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3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

 

Two more cracking games added to Game Pass. Both A Plague Tale and Indivisible are well worth playing.

Just watched the Jimquisition Game of the Year episode yesterday where he talked about Plague Tale in great depth, MS are really making Game Pass a fantastic service!

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I've barely touched Game Pass since I got it. I think it's a great service but you definitely have to be the right type of person to use it to it's full potential and I dont think I am. I need that pull of a new game that I've spent money on. It's always why I tend to have trouble completing games if I dont buy them at launch as I like the initial burst of conversation that goes with them.

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13 hours ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

Just watched the Jimquisition Game of the Year episode yesterday where he talked about Plague Tale in great depth

It's a fantastic game. Both me and Ganepark raved about it last year and then again in our top 10 games of 2019 lists. Clearly nobody reads what we write or our opinions hold no weight on here. :laughing:

13 hours ago, Happenstance said:

I've barely touched Game Pass since I got it. I think it's a great service but you definitely have to be the right type of person to use it to it's full potential and I dont think I am. I need that pull of a new game that I've spent money on. It's always why I tend to have trouble completing games if I dont buy them at launch as I like the initial burst of conversation that goes with them.

Yeah, I agree it is aimed at a specific audience. Those who prefer owning their games and like to play new titles as they get released aren't going to get much from the service, unless it's a Microsoft game. If you are happy to wait or have time and budget constraints then it's probably for you. Using A Plague Tale and Indivisible as an example, I already played both of them last year so the biggest draws from this month don't have any pulling power on me. I have the same issue with PS+ games. I try my best to keep up with new releases so 9 times out of 10 the service offers games that i've already played.

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Ninja Theory has announced a new project, Project Mara:

The describe it as follows:

Quote

Project: MARA is an in-development experimental title that explores new ways of storytelling.

Project: MARA will be a real-world and grounded representation of mental terror, based on real lived experience accounts and in-depth research with the aim of recreating the horrors of the mind as accurately and realistically as possible.

Very interested to see what form this takes and the types of stories they'll delve into. Several of the shots in the teaser are also in engine running alongside shots from their offices so it's certainly likely to be a looker whatever these smaller experience end up being.

So, with this, Hellblade 2 and Bleeding Edge that makes 3 game projects they're working on. Factor in their Insight Project of research with universities and The Wellcome Trust and they're certainly keeping themselves busy. Any worries they'd be held back somewhat by their assimilation into Xbox Game Studios can definitely be dispelled.

And of course, they'll be producing developer diaries to go alongside their work again, just as they did with the first Hellblade.

Exciting times for them and gamers looking for more of their style of story telling. Glad Microsoft is giving them the room to do what they want. Can't wait to see where it goes.

Also, yes anyone who has Gamepass should definitely try A Plague Tale: Innocence. It still saddens me so many slept on the game (especially some journalists like the guys at Kinda Funny who seem to have managed 2 hours between them for the game going by their GOTY discussions which I thought was shocking) but now there's no excuse for people not to try it. Even if you're not on the Xbox One, it's been repeatedly on sale elsewhere so do give it a go. It's the type of game we definitely need more of and I'm glad that Asobo look to be working on another game in that world.

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12 minutes ago, Ganepark32 said:

Also, yes anyone who has Gamepass should definitely try A Plague Tale: Innocence. It still saddens me so many slept on the game (especially some journalists like the guys at Kinda Funny who seem to have managed 2 hours between them for the game going by their GOTY discussions which I thought was shocking) but now there's no excuse for people not to try it. Even if you're not on the Xbox One, it's been repeatedly on sale elsewhere so do give it a go. It's the type of game we definitely need more of and I'm glad that Asobo look to be working on another game in that world.

They are journalists now? :p The guys over there have been awful for a long time now and are no different to the run of the mill influencers that are plastered all over YouTube these days. A common complaint i've seen a few times is that they seem to play/complete very few games but then try to have a discussion about games. It's no wonder their Patreon numbers have been dropping for a while. They've even had to restart their PlayStation only show (even though Greg agreed it wouldn't return once Colin left) in order to drum up interest/support.

