Xbox Game Pass (Console & PC)

[Dcubed]

14 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

You're really not putting together a convincing argument here. 

Bethesda have some "exclusive" (we'll come to that later) history *years* back with Microsoft. For many years now they have been putting their biggest games onto as many platforms as they can. Skyrim is on almost everything!

Meanwhile Insomniac have been making almost all PlayStation games for their entire existence.

There is really no credible comparison to be made here, you can't suggest they are similar situations!

You're also saying Bethesda was "exclusive" to PC before 2008. That is a very good fact spin :p. That's literally before consoles really became acceptable at running games like Elder Scrolls, and it wasn't usual for many PC games to come to consoles like it is now. That's hardly then "not multiplatform" before 2008, just that the PC didn't have any competition!

You act as if PC ports to console were some sort of arcane art that never existed before the Xbox... yet even the SNES happily got games like Sim City, Populous, Drakkhen, Ultima and Blackthorne; just to name but a few.  Console ports of PC games were not rare at all; not even in Japan! (Hell, Final Fantasy? Dragon Quest? They came about in the wake of The Black Onyx, which was also ported to the Famicom!); even Elite was ported to the NES back in the day!

Even "incompatible genres" like RTS games, often got console ports (Command & Conquer & Starcraft? Both of them got critically acclaimed N64 ports); same with point n' click adventure games like Monkey Island, Broken Sword and Myst.

Bethesda were unusual in that they stayed almost entirely exclusive to PC all the way until the original Xbox.  Their legacy absolutely lies with Windows/Xbox/Microsoft; so quite frankly, the argument that Microsoft buying them somehow doesn't fly because there's no legacy link that ties them together with Bethesda, while Sony gets a free pass with Insomniac, simply doesn't hold water.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Dcubed

[Sheikah]

7 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

You act as if PC ports to console were some sort of arcane art that never existed before the Xbox... yet even the SNES happily got games like Sim City, Populous, Drakkhen, Ultima and Blackthorne; just to name but a few.  Console ports of PC games were not rare at all; not even in Japan! (Hell, Final Fantasy? Dragon Quest? They came about in the wake of The Black Onyx, which was also ported to the Famicom!); even Elite was ported to the NES back in the day!

Bethesda were unusual in that they stayed almost entirely exclusive to PC all the way until the original Xbox.

Because it wasn't until the original Xbox that it could actually run games like Morrowind - and even then only just. At the time Morrowind was a technical powerhouse, you're mentioning PC to console games like Sim City but they were a joke to run compared to Morrowind.

There was also a lot of work involved in porting games of that magnitude to console back then, it wasn't generally something that was automatically done like it is for every big multiplatform game now which almost always go to all platforms. Saying it was a PC exclusive is hardly indicative of a special relationship with Microsoft, back then if you were a PC game developer you didn't really have a choice to go anywhere else!

Edited April 21, 2021 by Sheikah

[Dcubed]

1 minute ago, Sheikah said:

Because it wasn't until the original Xbox that it could actually run Morrowind - and even then only just. At the time Morrowind was a technical powerhouse, you're mentioning PC to console games like Sim City but they were a joke to run compared to Morrowind.

There was also a lot of work involved in porting games of that magnitude to console back then, it wasn't generally something that was automatically done like it is for every big multiplatform game now which almost always go to all platforms. Saying it was a PC exclusive is hardly indicative of a special relationship with Microsoft, back then if you were a PC game developer you didn't really have a choice to go anywhere else!

Tell that to Sierra, ID, EA, Ubisoft, Maxis, Bullfrog etc...

[Sheikah]

6 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Tell that to Sierra, ID, EA, Ubisoft, Maxis, Bullfrog etc...

None of the other consoles of that time would have run Morrowind. It run on Xbox...just barely. It definitely wouldn't have run on PS2. Remember, it wasn't even until that era of consoles that hard drives were a thing!

You're also mentioning other companies with less intensive games that feasibly could be ported over without too much work. I think you need to remember that only a slim fraction of games got ported from PC back then, it's not like it is now. PCs and consoles are very homogenised now.

Back to my point though, the past is the past, Bethesda since moved on and became almost entirely multiplatform. The Insomniac comparison doesn't work because almost everything they have ever done has been PlayStation. Insomniac certainly didn't release a bevy of massive games on Xbox over several generations prior to their takeover!

