concerned if you buy the hardware or not, but they do want you to enjoy their games (and hopefully subscribe to Game Pass).

@CrimsonShadow Oh yeah, Microsoft's naming convention is pretty messed up. I would have been happy with a basic Xbox, Xbox 2, Xbox 3, Xbox 3X, and Xbox 4 naming convention. Simple and straight forward.

Time will tell if they're current direction, less focus on pushing hardware itself and more focus on pushing a brand and a service, pays off or not.

I like your take on that. For the PS4 exclusives, while not all of them are worth the system, the collective certainly is. I have played pretty much all of them. I think Uncharted 4 is the best and probably the most important PS4 game as it was a ginormous killer app early in the PS4's life that a lot of people played a loved, nobody I know outright hates Uncharted 4, it ranges from the minority being lukewarm to most people really really loving it. I think Miles is a PS5 exclusive and I say wait till we see more to judge if it justifies it's place as a full game yet.
For me the exclusives I played on both systems last gen (not counting Halo: MCC, The Last of Us Remastered, or the Uncharted collection even though all of those are insanely good games and deals) are in my opinion of course:
PS4

• Uncharted 4: 9.5/10
• The Last of Us 2: fuck if I know / 10 but at least a 7 not a 10(really weird game I have polarized opinions on but strongly recommend everyone to play)
• Infamous: Second Son: 8/10 especially at it's price
• Spider-Man: 8.5/10 has 10/10 potential if the side missions weren't ass
• God of War 4: 9/10 for first time through, 6 or 7 for replays
• Ghost of Tsushima: not done with it, but it is very very good so far.

XB1

• KI (7.5/10), would be higher but being unbiased it's business model did it dirty, would have benefited from a full on real release with a full roster when it was READY.
• Halo 5 (5/10) full blown depression

Microsoft and Halo is really gonna have to blow my nips off for me to even begin to consider an Xbox tbh

 

[Juxtapose]

@Dankster Morgan For Killer Instinct, I remember the backlash they had at first for the game's business model, which surprised Microsoft and Double Helix at the time. This was an Xbox LIVE Arcade game that they made very affordable and offered in chunks if people wanted, and everyone hated that. But, seasonal models are generally a standard things in many games today.

I find it ironic how in many things, Microsoft was actually on the right track and ahead of their time in 2013, but their communication and fan connection was atrocious.

For Halo 5: Guardians, I have to ask, what does everyone hate about it? Reviewers seemed to like it, citing various flaws, but fans seem to really have a beef with the game. Almost everyone I know has told me it's trash, yet I bought and played the game, and really enjoyed it, I thought it was great and an excellent entry in the franchise. I don't see what all the hate is about. Note I've only played the Campaign. Is all the hate with the game's Multiplayer? I've heard reviewers say that was really good.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

@Dankster Morgan For Killer Instinct, I remember the backlash they had at first for the game's business model, which surprised Microsoft and Double Helix at the time. This was an Xbox LIVE Arcade game that they made very affordable and offered in chunks if people wanted, and everyone hated that. But, seasonal models are generally a standard things in many games today.

I find it ironic how in many things, Microsoft was actually on the right track and ahead of their time in 2013, but their communication and fan connection was atrocious.

For Halo 5: Guardians, I have to ask, what does everyone hate about it? Reviewers seemed to like it, citing various flaws, but fans seem to really have a beef with the game. Almost everyone I know has told me it's trash, yet I bought and played the game, and really enjoyed it, I thought it was great and an excellent entry in the franchise. I don't see what all the hate is about. Note I've only played the Campaign. Is all the hate with the game's Multiplayer? I've heard reviewers say that was really good.

I don't think they were ahead of their time because that model works for FPS and battle royale because they're easily accessible, fighting games are very niche and not everyone's cup of tea, they really shoulda just dropped a full game imo.

