mfnick

04/01/25 - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (XSX GP) - Complete 05/01/25 - Iron Meat (PS5) - Platinum 05/01/25 - Still Wakes The Deep (XSX GP) - Complete 19/01/25 - The Messenger (PS5) - Complete & Picnic Panic 30/01/25 - Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (XSX GP) - Normal 02/02/25 - Silent Hill 2 Remake (PS5) - (01/02/25) - Complete / (02/02/25) - Platinum 09/02/25 - Citizen Sleeper (PS5) - Purge Complete 03/03/25 - Black Myth Wukong (PS5) - (28/02/25) - Regular Ending / (02/03/25) - True Ending / (03/03/25) - Platinum 15/03/25 - Nikoderiko: The Magical World (PS5) - Complete 23/03/25 - Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawai (PS5) - Complete & Platinum 10/04/25 - Super Mario Bros 3 (NSO) - Complete 14/04/25 - Earthbound Beginnings (NSO) - Complete 16/04/25 - South of Midnight (XSX GP) - Complete 19/05/25 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (XSX GP) - Complete 31/05/25 - Sea of Stars (XSX GP) - Throes of the Watchmaker & Main True Ending 13/06/25 -Mario Kart World (Switch 2) - Grand Prix Complete 28/06/25 - Ghost of Tsushima (PS5) - (26/05/25) - Complete / (28/05/25) - Iki Island 07/07/25 - Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind (PS5) - Complete & Platinum That was great fun. Favourite brawler since SoR 4

It’s been good. Plenty has been release which I’ve enjoyed a lot but nothing has been a 9/10, blown me away, run away GOTY yet. Expedition 33 has been the closest and I’m more positive in hindsight but it did lose me at the end of act 2.

I meant that more in the fact I just don’t understand why they basically pushed everyone away from their consoles where they keep that 30% or make that 30% from over games. Their whole marketing thing is you don’t need an Xbox or to buy from us anymore. Just seems stupid when that’s the area they make the most. I know it makes sense to put games elsewhere when the console sales are so bad but they’ve actively pushed people away at the same time. Sony keep them exclusive to the console for a year+. By that time they’ve earned the majority it can while keeping the value & the console stays relevant & keeps people within their most valuable ecosystem.

That’s the problem isn’t it? This is more than likely what would happen. Look at Sony during PS2-PS3 days for example. & even during late PS4 days “Arrogant Sony” started to return again & take the piss. Now that Xbox have effectively given up on consoles it’s only going to get worse. What I don’t get about Xbox gradually turning into the CoD only developer/publisher Activision style is how they’re killing the ecosystem they’ve built up. People don’t buy their consoles anymore and now they’re killing all good will of the people who did actually buy them and pushing people to rival consoles meaning even less game sales on Xbox. But they got 30% of each sale made on their storefront. Surely that’s a huge amount of money to lose? CoD alone doesn’t offset that kind of downturn? & at the same time Sony is now getting 30% from every game Xbox sells on their system. That could be seen as a 60% loss compared to selling it on their own store no? I just don’t get the strategy at all. They’ve already said GamePass isn’t growing. The “everything’s an Xbox” thing just seems to be diluting it even more. & who actually buys games through the Xbox store on PC? I’m betting it’s an insignificant number. & everything they’re doing for the last couple of years is just pushing more and more people away from them. Edit - I keep forgetting MS as a whole and the whole AI push thing. Maybe the strategy from the top is literally to just slowly start killing Xbox off because it’s not as big as they wanted it to be. Maybe they just want out at this point. It’s the only way it makes sense.

I was born in 85 so was too young for that crash but I’m sure it was more of an American thing which has skewed our history with it as usual. From what I’ve read and heard over the years we were more into computers like you’re saying and had things like the Spectrum, Amiga, C64 etc. so we still had a relatively popular gaming market while it was imploding over there. Regarding a crash now. I think it kind of needs it. It’s obviously fucked and unsustainable as is. But it’ll be more of a scrape this time. It’s just too big and varied to fail in the same way. & no matter how bad it gets smaller games on Steam will always be released. I do think big AAA companies like Ubisoft are in trouble though. & I could see MS & even Sony eventually falling out of the hardware. Having a large digital collection on both, that does worry me. Especially on the Xbox side because it just feels more likely to happen there now.

Exactly this.

They’ve been shit at releasing games for years now. Only recently starting to get a good cadence with it - just as they start fucking it all up again. But before they seemed to just be trucking along doing whatever they wanted really without much issue. Ever since they bought Activision it has just destroyed them. It feels like that was the turning point where suddenly they were controlled by MS & corporate overlords rather than just Spencer and his team. They’re beginning to feel more and more like Activision 2.0 rather than Xbox.

This. I should try this before it’s removed fully, Always thought it looked cool but the GAAS stuff & repetition that causes just ruined it for me.

Who cares how faithful it is? The Schwarzenegger film is a classic.

The size difference is very noticeable when actually holding it. The Switch 1 pro controller is comfortable enough to hold but this absolutely isn’t.

Were MS the publisher?

The Switch 2 Pro Controller fucking sucks!!! Holy shit it’s bad, how the Hell is it getting so much praise? So expensive with such little functionality compared to cheaper rivals too. I’ve only got small girl hands but it’s still way too small, it’s way too smooth and slippery and the back paddles are way too easy to press by mistake. D-pad still feels imprecise. The Switch 1 pad is better just because of the size and grips which don’t fall out of your hands. I feel like I’m being trolled by the entire internet.