Edited April 21, 2021 by Sheikah

[Dcubed]

9 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

Back to my point though, the past is the past, Bethesda since moved on and became almost entirely multiplatform. The Insomniac comparison doesn't work because almost everything they have ever done has been PlayStation. 

Since they became multiplatform...

Quote

2012	Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault	PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
	Outernauts	iOS
2013	Fuse	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
	Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus	PlayStation 3
2014	Sunset Overdrive	Xbox One, Windows
2015	Slow Down, Bull	Windows
	Fruit Fusion	Android, iOS
	Bad Dinos	Android, iOS
	Digit & Dash	iOS
2016	Ratchet & Clank	PlayStation 4
	Song of the Deep	Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
	Edge of Nowhere	Windows
	The Unspoken
	Feral Rites
2018	Marvel's Spider-Man	PlayStation 4
	Seedling	Magic Leap One
2019	Stormland	Windows
	Strangelets	Magic Leap One

4/14 of their games that they made were Playstation exclusive (One was Xbox exclusive, and three were Windows exclusive).  That's hardly "everything" exclusive on Playstation (it's not even a focus on Playstation at all!); hell, outside of Spiderman, ALL of those Playstation exclusives were Rachet & Clank.  A Franchise owned by Sony themselves that Insomniac had already established prior to their multiplatform shift (and thus, could not bring to other platforms; even if they wanted to).

That is entierly comparable to Bethesda's own output (in terms of platform makeup) since 2008.  Your argument here is entierly tribal.  It's ok for Sony, but Microsoft are bad for doing the same thing with another studio with the same kind of legacy.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Dcubed

[Sheikah]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

Since they became multiplatform...

4/14 of their games that they made were Playstation exclusive (One was Xbox exclusive, and three were Windows exclusive).  That's hardly "everything" exclusive on Playstation (it's not even a focus on Playstation at all!); hell, outside of Spiderman, ALL of those Playstation exclusives were Rachet & Clank.  A Franchise owned by Sony themselves that Insomniac had already established prior to their multiplatform shift (and thus, could not bring to other platforms; even if they wanted to).

That is entierly comparable to Bethesda's own output (in terms of platform makeup) since 2008.  Your argument here is entierly tribal.  It's ok for Sony, but Microsoft are bad for doing the same thing with another studio with the same kind of legacy.

What do you mean "since they became multiplatform"? Insomniac have always had the choice to release their games on whatever platform they want, until they got bought out. They were not restricted by any technical limitations or archeticture hinderances like Bethesda were with their games. If you look at the system requirements of many of Bethesda's games, you were not going to get them running on SNES or PS1!

Instead of arbitrarily gating the list like that (and giving equal weight to app games), if you look at all the games Insomniac have released, most of their big titles have been PlayStation exclusives. They've even practically made mascots for PlayStation with the likes of Spyro and Ratchet. That counts for a lot more than you'd think.

In fact there's only very few games they even put out on Xbox, not like with Bethesda who have released all their big games on both main consoles since 2007, starting with Oblivion.

These different situations make direct comparisons tenuous - if you were to show someone Insomniac's game development history you would forgive them for thinking they were a PlayStation brand already. I am certain that many people gaming today would not have thought Bethesda was in Microsoft's pocket prior to the takeover.

The biggest reason this comparison doesn't sit right is because ultimately, it's all about what the players with each console lose when each company goes exclusive. Insomniac were not putting out much on Xbox to begin with - in fact, Sunset Overdrive is the only game they have put on an Xbox console that I've even heard of. Bethesda on the other hand...Christ. There's so many games there that Sony gamers have been used to getting, that they now won't. It's actually a bit depressing to think about how much is getting taken away, how much they had access to but now won't.

I get that you want to make the situations seem comparable but will you at least agree the impact to gamers on each console is very, very different?

Edited April 21, 2021 by Sheikah

[Hero-of-Time]

@RedShell did you ever play the sequel? 

[RedShell]

3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

@RedShell did you ever play the sequel? 

Nope. Looks like I will soon though.  

Ooh! Just Cause 4 next week as well. 

[Aneres11]

I had Gears of War 5 downloaded from when I had my Xbox One, but downloaded the Hive Busters DLC a while back with the hope to co-op it. 
Ended up starting it myself this evening. It’s great! 
I have a strange relationship with GoW. It’s not a series I really love, but I’ve played all of them apart from 2. I’ve had some enjoyment out of them, but they’re not memorable and I wouldn’t really want to play the campaign again. 
 

