VideoGame_Discussion

Sorry about Crusader Kings mislabel.

No worries!

Slickriven wrote:

Anyone know anything about this game: Touhou Luna Nights (PC and Xbox One) -- Sept. 3
I see it on the GP mobile app and from the trailer and screen shots it looks pretty good and is only ~420MB so I've installed it and will give it a try hopefully soon.

Slickriven wrote:

It's a Metroidvania style game, about all I know. Mostly well liked.

Kommie wrote:

I just gave it a quick try on my PC - the joys of WFH... only played ~7 mins, but it's pretty good, I'll certainly keep playing.

I just moved from Idaho to Arizona, and haven't had time in the last week+ to play anything. And probably wont for another week still. But I'm really looking forward to getting to check out Crusader Kings 3 on PC (game pass) and Wasteland 3 on xbox 1 (game pass) once I get all setup again and settled in.

I've been playing a bit of Touhou Luna Nights on Game Pass. I would say I'm about halfway thru and its a pretty fun game but has some major BS platforming. I've also found the map to be set up in a bit of an annoying fashion. For instance, if you've visited a room and can't get past the room fully to collect a secret item because something is blocking the way that you've not gotten the ability required to get past it yet, the map will say that the room if fully explored and will give not indication that there is anything still in there that you need to collect. Stuff like that makes backtracking to collect items and progressing thru the game a bit of a headache at times.

I like how Gato Roboto tied completion % to item pickup, not map %

Battloads, what kind of game is this? A beat em up? bullet hell? Side games? I beat it, but will never play it again. That last level in act 3 with the bullcrap mini games was absolute garbage.

That one wasn't too bad once you figured out what was going on. I got the achievement for completing it start to finish without any retries on my first attempt.

I beat Touhou Luna Nights and got all but 1 of the achievements (beat the game without dying, which I will never attempt). All in all the game was okay but the only realistic way to beat some of the later bosses in the game was to either grind gems or cheese the game which is kind of bad game design IMO. Glad it was on GP because if I were to have paid $15 for this game I would feel a bit disappointed with the purchase.

Reading reviews for Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, and it sounds likes its an extremely low effort "remaster". Basically its just a crapty upres with no fixes or changes what so ever. They put more time and money into those stupid ass new cgi trailers than they did into the actual remaster of the actual game. In game help still has a 360 controller, and button prompts in game are of a 360 controller. Among other glaring big issues for a "remaster". Very disappointing.

At least it's only $40, and not $60.

Yeah, but with such a low effort re-release. Why would anyone buy it when you can play the 360 version since its back compat. If you don't already own it, you can get it for under $10. And you'll be playing the same exact version of the game no matter which one you play.

There's literally no real difference? Yeah, at that point for Xbox One, what's the point?

It would be cool to see a side by side comparison between this and the BC version.

I think it looks better then 360 version. What I don't like it it still has this bloom effect that was popular in games that released last gen.

Be careful of the PS4 version of Kingdoms of Amalur. There's a game breaking bug that occurs a few hours in that halts character progression I read where killing enemies grants you 0 xp and you can't level up and get stronger to take on new quests. Also it corrupts your save over time making you unable to load. Hope there's a fix soon.

Series S is confirmed at $299

https://mobile.twitter.com/Xbox/status/13032300710...

I wonder if that means the rest of the leak is right too ($499 for Series X with both released on Nov. 10).

I'm curious to see the dimensions of that thing. They say its the smallest Xbox console ever made so I would like to see how much smaller than the X1S it is.

I did some rough scaling and I came up with (assuming the console is laying down): 11" wide, 2.5" tall, and 6" deep,

For reference, current gen consoles dimensions are:
-X1X: 11.80" x 2.4" x 9.40"
-X1S: 11.60" x 2.50" x 8.90"

anyone getting one? For me there are no launch titles I want plus I've been spending a crapload on board games and tablets. For Xbox this fall it's gonna be Cyberpunk and nothing else. And I've got enough Switch games and board games to keep me busy until Christmas 2021 lol. I'm still gonna watch Digital Foundry comparisons because I love that stuff.

I'm still going with the XSX and may get a XSS down the line on a black Friday deal to replace my X1S in my living room which is pretty much 100% a media consumption device. IMO the Series X is easily worth a $200 price bump over the XSS for a 3x stronger GPU.

