Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@BlueOcean @Zuljaras Could be that @Anti-Matter wants it to be more visible, you gave your recommendations and that's fine but really it should be easier to find what you want on the store. Switch has an awful eshop but the Directs and Indie events make up for it (eshop redesign would still be nice), meanwhile State of Play and Inside Xbox aren't quite there (X019 was a big step in the right direction though) so you have to rely on the PSN and Microsoft stores more.

On another note, I will say that Xbox's 2 biggest problems at the moment are:

1. Companies screwing over the consumer is very common so you may think that these very consumer friendly decisions have strings attached:

• Banjo in Smash
• Select Xbox games on Switch outside of Minecraft (currently Ori, New Super Lucky's Tale, Cuphead)
• Halo returning to PC for the first time in over a decade
• All Xbox Game Studios games on Game Pass, day 1 for new games starting with Sea of Thieves
• All Xbox Game Studios games for at least the first year of Series X coming to XB1

2. The console wars mindset, some consumer friendly decisions are being seen as a bad thing (e.g. All Xbox Game Studios games for at least the first year of Series X coming to XB1 being a reason to get PS5 instead of Series X).

@Grumblevolcano While Xbox brand is not just consoles, Xbox One S and Xbox One X are great value for budget and advanced gaming and for people that are used to playing on consoles like us. The fact that games will be available on Windows, xCloud and Xbox One X and S doesn't make Series X less interesting. Are original Xbox and Xbox 360 games available on PC? Most importantly, do most gamers invest in PCs? How will new games perform on Xbox One S? Yes, you can play new games on Xbox One S but is it the same as playing them on Xbox One X and is it the same as playing them on Series X? Do we want streaming (xCloud) exclusively and forget about all other platforms or just as an included option (Game Pass Ultimate vs. Stadia)?

Series X is not redundant at all but the premium and good value choice. It will probably be the best value for advanced gaming as Xbox One X currently is. Microsoft will likely have the best console (technically) again and on top of that you are free to play on Windows if you like gaming PCs, on your smartphone or tablet and on older Xbox consoles if you don't mind the downgrades.

Xbox is a gaming ecosystem with the best digital rights (Play Anywhere, free backwards compatibility), the best subscription (Game Pass) and the best current-gen console, at least technically (Xbox One X) and it seems that Series X will be the best next-gen console technically. Of course, on Xbox you don't have Mario and Zelda and you don't have Uncharted and whatever (my favourite Sony franchise is Wipeout), but on PS4 you don't have Microsoft's games (they own 15 studios now) and the very important third-party games don't play and look so well so why would be PS more appealing? Do they have a better customer service, controller or console? No, no and no, the only reason are Sony's exclusives if you want them. Switch is basically one generation behind, something obvious comparing current-gen ports and many of its greatest games are Wii U ports. As a (New) 3DS, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One (X) and Switch (Lite) owner, I believe that Switch is the most overrated console of the generation and Xbox One (X) is the most underrated console of the generation, while PS4 got the success that it deserved when Don Mattrick messed Xbox One launch in 2013 and, unfortunately, the console never fully recovered after that.

In conclusion, Microsoft is put under a microscope in scenarios where Nintendo and Sony are given a free pass. Xbox has the best consoles and gives you a generous range of benefits. All that Sony and Nintendo have, now that Microsoft fixed Xbox One launch's disaster and focused on gaming, is their exclusive games but so does Xbox. Until last generation I was Nintendo-only (seriously, I only had the Wii and DS) but after just one generation the company I trust the most for gaming is Microsoft and the only next-gen console I'm planning on getting is Series X.

TBH, that's the most important reason for me. And the reason why I haven't bought an Xbox this generation. Not enough exclusives that make it worthwhile.

Of course, that is important but some people would prefer Microsoft's exclusives, Nintendo's exclusives, Sony's exclusives or a combination of two or three. I got the original Xbox One for Rare Replay so an exclusive game (or compilation) made me buy it and then found more exclusives that I loved as opposed to you that didn't care about Xbox exclusives throughout the generation.

