Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@Gamecubed I believe Xbox Live Gold membership has been $60 since launch, whereas PS+ has been $50 all the way up until a couple of weeks ago.

Since the price hike, we have immediately seen a better selection of games already - Resident Evil (remake) and Transformers Devastation. If this carries on, perhaps the price hike (that is now the same price as the Xbox Live Gold membership) will be beneficial in the long term?

I don't get the whole 'Sony arrogant scumbag' angle though.

They released the PlayStation 4 slim a couple of weeks ago to a new lower price, they have got the PlayStation VR coming out next week (and with lots of games to choose from) and the PlayStation 4 Pro at the beginning of November.

If anything, it looks like a company that is trying new things and finding new ways to play.

It is a shame that their games are delayed from time to time however, if they are delayed for good reason, like Bloodborne, Ratchet & Clank and Uncharted 4 once were, and of which all three ended up being some of the very best games on any platform, then surely that's a good thing?

The Xbox One is doing quite nicely now, and the Xbox One S is an appealing machine, for both new and old customers alike, but let's not forget that there was hardly anything to play - exclusives wise - virtually all year until Forza Horizon 3 came out last week!

I have plenty of things to grumble about with both companies however, I really don't see how this 'arrogant scumbag' narrative fits with the Sony at this moment in time - a company that is launching three different platforms in a space of just two months.

That, to me, is a sign of a confident company.

hahahahahahahahahahaha...

From time to time indeed. They've just in the last month delayed their game they announced would be released for the PS3 in 2011 and that caused a delay to their sequel to a game barely anyone cares about because it would've damaged its already doomed sales to have both of them clash, not even mentioning the presence of FFXV. And that was already way after both of their mainstream 'AAA' games scheduled to be released before the end of this year were delayed (HZD and GTS).

You can stick up for Sony in all threads all the time but this is one you honestly can't be truthful to yourself if you genuinely think Sony only delays games "from time to time". The horrible scumbag arrogant Sony whatever is just as hyperbolic and blown out of proportion as any Nintendoomed or EA/Ubisoft/WB scumbag opinion piece (maybe not for the latter IMO) but they're not infallible on all fronts like your post defending them is hoping to prove. They want your money and nothing else, like all of those companies I mentioned and pretty much every other in existence.

@Shinion Last generation, I thought that almost everything Microsoft did was brilliant, even the Kinect, and that Sony deserved all the 'arrogant scumbag' baggage they received for the first couple of years.

Nowadays though? It's the opposite for me. Microsoft have done well lately, but it isn't easy to forget about their initial plans whereas Sony are just generally going about their own thing.

And yes, Sony do delay their titles from 'time to time', meaning some of their games are delayed more so than others, but then almost every single developer has been guilty of this in the past few years.

In the case of delays for Sony and their first party games like Bloodborne, Ratchet & Clank and Uncharted 4, look at the end result. Just three exceptional games. Hard to complain about that, hey?

Granted, the delay with Gran Turismo Sport is borderline ridiculous at this point though...

TL;DR - everybody inevitably delays their game(s) at some point.

@Peek-a-boo Yet you go on and reply anyway despite your opening gambit...

I mean yeesh it was uncapitalised, repeated two letters just to demonstrate that what you typed gave me a chuckle. No need for that opening I don't think, I didn't call you names or laugh at you, and I don't think I'm alone in finding Sony and the aptly dubbed 'Delaystation' funny, I mean, did you happen to frequent any gaming sites when TLG was delayed? Because if you did you surely must've seen plenty of people who laughed, it's quite apt at this point with that game in particular. I love SotC and all, but at some point you've just got to laugh, that infamous tweet from Sony EU announcing TLG release for holiday 2011 on PS3 inevitably gets dug up and it's funny. What's so childish about laughter in this instance? Laughter is good in general ain't it? And don't try to one up people on how oh-so mature you must be if people having laughs at the expense of a company gets to you.

I mean in an industry where people send death threats to devs/publishers for delays and even astoundingly the journalists who break the news of said delays is laughing at the news a comparable thing that is frowned upon? I'd think that would be very stupid to enforce that.

So how about Sony's holiday lineup for the PS3 this year? 2011 really will be remembered as the year of The Last Guardian.

@Shinion I was halfway with replaying to an email to this ignorance and quite possibly a sexist guy at work, then I read your message which begun with laugher that probably wasn't the best thing to come across at the time.

The Last Guardian delay was amusing in all honesty, but there seems to be real life advertising boards going up with its stated December date... and yet I still don't believe it!

I find delays to be part and parcel of things this generation; you only have to read some of the horror stories in regards to developing for these newer consoles.

"I pretty much worked seven days a week, at least 12 hours a day" - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-10-06-were-definit...

So no wonder why there have been a lot of delays from in-house developers across all three consoles.

Brexit gets to me, Donald Trump gets to me (for all the wrong reasons), the ignorant guy who I am currently emailing at work gets to me, too much milk in my cuppa tea gets to me, but computer games and their respective companies? Nah. Life is too short.

I'm still looking forward to playing Gran Turismo Sport in 2019 though, delays be damned.

