Kevw2006

@Ken_Kaniff I'm no fan of destiny or live service games but to say the genre is dying is a gross exaggeration. Just look at the monthly stats for the most played game on both PS and Xbox, the majority of games on both are live service.

@KundaliniRising333 I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make here. The announced price of the PS5 'Slim' was $499 and the price of the bundle including MW3 is also $499, therefore the if you buy the bundle you are indeed getting the game for free. I'm mean it's blatantly obvious that Sony will be absorbing the costs to cover including the game for free in some manner but that doesn't exclude the fact that for the consumer the game is indeed completely free.

@__jamiie I've had a love/hate relationship with CoD for a number of years now. I stopped playing MW2 a few months ago and won't be buying MW3 as I don't like the direction that particular iteration of CoD is heading. I have, however, reverted back to playing Black Ops Cold War as in my opinion it's the last good CoD game. I will probably buy any future releases that I like the look of, bit if CoD continues on its current design path then I'm done with it. Nothing at all to do with MS as to why I have issues with CoD.

@Zeke68 care to link to the quote where he said that as quite frankly it never happened.

@Sil_Am The inevitable review bombers will deal with that. Let the devs have their praise for releasing what sounds like a masterpiece.

17 hours in and no crashes or noticeable bugs so far. I would say it's been one of the smoothest performing games I've played in a long time.

@Lup FIFA/EA FC and CoD are more of the same every year and they sell bucket loads. At least there's been a few years between Spider-Man games. Not to mention that practically every sequel ever is effectively "more of the same".

When did a 20 hour story mode start getting considered short? I've played many games with shorter main stories than that. If every game had 100+ hours main stories we'd never get any finished.

@Sakai The point most people are trying to make is that although Microsoft's business model may not primarily be focused on console sales they will still very much care about console sales. You don't go to the effort of spending millions to develop "the world's most powerful console", alongside a cheaper entry level alternative and not care if no one buys it. It's not something that they will admit publicaly but internally I imagine these stats won't be going down well.

@Sakai Microsoft release games on PC because it makes sense for them to given that they own Windows and they still benefit from PC gamers one way or another. They aren't really moving beyond console gaming as such, they're just supporting another platform that they already own.

@OldGamer999 I'd say the one that was offering out exclusive features to the highest bidder. People are too quick to blame the company that buys the rights but they are only buying it because it was in offer. Don't forget that it was Xbox that had exclusive content for Call of Duty before PlayStation did, and that was back when it was actually meaningful content in getting maps early. The exclusive content PlayStation gets is useless trash aside from the early beta access.

@Sil_Am It's Oxenfree and Molehew's Mining Adventure so certainly not AAA at the moment.

@UltimateOtaku91 Netflix have a beta running for games on TV now so it looks like they are expanding. I can currently play two games via netflix on my TV. You still need to use your mobile as a controller though but it seems to work pretty well.

@Shad361 In your opinion

Sounds exactly what I was expecting, being a sequel I wasn't expecting any groundbreaking gameplay changes as that rarely ever happens. It sounds like what they have added works well though. My biggest concern has always been around the setting largely being the same but it sounds like they have done a lot of work to try and make it feel fresh so hopefully it doesn't feel too familiar.

If what is revealed in the trailer is deemed minor enough spoilers to put in a pre-launch trailer then I'm hyped to see what's in there that they don't want revealed.

@HonestHick PS Now actually pre-dated game pass so Sony was technically first on the subscription service, although MS did massively expand and improve on it.

@MasterPlayerOne Well I guess they'll need to make up for the money they will haemorrhage by putting Call of Duty on game pass day one somehow.

@MasterPlayerOne Okay and if it was the other way around and it was Sony that were making a move to buy ABK do really think that Phil Spencer and Microsoft would have sat on their hands and allowed it to happen? I would have expected them to do everything in their power to stop or delay it from happening.

@MasterPlayerOne Just a little bit of perspective here, Uncharted, Horizon and The Last of Us are all games that release one every few years with very little in the way of microtransactions. Whereas Call of Duty releases a new game every year and is riddled with Microtransactions so it's no surprise it's bringing in more money for them. It's got to be right up there as one of the biggest money makers for Xbox over the years to compared to their first party output.

@Beerheadgamer82 Spot on, we all have our own opinions on these deals and some think they are good for gaming and some are worried that they will not be and MS will make games exclusive. Both opinions are just as valid as each other as until it has all settled down and games start being released no one knows for sure what their plans are for the future.

@Beerheadgamer82 I don't have a problem with people being in favour of these large scale acquisitions by Microsoft but I would have a lot more respect for their opinion if they at least acknowledged that there is a massive difference in MS buying Zenimax and ABK and Sony buying someone like Insomniac.

@HonestHick It's hard to take any sort of pleasure from him leaving given the obscenely large payoff he will be receiving.

@Lyedecker My guess is it will be on those games that have already been released which will continue to be supported, much like is the case with Bethesda and Fallout 76 and ESO.

@OldGamer999 They're also just releasing a new model PS5 that allows the digital version to be "upgraded" with a disk drive if the consumer wants, hardly the actions of a company that wants an all digital future.

@cburg As consumers our main method of protesting practices we don't like are to vote with their wallets. If I don't want to give company X any of my money and they go and buy company Y, therefore meaning company Y no longer gets any of my money, that isn't my fault.

