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Microsoft Studios |OT2| The Best Is Yet To Come
- Thread starter Figments
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I've considered this idea, but I just question what the streaming box would offer that the One S can't do for the same price. I think the boxes need to release together.
Which is one of the reasons why I think there's a very little chance PS5 is coming out next year. The PS4 is in a great spot right now, I don't see why they'd take a risk when they don't need to.
Not to mention this next jump is going to be quite different from the ones before it. I don't think we've had games like Overwatch where I can see people playing the exact same game even 4 years from now. Will everyone who bought it for PS4 also have it for PS5?
DOOM reboot was released more than 10 years after last DOOM. It was still a FPS, the same direction as previous DOOM games and it sold very well and received critical acclaim from fans and critics. The reboot remained true to its genre, people bought a game called "DOOM" and they get DOOM as expected.
And like Dr. Caroll said, no one would expect a hypothetical Timesplitters 4 being a Splinter Cell-like game or something other than a shooting game.
Let's not forget how Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts was received because it took another direction and because it wasn't the platformer people would have expected when seeing a legendary name name like "Banjo-Kazooie.
Personnally, this is one of the games I hate the most because each time I was playing, I was like "why the hell they changed the genre and made this terrible game instead of Banjo-Threeie. Who asked for this ??". I know a lot of fans were feeling the same way, or just tried the demo and never bought the game.
The game turned out to be a commercial flop while the recent Crash Bandicoot remake, still a platformer, sold millions in months despite the PSOne game being 22-years old !
Lots of people remember Goldeneye 64 and PD64 as FPS games with a great and chaotic multiplayer and with a fast-paced single player mode which offered high replay-value and an interesting setting. Even PDZ, despite having a really bad single player mode, has been among the most played games of 360's first years because it offered a fun 32-player FPS online multiplayer that could keep you busy during dozens of hours.
Turning PD into a mix between Splinter Cell, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider... is extremly risky. This would mean that fast-paced gameplay and multiplayer are gone. It doesn't match with current Xbox demographics. Let's remember Quantum Break and what are Xbox One most played games.
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I swear i cant stand reviewers. I just finished Super Lucky's Tale last night, and if you all are looking for a good 3D platformer check it out. Its on Game Pass if you have that. It is WAY better than what the reviews let on, especially if you liked old N64 3D platformers. Id give it a 8.5 myself if I were to score it.
Now I can proceed to play Shenmue II, Tomb Raider, Divinity II, or Spiderman. Sometimes too many choices can be frustrating lol
Now I can proceed to play Shenmue II, Tomb Raider, Divinity II, or Spiderman. Sometimes too many choices can be frustrating lol
If you look into the gaming skills of some of the reviewers nowadays you cannot trust their verdict. I stopped 2 years ago to look about review scores as I figured out myself what games I like or not.
I honestly had a blast with this game too. For some reason I just really wanted to finish it.
If you are playing Spiderman, I'd recommend not trying to finish every last thing in the game. I was doing that and halfway through I was already tired of the combat.
This is how I feel as well, both the Pro and X are capable of wowing us until 2020 at least. Sony have produced some great looking PS4 games in the past year and still has TLoU2 to come, which looks to push the bar even further. FH4 looks amazing and Gears 5 will be too, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what Halo Infinite looks like on the X.
Apples to oranges comparisons. Doom is inseparably an FPS - it's the godfather of the genre. Banjo Kazooie stands in the pantheon of 3D platformers, and another entry has been sought after for years. Interest in a PD sequel dissipated a decade ago.
Of course they can abide by the original's mould, but the point is they don't have to. Perfect Dark's identity isn't anywhere near as strictly defined, or as vaunted as those you've suggested. PD's biggest claim to fame is that it was a spiritual successor to Golden Eye. That it was an extremely competent and polished shooter in its own right is a small factor in the equation.
Doing anything with the IP is inherently risky. What's there to suggest that PD as an FPS will possibly standout in the most over-saturated genre around - one which is littered with heavy-hitter annual releases, that suffocate the vast majority of shooters that come out?
Nah, reviewers got it spot on with SLT imo. I wanted it to be good, but felt it was average and a bit boring imo.
About the launch time for the next gen of consoles: I honestly have to ask from where the thirst is coming from to hope for the launch of new consoles in 2019. Has it to do with the fact that the performance crown is currently taken by Xbox?
My hunch is the fact that Turn 10 isn't yet working on the next Forza Motorsport game and Assassin's Creed is taking 2019 off suggest that both crews are setting up for console launches in 2020.