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Don't see an issue with it personally. They're playing games and chatting about what they played. They aren't writing reviews or critical pieces. They run entertainment channels not journalism ones.

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1 minute ago, Happenstance said:

Don't see an issue with it personally. They're playing games and chatting about what they played. They aren't writing reviews or critical pieces. They run entertainment channels not journalism ones.

I'm just not a fan of it. I prefer lengthy discussions. I followed Greg for years before he made the jump to Kinda Funny and there's a MASSIVE difference between how plays and speaks about games now when compared to how he used to. Maybe the passion has gone from him a little bit. Plus, with him getting older and getting married that would have had a significant impact in how much plays and what he can play. Kinda just seems like Kinda Funny are chasing numbers now rather than doing it for the love of the game.

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I love the guys at Kinda Funny, give me their insight into the games industry over most others tbh. Tim especially has improved 10 fold these past few years, he speaks really well now. Getting Imraan from Game Informer was a big win for them too, the guy seriously knows his stuff, even if it's only a temporary hire. 

Also it was (another new hire) Blessing who requested they restart their Playstation podcast. If they were just coasting and chasing numbers they wouldn't keep getting new people in.

They've also bought a new studio space that's like 10x the size of their current one, so as a production it's definitely on the up.

And frankly, I just like that they prefer to celebrate games, not destroy them with endless negative click-chasing, ad revenue led rants every couple of weeks like certain other big gaming YouTubers. 

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Here's an interesting piece about Rare. It discusses the company culture, how they've changed over the past 10 years, the future of their old IPs and the use of Banjo in Smash Bros.

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28 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:
If true that would have been a HUGE get for Microsoft.

Man, how mad would it have been if that happened? Bayonetta would have meant that we had a Microsoft character in Smash Bros!

...Wait...

EDIT: Oh wait, I just remembered Bayo is technically owned by Sega. Man, do Platinum own any of their IP's?

Edited by Glen-i

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On 31/01/2020 at 4:03 PM, Glen-i said:

Oh wait, I just remembered Bayo is technically owned by Sega. Man, do Platinum own any of their IP's?

After listening to this week's Sacred Symbols, it appears they don't.

Looks like this Tencent investment and Wonderful 101 Kickstarter experiment is the beginning of them trying to go it alone (either self-publishing or not giving away IP to publishers). It'll be interesting if they attempt to buy back any of their IP. The "Platinum 4" has really got me wondering what's coming from them in the future. 

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24 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

After listening to this week's Sacred Symbols.... 

I've not finished the episode yet but I had a laughing fit during my drive home from work when that person wrote in and was on about stealing his Vita back. Then when the conversation moved on to watching porn on a Vita and Chris explaining how he tried to use his PSP....I completely lost it. :laughing:

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1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I've not finished the episode yet but I had a laughing fit during my drive home from work when that person wrote in and was on about stealing his Vita back. Then when the conversation moved on to watching porn on a Vita and Chris explaining how he tried to use his PSP....I completely lost it. :laughing:

Two feet tall and seven feet wide :D

Sacred Symbols is getting funnier by the week. There were so many hilarious moments on this episode, they have such a good chemistry together. It started off a bit shaky in the earlier episodes, but they've really found their stride now. The only podcast I listen to every week and I don't even own a Playstation.

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Another good month for Game Pass users.

Yakuza 0, Kingdom Hearts 3 and Ninja Gaiden 2 are all winners. Two Point Hospital launching on GP is another good get.

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I got the Xbox Games Pass on PC with my new PC . Figured I'd try Forza Horizon 4. The gameplay itself is really good (although I'd rather it be more arcadey) and I like the various story missions. It does feel like I've done a lot but barely any racing. 

However, I do have one huge issue with it: advertising. Every time you start the game, you get an advert for a DLC - either a picture for a car one or an unskippable video trailer for the bigger ones. Then there sections for them in the menus which you have to go past every time to get to the car section of the menu. Then there are massive icons on the map (which cover up other map icons) and are also on the minimap, and even had adverts over the in-game radio for them.