GOAT kart racer.

I’m on about moving forward with this whole everything’s an Xbox and heading more into a PC space. So if “normal” people are having the same issues mentioned above they’re just going to be cool with it? When previously, if coming from a standalone console, it just worked? Or people used to Steam where things just work are going to accept it? Console players are just going to PlayStation and PC gamers will stay on Steam. What I’m saying is they need to sort it out for the direction they’re taking.

The duality of Xbox App gaming. Thing is, enough people have the same experience as Craymen, it’s done. Doesn’t matter how many it works for like Maf. Most people aren’t willing to put up with that.

From what I hear the Xbox app is so shit on PC people who have games “free” on Game Pass or play anywhere would rather buy it on Steam so they don’t have to deal with it. One of the podcasts I was listening too described how on the xbox app it suddenly decided he didn’t own Epxedition 33 anymore until he deleted the game and app and redownloaded it all. They’ve got a long way to go before people are willingly going to use it. & if this is the route they’re going they really need to get it right. It sounds appealing having everything in 1 place like that but I just don’t trust them to pull it off.

04/01/25 - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (XSX GP) - Complete 05/01/25 - Iron Meat (PS5) - Platinum 05/01/25 - Still Wakes The Deep (XSX GP) - Complete 19/01/25 - The Messenger (PS5) - Complete & Picnic Panic 30/01/25 - Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (XSX GP) - Normal 02/02/25 - Silent Hill 2 Remake (PS5) - (01/02/25) - Complete / (02/02/25) - Platinum 09/02/25 - Citizen Sleeper (PS5) - Purge Complete 03/03/25 - Black Myth Wukong (PS5) - (28/02/25) - Regular Ending / (02/03/25) - True Ending / (03/03/25) - Platinum 15/03/25 - Nikoderiko: The Magical World (PS5) - Complete 23/03/25 - Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawai (PS5) - Complete & Platinum 10/04/25 - Super Mario Bros 3 (NSO) - Complete 14/04/25 - Earthbound Beginnings (NSO) - Complete 16/04/25 - South of Midnight (XSX GP) - Complete 19/05/25 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (XSX GP) - Complete 31/05/25 - Sea of Stars (XSX GP) - Throes of the Watchmaker & Main True Ending 13/06/25 -Mario Kart World (Switch 2) - Grand Prix Complete 28/06/25 - Ghost of Tsushima (PS5) - (26/05/25) - Complete / (28/05/25) - Iki Island That was an excellent piece of DLC. Felt different to the main island and looked incredible. Highly recommended.

With big AAA companies. It’s this. I would say make smaller scope, budget and more A-AA or even indie sized games. Some Indies take off and make multi millions of pounds for example. But this isn’t enough for those companies. They have to be trying to make the biggest and most profitable games of all time or it’s not worth it to them. But can’t say I’m really bothered about the AAA companies anymore anyway. EA, Ubisoft etc. may as well not exist to me anymore. There seems to be a growing number of smaller devs like Sandfall who are more than happy to fill those missing gaps. The only AAA releases I miss are from Sony. They’ve really fucked up this gen. But even theirs are getting too bloated. TLOU 2 while incredible was way too long and has shoe horned in open world segments. Where next for those type of games? Even more bloat and full on open worlds beibg even more expensive? No thanks. But that’s the corner they’ve put themselves into. It always has to be bigger and more expensive…

Not yet. I still put -AI on Google searches.

I’m sure that’s one of those American media things skewing it like Simpsons Hit & Run. I remember them always having a middling reception here. They’ve never been great. Like D-Man says, they’re fun enough but shouldn’t be held as highly as they are.

Don’t forget Epic. I’ve had some “epic” games on there for free.

£18.84 I really wanted to wait until it was £15 really but fuck it.

Finally at a decent price.

04/01/25 - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (XSX GP) - Complete 05/01/25 - Iron Meat (PS5) - Platinum 05/01/25 - Still Wakes The Deep (XSX GP) - Complete 19/01/25 - The Messenger (PS5) - Complete & Picnic Panic 30/01/25 - Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (XSX GP) - Normal 02/02/25 - Silent Hill 2 Remake (PS5) - (01/02/25) - Complete / (02/02/25) - Platinum 09/02/25 - Citizen Sleeper (PS5) - Purge Complete 03/03/25 - Black Myth Wukong (PS5) - (28/02/25) - Regular Ending / (02/03/25) - True Ending / (03/03/25) - Platinum 15/03/25 - Nikoderiko: The Magical World (PS5) - Complete 23/03/25 - Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawai (PS5) - Complete & Platinum 10/04/25 - Super Mario Bros 3 (NSO) - Complete 14/04/25 - Earthbound Beginnings (NSO) - Complete 16/04/25 - South of Midnight (XSX GP) - Complete 19/05/25 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (XSX GP) - Complete 31/05/25 - Sea of Stars (XSX GP) - Throes of the Watchmaker & Main True Ending 13/06/25 -Mario Kart World (Switch 2) - Grand Prix Complete 26/06/25 - Ghost of Tsushima (PS5) - Complete That was really great. Easily one of the better open world games I’ve played.

Same. She seemed strong if you could use her well but I kept getting confused and the time it took to build up her light and dark charges I could win the fight with another member.