Topic: The everything Xbox thread

So it seems a number of things are happening now.

Microsoft as we know traditionally launches and for a while sells consoles at a loss, making the difference in licensing and software. Lord knows Xbox One X breaks even at most. Naturally because of this, the margins for retailers selling consoles, especially new ones, cant be that high, and we already hear from most places that selling new sealed games isn't very profitable, if at all, for retailers.

So with the Game Pass announcement that games from Microsoft will be there day and date for that same $10 fee, it seems like MS is moving to a model that allows them to keep making their limited library, and getting a constant stream of revenue from more users, rather than making a handful of games yearly and selling them to a smaller base for $60 a pop. Of course, that latter option will still exist.

Plus MS can easily eat up any potentially lost revenue from other areas of the business. Remember they have done that before.

But what's apparently more shocking is that according to those who have worked in the retail scene, MS games are historically 30% better with margins than first party stuff from Nintendo and Sony. MS games, for retailers, are the best ones to sell new. They are now losing a potential source of revenue that will shift to MS directly and make MS more money than the $60 per sale.

Basically, $10 per month from 10 million people is better for investors than $60 per game every few months from 2 million people.

But one retailer isn't happy about this it seems. They've caught on that this does nothing for them and are dropping Xbox inventory.

https://wccftech.com/austrian-retailer-delists-xbox-game-pass...

sigh, bland box-art on the worst named console since WiiU. I WANT to be convinced to buy an X1X instead of building a PC.....and they're just not working with me here.....

@YummyHappyPills Interesting. Usually as MS goes so goes Sony, so that's an ugly thought. OTOH, for retailers...how many first party games for MS do retailers get to actually SELL? Even at a net 30% boost there's a fraction of the first party sales for XB than for Nin and Sony....it' can't be a tremendous hit to the bottom line.

If it becomes an overall industry shift, yeah, retail is dead, which for Nintendo would become a crisis. OTOH didn't MS learn that lesson during X1 launch? Their push to digital everything is what landed them their #3 spot.

@YummyHappyPills Sucks for the Retailers but this might be a model that works for me, so long as I can purchase 3-6 month passes. I'm really moving away from xbox gaming but there are a few i would like to beat (and might pick up used once they are 20 or less) so this could be a nice alternative.

On the other hand, I only really want an Xbox One so I can play Xbox 360 games and the Rare Collection, as well as a few other exclusives here and there (I think just the Halo games and Sea of Thieves at this point, unless Crackdown 3 is actually proven to exist...). So the Gamepass does nothing for me. If other retailers start dropping Microsoft iventory, though, that would be a problem, at least for me...

Crackdown is now playable on XB1 via backwards compatibility and is XB1X enhanced. I'd guess Crackdown 2 won't be far behind.

Well, I got the original Crackdown from Games With Gold ages ago but hardly ever played it. Think I've just been given an excuse to try it again.

@Grumblevolcano Woohoo, thanks for this. I bought a copy of Crackdown last year, just assuming it would be on the BC list, only to find it wasn't.

Microsoft have just announced that State of Decay 2 launches May 22nd.

Arguably the biggest first party game of the year for the Xbox One isn’t getting a particularly glowing reception.

I played it for about an hour round my friends yesterday evening and whilst the water is the best looking water I have ever seen in a videogame, the game itself was surpringly shallow...

There’s no character creator (you have to choose a randomly generated appearance), you cannot give your pirate a name, there is just one enemy in the game - skeletons - which are often dull to fight, due to the very simplistic combat, you begin the game by choosing a big or little boat on the front menu and, if they sink, they respawn so, there is absolutely no consequences to losing your ship.

I had fun solving one of the riddles, and the sailing is quite nice, even if the world doesn’t appear very dense when you eventually anchor your ship and explore an island. I also like the British humour that has been sorely missing in British developed games as of late!

But the negatives really do outweighs the positives, and it begs the question; what have Rare been doing with this game for four years? And for £50, it is absurdly overpriced too.

It’s a shame to see Sea of Thieves in this state, and I can only hope that new content comes thick and fast, otherwise it shall be too late to save a ship that is already beginning to sink.