Halo 5 bothers me because the campaign is too short, the marketing straight up lied about the game's plot, Spartan Locke was severely under developed, the spartans were more like super heroes doing backflips than mortal soldiers who can and will be killed like in every other game. Not only was the game very short but they re-used the same boss fight against the warden 3 fucking times to pad out their already short game, then had the NERVE to end on a cliff hanger. Halo 2 earned it's cliff hanger with an amazing story in which the two conflicting protagonists came together for their common goal also, basically what Halo 5 failed at. The art style still bugs me, Master Chief for some reason has completely different armor in 4 and 5 compared to 3 despite being in cryo sleep for years, Cortana looks weird, they shoulda just stole her Halo 2 Anniversary design, and the Elites especially look ugly as fuck. I actually enjoyed the multiplayer for a bit, didn't blow me away but was pretty damn solid.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

@Dankster Morgan For Killer Instinct, I remember the backlash they had at first for the game's business model, which surprised Microsoft and Double Helix at the time. This was an Xbox LIVE Arcade game that they made very affordable and offered in chunks if people wanted, and everyone hated that. But, seasonal models are generally a standard things in many games today.

I find it ironic how in many things, Microsoft was actually on the right track and ahead of their time in 2013, but their communication and fan connection was atrocious.

I think the initial backlash to KI was not due to having a seasonal model; but because many games ship as full games that then do seasonal DLC, but KI shipped with only 6 characters as a retail title.

It's the same reason that SFV was panned at launch -- not because they planned to expand it over time, but because it was perceived as being incomplete/having a lack of content when it originally shipped.

If Mortal Kombat 11, for example, launched with only 8 characters and only a couple game modes, they would also have gotten the same backlash in 2019.

It's pretty hard to say if MS was on the right track, as KI's popularity seemed to take off once it became a more fully fleshed-out game (and the same happened to SFV, as well).

 

[Dankster Morgan]

@Juxtapose I don't really agree with the PS3 only having good exclusives at the end of it's life. The system came out in 2006, Uncharted came out in 2007 which was really one of the first cinematic type of games on the 7th gen systems and laid the ground work for a formula a shit ton of games would follow, Uncharted 2 in 2009, God of War 3 in 2010, Uncharted 3 in 2011, The Last of Us in 2013. Not as good as PS4 exclusive lineup imo but 4 Naughty Dog games in a life cycle is pretty great. Definitely was more competition though as 360 at least got 2 full badass Bungie Halo games plus a decent expansion in ODST, as well as Gears of War.

 

[mastermalone]

Very little actual gameplay shown. Why are they getting a pass on that?

Why did Sony get a pass when they did their show? There was little gameplay during that event as well. I felt the same way about the Sony event as I did with the Xbox event:

Meh

 

[mastermalone]

The average consumer doesn't know the different between Xbox One S, Xbox One X, and Xbox Series X. The branding and marketing is really a mess, and I don't see this complicated launch strategy helping.

We've seen this before, when Nintendo hurt themselves with the 'Wii U' brand.

I really want the XSX to succeed, because I think that strong competition ultimately makes everybody better, and results in wins for the consumer. But, like with Xbox One's launch, Microsoft has a way of digging holes for themselves before the race even begins.

With Sony all you need to know is "PS5" and that's it.

The Xbox One X is discontinued so they won't need to explain that part of the equation. Thank goodness!

 

[Juxtapose]

Halo 5 bothers me because the campaign is too short, the marketing straight up lied about the game's plot, Spartan Locke was severely under developed, the spartans were more like super heroes doing backflips than mortal soldiers who can and will be killed like in every other game. Not only was the game very short but they re-used the same boss fight against the warden 3 fucking times to pad out their already short game, then had the NERVE to end on a cliff hanger. Halo 2 earned it's cliff hanger with an amazing story in which the two conflicting protagonists came together for their common goal also, basically what Halo 5 failed at. The art style still bugs me, Master Chief for some reason has completely different armor in 4 and 5 compared to 3 despite being in cryo sleep for years, Cortana looks weird, they shoulda just stole her Halo 2 Anniversary design, and the Elites especially look ugly as fuck. I actually enjoyed the multiplayer for a bit, didn't blow me away but was pretty damn solid.

Huh, my take is quite different.