I think the overall general consensus across the boards seems to be that 2019 is too early. There is no doubt a certain hard-core tech crowd in the other console camp are eager for more power, but I think the average gamer is more than happy for a couple more years
I know I am
Pretty sure they want to establish sensible console branding, so Xbox Two, then Xbox Two S and Xbox Two X. Rinse and repeat: Xbox Three, Xbox Four, etc.
I liked it more than a hat in time which is the complete opposite of what I was expecting.
Finished Lucky in 2 days and have been trying to get into aHiT but it never clicks
Would be a fun thing to see unfold, that could make things interesting! I'm curious to see that dynamic play out again.
Okay,
I hope it is allowed to express a wish into the direction of Microsoft/Xbox:
"Please less announcements of custom consoles and controllers and more news & announcements about games"
I know those custom devices look cool and all but really ...
I hope it is allowed to express a wish into the direction of Microsoft/Xbox:
"Please less announcements of custom consoles and controllers and more news & announcements about games"
I know those custom devices look cool and all but really ...
What websites would you recommend to follow any news, rumours, curiosities, etc. about Xbox to be up to date? :)
I've already got in my bookmarks N4G, Windows Central, Wccftech, GamingBolt :)
I've already got in my bookmarks N4G, Windows Central, Wccftech, GamingBolt :)
This thread and Twitter is all I need.
Why listen to third-party whispers when you could also just read where it all begins.
Pretty much this. I havent used a news website for a few years now.
Can't see how a Ryzen/Navi equivalent could be available for $399 in 2019 unless one of these corporations takes a significant loss on hardware. Anything less would not be much of an upgrade over the X.
SLT has solid game mechanics. It's fun to play. It's also generic as hell and I hate having a limited camera in a 3D game in this day and age.
I would trust this developer to do something in the Banjo world. They need some creative/artistic help but otherwise I think there's potential.
I was 18 years old when Perfect Dark released, I will be double that later this year. I do not want to see more of the same formula in 2020 or further along because people feel that a game needs to stay true to its roots.
Perfect Dark had one great game almost two decades ago, not a series, one great game. There is a group of gamers today who know nothing of the original game, and a good amount of people that played that original title that no longer play games. By the time next generation is over, there will be people in my age bracket that will play far less games than we do today, heck I put in less than 10% of the time I used to put in games 10-15 years ago.
Microsoft should not worry about that demographic, all that needs to keep them awake at night is putting a quality AAA Perfect Dark out. Microsoft does not need to worry about THQ Nordic and Timesplitters because that is not their competition either. What will define the next generation for Microsoft is going to be Game Pass, their first party and second party offering compared to what the competition is putting out.
I do not want a Perfect Dark that is similar in most aspects to what was put out even before Microsoft entered the console business. I want a Perfect Dark that leverages the tech available to give the best possible experience on the next generation console. I hope they are not being held back by nostalgia of what the game used to be as opposed to what it could be.
If all developers and publishers thought like this there would be no improvement to games. Tomb Raider got a reboot and those three games were better than anything put out a dozen years earlier. God of War got a reboot and it is the best God of War game made. Splinter Cell changed the formula a bit with Conviction in how you could mark players and last know position if I remember correctly.
You're right and that's just sad. After the E3 high all the only news we get that excite the fanbase are BC announcements but hopefully they can change that in the future.
Well they kept themselves in the news leading up to E3 this year, which is a large improvement over previous years. But they don't seem to have much planned for the second half, I can only assume they think it isn't necessary due to the busy holiday release schedule. Then again there wouldn't be much for them to really promote or say, only really Nintendo has kept itself regularly in the news post E3.
Back to adding possibly fire to the Obsidian rumor, I found some things interesting from their job listings. Remember this is speculation of course, there's a possibility it changed for other reasons.
First of all, all graphical programmer job listings now don't list Open GL but only DirectX. Unfortunately, there weren't any job openings last year for that as far as I could tell, but 2016 job listings list Open GL. It's interesting to note that, as far as I can tell, all of their PC-centric releases until now have had a Linux release on day one. The only explanations are they have enough Open GL Graphic programmers (doubt it), or their Publisher doesn't want to support those systems, but the problem with the last one is for being future-proof, you'd still hire them. Even if say, Bethesda would hire them for another Fallout (won't happen), you want your developers to be versatile so Open GL should still be needed.