Early stages of Hivebusters (2 chapters in) and I’m really enjoying it. Characters are not the normal squad, which I kind of like. Sick of seeing Marcus and the rest of them. 
 

Looks really nice in parts too, although the character models are a bit rough and not very detailed. 
 

[Hero-of-Time]

 

[Aneres11]

Finished up the Gears 5 Hivebusters DLC tonight.

I absolutely loved it! Easily my favourite bit of Gears gaming I have ever played. 

The locations were top notch, the characters were quite interesting and I loved hearing a bit more about their back story. 

I also felt like whilst the enemies were the usual tried and tested ones from previous games, the gameplay is just so tight and the array of weapons is vast enough to keep it feeling interesting. I also love the reload system in the Gears games. 

It wasn't very long. I'd say 4-5 hours to complete? But that's pretty good for someone like me who generally wishes the campaign would just hurry up and fucking end on the previous games in the series during the final hours. 

Really hope they either bring another set of DLC out, or they carry on in this vein with 6 - if one is ever due to happen.

And this is really the reason why I love GamePass so much. I would NEVER have downloaded this DLC as like I say, not a huge fan of the series up until now. But this had reviewed quite well and user reviews were positive so with it being part of the service I thought "why not?"

There's been a load of games that I have been encouraged to try through GP and haven't been disappointed by any of them yet. 

This game continued to look really nice in parts. Took the opportunity to keep screen grabbing the prettier sections! 

 

 

And last but by no means least, an image of what can only really be described as a ball sack, hanging from a ceiling for your viewing pleasure.

[Cube]

Outer Wilds is leaving Game Pass at the end of the month. If you haven't played it, now is the time to do so. It's best going in blind, try to not look anything up, the game is about discovering things for yourself.

 

[Ganepark32]

As its coming to Gamepass on August 19th and I don't think there's a thread for it, thought I'd share the poster the team creating 12 Minutes have created for the game because its a fantastic poster, one that hopefully they'll print:

Curious how this one will turn out. I do worry that the gameplay loop will be a bit lacking but its on my purchase list for August, even with it being on Gamepass which I'm subbed to. There's just something about it that in spite of the worries about how it'll play that intrigues me and thats enough to get my attention.

A lot of good indie content coming in the next couple of months on Gamepass. 12 Minutes, Cris Tales, The Ascent, Hades, Aragami 2, Sable, possibly Lake (it was originally included on an ID@Xbox trailer saying Gamepass but it seems to be unknown whether it'll actually come to Gamepass or not at the moment, with the developers saying that its up to Microsoft). The lack of big AAA releases towards the end of the year is definitely being outweighed by indie releases so very happy indeed (sure there's AAA titles coming but we're definitely feeling the effects of the pandemic on releases and I suspect there'll be a few more delays for some bigger titles supposed to launch this holiday).

[Ronnie]

Xbox are on fire and easily leading the way in terms of indies in the last couple years. Really looking forward to Twelve Minutes, anything with Daisy Ridley in is an automatic win for me.

[Ganepark32]

So I was looking through upcoming release dates and the end of July is looking fantastic for Gamepass subscribers. Between the 20th and the 29th, there 5 games releasing and launch on Gamepass day one. These are the 6 that are confirmed so far, no doubt there'll be a few more when the lineup for the end of July is fully announced towards the end of next week:

Cris Tales - July 20th

Last Stop - July 22nd

Microsoft Flight Simulator - July 27th

The Ascent - July 29th

The Forgotten City - July 29th

Omno - July 29th

The 5 new releases are all indie titles but they cover a wide range of genres and I'm looking forward to them all, especially Last Stop as its by the developers of Virginia which is a game I absolutely adored when I played it on release on the PS4.

Crazy busy end to the month and then August thereafter is also looking stacked with Hades, 12 Minutes and Psychonauts 2. My Series S is going to be getting a lot of play time in the coming weeks, don't know how I'll keep up with all the games (here and on my PS5). The pandemic might have hit bigger AAA title development but as someone who loves indie games, its a great time to be a gamer.

[Ganepark32]

Another game for August in Gamepass:

I remember seeing Recompile ages ago, before it was announced for consoles and liking the look of it so was really happy to see it announced as coming and to now have a release date for it of August 19th.