It's basically Elite: Dangerous on the water. If I remember right, that game on launch was also pretty similar to the situation Sea of Thieves finds itself in now, but there was at least more to do in terms of building a better ship and setting your own goals. After all, there was more than one ship type, and it could be customised. Something Sea of Thieves at the minute lacks.
Still doesn't make it a bad game, but I do agree that the only thing that'll keep people around at the minute is messing around on the waves.

@DarthNocturnal Yeah, I was referring to a lack of enemy types when mentioning skeletons.

I haven’t personally seen the kraken, but I am just surprised that there is only one enemy to stumble upon in the whole game! I wasn’t expecting the combat to offer much depth however, finding out that it is a little bit pedestrian and lacks any real punch is somewhat underwhelming - I don’t feel any satisfaction when defeating the skeletons...

Like I said, the sailing is nice and it helps that the water is as pretty as it is. The whimsical British humour warms the heart, and I enjoy seeing an island lurking on the horizon and setting sail towards it.

Woah... You spent 250 hours on the beta?! I started to struggle to motivate myself after an hour or so, ha ha! Maybe we have wildly different views on these sort of games.

Played Sea of Thieves at my buddy's house yesterday for about 5 or 6 hours. Honestly the game does have bright spots and can be fun but without any real progression or incentive to keep playing (outside of "creating your own story") I really have no desire to go back to it atm. I understand the reasoning for the decisions that Rare made but a few hours in we started asking each other "is this it.?" it's a solid foundation that will surely be built upon but as of right now it's a very very barebones experience imo. Hopefully the add in a ton more content because it was genuinely fun and hilarious until we realized that it was all essentially fetch quests over and over.

@Knighty_IX

• I've heard good things about Blue Dragon, but I haven't had a chance to play it myself.
• The original Mass Effect trilogy is pretty much the best fusion of shooter and RPG I've ever played, so I'd definitely recommend that.
• I believe Dragon Age was available on 360, though I don't know how the quality of the port was.
• Borderlands 1&2 were great, though much of the best content in the original is in the DLC.
• I know there was a Tales of game on 360, though I can't vouch for the quality?

@Knighty_IX One of the favorites for RPGs was Lost Odyssey. Also, Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant (also on PC) were also talked about a lot in addition to those games already mentioned. I also really enjoyed Enchanted Arms.

When you say shooters, do you mean mostly first-person or third-person? Or do you also appreciate arcade, top-down, twin-stick shooters as well? The 360 is one of my favorite consoles with so many fantastic games, including its magnificent list of XBLA games.

Here's a list of some of my favorite 360 games, not including games you can now find on PC.
Child of Eden
Hydro Thunder
Akai Katana
Radiant Silvergun
Triggerheart Exelica
Assault Heroes 1 & 2
Project Sylpheed
Bangai-O HD
SEGA Rally
Project Gotham Racing 3 & 4
Too Human
Mutant Storm Reload and Mutant Storm Empire
Ninety-Nine Nights
Undertow

I feel like I'm missing some...although I would totally say Rez HD, but it's now available on PC as Rez Infinite and it's amazing. Also, I would normally say Afterburner Climax and OutRun, but both are no longer available on the store.

Sounds like a good plan!

As for Resonance of Fate, I never did get around to it but had it on my list of games to check out back in the day. I did just notice it's developed by tri-Ace, who also developed Infinite Undiscovery, among many other noticeable titles.

Just realized that there are only a couple more left that I need to be backwards compatible (until you start counting Xbox original games...I kinda gave up on those. If my 360 dies, I might just grab an original Xbox. Then I could track down Otogi 1 and 2, as well as Gunvalkyrie), at least that I could think of:

Akai Katana
Burnout Revenge
Culdcept Saga
Deathsmiles (which is also on Steam, mind you, so I could always double dip if necessary)
Raiden Fighters Aces (which I already played a lot of years ago)

I might be forgetting some, but I think the next time I boot up the Xbox 360, I'll focus on completing those 5.

EDIT: Oh yeah, there was also a console version of Quake III: Arena, but I don't think that's even playable anymore...

I hope Sonic 06, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing comes to backwards compatibility soon.

Seriously was starting to worry that they forgot about original Xbox titles. Glad to see I was wrong!

I never thought backwards compatibility would make me buy a console but I think it might make me buy an Xbone quite soon.

I never had an original Xbox OR an Xbox 360 so it really would be a bargain. I think when they finally announce Tales of Vesperia for backcompat that'll push me over the line.