The Old XBOX Megathread

[ADG]

Fun fact I’m actually having coffee tomorrow with the senior writer of this new Fable game. 

[Bobfoc]

2 hours ago, GoGo Yubari said:

XBox always has an easier time with this for me because for me the floor for excitement is "would I be interested in trying this on GamePass?" and the answer on a lot of these is "yeah."

This was how I looked at it too. I was looking at Sony's presentation through the lens of "Will this convince me to spend hundreds on a new console?", which is very different. In Microsoft's show, I was just looking for confirmation that plenty of interesting-looking games were coming to Game Pass, so I'm satisfied.

[Maxx]

Everwild's trailer was way too vague to get me excited for it.  Previewed neither an interesting story I want to experience or an interesting gameplay element I want to experience.  Looks really nice, but I can't discern a single thing about it beyond that.

[probablyoliver]

That was fine, it doesn't make me want to buy an Xbox in the slightest, but it makes me glad I have gamepass, and that's clearly Microsoft's goal with this generation, it's not about the box for them, it's about getting people into the ecosystem.

[Chris2K]

Forza news was what I was hoping for, and a 30 second clip of a race at Laguna Seca is not exactly much to go on. I think it's safe to say it'll be a while before I get an X Box S.

[The Lusophone]

I am all about Everwild - and the showcase really showed the value of the gamepass.

[apsham]

I'm excited for this and the future of GamePass at this point. Especially if games are going to pop up in price this generation, that is going to put them over 100 Canadian and that's a big no-no at this point.

[Bobfoc]

I definitely agree that Microsoft put down a very strong case for Game Pass, but not so much for the Series X yet. It's nice that they're talking about 60fps, especially when it looks as though a fair few of the PS5 games will settle for 30fps, but that's not something that will draw in a huge number of less technically keen buyers.

However, the Series S could be an interesting factor in all this. It's supposed to be a less powerful model, but it's still going to be more capable than the Xbox One X, and I wonder if Microsoft could win over some people if it's significantly cheaper than the all-digital PS5 unit.

[Bobfoc]

After saying nothing about it for ages, Microsoft have announced that the Battletoads reboot will be coming out on 20th August.

I'm not totally convinced by the gameplay footage, but it will be on Game Pass, so I'll be trying it out regardless.

[Bobfoc]

Halo: Infinite has been delayed until an unspecified 2021 date, but the Series X remains on course for a November release.

[Ruki]

Well, there goes their big first party launch release. What might be lining up? Assassins Creed? Maybe Cyberpunk (on the last gen)?

[Bobfoc]

I have to wonder how much advantage there will really be in sticking to 2020 launches for both Sony and Microsoft now. Neither system will have a big first-party exclusive and they'll be releasing them in the midst of a global recession. I know that the Christmas period is usually a big target, but I'm not sure how many units they expect to sell, especially if the consoles are as expensive as the rumours suggest. We're mostly looking at current-gen games with better graphics and frame rates, like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk and the usual sports games. I just don't think that's going to make either console as must-have purchase for Christmas. I really doubt that Godfall will be any sort of killer app either.

[apsham]

These generations feel different than others - the backwards compatibility is a big part of that.

I'm currently out an Xbox, so when the Series X releases - I'm excited to get one even just to 1) Play the better version of Cyberpunk on it and 2) Experience all the upgrades that my back catalogue is going to get.

[Bobfoc]

That's a fair approach. Those are reasons why, in the short term at least, the Series X is more attractive to me. Obviously, Game Pass is another big factor.

[Bobfoc]

Red Dead Redemption 2 is leaving Game Pass on 7th September. Other games to become unavailable soon are NBA 2k20, Metro: Last Light Redux and the Metal Gear HD Collection. On the positive side, Resident Evil 7 is coming to the service on 3rd September.

[Regia]

I feel like RDR2 has only been on there for a few months?

[Bobfoc]

It has, just as GTA V was only there for a few months. Being cynical, I'm guessing it's a case of Rockstar giving people a taster of the online modes before taking them away so more people are willing to buy the games outright to continue playing.

[Bobfoc]

The new Battletoads is apparently quite good, which surprises me a little because they were showing so little of it before release. I hope to try it tomorrow, although Game Pass has provided Microsoft Flight Simulator and Spiritfarer earlier in the week, with New Super Lucky's Tale, Tell Me Why, Wasteland 3 and Crusader Kings III coming to the service at launch over the next two weeks. There are a lot of things vying for my time.

[RPS]

On 19/08/2020 at 20:18, Bobfoc said:

The new Battletoads is apparently quite good, which surprises me a little because they were showing so little of it before release. I hope to try it tomorrow, although Game Pass has provided Microsoft Flight Simulator and Spiritfarer earlier in the week, with New Super Lucky's Tale, Tell Me Why, Wasteland 3 and Crusader Kings III coming to the service at launch over the next two weeks. There are a lot of things vying for my time.

I tried it out. It is fine. Streets of Rage 4 is vastly superior. The story and dialogue in Battletoads is astonishingly bad.

[Bobfoc]

I'm finding it to be reasonably fun, and I don't mind the dialogue so much, probably because the voice acting is good.

But yes, Streets of Rage 4 is definitely the better revival of a nineties side-scrolling beat-'em-up. Streets of Rage was better than Battletoads back in the day too, so it's not a big surprise.