Comments 461

Re: Xbox Is Bringing Four Exclusives to PS5, But It Won't Say Which

BacklogBrad

@lacerz i have no idea where you were going with metacritic or how that ties into exclusivity on xbox. But your homework assignment is to buy all 4 of these xbox games and get your friends to buy them too. Then you have to spread the word on how much you love those xbox games. Otherwise, they will be the only 4 xbox games to come to playstation.

Re: Starfield, Indiana Jones Aren't Coming to PS5 Just Yet

BacklogBrad

If the plans didn't leak early (with false details). This announcement would not have garnered much attention. It's hilarious that it got to a point to where people live reacted to this podcast.

We wouldn't even be having the starfield/Indy discussion without the false rumors.

Re: Xbox Is Bringing Four Exclusives to PS5, But It Won't Say Which

BacklogBrad

Host - "What was the criteria for selecting those 4 games?"

Phil - "We looked at games that are over a year old. A couple of the games are community driven games [live service]. Two of the other games are smaller games that were never really meant to be built as platform exclusives but games that our teams really wanted to build and we want to support those creative endeavors."

This should tell us all we need to know about future titles. Live service and small passion projects after 1 year as xbox exclusive.

Re: Xbox Is Bringing Four Exclusives to PS5, But It Won't Say Which

BacklogBrad

This would have been a nothingburger if not for the gross overreaction to false rumors last week.

My guess is Hi Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded. Games that can live comfortably on other platforms and not harm the brand in the slightest.

This is not even new behavior from xbox. They have ported games like Ori and cuphead to other consoles. They have released minecraft legends, minecraft dungeons, quake 1 and 2 reremaster

Re: Pentiment Pegged for PS5 Amid Ongoing Xbox Strategy Shift Rumours

BacklogBrad

The pattern so far leans heavily towards small, well-received titles having 1+ year exclusivity window. Even more so when Ori and cuphead switch ports are included. We will see if there is a threshold for a size of game that is untouchable for PS. Hellblade 2 will be interesting to watch for over the next year or two. It's bigger than Hi Fi but still firmly in the smaller title category

Re: Xbox's Multiplatform Plans to Be Revealed on Thursday

BacklogBrad

@lacerz apparently this business update was a planned event but for next month. It's possible they just moved the whole thing up to address the discourse. I agree it's probably a non committal take on future projects.

If it is just the planned event intended for next month instead of solely a response to the out of control rumors then exclusivity tactics could be just a small part of whatever they have.

Re: Xbox's Multiplatform Plans to Be Revealed on Thursday

BacklogBrad

I doubt they announce what the future hardware devices are but it would be great if they at least allude to the handheld rumor being true.

There probably won't be the laundry list of multiplat games that people are expecting. It will most likely be the Hi Fi Rush confirmation and an idea of what kind of game qualifies as multiplat. Since they are adding Hi Fi Rush to a lengthy list of already multiplat titles (Ori, cuphead, minecraft legends/dungeons, quake 1&2 remaster) it will probably continue that pattern of the smaller titles.

Re: Xbox Has Allegedly Insisted It Won't Stop Making Consoles, As PS5 Port Rumours Mount

BacklogBrad

@jedinite certainly some exclusives will go to playstation. They wouldn't schedule a business update otherwise. The question is which games and how long of an exclusive window will they have on xbox.

Just a guess on my part but I'm thinking it's mostly going to be smaller games and at least a year delay.

The key thing is its not every game and there is still incentive to buy xbox hardware. The industry isn't going go be changing drastically like many assumed. Not sure why everyone went immediately to the assumption of full 3rd party, no more hardware, etc.

Re: Xbox Has Allegedly Insisted It Won't Stop Making Consoles, As PS5 Port Rumours Mount

BacklogBrad

@twitchtvpat it remains to be seen which games or how many. If I had to guess I would say more than half will remain exclusive to xbox/pc. If it's not going to be starfield, it puts the other "AAA" size titles in doubt. Guess we will find out next week but if the starfield rumor was false then they obviously won't be fully 3rd party.

My big takeaway from the recent rumor is if not starfield, why not? It puts the all Bethesda titles theory to bed and casts doubt on other big titles. Makes me wonder if it's only going to be AA, live service, remasters, etc.

Re: Xbox Has Allegedly Insisted It Won't Stop Making Consoles, As PS5 Port Rumours Mount

BacklogBrad

The rumor is 2026 with a higher power box in the vain of the Series X or PS5 and a lower powered handheld that can dock to a tv/monitor similar to the Switch. Basically, the same as now but the Series S will be switch-like device.

The Starfield rumor sounds pretty dead right now too. XboxEra walked it back to "it was being discussed" and Nate the Hate full on says it is not being ported.

Re: Microsoft's Recent Layoffs Contradict Activision Blizzard Buyout Pledges, Says FTC

BacklogBrad

@Weebleman best of luck to them in another unwinnable case. It won't be the public spectacle that their last lost was but it would be fun to watch them argue that Microsoft and ABK are not allowed to adapt to the industry constraints every company is facing.

Meanwhile they don't bat an eye at deals with national security concerns like US Steel being sold to foreign companies. But God forbid a videogame company bought a struggling videogame company in a deal that was already ruled to not disrupt the industry.