@BlueOcean Don't get me wrong, there's a few that I'd buy if I had an Xbox, but not enough to warrant the purchase. Still waiting on that personal system seller. Scalebound was the most impressive thing they've showed this gen, too bad it got cancelled. Maybe with Series X things will become better. But I have a feeling they will focus more on MP and service games.

Well put mate, not just what I quoted, but the whole speech. I think you're about as spot on as one can get.

With 15 Xbox Game Studios I find that quite unlikely.

Well, thank you!

@Anti-Matter You just described and denied Banjo-Kazooie in the same sentence.

@BlueOcean Let's hope so!

@Octane
Well... Because i have no interest with Banjo-Kazooie looking.
I have looked at them so many times, their games on Xbox 360, but alas.... still have no chemistry with their games.

@BlueOcean I'm on about what I see, you'd think more options would be a positive thing but I'm seeing a lot more negative reception. Though maybe it's to do with how there aren't really dedicated sites for Xbox players to meet up anymore, I remember Pure Xbox being a good site before it shut down.

My own main problems with Xbox are just:

• The XB1 OS though the new one in preview that looks like a hybrid between Xbox 360's New Xbox Experience and the Switch OS looks promising
• Harder to find new games if you're not subscribed to Game Pass

It's weird because I thought that, (especially last gen) Microsoft had a diverse portfolio and they were specifically noted to "casualise" Rare after they bought them by having them make Kinect games. That doesn't mean that Gears of war doesn't exist but their games were diverse and not just shooting games. One of the gold games recently was a casual kart racer from the 360 era that used the avatars.

I think some people assume that we all want to play certain PS 'exclusives', @NEStalgia .... Although a lot will come even to other consoles after awhile, anyway Sounds like when people were trying to persuade me I should get a PS4 rather than XB1, even after I'd said I wasn't actually that interested in PS exclusives

@NEStalgia
""Banjo-Kazooie"
Well, that will just make Mr. Sakurai sad...."

I don't even like Smash Bros game so whatever characters put on it will not made me got interested. I am not on the same train to Smash Bros Hype. I am on the train to different hype destination, the hype of games that most peoples will frowning their faces when they realized what games i like the most.

@NEStalgia I don't remember us talking about that lol.

But no, an exclusive game doesn't make it better (though they tend to be better games, but I won't get into that). But if there's more of them that I'm interested, it will make the purchase more worthwhile. I already own a PS4, so a new third party game coming to both PS4 and Xbox isn't going to create more interest in Xbox One personally. For that I need something I can't play on PS4/Switch. There are a few – what's that cave game called again? The one that's presumably in development hell – but not enough. Recore looks interesting, but it's one of those games you get when you own the system, it's not really a system seller to me. Same with Sunset Overdrive. Those two and a few exclusive indie games are all I want to play, but those are not enough to warrant a purchase.

And no, the decision between PS4 and Xbox wasn't the number of exclusives, I bought a PS4 when they announced The Last Guardian and Horizon among others. Uncharted and Tearaway were already announced, so there were at least a bunch of exclusive games I wanted to play on PS4, alongside stuff like The Witcher and Tomb Raider, which wouldn't see a Wii U release anyway.

@Octane These days I've got to the point that the games you get because you own the system tend to be the better games than the "system sellers" that, BotW aside, tend to be one trick ponies that wear off fast. (Well, except Knack. I'll buy any system for Knack. And I'm only half-sarcastic there...there's truth in it.)

I see your point to a degree. Though it's a point that I think, MS would do well having some sort of "try it before you buy it" program. I once agreed with you, until living with both machines and found just picking a game and getting into it and interacting in general just felt so much nicer on XB. Don't get me wrong, I have a good "pride of ownership" when I use my PS4 too, and I love the soothing background music and blue wave theme. For me, personally, X1 was one of those things I didn't get it even when I first bought it until I just lived side by side with the two and realized I was gravitating more frequently toward XB when I had a choice of either. Using it just felt more seamless. Particularly with a digital library. Of course then I spent half the rest of the year playing on PS...not because I preferred it but each time I would choose to play a game that I happened to have bought on PS first.