• I found the game to be about the same length as the other Halo games (eight to ten hours on Heroic)
• The marketing wasn't a lie as Locke and Fireteam Osiris were indeed hunting John and Blue Team for about half of the game
• The Spartans have always been depicted as, essentially, superheroes. John does some insane stunts through the original trilogy, and the rational for him continually surviving is that he's "lucky."
• Boss fights aren't as common in the franchise itself, but the Warden didn't bother me. He was an interesting character I thought.
• I didn't mind the cliffhanger ending, though Halo 2 didn't earn it's cliffhanger ending. It occurred because Bungie had to scrap and redevelop the entire game with about a year left until release. It looked like they had actually planned to have the first few levels of Halo 3 (up until the discovery of the Ark) be the final levels for Halo 2, but they simply ran out of development time. The ending for Halo 2 was heavily criticized (though it didn't bother me so much).
• A lot of people were unhappy with and criticized Halo 2 for having so much time spent as the Arbiter. That's why the character was relegated to side-kick status in Halo 3 (something I strongly disagree with, as I loved the character and plot progression).
• Fireteam Osiris and Blue Team do come together at the end with the same goal.
• Yes, the armour redesign bugged me as well. 343 Industries redesigned it aesthetically to make it "more realistic" in Halo 4. Though different looking, it is supposed to be the same suit of Mjolnir armour he's worn since Halo 2.
• I personally didn't have an issue with Cortana's look, and the Elites. Cortana we only properly when she puts Blue Team in stasis, and she did something we've never seen her do before: appear without a holo panel. That "shell" around her I believe was some kind of Forerunner tech permitting her to do so. The Elites are no longer Covenant proper. The Storm Elites under Jul 'Mdama are not proper military, but an irregular army, thus the less full and formalized armour for the most part. The Swords of Sanghelios aren't top of the line either, and ONI is actually working in the background keeping the Elites down and in civil strife, hurting their ability to progress more.
• I also didn't find Locke poorly developed at all. His motivations made sense given what was revealed about the character.

I also loved how so much of the EU was incorporated into the game. We finally got to see Blue Team for real, and being able to control a squad in (a shadow of) Star Wars: Republic Commando style was great. Getting to spend a good chunk of the game with Nathon Fillion was fantastic as well.

@Juxtapose I don't really agree with the PS3 only having good exclusives at the end of it's life. The system came out in 2006, Uncharted came out in 2007 which was really one of the first cinematic type of games on the 7th gen systems and laid the ground work for a formula a shit ton of games would follow, Uncharted 2 in 2009, God of War 3 in 2010, Uncharted 3 in 2011, The Last of Us in 2013. Not as good as PS4 exclusive lineup imo but 4 Naughty Dog games in a life cycle is pretty great. Definitely was more competition though as 360 at least got 2 full badass Bungie Halo games plus a decent expansion in ODST, as well as Gears of War.

The general consensus was that it didn't, so many of them were just bad and got panned. Reviewers couldn't believe how Sony was messing up. Haze, Killzone 2, Lair, all were poor, and those are just the ones off the top of my head. Lair was such a mess, Sony was actually sending reviewers detailed guides on how to simply play the game!

While there were a few good games as you mention, it was miles behind the Xbox 360 and heavily criticized like the Xbox One is this generation. The system was also so difficult to program for as well, Gabe Newell actually publically told Sony to scrap the console and redo it from scratch! It was around 2010/2011 that Sony began to get themselves together with consistency, the arrogance they had going into the generation from their PlayStation 2 success finally wore off and they got the reality check. At the same time, Microsoft began getting very arrogant and they started to slide. And we all know how they started off this gen. The roles had reversed!

The Xbox One X is discontinued so they won't need to explain that part of the equation. Thank goodness!

I just found this our a few days ago. I'm quite surprised, actually. I expected the Xbox One S to be discontinued, not the X!

 

[Cashual]

I hope so to, though I did like what I saw with Halo: Infinite.

Having said that, you don't have to pick up an Xbox Series X at this time. You have an Xbox One already, yes? You can play the game there for now.

And again, things like this are always subjective. Naughty Dog does indeed generally do good stuff (though all I see are people shitting on The Last of Us Part Two), as does Sony Santa Monica. Insomniac is pumping good stuff out recently, but they've had plenty of duds not too long ago (Sunset Overdrive, and Resistance come to mind). They're currently taking flack for Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales being at 30 FPS, and apparently it should also be DLC according to internet folk and not a new game held behind a paywall of a new platform. Guerilla Games is big with Horizon right now, but there's no reason to own a PlayStation for it as it's on PC; it's not an exclusive franchise. I've never heard of Sucker Punch's games being system sellers.