Some of the job listings used to say multi-platform, but that is no longer the case. Back in February of this year, they said things like "our next great multi-platform RPG" and now it's things like "our award-winning RPGs", "our next world-class RPGs", "our next work class RPG" etc. For those that ask, yes, it may say 5+ years experience with consoles, but that experience translates no matter what so it doesn't really matter. If you have worked only on the PS4 library for 5+ years you could still easily be hired in to work on a game exclusively for the Xbox One library, especially since for the most part, the consoles are similar.
First of all, all graphical programmer job listings now don't list Open GL but only DirectX. Unfortunately, there weren't any job openings last year for that as far as I could tell, but 2016 job listings list Open GL. It's interesting to note that, as far as I can tell, all of their PC-centric releases until now have had a Linux release on day one. The only explanations are they have enough Open GL Graphic programmers (doubt it), or their Publisher doesn't want to support those systems, but the problem with the last one is for being future-proof, you'd still hire them. Even if say, Bethesda would hire them for another Fallout (won't happen), you want your developers to be versatile so Open GL should still be needed.
Some of the job listings used to say multi-platform, but that is no longer the case. Back in February of this year, they said things like "our next great multi-platform RPG" and now it's things like "our award-winning RPGs", "our next world-class RPGs", "our next work class RPG" etc. For those that ask, yes, it may say 5+ years experience with consoles, but that experience translates no matter what so it doesn't really matter. If you have worked only on the PS4 library for 5+ years you could still easily be hired in to work on a game exclusively for the Xbox One library, especially since for the most part, the consoles are similar.
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TimeSplitters is quite explictly Perfect Dark's competition because it's a spiritual successor to the GoldenEye/Perfect Dark/The World is Not Enough school of design originally from the same developers as GE/PD. It's no different to how Dishonored was the competition of the ill-fated Thief 4 which upset the fanbase ever so terribly and basically killed the series.
You mean the one where Tomb Raider completely sold out in the pursuit of AAA financial success -- the one that is basically nothing like Tomb Raider with a reinvention of Lara Croft despised by original fans and not really liked all that much by anyone else? The reboot that took gameplay fans already felt was too watered down and held it underwater for an hour? The one that completely fractured the fanbase? Tomb Raider is stuck now. The classic fans hate everything TR2013 introduced. The new fans see Tomb Raider as just another TPS series with puzzles.
Conviction badly derailed the series. It left such a bad taste that its successor, SC: Blacklist was punished for it with widespread disinterest from series fans despite being way more faithful to the classic games. Sales were poor, and the series has been on ice ever since.
In some cases selling out and becoming a generic AAA game can have severe negative repercussions down the road even if it results in a short term sales boost.
For instance, nobody trusts Ubisoft to make a singleplayer Rainbow 6 game. If they tried they'd upset and confuse Siege's new MP-oriented fanbase while classic Rainbow 6 fans see Ubisoft as the ones that destroyed a beloved PC tactical shooter.
I'm often a defender of radical reboots that often don't get a fair shake, but alienating fans can go very, very wrong. You gain short term sales in exchange for killing the reason people gave a shit about the series in the first place.
Good find.
To be on point I don't know if this makes it more likely or not - but it's definitely interesting nonetheless.
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And what does it mean for EVENTUALITY of acquiring Obsidian?
Wow! Nice find. I do think that Obsidian could be a possible MS Studios partner, but probably once they are done with the 2K Indie initiative. Maybe MS is taking over the publishing deal, which ofc has its side effects.
What is this appraisal based on?
Perfect Dark has a very specific formula that makes it a sister game to GoldenEye, TimeSplitters 2, and The World is Not Enough, but different from those games in its core mechanical execution. It's also distantly related to No-One Lives Forever. Another game fans badly want to see return.
The FPS genre is one of the least saturated genres. The spy FPS genre is a dry sponge. Third person games on the other hand? No shortage of them.
The idea that Perfect Dark is like other FPS games - such as Halo - was always the proof that MS during that era did not understand the genre or the series. Kinda like how Activision didn't understand why people like GoldenEye in the first place when they had Eurocom reboot it as a mostly linear "cinematic" experience.
This is exactly why Perfect Dark needs a change-up. Perfect Dark was the successor to Goldeneye, and was succeeded by TimeSplitters, which lost the console arcade FPS mindshare wars to Halo, which is...wait for it....Microsoft's premiere first-party franchise! Couple that with the fact that even Sony had multiple exclusive FPS games/franchises (Haze, Dust 514, Resistance, Killzone), and none succeeded in moving the needle away from Halo and Call of Duty in what would become the most saturated genre in gaming, and it becomes a bit more apparent that keeping Perfect Dark an FPS of any kind would be like all those random PC-style arena shooters that popped in recent years and utterly flopped because the market just isn't there anymore. It moved on years ago.