Side note. On the PC side a comparable CPU to whats in the XSS costs as much as the XSS itself.

What is the series S? Is that the X version without a disc drive?

Promo video leaked
https://twitter.com/_h0x0d_/status/130325260775913...

Archer wrote:

It has the same SSD (512gb though), the same CPU, and a GPU with roughly the same power as the X1X. Think of it as the X1X with a next gen CPU, SSD, ray tracing capabilities, and no disc drive.

dustin11 wrote:

So, just a smaller SSD, and no disc drive? Those are the only differences between the two? Its not slightly less powerful or anything like that?

Archer wrote:

It is less powerful. The GPU is 1/3rd as powerful as the Series X and has almost 1/3rd the CU cores as the Series X. Its pretty much meant to be a 1080/1440p 60 to 120fps machine.

I'm not onboard for a disc-less system yet...being able to find or dig up BC games for my son is a must. And if I'm paying that much I do want it to also play UHDs.

What is going to be interesting is that the discless PS5 is basically just that, the same exact system minus the drive. So the pricing is expected to be very close (maybe $50 cheaper) between the two PS5s.

With the XSS the hardware is different and therefore the price can be way cheaper. It's going to be a huge Marketing distinction for MS. It may be weaker but it's still "next gen" for $100+ less than PS5. Xbox as a brand can say they are both the cheapest, and the most powerful, next-gen option. From a purely marketing-perspective that's really great.

Most rumors are indicating that the PS5 will be $500 and the discless will be $450, but even a $100 price difference will be a pretty big thing going into next gen for the budget minded consumer. The X1S All Digital was the best selling console last black friday IIRC in the US and the UK and that was pretty much due to it being so cheap, and this will only be $100 more than that. This thing will be a pretty great Game Pass machine and I wouldn't be surprised if you could trade in an X1X for at least $200 making this a $100 upgrade.

My plan has been to keep my X1X and get a SerX eventually... with no exclusive at launch I don't think I'll bother getting it right away, maybe hope for a small sale mid-2021. Since the SerS seems to be a bit like my X1X minus the optical, it's not a big draw for me. Plus I was able to sell my older Xone and got a PS4, so I could get a few more exclusives for that and be good. And I've got plenty to play either owned or via GP.
I have an excellent OLED and then a decent 43" 1080p set, so putting my X1X on the 43" with the SerX on the OLED seems to be a waste of the X1X. I hope to fix my 65" non-HDR 4K set at some point and could use that, but I've got other things holding up using the old 4k as well, so at this point an upgrade isn't something I'm planning right away.

There are exclusives at launch, just not any 1st party exclusives.

Guess I could have qualified that as exclusives that I must play straight away on the SerX and don't expect to work on my X1X. The only way I play something at launch is via GP, I stopped buying games a full price right away several years back...

I think there are still 3 games launching with next gen that are next gen only and not playable on the X1X. Just kind of up in their air if they would quality as a must play right away kind of game.

I've been chatting with some coworkers on Slack today...I'm really surprised by how many people see the XSS announcement as "the new Xbox for $300 sounds great" without knowing anything about it. I may have under-estimated the market for people just wanting an impulse-buy price point.

Yeah and I'm guessing most or all of those people will be jumping from xbox one, not the xbox one x. So it will look like a next gen leap in graphics. They might never know, but that's ok.

It'll be interesting to see how Sony prices the PS5 now that XB1X is pretty much leaked at $499. If they go $599 they are just digging their own graves. $549 with Spider-Man Miles Morales bundled would be a safe compromise I would think.

People will buy it even at $599.

Probably close to 80% of the market is casuals who don't care about having the must cutting edge graphics if that means they can get a new console for $300 to play CoD, Madden, and NBA 2k. MS saw the X1S All Digital sales and knew how well this thing would do.

That price on the Series S said ERP, so that leaves MS some wiggle room if Sony comes out and says the PS5 DE is $400 they could just just chop another $50 off it easily to make it $249. They would make that up if someone new to the Xbox ecosystem buys a 12-month gold membership or 3 months of GP. The casuals don't have brand loyalty and will typically either play on whatever console their friends have or whatever is cheaper.

