VideoGame_Discussion

I appreciate the breakdown and explanation. Thank you! We’ll see if it still works that way in a year I guess haha

I really think I’m only going to re-up on GamePass when I’m ready to tackle Starfield and still paying like $18 for a month for GPU now or $11 for GP to hit and quit it is better than the $70 price tag for buying it outright.

Wow, I'm shocked. I got a refund for a digital game. I bought a game on the 7th. Downloaded it. Just booted it up for the first time. Hated it. It was also super broken. Requested a refund. It was approved within 5 minutes. I didn't know it was so easy to get refunds on xbox. Its damn near impossible with Playstation. I've tried to get a few games refunded by them. It was a long processes that required phone calls. And I only ever got one refunded. The others were denied.

Looks like they won the AVB merger case?

Feeb wrote:

And the CMA caved and backtracked as well. So the deal is completed.

I honestly don't think there is one series/Game from AB I even care about.

I’ve Inarguably put more hours into series / games under that umbrella than any other. 15 years ago it was all I was into. Diablo is about all I still play.

Diablo is the only one from them that I play. At least in the last decade or more.

(obviously Sekiro doesn't count since they had fudge all to do with development)

Just wondering how long MS will take to mess this up? They can’t manage what they have… I am sure it will end well.

CoD will be even more rushed out and bad, like all the other recent big Xbox releases.

Maybe Sony can bring back Socom then

We are also in an era of GP hikes… the current one will not be the last.

benstylus wrote:

Would love that, playing that was probably the most fun I had In a military shooter. Honourable mentions would be COD WW2 and the first Rainbow 6.

This is pretty lame: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/07/17/xbox-game-p...

They’re getting rid of the Game with Gold games entirely and just giving access to 25 games that rotate in and out 2-3 times a year.

I actually think in some ways @Bleed_DukeBlue the new GP-Core is better. Being fully honest, there hasn't been an even remotely decent game offered from GwG in the last... 18 months, maybe longer. This way, if you're not a GP sub, you get those 25 games and they listed nearly 20 so far. Those listed included Halo 5, Gears 5, Psychonauts 2, Doom Eternal, Forza Horizon 4, Fallout 4 & 76 - so pretty solid Xbox exclusives and not even comparable to the crap GwG offerings of late. Sure they're not cutting edge newer releases, but Core is really the rebranded Gold, and older titles makes sense. I mean they're not going to lose potential sales of newer releases and at this point very few folks are going out and buying titles in that set.
The interesting thing is the GP-Console offering since it doesn't allow/support online multiplayer and doesn't allow you access to already acquired GwG X1/Series games. So it's GP console only and no 'Gold' like perks, which with the CoD games now likely coming to the service eventually, that rather stinks for the scores of folks who play CoD for MP only/primarily - they'd be missing out on the online party with that tier.

I’m always subscribed to GPU, so the 25 games are ones I would have already had access to. Also, it was nice having some games that don’t have a clock on them as long as you’re subscribed. It’s a net loss for me all around.

Slickriven wrote:

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Yeah I've always been a GPU sub, since the Gold to GP conversion trick gives you Ultimate. I guess that from my Gold days, ever since GP became a thing, those GwG offerings just went to total junk. Plus beside the always keep 360 games, a failure of the 360's store really, you only can keep access to GwG for the time that you're subscribing, so they're timed in their own way. I also get the feeling that of the 25, the near 20 they already announced will very likely remain for many years at that tier, especially if they're only looking to adjust the game set 2-3 times per year.

Anyhow, it's just speculation for now. But I also think it will likely put a nail in the Gold (now Core) to Ultimate conversion trick, or it will stay at that 3-2 conversion rate I suppose.

I can't remember the last time GwG even had a decent game on offer. I couldn't care less its being removed. Its been pretty crap since they removed offering 360 games. And it wasn't that great leading up to that either.

I'm more in line with @Slickriven on this. This really only seems to be a slight blow to GPU subs, but as mentioned, the offerings on GwG have been mediocre at best for quite some time now. That being said, the writing is on the wall here now that the acquisition is moving forward. $67B is no small number and Microsoft is going to start making more and more moves to recoup those costs as quickly as possible.

I just hope that they don't end up screwing up things. I also hope that they can undo some of the terrible decisions that Activision Blizzard have made recently.

Next set of games leaving GP are:
The Ascent
Marvel Avengers
Dreamscaper
Two Point Hospital

I wanted to get into The Ascent and tried it over a year ago. It was alright but a decent amount of reading, it didn't hook me so I didn't play it for like 9 months and when I went back to it, I felt lost. Am thinking I'll just have to walk away from this one.

