Majora

I think people maybe just need to get over the idea that unless Microsoft 'catches up' to Sony in terms of sales then it's failing. For some reason the console market in particular seems to encourage a 'if you're not number 1 you're a fucking worthless piece of shit' mentality when it comes to hardware sales. Not that Microsoft wouldn't love to sell the most hardware for sure but everyone needs to be realistic about the PS brand being practically an immovable object, with just one notable home console blip where it let the 360 take over (and even then the PS3 still outsold 360 worldwide. Just right at the last minute). I think you'd need a perfect storm of a shit PS console and an incredible Xbox console for the Xbox to ever have a chance of becoming number 1 and I don't see it ever happening. Too much of Europe is just completely apathetic to the Xbox brand. I'd compare Sony to Netflix, not in terms of quality but brand. With streaming most people have Netflix + others. Netflix is just the default through sheer brand ubiquity. I think Playstation has that strength of brand that makes it enormously difficult to gain serious traction against them. But that's not to say Xbox can't be successful while still being number 2 or 3. They can do much better than they are right now though. I'm still happy with my Series X and still happy with Gamepass (albeit thinking the past couple of months have been pretty meh) but to have so little to show in terms of big first party releases after two and a half years just isn't good enough. I'm still hopeful for the future but Xbox can only play the 'next year' card so many times. It's time to start delivering.

I don't understand all this mocking of the, ahem, mock reviews. Why wouldn't you take notice of what the mock reviews are telling you? Mock reviews aren't some crazy thing Microsoft have just invented out of nowhere. I don't quite get this quote though It got 'double digits'. What does that mean exactly? I would assume that means they are marked out of 15 for a double digit score to sound even vaguely impressive?! It does raise the question of where the bar is for a mock review internally though. I mean, an 11 out of 15 wouldn't exactly be a barnstormer but at what point do you cut your losses and just say, eh you know what this a 70s kind of game and if we delay it a year it's probably still going to be a high 70s kind of game. Maybe we just accept it is what it is, it'll never be a 90+ or even an 85+ because it's fundamentally kind of flawed and just move on?

Ravenlok seems like one of those games you keep on the back burner to get an easy achievement every day for the rewards points. It gives out achievements like candy for basically every single thing you do. I played it for about 30 minutes and it seems pleasant enough although very much a kids game. It's fine, I'll happily get an achievement a day in it while I'm otherwise absorbed by Tears of the Kingdom

I think people are reading way too much into some of these comments. He's not saying an '11/10 won't move the needle so who gives a shit really, prepare for the onslaught of 7/10 games from all those 30 studios we just paid billions of dollars for so we can fill schedule gaps for Gamepass'. He's saying, quite sensibly I think, that market positions are entrenched now more than ever. And historically, it is pretty well established that once you're already two and a half years into a generation, a good game here and there isn't going to change much in the scheme of things for this generation. It's like how Resi 4 did nothing for GameCube or how Mario Kart 8 did very little for Wii U. You can have the best game in the world but it can be for little in isolation. I think all he's saying is that Microsoft, because of the fact that they've struggled for so long to get a constant stream of good games out the door and have been in third place so long, face this massive scrutiny on each new first party release being the ONE that will change everything in a way that Sony and Nintendo generally don't.

The AI was rubbish in Deathloop and it wasn't great in Arkane's previous games either. It's something that's been long overdue an upgrade, it feels like it's just being picked up on now because the rest of the package is so weak.

Benedict Fox isn't even a first party game, it turning out a bit rubbish isn't indicative of anything behind the scenes except that it can be very hard to judge how good a game will be years in advance when you sign it up for a day one Gamepass release. There's a clear drive to get a lot of Indies on the service day one and that means you get as many misses as you do hits. Sometimes you get an Immortality or a Tunic, others times you get a 12 Minutes or a Benedict Fox. And it's not like it's hard to see why whoever is in charge of picking up games for Gamepass thought 12 Minutes or Benedict Fox were good prospects. Just the nature of the beast when you're signing up games so far in advance.

Your impressions seem pretty similar to those I've read elsewhere unfortunately, to the point where I'm not even going to bother downloading it unless it gets a lot of patches down the line but it sounds like the issues are so deep-rooted it'd take a huge effort to fix them. Shame.

I was convinced a mission had glitched out on me, then searched YouTube and kicked myself (although I'd argue it's not great design if so many people apparently got caught out by this)

360 was actually incredibly popular in the UK, it easily outsold PS3 and the UK is still basically Xbox's second strongest market as a result of how well they did that generation. The problem is that 360 was popular before people properly become entrenched in particular digital ecosystems. Nowadays you're not just asking people to leave behind a console you're asking them to leave behind years and years of purchases and friendslist building etc. MS dropped the ball with the Bone at the worst possible time. It would definitely help if they could get some big first party games out the door though.

It's nothing like the first two movies really. If those are horror, Beau is basically a surreal, incredibly dark comedy with some occasional disturbing moments and a whole lot of anxiety. Aster came into the cinema before the screening to give an introduction and you could tell you hadn't given a single second's thought as to what he was going to say so he basically just said 'don't be afraid to laugh and just go with it' and then walked off 😂 When it does briefly venture into horror you can tell it's Aster though, it has that exact same sense of almost unbearably foreboding dread he's so good at evoking. I preferred Midsommar and Hereditary for sure but Beau is sitting a bit better in my mind today. I feel like one would really need to watch it a second time because a lot of that meandering middle stretch I found so frustrating to watch on first viewing should make a lot more sense with the knowledge of the final act. I don't know if I can sit through it again though. I'd probably just watch the first act again, which I truly loved, and then turn it off. Lazy comparison but after it watching it I felt a bit like I did after I saw Mother! at the cinema, like I'd just spent a few hours being repeatedly punched in the face.

Quantum Break is alright but it's hamstrung by the fact that all the locations in the game had to also be suitable for filming on a low budget for that accompanying TV show. So you end up spending most of your time shooting shit up in tents, warehouses and carparks which is a real shame when Remedy are usually so good at atmosphere and a sense of place.

WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH Initial impressions are that I loved the first 40 minutes or so, loathed the middle 70 or so minutes to the point where I was simultaneously falling asleep and contemplating walking out except I was sat slap bang in the middle of a sold out preview and it would have been too embarrassing to leave. Then it kind of won me back for the final hour or so. Simultaneously funny, disturbing, painfully self-indulgent and smug and sometimes just downright tedious and boring. Overall, bemused.

Considering your tastes I don't actually think you've missed that much that's exclusive honestly. Sony doesn't really specialise in weird smaller games anymore, not first party anyway. Give Returnal a go if you haven't already, Humanity is coming out in a few weeks and looks pretty unique. Maybe Stray, Kena or Tchia? All those 5 games I've mentioned are on PS Extra so worth subbing for a month to try them out even though you already have GP Ultimate.

Do people really believe Nintendo aren't making a new F-Zero or Wave Race because they can't think of any new ideas for it? If they had been 5 million sellers I'm sure they would conjure up something. They just don't think it's worth the effort when previous entries have sold like crap.

MS have just announced Gamepass prices have doubled for UK gamers only and the sole game available for download in the region will be 12 Minutes.