It'll also be out on PS4/PS5 and PC that day. Not sure if its hitting Switch that day as well.

Still, interested to play it.

And the remaining additions for Gamepass for the end of July are as follows:

Atomicrops (July 22nd)

Raji: An Ancient Evil (July 22nd)

Last Stop (July 22nd)

Blinx: The Time Keeper (July 26th)

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (July 26th)

Microsoft Flight Simulator for Series S|X (July 27th)

Omno (July 29th)

Lethal League Blaze (July 29th)

The Ascent (July 29th)

Shame that the tweet with The Forgotten City being a Gamepass title turned out to be false. Still a solid line up with several day one releases. Very much looking forward to playing Last Stop. Loved Variable State's previous title, Virginia, so can't wait to play (its also out on PS4/PS5 that day too).

[Aneres11]

Can’t wait to play Blinx again! 
I remember buying an Xbox just for that game with birthday money all those years ago!  

[Ganepark32]

The Artful Escape, a game shown previous during a couple of Microsoft's E3 conferences, finally has a release date, with it coming September 9th to Xbox consoles and Gamepass. Theyve also announced some big names doing voice work for the game, namely Lena Headey and Carl Weathers so Annapurna once again helping their deves reach out and get big names to voice their titles.

 

[Aneres11]

Started playing Psychonauts 2 today. 

Looked great and is reviewing really well so thought I'd give it a go. 

Enjoying it so far, but the story is a bit tricky to follow. I know it's all a bit silly anyway but I do applaud them for trying to shine light on serious issues like depression and anxiety, alcoholism etc in a game like this. Which on the surface looks very kid friendly in its style. 

It plays nicely too, which is good and seems like there's a lot of collectibles to be had. Filling a gap nicely for me given there's such a drought at the min! 

[Cube]

I think it might be the best game made by a Microsoft owned studio, possibly edging out Nuts & Bolts.

[Dcubed]

Started Psychonauts 2 myself.  I didn’t really like the first game all that much, despite the cool theming, as it just didn’t feel good to actually play and really wasn’t very polished.  Cool concept wasted on very mediocre platforming.

This sequel though? I am VERY impressed with it so far! It feels MUCH better to play than the first game, with some brilliant gameplay ideas and concepts that feel just so much better polished than the first game! It almost feels Nintendo-like with the level of polish on show.  Great stuff!

The production values are absolutely off the wall as well! Hard to believe that it started as a Kickstarter game, you can really feel the Microsoft Money poured into this game!

Really solid 3D platform gameplay here; something very rare outside of Nintendo! Double Fine have really outdone themselves here!  

Edited August 29, 2021 by Dcubed

[Sméagol]

You guys are making me take note. Never played the first, but I'll give Psychonauts 2 a try whenever I get something that I can play it on.

[Ganepark32]

New Gamepass titles for the remainder of September have been announced:

15th Sept

• Flynn: Son of Crimson (Console, PC & Cloud)

16th Sept

• I Am Fish (Console, PC & Cloud)
• SkateBird (Console, PC & Cloud)
• Superliminal (Console, PC & Cloud)

17th Sept

• Aragami 2 (Console, PC & Cloud)

23rd Sept

• Lost Words: Beyond The Page (Console, PC & Cloud)
• Sable (Console, PC & Cloud)
• Subnautica Bellow Zero (Console, PC & Cloud)
• Tainted Grail (PC)

28th Sept

• Lemnis Gate (Console & PC)

30th Sept

• Astria Ascending (Console, PC & Cloud)
• Unsighted (Console & PC)

1st Oct

• Phoenix Point (Console)

 

The games leaving on September 30th are:

• Drake Hollow (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Ikenfell (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Night in the Woods (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Kathy Rain (PC)
• Warhammer Vermintide II (Cloud and Console)

Its a good set of games arriving, with 8 Day 1 releases. I'm sure some will be unhappy about the lack of bigger titles as its mainly indie titles but I'm very happy. So many of these are games that I was intending to play anyway. Intended to pick up Sable but have been more and more curious about Flynn: Son of Crimson and Unsighted looks fantastic. Great month.

[Dcubed]

 

That is absolutely insane!! Xbox Taiko and Danganronpa haven’t even been announced yet!!

Bonkers month!!  

Edited January 18, 2022 by Dcubed

[Ronnie]

Xbox are on fire this past year or so, incredible turnaround.