Re: Microsoft's Recent Layoffs Contradict Activision Blizzard Buyout Pledges, Says FTC

BacklogBrad

The FTC seem to be ignoring the thousands of other layoffs from nearly all publishers in the gaming industry. Every single one of those layoff cases falls right in line with the 8% of the workforce that microsoft laid off. The FTC continues to show they don't know anything about the industries they are trying to regulate.

What is the end goal here for the FTC? Unravel the deal and leave ABK in shambles as their leadership is gone and are in the midst of a major restructure? I'm sure that would be a positive in their eyes as they only care about hurting big companies. It would be horrible for the Industry and consumers but the FTC hasn't shown any concern for them yet.

Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About All of the Xbox Multiplatform Rumours?

BacklogBrad

I really doubt it is going to be all xbox games. It's very likely just a select few games.

As weird as it would be, I think the free to play halo infinite multiplayer would make the most sense. The game is driven by micro transactions and the Xbox community has largely moved on from it due to the slow content release at launch. I actually think it is the best FPS on the market right now. Getting a new audience checking it out and talking about it might give it the rejuvenation it needs.

Re: Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (PS5) - Rocksteady's Big Gamble Just About Pays Off

BacklogBrad

"Very positive (85%)" rating on Steam. Maybe it will survive the all out blitz the gaming media put on it pre release. That's a pretty good place to be at this point of a live service. Hopefully the content is there to keep it going.

IGN was pretty disgusting over their behavior. The article/social media posting saying the game was already discounted was a horrible display. They casually bury the fact that they referenced a single ebay listing as the "sale." They framed it, especially on social media, as a sign the game was dead on arrival but it was just one ebay code seller that probably got them by shady means.

Re: Rumour: A New PlayStation Handheld Console Reportedly in the Works

BacklogBrad

If it's not green lit for production yet it's kind of a non story. Their r&d department is always experimenting with stuff, most of which never makes it to market.

I'm curious of what the price point would be. It takes a hefty $600+ to get a capable handheld with decent storage and screen and those still have pretty poor battery life. Would this handheld have a dock like every other handheld or would we be expected to shell out for the home console too?

Re: Round Up: What Was Announced During Sony's State of Play Livestream for January 2024?

BacklogBrad

Why not even mention their upcoming 1st party game, mlb the show 24? It's a month and a half away and one of the only 1st party games coming this year. They seem to have disowned that title since it went multi platform.

Xbox and gamepass do more to market it than Sony does. If they don't attempt to market it more, it will be more associated with xbox than their own platform.

They tweeted the cover athlete and game announcement 1 day ago. I feel like they could have found 2-3 minutes to squeeze in the announcement of their own game.

Re: CD Projekt Red Dabbling in AI, Considering Multiplayer for Cyberpunk 2

BacklogBrad

@naruball nothing says progress like shouting they took our jobs at every new innovation. The same thing was said about computers and automated factories but do we really want to live in a world without those? Maybe AI makes a meaningful contribution to our lives, maybe it doesn't but we shouldn't be staunchly opposed to it simply because the current long, expensive dev cycle means a few extra jobs (despite recent layoffs). The market will adjust if needed, there will be opportunity for everyone in some capacity. If it is anything like the computing innovation more jobs will be created in its wake but in a different form than the manual jobs they replaced.

I really doubt that AI will ever get to a point where there is no room for artists, actors or other job title to find work. Did the milk delivery workers live on the street when that model collapsed or did they find another way to contribute? There were plenty of other delivery opportunities or the chance to go into a new skill.

Re: RPG Dev Piranha Bytes Struggling to Find a Publisher for Next Game

BacklogBrad

Not sure if taking to Twitter and making the desperate plea is the right choice here. Would you feel confident backing a game when they admit they have been showing their project to everyone willing to listen and gotten no interest? Not a good sign for the quality of the project.

Maybe gamepass will bail them out for the day 1 content.

Re: Anger as SAG-AFTRA Strikes Deal for AI Voice Acting in Video Games

BacklogBrad

@DeathlySW yeah they are a great idea but almost never implemented successfully. Seeing how much money they collect is upsetting too. I got to the point where I treat union jobs as a last resort.

I'm currently in the banking industry and being able to leave to the competition if I hear things are better somewhere else seems to be enough for them to make sure our pay, benefits etc are satisying. Probably a better system than if we were all in a union and all companies were agreeing on the same workplace policy.

Re: Rumour: Sea of Thieves Might Be One More Xbox Game Coming to PS5

BacklogBrad

I wouldn't get hopes up about a grand change in strategy. This is really just a continuation of them releasing AA games on other platforms like Ori or live service games Sea of thieves/minecraft.

Not really a shocking revelation if well received small titles like HI Fi Rush or Pentiment are ported around.

I wouldn't be shocked if Sony was thinking the same thing about their smaller games that do nothing for console sales. Twisted Metal, Returnal, sackboy, etc. Why not open them up to the 120 million switch users?

Re: There Are More People Playing PS5, PS4 Than Ever Before

BacklogBrad

@11001100110zero i do that from time to time where i go a month or two without touching my ps5. I play 3rd party stuff on other platforms so I'm mostly just playing the exclusives from ps4/5.

I did get to be a part of history in December but it was spent playing Forspoken so i wasn't exactly having the time of my life.