Topic: The everything Xbox thread

Operation Spearbreaker and Serina are on the Xbox store now. I played through the missions and they were fun.

@rallydefault Amazed you didn't talk about the god awful frame rate.

@MsJubilee
Huh? Honestly didn't notice lol I'm accustomed to framerate variances though as a mostly PC gamer trying to skirt by on a semi-old GPU at this point haha

So yea, framerate never really bothered me or caught my attention much. I thought the graphics were beautiful but "jaggy." Texture edges are really not clear at all, which gives the impression of poor graphics, but in reality I think they are good. Kind of like MK8 on the Wii U. Was really nice-looking at a distance, but when you get close you notice lots of jag.

Tomb Raider Underworld now on XB1 backwards compatibility, this means Legend and Anniversary will likely come soon.

I'm still kind of on the maybe boat regarding XOX. I do like the system.

The only Xbox (and PC) exclusives that I am interested in this year are both Tacoma and Cuphead.

The former game, Tacoma, is out today, and the reviews are pretty good if not overly glowing:

GameSpot - 7

That's not to say that Tacoma isn't impactful. I'm still thinking about it, inferring what wasn't spelled out for me and wondering about the complex politics of its near-future world. Mostly, though, I'm deeply attached to the Tacoma crew, who I only got to know through projections and the things they left behind. Out of everything, that's Tacoma's greatest accomplishment: getting you to care about people who aren't even there.

Polygon - 7

I continue to think of Tacoma as a story first, but it’s more than that, clearly: It’s an interactive experience, and that plays for and against it. The story is built out of the playback mechanic, which gives birth to the subtler suggestions of what’s really going on with this station. But the playback system means there’s a lot of talking to listen to, and a lot of wireframes to stare at. For a game about an abandoned space station, Tacoma gave me plenty of company. But the moments where I had to reckon with being alone in space were the ones that stuck with me.

USgamer - 3.5/5

It's rare to see game worlds as intricately detailed as the one in the space station of Tacoma. Even with its mostly lackluster characters and a story that never quite sinks its hooks into you, it's a spacecation you'll want to make time for. Hell, in what other game can I set up and play a game of billiards by myself as panicked digital ghosts worry about their livelihood? None, really.

And last but not least, Waypoint

I'll confess to feeling a little disappointed when the story was over, after a little under four hours of poking around. "That's it?"

Maybe I was expecting some big revelation, the kind of a-ha moment that defined Gone Home, even if it was likely the right move for the storytellers at Fullbright to avoid hitting the same notes. Tacoma is a damn good sci-fi story with some truly interesting characters that you get to know in an uncomfortably intimate way. Unlike most game stories, this one has sat with me better, as I've put distance between myself and the credits.

Tacoma might not be Gone Home 2.0, but there's nothing wrong with that, either.

Is anybody kind enough to let me borrow your Xbox One for a couple of days?

Sorry if the question sounds stupid, but I have a XBOX 360, I think it's the Arcade model (the one with no memory). I bought it a couple of years ago mainly for its built-in light synthesizer and to play a couple of specific XBLA games. I put a USB pen and it works well.

I was told that 360s can be backwards compatible with plain XBOX games as long as they have a hard disk - I was wondering if the Arcade model can be compatible too, if it needs a specific HD (like, I dunno, a specific HD produced by Microsoft) or stuff like that. Thanks in advance!

Microsoft has a Gamescom event on Sunday at 8pm UK time. You'll be able to watch it in the typical ways like on your XB1, Mixer, etc. and of course the focus is Xbox One X.

@Grumblevolcano I thoroughly hope they show some new games, because they could really do with reassuring Xbox owners that there is more than just a sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 next year, the latter two of which have been publicly known for over two years now.

I reckon a date to pre-order the Xbox One X will be revealed as soon as the event ends, a showcase of all the past and future Xbox One X enhanced games as well as a pre-order bonus of Crackdown 3 for those who shall buy an Xbox One X on day one.

I’d love to see a genuine surprise (or two) though!

@Peek-a-boo I could see more details for the Halo Wars 2 expansion happening, maybe even being able to preorder it too. I honestly think this year's focus is already existing games, instead of stuff that'll last a year having already existing stuff expanded to more years. So kind of like how Ubisoft has handled The Division, Rainbow Six Siege, Ghost Recon Wildlands, etc.

Then E3 2018 being when the next heavy hitters are announced like Halo 6.

@Peek-a-boo There's a new 2018 game confirmed, Crackdown 3. It has been delayed.

...

I believe this was the only game that was scheduled to launch alongside the Xbox One X...

So yeah...

Christ on a bike!

I actually thought you were joking at first... It was supposed to be the Xbox One X flagship game.

This has been by far and away the grimmest year for the Xbox brand in terms of software since the original Xbox came out sixteen years ago, back in 2001.

Literally just Halo Wars 2, Cuphead and Forza Motorsport 7 in an entire year. The only positive - if you can indeed call it one - is that the first half of the year in 2018 will see at least four new games on the Xbox One (and PC); Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3.

What’s going on at Microsoft? To be a fly on a wall over there...

@Octane Sunday's event may shed some light on the situation. Releasing a console without any games alongside it doesn't seem like a good idea, even Nintendo's handheld variants had games launching at the same time as the console (e.g. 3DS XL launched with NSMB2, New 3DS launched with MM3D and MH4U, New 2DS XL launched with Hey! Pikmin and Miitopia)

CrackDown3 is truly in development hell. It's going for four years in the works now. Christ

Annnnd time to sell the xbone. This is nuts. You had one job microsoft!!

@MsJubilee It's also one of the rare Xbox exclusives I care about, too. I hope it's at least decent whenever it releases. It sounds like they wanted to do some physics stuff, so mabe they want the launch state to be better than Just Cause 3, Mercenaries 2, [insert buggy disaster here] that came before it.

Neither the XB1 or the PS4 have exactly stellar 1st party releases left for this year now, do they?

Of course it opens up the debate of if trying to make something for the higher powered iteration that can run on the original is stifling these games? Or you could also argue that trying to make them the most beautiful thing in the world is just leaving the XB1 with a bunch of cancelled and constantly delayed games and nothing to play.

@MrGawain Forza vs GTS, Uncharted, Knack 2 and Everybody's Golf (and the Patapon and LocoRoco remasters for what it's worth). At least there's Uncharted, and Knack 2 looks better than the first game...

The difference is that Sony had a great line-up up until now, whereas Microsoft has yet to release anything substantial this year besides Halo Wars 2. I wonder if the delay will have any effect on the launch of the X.

There's also Yakuza Kiwami coming up, but that's not 1st party.