@KundaliniRising333 If you bought the digital version in the first place then chances are you are probably happy enough with that and not likely to ever buy the attachable disk drive. Although if for whatever reason circumstances change and you decide you do want/need a disk drive after all is it not better that you're able to just buy the drive to attach to your console rather than have to buy a while new console (and this give even more money to Sony)? I mean it's not like they are releasing a new model where digital is the ONLY option, there are literally the same options as before with the addition of more choice. Not disputing the complaints about the vertical stand.

@Pranwell Yes, that's true. The point I was referring to though is that they are still referring to the version that includes the disk drive attached as "PlayStation 5" and haven't reverted to the digital version being PlayStation 5 with the disk version being something like "PlayStation 5 Premium" or some other variation. Ultimately this new version doesn't really change much, you can still buy two different models, one with a disk drive and one without. The only difference is a disk drive can now be bought separately and attached.

@Rob_230 The base version still comes with the disk drive. There are still two models, the "normal" PlayStation 5, with the disk drive, and the PlayStation 5 digital. The only difference now is you can buy a disk drive to attach to the digital version if you want to at some point.

@UltimateOtaku91 It says in the link they posted to make sure and claim the perk by the 20th October 2023 so technically isn't up yet but it is pretty close to it.

@MagisterMagi Can you quote the particular part from the link you provided that states that them having a deal with GP means they can't do a deal with any other service, or add it to their own service, please.

@Netret0120 I think the problem is that at some point it evolved from a simple multiplayer addition similar to the original factions - which is all anyone wanted - into a full blown standalone release complete with a storyline. Imagine Destiny in a TLOU coat.

@Nepp67 In fairness they haven't been able to make a decent map in years so old maps are actually welcome.

@Beerheadgamer82 Good question and it's something I've wondered about for quite a while with quite a few third party games launching into game pass on release. I assume if the game leaves the service you would still lose access to it unless you buy the base game. Hopefully we get some clarity on this before it releases.

A nice surprise, hopefully this is some of the "benefits" we will be starting to see from the recent price increase as smaller day one releases seem to be becoming a more frequent thing.

@Fiendish-Beaver PS Now existed before game pass in some capacity. You could argue that game pass may have forced Sony to improve on PS Now until we ended up with Plus Extra and Premium but you could also argue that game pass might not have existed without PS Now. Your other statements are also pure speculation. We don't know what Sony would do without any competition, yes the temptation would be there for them to raise prices but you couldn't say that they definitely would do that. You could say the exact same arguments about what MS or Nintendo would do if they didn't have any competition. It's not that long ago that MS tried to hike up the price of Gold and were forced to swiftly reverse that policy after a massive backlash. Like you said, none of these companies are here to be our friend and they only care about getting as much of our money as they can, but that also includes MS.

@Th3solution You may be on to something there, he could be planning on using CoD as a means to force Sony to allow game pass on PlayStation.

@K1LLEGAL In the unlikely event that Sunset Overdrive 2 ever actually happened if it was a direct sequel that continued the story from the original then I'd like to see an Xbox release. However, if it is a completely new story with different characters and setting then it can be exclusive and Xbox gamers can't complain about it as it would just be following the same logic as Fallout and The Elder Scroll where although releases are numbered the games are classed as separate games and earlier games being released on other consoles does not mean that future releases should have to.

Fair play to them if they feel the are being low balled and their games being undervalued. They will know how much they've made from sales of previous games and whether it is worth taking the undervalued money up front from Sony or Microsoft or not. It's probably worth also noting that there are far more games that don't get released on Plus/game pass than do and the majority of them seem to do just fine.

@PixelDragon I've been saying this for ages, they need to provide more meaningful data if engagement is their metric. 10 million players downloaded the game and loaded it up. Other than that we have no meaningful data on how long people actually played it for.

I'm sure it's great and all but the stick positioning makes it a big nope from me. Although an option for people that do prefer that layout can only be a good thing.

@thefourfoldroot1 I suspect that's what the part about their still being concerns that certain provisions could be circumvented relates to and it sounds like that's something they have already addressed.

Call of Duty has been getting progressively worse every year and at this moment MW2 is an abomination. I'm actually begging to hope that MS can put them back on track and return it to its former glory. If not then no big loss, I've deleted MW2 off my PS5 and won't be buying any more until it improves.

@RedShirtRod Something you aren't taking into account is how much are Microsoft paying EA to subsidise EA play, and other perks being available on game pass, you also need to take into account development costs for first party games that will have lower traditional sales by Microsoft's own admission.

@thefourfoldroot1 I'd say that it's almost certainly why Sony said that day one releases on Plus aren't viable for them. Most games on plus are over a year old so will likely be much cheaper to add.

@Tecinthebrain remember when Microsoft tried to double the price of Gold and only backtracked when they got a massive backlash. They'd be exactly the same if they were the only player in the game.

Ironically if anyone is putting themselves in a position where their future exists off their own hardware, it's Xbox. Nintendo are doing just fine the way they are.

Literally the worst kept secret in gaming, I don't know why they don't just come out and announce it publicaly so people can move on.

@LifeGirl I'm not happy with the increase but even with the increase, here in the UK it works out at £10 a month for Premium. I'm £15.99 a month just for Netflix on its own so I'm curious where you're getting all other major streaming services for less than £10 per month combined.

@BacklogBrad Oh I have tried it before and I used it a few times on my Vita to stream my PS4 and found it a great feature, I definitely prefer it when it's all contained on one device and not a device with a separate controller connected.