I don't think that Sony is too worried about moving all the units they're making as new reports are saying that they can't produce enough for a world wide launch and will instead focus on a limited launch to kick off next gen much like the X1 had to.

Kommie wrote:

Thats what they thought last time, so much so that they told people who can't afford it to get a 2nd job.

If you can afford $500, you can afford $600. This won't be a deal-breaker for people currently in the Sony ecosystem.

But there is a solid argument for people on the fence about this:

$599 PS5 + 1 game + tax (should be approx $700)
$499 XSX + 1 month Game Pass (100+ games) + tax (should be approx $540)
$299 XSS + 1 month Game Pass (100+ games) + tax (should be approx $340)

From a value perspective this is really something. On Xbox I may not get to play Spiderman or some exclusives but for a single $10 bill I can play 100 other games on my brand new system "for free".

Once you factor in how much just getting 2-3 games at launch will be, the GP strategy gets really interesting.

I'm not planning on getting any next gen console until next summer at the earliest and when I do and I get an XSX I only plan to get it with GamePass. It's a no brainer since all 1st party exclusives are on there day 1. The savings are hefty hefty hefty!

I'm going to bet that every next gen Xbox console will come with at least 1 month of GP Ultimate as well. Living in WA state with our high sales tax, the price would look like this assuming the 1-month GPU included thing.

$599 PS5 + 1 game + tax (should be approx $726)
$499 XSX + 1 month Game Pass (200+ games) + tax (should be approx $550)
$299 XSS + 1 month Game Pass (200+ games) + tax (should be approx $330)

If those pries hold true then the Series X will be $176 cheaper. Now if you need an extra controller and already have an X1 controller laying around then the Series X will be about $250 cheaper. If you want 2 games at launch plus a controller than you're looking at $365 cheaper. 3 games and now its $425 cheaper. Starts to add up real quick.

I'm going to try one connect since I got an ipad mini. Can't wait to play MK11 at my computer desk.

ErickRPG wrote:

You can play your Xbox on your computer via an APP already, it's how I primarily play now.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-pla...

I bet they both end up being $499. The goal isn't to make money on the console. Its to get the install base.

Yeah all depends on how much of a loss each company is willing to take. I've not seen a price estimate yet on the manufacturing cost on the XSX yet but I bet its not cheap. That one Bloomberg report from a few months back said the PS5 costs $470 just to build, so $500 they're supposedly losing money on every console sold.

I'd be surprised to see MS announce the price of the SerX before Sony. They got burned last time and Sony took the risk, lost more $$ but gained market share and a boost from more consumer friendly approaches. MS learned and has a massive financial advantage that they can lose more per unit and hope to gain market share back.
Sony isn't doing great in other business areas, mobile, TVs, Hi-Fi, music, even movies are all a ton weaker for them now. The PlayStation division is their strongest.

MS has azure, windows, office, even the surface line is doing alright. Much different view of the Xbox team/division currently vs when the One launched. Don Mattrick was in charge back then and was so tone deaf to the user base. Guy was astonishingly inept. Then again he was an EA guy, is credited for the Kinect and was canned by MS a little over 2 months after the One's craptacular announcement, highlighted by some really dumb comments from him. Amazingly he was swiftly hired to be the CEO at the great crap show that was Zynga, a job he was fired from in less than 2 years, useless muppet.
Note I strangely despise that guy...

it's a good move by MS. Announce the $299 version. Wait for sony. It's good press. And you get those casuals that don't pay close attention like us and then they see MS = $299. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sony = $499

Slickriven wrote:

Can't forget Phil Harrison. So far hes been involved in the launch of the PS3, X1, and Stadia. In between those he was breefly involved with Infogrames, Atari, Gaikai. Pretty much everything that guy touches gets cancer.

EA Play is coming to Game Pass for no extra cost this holiday.

Series S and X preorders opening up September 22nd. November 10th launch date confirmed and the Series X price is $499 (still ERP, so wiggle room is still possible).

dustin11 wrote:

What good EA games are there though besides Jedi Fallen Order? EA is just sports games/MTX filled games.

^ just took a peak at EA play and Jedi is not included. NFS Heat was about all that stood out to me... Rest are sports or some smaller things like Plants vs. Zombies and Rocket Arena, or older games like the Burnout remaster...

No shock games that don't have MTX aren't included.

