Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

@KratosMD I remember that from the 360 days, you'd get used to the UI and then it would change completely. Not always for the better.

I actually quite like the UI now but also hated it at first. I still think the PS4's is better and more simple to use though.

@Tasuki yeah they seem to have somehow made it worse than it was

people might give the PS4 UI grief for being too simple but i will take simple over messy any day

The Xbox UI isn't as simplistic as the PS4's and as such, not as intuitive but its a LOT better than the UI at launch. It is quite easy once you get used to it - the 'start' page as your recent games and you can customise whatever you want to have below that page - have you pins, have your favourite game(s) and their home page, have your friends home page... That will obviously be different for all. Friends, messages, achievements, main settings etc are all on the sidebar and you can set up achievement tracking, see which you are closer to getting etc.

Its worth watching the Xbox update video's as that will give you a lot of help to see where everything is, how its designed to be used and customisable to you. Finding the right one for the basics that this layout introduced though might be a bit tricky as they have had a LOT of updates...

For me, Xbox One UI is much better than PlayStation UI, especially settings and quick menu. I despise playstation UI as it's completely bloated and unintuitive. But to each their own, I guess.

Well I was half right but on the most predictable aspect. I knew about the formation of a new studio but didn't expect them to announce 4 more they bought. Playground may as well have been under MS anyway but at one point they were expanding and open to developing multi-platform games. Whilst we didn't get the announcement of Fable, Phil alluded to an open world game currently in development at Playground which has been rumoured to be Fable.

MS also seem to be more prepared to show some 'longer' term plans than last year. Gears is unlikely to arrive before the next E3 and Halo looks even further away - but at least its a new engine and really does look like 343 has gone back to the roots of the game - giving us Master Chief in a big and very open (if it isn't 'open world') game. Certainly had similarities to the original Combat Evolved trailer.

Forza Horizon 4 looked great and whilst it was no surprise to see it, it was a surprise to see it set in the UK - especially after all the leaks about Japan. Japan may have been a good idea too if tey are trying to break into Japan more - after all they have shown quite a few very Japanese games in recent years - Code Vein, Black Desert, Dragonball Z fighting game, Sekiro, Jump Force, DMC etc.

To me the conference was very assured, very confident, professional and optimistic too. You didn't feel that they were on the back foot or 'apologetic'. Even if a lot of the games will be playable by Sony gamers too, they still seemed confident that they had the 'best' games and offering the 'best' console to play all of those and committed to the future too - not just in words but in action.

Some may have noticed that Phil mentioned Consoles in the plural which some have taken to mean that their next may well come in 2 flavours - 1 of which being a 'streaming' box. It could be that is the case but it could also mean that they are looking further ahead and that they expect to be in business of building 'consoles' for a long time. Personally if they do offer a 'digital only' box as well as a 'full' console - I am buying Full. They also stated that they were looking at using the cloud for 'console' quality games streaming on any device - maybe a mobile/tablet streaming Xbox to take on Switch??

This is their keynote speech at the end of their conference which you have to say was a big statement!

So this might be a stupid question but I have tried to figure it out on my own.

I bought Rare Replay on disc last night I put the disc in the system and well I can't find where to launch the game from.

I looked under Games and the only game listed is Killer Instinct (which I downloaded) but I don't see Rare Replay anywhere. Am I missing something?

@Tasuki on the homepage, it'll be in the middle of the screen, there should be a disc icon and you can install from there.

Although with Rare Replay it's a pain because it installs each of the games invididually and you can't just pick which ones you want. Obviously you can pick after and you can stop them all from queuing but I found it a bit annoying

@roe Ah ok and appearently it wasn't reading the disc, that was the problem. Just needed a good cleaning and after I did that it popped up under games.

Time now to get my butt kicked in Battletoads.

Started playing Jade Empire on the Xbox One and it looks really good. Makes me wish they would make a sequel to it

@Tasuki There are a LOT of games that I wish they made a sequel of - Jade Empire is certainly one of them...

@Tasuki I bought the disc off eBay when I saw it come up on back compat. Then I saw that the download was cheaper. Darn it!

In Ninja Theory's own words on why they accepted MS's deal...

Its interesting to hear how they funded the 10m it cost to make Hellblade and why they only had a staff of 15-20 working on the game. The fact they had to undertake 3rd party contract work to fund this meant that over 80% of their staff team were engaged in these so that they could fund this game does go some way to explain why the promises that MS gave them would be enticing. It was good to hear though that they were promised creative freedom with the support of the MS infrastructure to create the games they want which bodes well for those of us with access to MS Platforms. At least it seems they won't be given an existing MS IP and told which games to make. Also seems they will be keeping their IP's too regardless of what happens.

@BAMozzy so simply put MS offered them the money and infrastructure they need to make their games

sounds like they made the best choice for them and that fine by me

@FullbringIchigo I agree! If you watch the video, it seems like the deal was the best thing for Ninja Theory and it certainly benefits MS too. It does annoy me though that I see a LOT of comments that seem to suggest NT were more associated with PS - but their first game was exclusive to MS and the only reason Hellblade released on Sony's platform was because of the number of gamers on that system compared to Xbox. The game was totally self funded AND, if you listen, that 10m budget also included publicity too.