The closest thing we had to a spy FPS was Dishonored and its sequel, which were fantastic, but even on multiple platforms, sales of Dishonored 2 weren't exactly impressive.
The Obsidian rumor is exciting. I think the funding and support Obsidian would receive could bring back the BioWare type exclusive RPGs that Microsoft has been missing since BioWare was purchased — and EA BioWare has changed direction so it's not just in terms of exclusivity.
Just an idea
Could MS treat Xbox consoles like they've done with Mixed Reality? I mean, make different partnerships (AMD, nVidia, Intel... you name it) and they each make their own version (like there's Windows MR headsets from Acer, Samsung...) and they all share the Xbox platform comprising also PC and smartphones/tablets through streaming (5G maybe?)
It could be an interesting future for the platform
Could MS treat Xbox consoles like they've done with Mixed Reality? I mean, make different partnerships (AMD, nVidia, Intel... you name it) and they each make their own version (like there's Windows MR headsets from Acer, Samsung...) and they all share the Xbox platform comprising also PC and smartphones/tablets through streaming (5G maybe?)
It could be an interesting future for the platform
I definitely hope I'm not asking for too much when I say I expect them to take good advantage of the One X. I have no idea what kind of differences we can expect between X and Pro but I just hope they do something with it and not keep it the same and call it a day.
Only difference in GTA V for X1 and PS4 was grass, wasn't it? But the power gap is quite a bit bigger this time, correct? Let's wait and see.
Would be awesome. Not only is Playground Games second studio working on Fable and if it's a success probably sequels too, MS would then also have a very talented studio known for big RPGs under them. That would be a huge get.
The next gen thread @ beyond3d is both informative and grounded, highly recommended
https://forum.beyond3d.com/forums/console-technology.28/
No. There's no money to be made on hardware and MS ain't sharing profits of Xbox revenue.
I've always just chalked it up to maybe a bit of a bias because I'm an Xbox guy but in terms of metacritic scores for Microsoft first party games I have generally disagreed pretty drastically with the averages.
Some Examples of games that I've enjoyed immensely despite questionable review scores:
Ryse
Halo Wars 2
Sea Of Thieves
Super Lucky Tales
State of Decay 2
Recore
Quantem Break
Killer Instinct
Then there is games like Ori and Sunset Overdrive that I consider dam near masterpieces that hover around the low to mid 80s.
Than I play Highly scored games like MGS, TW3 and ACO, these are games that I can't even bring myself to finish.
Also Weirdly enough reviews for some of Microsoft bigger games Halo 5, Gears 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon, Dead Rising have all be fairly on point IMO.
The FPS genre never became "saturated", though. And literally none of the games you mentioned are anything like Perfect Dark, with the exception of TimeSplitters, which was sabotaged by EA and which THQ Nordic have since purchased from Crytek, almost certainly aiming to make remasters and a sequel.
Your mentality is akin to arguing that Hitman needs to completely change genres because it will never be as popular as Uncharted, even though the games are chalk and cheese.
It seems to me that a lot of people only view game series in the context of how many copies they can sell. Microsift are historically prone to this way of thinking.
Do you think Nintendo are going to radically shift Metroid Prime 4 away from its Turok 2.5 formula? I don't. Metroid Prime has no competition in the current market. There's no "saturation".
Same here Twitter et this thread is all you need. Windowcentral has good article too.
Most of the stuff on reddit, n4g, gaming bolt, rectifing gaming etcc... come from here.
This is great sleuthing. This is the kind of stuff I come to this thread for.
They at least have entertained that idea a couple times, but I think since the companies making the hardware would have no point in subsiding it the price wouldn't be worth it.
Though once Ms gets their shit together and unify completely Xbox and pc we will definitely see console like gaming PCs from OEMs
If ps5 is out November 2019 than no way does Microsoft wait till holiday 2020. They would be out by March 2020 with Halo infinite. And from day one of ps5 release they would basically say 'wait 4 more months for a more powerful box'.
There is just no way they will wait a whole year. I can't see it. But if ps5 is 2020 than Xbox could be holiday that year.
So the way I see it depending on ps5 release Xbox is March-November 2020.
There is just no way they will wait a whole year. I can't see it. But if ps5 is 2020 than Xbox could be holiday that year.
So the way I see it depending on ps5 release Xbox is March-November 2020.
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