Battlefield 5 and A Way Out are in there!!! Lol

Games usually don't get added to EA services unless they are 3+ years old. The only thing that doesn't apply to is all the sports games.

But back to the new console. I'm in on day one for $499.

Looks like there are about 90 games on the X1 side of the service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA_Play

Some good games on the list, many of which don't have MTX.

@dustin11 I don't think that's accurate... I went here and there's no where near 90 games granted they didn't list 360 titles. https://www.ea.com/ea-play/games-xbox-one

Archer wrote:

Same. I just hope they don't put the preorders up at midnight so the scalpers get them all.

Slickriven wrote:

87 games on the link you provided.

But nothing I haven't already played. And nothing I want to of the ones I haven't.

I've only played a handful of games on there. The only that really interest me though and the smaller games that I can run thru fast as I'm not a big sports game fan. Even if I get to play a couple of games for no additional cost then its a win for me.

Archer wrote:

Sorry, I'm a dumbass, failed to click on the next page link at the bottom...

Gears Tactics coming to the X and S on launch day. Same with ACV.

Looking into EAplay some more, the link below shows 76 titles with 22 on the 360 and a single OG title - Black. They've got sports games back to the '15 releases, who would actually play those? Personally I'm really only interested in the 4 NFS titles, might finally play the remastered Burnout Paradise (my 360 copy is still sealed <sigh>). Otherwise even most of the 360 titles were either already GwG or I acquired already. So those handful of racing games interest me and almost nothing else, maybe Battlefield V and try Anthem. Maybe play Black again.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/ea-play

There are some decent games:

Anthem for those that never played it but want to try it out after some updates
Unravel two is pretty good
Wanted to check out Fe, seems like an OK Ori type game maybe
Mass effect 1-4 playable on the X1 is not bad either.
Peggle games are kinda fun

I mean not amazing or super great, but free is free I guess.

longhornsk57 wrote:

Yeah I agree, I nearly purchased one of the NFS titles just in the past week+ so getting to play them for 'free' on my still $1/month addition of UGP to my Live sub will be a nice addition to what's already available.

I did some price checking and it looks like if you adjust for inflation the Series S is going to be the 2nd cheapest home console ever released. The next cheapest is the Game Cube which is $7 cheaper.

yeah it's definitely a good move my MS. I hear it's more powerful than the one x (I mean not enough to ugprade from one).

ErickRPG wrote:

Its quite a bit more powerful than the X1X. The GPU is the smallest upgrade with about the same overall power but with ray tracing capability and some other next gen features. The CPU is 4x faster and the SSD is significantly faster plus system I/O is much more improved. Kind of funny to think that this thing will have the fastest CPU out of all non-Xbox consoles and it will also be the cheapest (except the Switch Lite)

Kommie wrote:


Not that I'd want to waste my time defending EA because hating on them is the cool thing to do, but they've published some really good games from small dev teams over the past few years, like A Way Out, Fe and Unravel, none of which have any microtransactions.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Their bad moments outweigh any good they do. I've heard of some of those.

Can someone give me some info.
Where are the best places to pre-order the series x? I plan on using my paypal debit card but I won't have the full amount on paypal til later, so basically I am looking for info on where I can pre-order the system and won't be charged right away.

I would pre-order with best buy. They accept paypal in fact they incorporated a button during check out. I would advise you to use paypal credit. As long as you pay off in 6 months there is no interest. It's what I use for big purchases.. Like a board game table I bought recently.

Just keep an eye on the paypal emails they let you know how much to pay each month to avoid any interest.

I always pre-order consoles through Amazon. Due to them not charging until the day it actually ships to you.

I'm preordering thru BB this time. I preordered my Switch thru amazon and I didn't get it until 2 days after launch. Last 2 things I've ordered thru BB have not charged my account until it shipped.

yeah amazon is using covid as an excuse for non release day shipping. Meaning say new games like Mario 3D all stars. You will not get it on release date Friday Sep 18th. You will get it perhaps the following monday. Best buy however, still ships to you so you get it ON launch day.

I'm going to pick mine up in store. Something about picking up a console in store is much more stratifying to me then waiting on the UPS. Also, UPS has been super slow recently for me. They delivered a package at 8pm last night after losing it at their facility for 2 days, so I'm not convinced that I'll get it day 1 even if BB ships it on time.