 

It makes it feel like I'm playing a F2P mobile game.Considering that Microsoft are focusing on the Games Pass, it gives me an impression that this is the future of Xbox games.

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Just a heads up for anyone else who's interested, an episode of Inside Xbox will be going live in 15 minutes. I'm not expecting much from it but i'll be giving it a watch.

 

Edited by Hero-of-Time

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Caught up with this this morning, a decent watch without too much to get overly excited about. I thought Grounded looked really interesting, like a Rare game in many respects; I'll be keen to see what the longevity is like if it's going in game preview rather than straight to Game Pass.

I'll reserve my excitement for Yakuza on Game Pass until I've played 0... Just fired up Sea of Thieves for the first time in a long time, mainly to get the free Ori ship stuff and drool over the Banjo themed one's that I'll never get because you have to pay for them! 

I thought Larry Hyrb was about to parody Sony parodying Microsoft when he started talking about the Series X memory card system (reminded me of the how to play other people's games skit Sony did at E3 all those years ago) but thankfully he didn't 😂

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1 hour ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

I thought Larry Hyrb was about to parody Sony parodying Microsoft when he started talking about the Series X memory card system (reminded me of the how to play other people's games skit Sony did at E3 all those years ago) but thankfully he didn't 😂

Haha. I thought the same thing. :D 

To be honest, I'm getting quite tired of all this spec talk. I don't care how the console is running or how many bits and bobs are inside of it. It means nothing to the majority of gamers and imagine most people just want to see the games at this point. 

There wasn't really anything that caught my eye in the show. Grounded looks decent but I hate the whole early access/game preview thing that developers do. Just finish the game and then release the thing! Everything else was pretty meh.

I did enjoy how they presented the show though. One of my biggest gripes of Inside Xbox is how cringe worthy they are, with all the fans shouting and the presenters being loud and obnoxious. This show was far more down to earth, for obvious reasons, and I think it was far better for it.

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1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Haha. I thought the same thing. :D 

To be honest, I'm getting quite tired of all this spec talk. I don't care how the console is running or how many bits and bobs are inside of it. It means nothing to the majority of gamers and imagine most people just want to see the games at this point. 

There wasn't really anything that caught my eye in the show. Grounded looks decent but I hate the whole early access/game preview thing that developers do. Just finish the game and then release the thing! Everything else was pretty meh.

I did enjoy how they presented the show though. One of my biggest gripes of Inside Xbox is how cringe worthy they are, with all the fans shouting and the presenters being loud and obnoxious. This show was far more down to earth, for obvious reasons, and I think it was far better for it.

Yeah the talk of specs does little for me and frankly the Series X footage they had (of Gears 5 etc) just looked like a minor improvement from memory.

Yeah I remember We Happy Few had massive buzz around it but by the time the game preview had finished that buzz had very much stopped. Get it on game pass when it's ready or even better hold out for the Series X launch (which they might do but putting it on game preview negates that for me) to be more impactful, obviously at a consoles launch even the smaller games tend to get played more as there's less choice! 

Yeah, it actually worked much better, just got on with it instead of all the razz ma tazz they usually try on.

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Wow, wasn't expecting that. Huge get for Xbox.

Edited by Ronnie

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1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Wow, wasn't expecting that. Huge get for Xbox.

Especially if it's enhanced for Series X at launch.

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Final Fantasy IX coming to Gamepass on May 14th.

Looking forward to jumping in and giving it a go. I had been playing through X on the Switch but I fell off after reaching Mt. Gagazet and getting stuck at a particular boss. I'm hoping the pacing is a bit better in IX and that there isn't as many road blocks/difficulty spikes as there are in X because I honestly don't know if I can be bothered jumping back in to finish X with the boss I'm at (which also means I'm unlikely to redeem the code for X2 that came with X on the Switch as there's no point playing a sequel if I'm not inclined to finish the story of the original).

Should be the start of the Final Fantasy releases on Gamepass though. Expecting frequent drops for the rest of the announced FF titles over the coming months so I'll also get a chance to try others. Looking forward to trying IX though.

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