Microsoft is clearly not limiting by platform, even with their exclusives. Their games are going to be part of their brand overall, which will be playable on multiple platforms. If you're expecting their first party titles to only be on Xbox Series X, it looks like that won't be a thing.

The negativity towards TLOU2 is more representative of internet culture than it is of a genuine critique of the game. The game is phenomenal. A large majority of negative reviews were up within mere hours after the game’s release—not nearly enough time to have played it. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty amazing. Just because there are some narrative choices that people didn’t like doesn’t mean it was a bad game or like indicative of Naughtydog’s demise.

Honestly, I want to like Xbox, but I just don’t. I didn’t even own a PS3, opted instead for xbox360 and really liked it. The problem was that Sony’s exclusives are just too damn good and appealing to me, so I went with PS4 and I loved it. Uncharted, TLOU, Spider-Man, God of War....some of my favorite games of all time I’ve seen nothing yet to make me opt for MS this next generation, unfortunately.

I don’t play shooters, so halo does nothing for me at all. I’ll wait and see. Not sure what I’ll do yet, but heavily leaning towards PS again this generation. Backwards compatibility and even the game pass concept just doesn’t really speak to me that much.

 

[Juxtapose]

The negativity towards TLOU2 is more representative of internet culture than it is of a genuine critique of the game.

That doesn't surprise me. Internet sensationalism is rampant and blows everything out of proportion.

I don’t play shooters

That would definitely hurt the Xbox platform's appeal as a whole for you. Even back in the Xbox 360 days, it was generally known as the "shooter console," even though it had plenty of other great games from different genres.

Absolutely if you're happy with Sony and like what you're seeing more with the PlayStation 5, then that's the direction you should go.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

That doesn't surprise me. Internet sensationalism is rampant and blows everything out of proportion.

Yeah, it's hard to agree with anyone leaving a 0-star review for a game

 

[Juxtapose]

A great analysis from Digital Foundry going over the lighting and graphic critiques from the Halo: Infinite Gameplay Trailer:

 

[Dankster Morgan]

The negativity towards TLOU2 is more representative of internet culture than it is of a genuine critique of the game. The game is phenomenal. A large majority of negative reviews were up within mere hours after the game’s release—not nearly enough time to have played it. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty amazing. Just because there are some narrative choices that people didn’t like doesn’t mean it was a bad game or like indicative of Naughtydog’s demise.

Honestly, I want to like Xbox, but I just don’t. I didn’t even own a PS3, opted instead for xbox360 and really liked it. The problem was that Sony’s exclusives are just too damn good and appealing to me, so I went with PS4 and I loved it. Uncharted, TLOU, Spider-Man, God of War....some of my favorite games of all time I’ve seen nothing yet to make me opt for MS this next generation, unfortunately.

I don’t play shooters, so halo does nothing for me at all. I’ll wait and see. Not sure what I’ll do yet, but heavily leaning towards PS again this generation. Backwards compatibility and even the game pass concept just doesn’t really speak to me that much.

I wish people weren't so stupid with TLOU 2 criticisms. The bitching about you know what scene, Abby's muscles, and stupid shit like that takes away from PLENTY of legitimate criticisms. I found the pacing to be brutal at times, the plot is loaded with contrivances, and some characters do things that make absolutely no damn sense. The game overall lacked the subtlety and nuance of the first game in my opinion. Should have been shorter, would have helped with the horrific pacing. I was exhausted after this game, but after finishing UC 2, 3, or 4, or TLOU 1, I immediately wanted to replay it.

 

[Professor Oak]

Im a Sony fanboy, but Fable and Avowed have me SHOOK.

 

[Juxtapose]

Microsoft released a trailer showing Game Pass on Android:

Again, their focus does seem to be shifting from hardware, to subscriptions.

 

[Juxtapose]

Also, Battletoads is actually coming later this month:

 

[Tony at Home]

Again, their focus does seem to be shifting from hardware, to subscriptions.

Yeah, GamePass is 100% their killer feature and I suspect they wouldn't even bother with a console if it weren't a necessary vehicle to get more people on GamePass. They may as well call it the GamePassBox.

It's really awesome though, and an inexplicably good value. I only bought the XONE for Killer Instinct. As much as I love Fable, Halo, and everything Rare does, I would not bother buying the XTWO if they didn't have me hooked on GamePass.