Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

@MaccaMUFC The whole problem and the thing that will make Fortnite better then PUBG in a lot of people's eyes are two things.

The fact that Fortnite is free and available on all consoles.

@MaccaMUFC @Tasuki to be honest i don't see the fuss over the games, i played both and both were boring although as it stands right now Fortnite is the better option like Tasuki said it's free and on more systems and at the end of the day they are big factors especially if one is free AND currently works and performs better than the other

@Tasuki What makes Fortnite better to a lot of people is the fact that they can play the game?

A certain percentage cannot play PUBG and therefore cannot actually make a valid comparison between the two. If they only have one then they can't really say its 'better' without actually playing the other. That's like saying Fallout Shelter is a much better game than Horizon:Zero Dawn because its free and not 'exclusive' to a platform.

Those however that have access to both and played both, the majority will say PUBG is the better game - even on XB1 where it doesn't run as smoothly. It has a much better atmosphere, feels much more intense etc. Being 'Better' by 'default because it is the 'only' option doesn't necessarily make it a 'better' game - its just the only game those people can play currently. Like I said, despite the performance issues, its still proving very popular on XB1 - more so than Fortnite.

You wouldn't get XB1 owners saying that Fallout Shelter is better than Horizon: Zero Dawn because its free and available on all consoles.

I know that Fallout Shelter may not be as similar to H:ZD as Fortnite is to PUBG but I am not overly familiar with Free to Play games and which may well be similar to Sony's exclusives. I don't play any F2P games so don't know what's available and which, if any, offer anything similar to Sony's exclusives to do a better comparison. The Principal though still applies.

Personally I don't enjoy the Battle Royale principal but each to their own.

@KratosMD oh it's been confirmed then, it was rumour the last time i checked still great news the XBOX needs some good RPGs

@KratosMD hopefully because their first party games have been lacking of late if we are all honest about it

There was a leak about what MS were looking to bring to its exclusives and a return to Albion was mentioned. I hadn't realised it was confirmed. Playground were said to be increasing its staffing to work on other games - besides the Forza Horizon series but I didn't expect them to be handling Fable.

In that leak though, other games were hinted at - like a return of Ms Dark (as in Joanna Dark - from Perfect Dark) by an unknown studio with assistance from the Coalition - the studio set up for Gears of War. There was also a hint at a Mech game too - maybe a new MechAssault but could be the MechWarriors 5: Mercenaries by Pinhead Studios which I think MS owns the IP for too.

There were rumours that Crackdown 3 will have 4 player co-op campaign, Forza Horizon 4 will be set in Japan and some 'big' multiplayer Halo news - whether that's a reworking of warzone to a battle royale mode or a 'Destiny' style shared world game - after all it is one of Phil Spencers favourite games.

Until I saw the Eurogamer article, none of this was confirmed and could of been some Xbox fans hopes/wishes but with one of these now confirmed, it does make me think that some of the others could be true too.

Perfect Dark is a FPS - or at least has been, but if the Coalition are involved, I wonder if they are making a 3rd Person Perfect Dark? Something to rival Uncharted rather than put it in competition with CoD, BF (both), Halo and all the other big FPS games. Bring more stealth, espionage, gadgets etc. I guess it could also have the option to alternate between first and third - whether manually or switch depending on whether you are behind cover (3rd) or running and gunning (1st) for example.

If they are bringing Perfect Dark, Fable and Mechs back, at least they can't say Xbox is just Forza, Gears and Halo anymore...

Interesting interview with Playground games. It does focus more on Forza Horizon 3 and their experience with the new 'X' Dev Kit - such as how long it took to get up and running - 2hrs at standard Xbox settings, 4hrs with full 4k settings - and how much GPU overheads - 75% free at 1080p and 25% free at 4k. They also explain what decisions the made to utilise that 25% extra overhead on improving and that their decision to keep 30fps was a 'design' choice but NOT enforced by hardware limitations - in other words, they could of delivered a 60fps mode.