I am not saying that its not disappointing for fans of NT and on PS only but to say that Hellblade was part funded and successful because of Sony first is a BIG error.

Whether they remained totally independent or not doesn't affect me anyway as I could always play their games anyway. I do think though that its 'great' for MS to have some 'competitive' studio's in their stable. I can't say that the two studio's (Undead Labs - State of Decay and Compulsion Games - We Happy Few) are particularly exciting - neither have a long history of quality games. It will be interesting to see if they expand or stick to those small, indie type, games. Playground Games is a biggie - although again its not that 'exciting' as they have only made Xbox games anyway. We did hear though that they were expanding and looking at making other games and looking at releasing on other platforms too so its perhaps a bigger coup than it feels. In a lot of ways though its like Sucker-Punch signing for Sony after only making Sony games for years and for a lot of people, thy already thought Playground were signed to MS. One of the most interesting though I think is the Initiative - the new studio that was created with the ex-Crystal Dynamics Studio Head. This is obviously a completely new studio with no track record to speak of but Darrell has worked at Rockstar as a Lead Artist as well as Director of Art on Tomb Raider games from 2006-2008 before becoming the Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics for Tomb Raider (2013) as well as the trilogy and Guardian of Light games that also released. After that, he became Head of Product Development and Studio for Square Enix with games like Hitman, Just Cause 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider etc on his CV. He also spent time at Activision recently as Senior VP, Head of Development with the CoD 2016/17 releases, Destiny 2 and Crash Bandicoot games so he himself has a long history in gaming with some of the biggest franchises too.

Its expected/rumoured that Playground Games are working on Fable as their 'open-world' title that MS alluded to at E3. I hope though that it was their choice to make it rather than being asked or even worse, told to make it. I hope that they had the freedom to pick existing franchises OR create a new IP and they opted to make a new Fable because it inspired them and had some great ideas for taking it forward. As much as I like some of the franchises that MS own, I think it could backfire by making a game in one of these. Even if they wanted to do it, not told or asked to do it, you know some will think MS pushed them into it and we know how difficult it will be for them to appease the fans, innovate yet keep it the same etc and keep bringing up 343, the Coalition or Rare as examples too. At least if they start with a new IP, there isn't the weight of expectation. I enjoyed Gears 4 - ok its not the 'best' in the franchise in some ways and a lot think they played it too safe - but if they hadn't, then you know a LOT would be saying its not Gears any more - like they say about Halo - although 343 do look to be taking inspiration from Combat Evolved, the impact that had and vibe of the first - going back to the roots now...

Anyway, point is, I think they ought to be looking at making their 'own' new IP's - at least first.

Sensible World of Soccer has a HD remaster on Xbox?! Gotta say, I'm pretty jel.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-06-26-sensible-world-...

So after being disappointed by The Crew 2, I was thinking of picking up Forza 3 for my racing fix. I am wondering though to my understanding the Horizon series is more of an arcade racer then a sim? And would it matter if I buy it now or should I just wait for Forza Horizon 4??

@Tasuki Horizon is more an arcade racer and 3 is the best of them so far. If you want a sim go for Forza 7. I would think that Horizon 4 will refine the game play further but it depends on how much you want to spend on the game, as obviously 3 has been out a long time so will be much cheaper, and how soon you want to play.

@Tasuki The Horizon games are pretty much more open world games that you just happen to be in a car all the time. Arcade racing is perhaps a bit off too as they have the Forza sim and customisation built in but then again, you wouldn't get away with driving a lot of these cars through fields etc. Of course 'racing' forms a part of the overall experience, but then you also have things like jumping, drifting, exploring etc too. There are 'set' races and some special events that pit you against Aeroplanes, boats etc and you can challenge 'drivatars' anytime in a point to point race too. There are 'barn finds' which are barns with 'historic' cars in that you can find - a bit like collectibles that become available as you progress,

The 'story' is that you are trying to build up a 'festival' (the Horizon festival) around 'cars' and the more you 'win', the more 'fans' you attract and the bigger the festival becomes which opens up more events and sites too. Its not fixed - in that you have to do all the events to open up the next set or site or have to do them in order. In some ways its a bit like Burnout Paradise but without the smashes and the burnout boosts. You are not limited to staying on Roads either so if you want to drive a Ferrari off-road and use these to make a massive jump, that's up to you - so in that respect its not 'realistic'.

Personally I prefer the Horizon series to the Motorsport series as I get bored of just driving round tracks that seem to end up looking very similar, the only goal being to beat the other drivers to the finish line. I know Horizon has 'races' but you can also spend time just driving around and having 'fun'.

3 is certainly a great game - probably the best in the series so far. 4 is always online so the open world will be occupied by 'real' drivers - not Drivatars which are AI based on your friends driving. It will have seasons that change weekly so the world will change too rather than be 'static' like it is in 3. I expect that it will be 'better' but whether its radically better or not, I don't know. I don't expect too much will have changed in the concept and what you can do.

@crippyd @BAMozzy Thanks for the replies guys. Think I will look into it as it does sound more up my alley then Motorsport. @BAMozzy I agree with ya as I too get bored just going around a race track over and over.