@Shinion You should really count Sony Europe and the rest of Sony as 2 different entities. Sony Europe has always been garbage for the entirety of the PS3 and PS4 generations meanwhile I think the rest of Sony has been decent from around a few years into the PS3's lifespan to around 2014 when they let the PS4 lead make them arrogant.

@Peek-a-boo It looks like the conversation has moved on from this point, haven't read everything lol, but Xbox Live was $50 when it launched. It went up to $60 when they made their partnership with ESPN on the 360

@DefHalan I was talking about since the beginning of this generation; Xbox One has always been $60 (and even locked Netflix, Skype and Internet Explorer, etc. behind a paywall for quite a while too!) while PS+ was $50 on the PlayStation 4 for almost three years until a few weeks ago.

Anyways, I played Gears of War 4 last night.

Firstly, I really have to commend the team on offering local split screen co-op, something that was always the heart of the Halo series and was inexplicably taken out of Halo 5.

So far, so good!

I am not sure about introducing robots, and the swarm looks like that newborn alien creature at the end of Alien Resurrection - not particularly memorable compared to the Locust, but they still pack a punch in combat scenarios.

I get vibes of the original Gears of War (my favourite one) whilst playing this, as there seems to be an actual invasion going on rather than travelling to oft deserted places and bumping into some enemies out of the blue. The level design is good too, and seems more vulnerable meaning you are always on the move.

The characters seem to be less 'USA! USA!' in this one, and more bearable with their somewhat grounded dialogue, even if it is generally military speak. The story is wafer thin, and I feel like I already know what's going to happen before we reach the next cutscene, of which they are more frequent than ever.

I think it was the shock of playing a flagship game/series in local split screen co-op that made me appreciate and enjoy this more than I typically would. My friend and I only reached the end of Act 2 (out of 5) and I think this is not going to be a very long game.

My favourite one since the first, and it's a good job by a new studio too.

I got Gears of War 4 on Friday, set everything up and then Color Splash came on Saturday which took all my time. I will get around to Gears eventually though as Color Splash doesn't seem particularly long even if going for 100%.

then yes, Xbox Live has always been $60 a year for the past 3 years

Lost Odyssey. I'm gonna keep repeating this game until the world knows the truth of it's awesomeness.

Lost Odyssey people. Lost freaking Odyssey.

You got an Xbox One, or a 360 for that matter, then this is all you need to know.

It's called inflation. It happens everwhere. Look at the price of milk compare to 3 years ago, Netflix went up a few years too. Sony just couldn't do it anymore. And the price hike was for NA to compensate the minimum wage hike more then likely.

Completed my first playthrough of the Gears of War 4 campaign and will start a second to pick up some of the collectibles I missed. Really liked it. Had some nice ties to the past and sets up well for the future. From a gameplay and level design perspective it was a bit safe, but I can also understand that from a studio making its first own game in the series. I really liked the final sequence of this one's campaign. Actually moved up to the top of my list of favorite Gears moments along with the train level from Gears 1.

@Gamer83 do you still get play as the locust in the multiplayer or is it just new cog and their new enemies the swarm/

@summers
I'm not sure actually. I'm one of those weird people who's just in it for the campaign.

@summers No, there's no locust to be seen in Gears of War 4, as I believe it is set about twenty-odd years after the third game.

To be honest, the swarm shares very similar behaviour and movement to the locust anyway; they are just characterised in a shiny and grimy yellow and white looking skin.

I'm sure there is an outfit that you can unlock to make the swarm wear locust armour or something!

Going to pop round my friends to continue our co-op campaign this evening. I thoroughly hope there are no more robots to fight though...

Played some more of Gears Of War 4 on co-op round my friends yesterday evening.

I do like it, and some sequences share more similarities to the original Gears of War rather than the overly bombastic sequel and the third outing. For an Xbox One game, it does have the odd moment or two where you cannot help but be impressed with the visuals - those windstorms, for example, are a treat for the eyes.

On the other hand, and it might just be me, but I do hope the next game adds a dose of originality and try to reinvent the same old, same old gameplay. There's only so many time you can dash over and pin yourself to a waist high wall whilst shooting from behind it before things inevitably begins to feel somewhat stale.

I know that fans will cry wolf however, in a day and age when the fourth God of War has (thankfully) changed the way the game plays, I find that this series needs to be given a new leash of life.

Actually, the highlight of the night wasn't blasting through Gears of War 4, it was playing the first campaign mission in Battlefield 1. Not to put a downer on the visuals for the above game, but Battlefield 1 looks a LOT better, with more things happening on screen at any one time as well as running in 60fps!

DICE are technical wizards!

@Peek-a-boo How is the single player content for Battlefield 1? I am not a FPS fan in general but I am intrigued by the WWI focus.

Same here, trailers impressed me. It's been a long time since an FPS has done that.

@Ryu_Niiyama Honestly?

Although I only played the first level/mission, I thought it was one of the best opening to a FPS since being dropped onto the cargo ship in the windswept rain in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

It also helps that:

a) The game is visually astounding.
b) Offers fantastic and authentic audio.
c) Set during the Great War, which feels refreshing and original in today's crowded futuristic market.
d) Is genuinely exhilarating to play; feels very grounded.

Although they are two very different games, I preferred my all-too-brief time with Battlefield 1 over Gears of War 4 yesterday evening!

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has always been my favourite, but this one may (eventually) take its place...