I did try Dreamscaper and it was decent too but I saw it was a longer title and then didn't end up playing it much.

The Ascent was more fun if you have a buddy to run thru it with I thought.

This new dashboard is fudging terrible. Its just ads. Based on user feedback my ass. The dashboard is now just the store app and the gamepass app all in your face. I hate it so much. They also removed our ability to customize it. And that pisses me off even more. Because I had a very clean and nice minimalist setup with everything removed. And the only things I needed right in front of me. Now its a mess and I can't change anything about it. Really pisses me off.

Surely you can pay to make it go away?🥶

Well all that care about is selling Gamepass, and you sell it by ads targeted towards people who already have it, clearly.

Kommie wrote:

Yeah, this update gives the impression its whole goal is to try and drive more digital game sales. And to try and get people who may not be subbed to GP to do so.

I don't know why none of the console makers can make a system UI or a store UI that is worth a crap.

The last halfway decent storefront was the old PS3 store (before they modernized it and made it run on Java or something and it became super slow).

But PS3's system UI was absolutely terrible for digital games. Sort by creation date or last played date. Just not alphabetical.

OK. Microsoft has officially gone too far with the special edition controllers. This one is "pizza-scented":

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/24/23805501/micros...

Weird. Can't wait to see someone unbox one of these in 30 years to see if it still smells like pizza

Anyone try that Antsream retro game service? It’s $30 a year or $80 for a lifetime subscription. I’m curious about it, but I don’t want to spend the money if it sucks.

I was a bit curious about that @BucketofJustice but after reading some user reviews for the app/game on the console, I lost most of that interest. Some said the lag was terrible, others said the 1400 games promised was BS and way, way less. Seemed like a good bit of or that generation of games and that didn't seem to appeal to me. But if someone actually has real experience I'd be interested.

Slickriven wrote:

Try it on PC - I think they have a free ad supported tier.

Is that an option on Xbox or only the paid annual or lifetime tiers?

Xbox only has the paid version.

And you can see all the games they offer here (not a great selection in my opinion):
https://www.antstream.com/games

If you arr into c64, Amiga, and spectrum games it looks like a dream come true.

Decent selection of arcade games too.

I finally got updated to the new dashboard and %@#$ that - a few days ago I noticed it must've been preparing me for it as my normal like 8 groups of games added to the old style got reduced to just 2 and I couldn't add more. Then this new look is just crap. I don't mind the very top with my most recently used games/software which expanded and then the seemingly standard 3x ads really. But below that is terrible.

Promoting recently added is fine, but they're bigger tiles than anything I actually want to see and they won't change often enough to make them always the first thing you have to scroll past. Then came my 2 optionally added groups which was nice, but after that were 13!!! sections that I don't give a crap about.
Friends & Community was first and meh, I play 99% of the time solo.
Coming to GP was next and that's much like recently added - nice to know, but doesn't need to be that high up also barely will change
Most Popular on GP is next and again I don't care what other's play
EA Play thing was next - this is meh, I already knew what EAplay games were available and had a group of those games before this
Top Entertainment is next and I NEVER use my system for Netflix/Youtube/streaming/etc
Then 8 more categories that thankfully I won't really have to dive down to look at b/c they're useless IMO. But what a cluster-F. I don't care about 80% of that and forcing it on the main screen, even at the bottom is crummy. Then the total lack of customization beyond adding a paltry 2 things that we actually want is THE WORST. I also confirmed that 2 is all we flipping get.

I want to complain about this to them, does anyone know where we can do that? Flarking pissed about this.

Ive heard horror stories of buying used or "refurbished" consoles at Gamestop. I wanted to buy a NEW Xbox X before MS ups the price like they said they would.
Anyone have any experiences? I have a buttload of GS Credit and lots of points to reward for certificates, so i'd prefer to buy from GS, but they never have new consoles in stock.
Dell has new consoles for $429 and then $449 2 days ago and i slept on it and they're OOS now.
Any help and guidance would be appreciated, thanks guys.

Can't you buy a new system on their website using your credit? Or does it have to be in-person?

My local GS always have new series consoles. Check around.

Anxiouz wrote:

I have yet to find a new one in stock on their website

Simon_Belmont wrote:

Probably cause they want you to buy in store and get harassed to pre order something.

Kommie wrote:

100%.
The people at my 2 local Gamestops are cool as crap, they know that i'm a frequent merch buyer for reselling and they're happy to see me when i come in so i can clear some shelf room for them. They even let me use the tiny employee bathroom when i had kidney stones, that was really nice.
Every other Gamestop i've been to (especially mall locations) harass THE FUDGE out of me to the point where i just want to leave the store.