"For the consumer, Xbox Game Pass is fantastic.   For retail, it just kills us outright"​

This is an interesting take on the announcement of the XGP.  I can't see many stores dropping Xbox altogether though.  Bigger chains like GameMania over here can't afford to drop them, as they've positionned themselves on the rather hardcore side of the spectrum, selling everything game related up to merchandising.  They can't keep up their corporate image while not supporting Xbox.  What I can see happening is their shelf space dwindling to WiiU like shelves of shame.

There is one toy chain however that has already dropped Xbox altogether somewhere early last year, so I could be proven wrong.

I read on GAF, years ago that EAs licence with Fifa means they have to release at least 1 game in the franchise on every platform. Hence, Fifa Switch I guess.

So I was playing Skyrim in bed last night.

Again, I hadn't really encountered the bug laden Bethesda games I heard others talk about, but I got another one last night. I went into this wolf cave where these religious group were trying to resurrect this wolf god? I can to a gap in the environment and it was the only way forward. I tried jumping over it, that didn't work. I tried using my shout to shoot me across the gap. That didn't work. I tried sprinting and jumping, you cannot jump while sprinting. No luck.

I died and died and died again. Fed up, tried to fast travel out of the cave, couldn't do that as the game wouldn't allow it. I walked back towards the cave entrance, which involved a small loading sequence. Then I thought I would go back to the other chamber and try a final time to cross that gap. After the game reloaded that section again I walked up to the gap and where the gap was, there was now a staircase.

So the game forgot to load the staircase the first time and reloading the section fixed that.

NICE.

I don't think Microsoft should be buying huge companies like EA either. But as I said I could definitely see it benefitting the smaller studios. Buying a company like EA seems like the typical american desperation move....like oh shit we're fucked what do we do, oh I know let's buy up the biggest company out there! Go big or go home!

I'd like it if they offered EA money for Bioware...something like that. Before Bioware is dead. If anything, Microsoft should be going for small studios and building them up.

It all seems kind of pathetic to me though, to be honest. MS has been in the game 18 years now. They started out with all these great studios Like Bungie, Fasa, Rare, Lionhead, etc. And had tons of great exclusives. Now, Bungie is gone....replaced by a studio who just doesn't have the same magic. Rare and their huge stable of franchises produce hardly anything...and they seem to have to hand Rare's franchises to outside developers if they want to get anything out of them. Lionhead and all the other studios were closed down. Now, in 2018, they have hardly any must have exclusives compared to the original Xbox back in the day. Nintendo still has all their exclusives. Sony still has tons of exclusives. But it seems like MS's strategy lately is "build the most powerful console and rely on paid for timed exclusive third party games".

That means, at the end of the day, the console will be useless. Nothing major to call its own. I just don't get why a company as big as MS didn't go the Sony route of building up a bunch of internal studios over time and developing a stable of original, killer exclusive franchises. Seems to me like they've done the opposite of that, and are now in scramble mode realizing they fucked up.

gamingeek said:

How were the graphics offputting? As they made a lot of changes based on the feedback from that demo, regarding the visuals, filters and improving visibility.

I just didn't like the 2D sprite artstyle.  No amount of tinkering to filters is going to change that.  I don't mind 16-bit sprites, if that's the style you're going for.  Here though, with effects and movement being clearly above 6-bit level, it just grates.  

SupremeAC said:

I just didn't like the 2D sprite artstyle.  No amount of tinkering to filters is going to change that.  I don't mind 16-bit sprites, if that's the style you're going for.  Here though, with effects and movement being clearly above 6-bit level, it just grates.  

Just played through the Not A Hero RE7 expansion with Chris.

Definitely a nice expansion mission, and it ties into the main game great and connects it all to the RE lore. Very nice. The only thing I didn't like was how they changed the look of Chris. I wasn't a fan of Roid Redfield, but the og REmake look was dead on. This version of Chris seems like they were going for the same vibe that they did with Claire in Revelations 2...the midwestern millenial nerd look. He sounds like he has the same voice actor as RE5 and RE6 though. That guy does a good job.

Sweet weapons too. At one point I found some steroids that you use in RE7 to expand your health. I couldn't help but think how hilarious it would be if they had a cutscene where Chris takes the roids and becomes Roid Redfield again.

I’m sceptical to Microsoft actually buying EA but if they do the meltdowns on the Internet will be absolutely INSANE.

this image from the EG article about Switch outselling WiiU made me chuckle:

Same here!