I do think, though, if I were still stuck with garbage internet and still doing physical-only I would have the opposite impression. Though honestly BOTH of them have gone so far into needing so much downloaded junk I'd probably just hate both of them and double down on Switch.

@NEStalgia Oh yeah, I mostly get my games physical, it's way cheaper as well over here. So there's that too, I personally don't really care about the online environment or streaming, which I realise has probably been sorted out better on Microsoft's front.

Funny you mention that, because I thought BOTW was kinda ho-hum

Though maybe I should've been more clear. I meant personal system sellers. The games that convince you to buy a system. Don't know what else you call those. I would buy a PS5 for God of War 2 for example, or Ueda's next game, though that won't be a system seller for many. If there's a Days Gone 2, they can keep it I wasn't really impressed; but I know a lot of people liked that game.

Exclusives make a huge difference for me personally. To echo what Octane said this generation there was really only a handful of games only on Xbox that I was interested in. Doesn't mean I have a narrow gaming appetite just not enough there to compel me to keep my One S after playing through them. Thankfully with the services they've brought out I won't even need an actual Xbox moving forward to play those. Though they got trounced in the hardware sales department, Microsoft definitely made up for it in other ways and in terms of value overall.

@Octane Yeah, it's a bit hard to decipher in the current "50GB patches as standard" environment, but back a few years ago, all physical, I did have significanly less interest in XBox (despite also preferring 360 over PS3 last gen after, also getting PS first last gen and ending up disappointed as time went by in terms of 3rd party game performance.) Honestly with publishers as they are, both of them are too dependent on online everything for patches. For physical I do still feel PS is the better ecosystem since it seems to be at least (these days) slightly less online dependent, for, at least, 1st party offerings. I bought into X1 as a "treat to myself" after I finally got real internet, with the specific goal of using it as my digital-only system. It was supposed to be a secondary option to my "preferred" PS4. Somehow it ended up overtaking and replacing it with how enjoyable it was.

OTOH, PS is in the stone age with how it handles data and online. Very Nintendo-ish. In that sense, even on bad internet, MS has advantages. Namely, the ability to back up your installed data. PS lets you MOVE it. Or re-download it to a different drive, but not outright copy it to a backup drive as MS does. That's not insignificant for the bandwidth-strapped.

Of course in the 8k next gen......everyone's hosed without a OC line plugged into their console...

Funny thing is, I have GoW...I played 20 min of it. It's a fantastic game, quite clearly. Yet any time I sort through all my piles of "what should I play next" it never makes my cut. Can't say most MS first parties do either. P5 is probably "soon" on my list, and that's PS only. Though since the enhanced version comes out in March that's probably a "next year" game.

When I think of upgrading, I find myself with a massive digital library for X1 that all gets a boost outo f the box with an upgrade. PS5, it just gives me access to the next iteration of some franchises I happen to also like. A new Persona, I'd buy day 1. A new uncharted, I'll wait for the inevitable cooler running Slim. Knack 3, I'll import from Japan Day 0 from a scalper.

I certainly like my PS4 and the experiences I've had from it, but as a multi-console owner my mindset is kind of: "Do I want to play Nintendo stuff/portably?" If No: Is there a PS specific game I want to play this month? If no: All other games are on the sort of swiss-army gaming system, the XBox (and/or windows.) It's the box i pick up, browse the whole collection of what I have, and decide to get into something. In a way you could say PS/Nintendo is like going to the movies, and XBox is like browsing through cable channels to find something on with the way I use it, if you want to be cynical.

But at the end of the day, I suppose I'm anchored by this huge library now, but my preferred tends to go where the winds take me. The underdog is often the more enjoyable experience. If MS reaches dominance again, they'll certainly end up producing a sucky "because we can, and because you have to" environment again, and PS will be making odes to fun again, and I'll probably drift that way. And Nintendo will just keep Nintendoing.

@redd214 Oh, I hadn't realized you were leaving XBox hardware behind entirely!