What was interesting though, especially with the news they are working on a new Fable game - as well as no doubt bringing Forza Horizon 4 to us - that their 'lead' console development is now focused on the X. The games are being built first and foremost for the X hardware and then deciding how best to port that down to the XB1S and OG platforms. Obviously if they are building their games to a native 4k - whether 30 or 60fps, it should port down to 900-1080p on the weaker consoles. However, that may mean that they have to drop below 1080p which may have been their previous goal when building for the base model(s). Things that may have impacted on hitting 1080p before but because of the higher performance of the X don't impact on hitting 4k, may be utilised rather than scrapped. What this means is that future Forza games (for example) that have consistently hit 1080p may not continue to be full HD in the future on these consoles.

Anyway, I found it interesting so thought I would share...

There is an announcement from Major Nelson and Phil Spencer that they are changing the game pass to include brand new titles, starting with Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3.
Does this make it more worthwhile to you?

@crippyd Not for me. I prefer to buy my games outright. In truth, those 3 are exactly high on my wanted list anyway. At most, Crackdown 3 is a potential purchase but even then I doubt a Day 1. I would rather save my money and pick it up cheaply later on in the year.

For those that are 'new' to Xbox or don't buy many games, Game Pass looks like a great option. The news that MS are now offering their 'new' exclusives via Game Pass should be appealing to anyone who was on the fence or new to the console. If you are new, chances are you have a very limited collection. Its excellent for those who were thinking of buying an Xbox but put off of the price and enough games to play on it. You could literally buy just the console and for £8 a month, have access to over a Hundred games straight away!

I much prefer Physical copies as well so even though Game Pass would allow me to buy the games I wanted to keep cheaper, I would still be more inclined to save that £8 a month and buy Physical copies - besides I also have a constantly increasing back-catalog of games I can play in those months where I am not buying 'new' games let alone adding more from Game Pass. Every month I get (up to) 4 new games from Gold and have nearly 100 'ready to install' that I haven't yet touched. I still have my 360 and OG Xbox games so if more of those come to BC, I have a lot of games that I could revisit. Like I said, Game Pass isn't really for meas long term Xbox gamer and long time Gold subscriber - but I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is new to Xbox, doesn't have the funds to buy many games, buys a lot digitally and/or looking to try numerous titles that they may not of otherwise bought. £8 isn't a lot per month and certainly improved by MS's decision.

It could 'backfire' too though as these titles may not get the 'sales' they deserve. You know some will quote sales figures as reasons the Xbox exclusives 'suck' for example...

@BAMozzy On the Game Pass I completely agree with you, it's not for me either as I have a massive backlog of games, 360 ones too, and the GwG so nearly every month I'm adding 4 more. Like you say, for those new to Xbox it is a no brainer. I just thought I'd share the update as it is a bold move by MS to include day of release games.
I'm not sure how this will affect their market place standing against Sony and as you say, it could reflect badly on them figures wise. I'm sure they know (as much as they can without a crystal ball) what they are doing going in to this avenue.

@crippyd Sales figures are generally not accurate anyway as more and more buy digitally. Game Pass incentivises people to buy digitally - all of which still benefits MS as they are the sole suppliers of Digital content on an Xbox so get profit from sales - as well as that guaranteed £8 a month too.

February's Games with Gold...

I will add all of them - at this rate we will soon have ALL the Assassin's Creed Chronicles games... Not that I would have bought them anyway. Never bothered with Shadow Warrior or Split Second so these will be added - just because. I loved Crazy Taxi back in the day (I am old) but didn't renew that interest on 360 so it will be a bit of a nostalgia trip for me with that game...

Well that's 4 new gaming experiences for me as I've never played any of them before.

not interested in Shadow Warrior, already have India and i can't download the 360 games as i have no payment card on my XBL (which is total bull**** by the way, why should i need a payment card on my account to download FREE content)

so nothing for me this month

@FullbringIchigo You shouldn't need a payment card. Admittedly I have mine set to Paypal but you should still not need any payment set up.Do you try and add them via the console?

@BAMozzy you don't if your downloading on a 360 but as ALL my 360s are dead i can't do that and i'm not buying another 4 is enough

but if you try doing it from the XB1 or the P.C it wont let you unless you have a payment card on your account, trust me i have tried MANY times, each month in fact just to see if it has changed and it hasn't

and i'm not putting my card on there, i never have on either XBL or PSN nor should i need too

@FullbringIchigo I totally agree. I have mine set to Paypal anyway - which maybe another option and maybe why I don't have any issues with the 360 games. Have you tried speaking to MS? Ask them why you can't download these and why is it asking for payment on 'free' games.

As I said, I don't have my card details on my account either although I have linked my Paypal - not that I have ever bought anything via Paypal - I buy Gold and Credit via CDKeys (or similar) so never needed to use payment cards etc.

Just done a search and Reddit seems to suggest that because the payment is 0.00 (£'s or $'s) its a 'payment' so if you have 'credit' - even less than $1, it should work.

Another option that someone suggests is:
You should be able to purchase it on your console.
Find the game by searching for the title or finding the Games for Gold tile and click on purchase.
When you get to the purchase screen select Change Payment Option and then select your Microsoft account as the payment option.
Purchase the game.
It will bill your Microsoft account $0 instead of attempting to bill a credit card.

It does state in the official FAQ though
You must have a payment option on your account to download free content from the Xbox 360 Marketplace. To add a payment option, sign in to your Microsoft account, select Add a payment option, and then follow the instructions. If you don’t want to add a payment option, you can download the content using your Xbox 360 console.

So maybe it will need you to set up some 'payment' option - even its just to bill your microsoft account rather than add a card. Another option is to get one of those pre-paid cards and use that. Even if only has a few $'s/£'s - its not as if you will actually end up paying anything, its not going to affect you from a 'security' issue and it will at least allow you to get the 360 games without needing a 360 console.

Anyone taking part in the Sea of Thieves closed beta? I've played the last 3 days and have had fun with it. I'm not sure how much content is being left out in the beta because it does feel a little light. Mainly pick a voyage, follow the maps, get the treasure, trade it in for coins, and repeat. Only a few times have I really come up against other crews to have any battles. Though once another crew got on our boat while we were on an island and escaped with our treasure that wasn't traded in. The worst part was a group of 3 locking me in the brig forcing me to leave the game because they had a 4th person they wanted to join instead.. I'm glad I'm getting a chance to try it out though because I really was unsure about this game.

Which returns to the Game Pass talk above. I don't really care about having Game Pass, but now I'm wondering if I should just subscribe for a month to play SoT at launch and then be done with it. I don't know if it'll have enough things to keep me playing beyond that.

@BAMozzy that's exactly the situation I'm in, I've just picked up the Xbox One X having not being part of the Xbox family since early in the 360 days. I didn't even think I'd be able to access my old account but as Windows has unified everything, my login details were identical to my laptop, however my digital collection amounted to little more than the original Doom and a few Mega drive games.

This meant that game pass was a bit of a god send and one of the factors in my purchase, for Just £8 (well it's free for a 2 week trial) I have access to a lot of games including Gears of War 4 to see what the new console can do and the old Fable games. How useful this will be over time as I build my own collection is yet to be seen but it's a fantastic starting point, especially when considering the cost of PS+/Gold, not to mention PS Now and the games available through them.

As for the console and as a Pro owner since launch, I have to admit this thing is on another level with Halo 5, Gears of War and Forza Horizon 3 all looking phenomenal, the OS seems to be far superior and of course it's topped off with a 4K blu ray player. I also picked up Fallout 4 (So I can play with mods) and Rare Replay for a bit of nostalgia, with Cuphead on my to buy list.

Right as I'm not that familiar with the Xbox catalogue does anyone have any recommendations regarding games? I'm guessing this isn't the place for JRPG's but any suggestions are welcome

@carlos82 Well Gold can cost ~£3 a month and is still needed with Game Pass if you want to get the most out of the console and games. Halo, Forza, Gears etc all have online components that require Game Pass. PSNow is not comparable at all in my opinion.

Checkout out this LIST OF XBOX ENHANCED GAMES as that will give you some idea of the games that will are or are confirmed to be enhanced. Apart from the multi-platform JRPG's like FFxv, I don't think Xbox has any of it's own. Black Desert Online, which is a MMORPG will come to Xbox first and Code Vein will be enhanced on X too. I would suggest looking through the list, maybe checking out youtube to get an idea of what the games are etc. You have a better idea of what games you enjoy than I do. If you have game pass, then you have no excuses not to download and try any of the offerings. I am sure a lot will be familiar to you as they are on both platforms - games like Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Halo Wars, Recore, State of Decay, Ori and the Blind Forest, Screamride etc worth looking up as they are exclusives that you may not have heard about - maybe some will appeal to you...

The X is certainly a beast and generally, where the devs have bothered, is on another level to the Pro. The Pro is generally offering around a 2x boost over the PS4 where as the X is delivering around a 2x boost over the Pro with 'extras' like better texture filtering for example. Its more suited to a 4k screen for sure. You get the best console versions of games like the Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider etc too which I would recommend playing - even if you played them before on the PS4 and especially if you have a 4k HDR TV!

Edit: You will need Xbox Gold if you intend to play Sea of Thieves - I believe its all online and will be needed for State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 if you want to play co-operatively too. A lot of the games are now coming out as cross-platform - meaning that you can play these games across platforms - play with PC friends.

If MS do buy EA as rumoured, I have no doubt that games like Anthem, Battlefield, Fifa etc will be cross-platform between PC and Xbox. I really do think it would make a lot of sense for MS to buy EA or Valve as both offer something MS lack, need and/or could greatly benefit from with their 'direction'. Like buying 'Mixer' to offer Twitch type streaming, buying Valve could help MS with 'steam' type format. EA obviously has studio's that MS could take advantage of, as well as use Frostbite to make Fable or Perfect Dark games. I don't see MS taking Fifa, Star Wars or BF away from Sony and would still publish games on PS4 - like they did with Minecraft - but they could still use BioWare, Dice etc to work on (or at least help with), their own franchises.

If MS did buy EA, its possible that PC/Xbox owners get some minor benefits - like 'early access' or Beta access - maybe even a cosmetic only bonus but I think the 'biggest' bonuses, certainly in the near future, would be Cross Platform gaming. I think MS would lose licenses - like Fifa or Star Wars if they were to make these 'exclusive' to MS platforms. It would also be foolish of MS to cut out that 'revenue' from Sony gamers.

It really does seem that MS are trying to merge the PC and Xbox gaming into one larger community. The Xbox basically becoming more of a gaming PC in a 'console' form - not that it ever wasn't - but more 'unified' than previous. They don't care if you buy a Surface Pro or HP, Acer etc equivalent - as long as it has Windows and you can buy apps from the MS store. Its getting like that with the Xbox - they don't care too much if you buy the Xbox or gaming PC as long as you buy software from the MS store. I bet hardware has very little profit - especially over a 3-4yr (maybe longer) period. Buying an Xbox may give MS a small profit (if any) but the software you buy gives them more. As long as you buy an MS product (PC with Windows or Xbox console) to play games on, they will be happy. People may say that making games for both PC and Xbox hurts the console but from MS's perspective, the loss of console sales and potential 'profit' from that is more than made up by the increased software sales from PC gamers. Those that say its better to have a PC and PS4/Switch for gaming are still playing into MS's hands - they are still buying into MS.