The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S thread

New Xbox console? Not a whole lot to go on but I'm not really sure what to think of this, they absolutely shit the bed this gen, and I'm hearing the new woman in charge is big on AI, guess I'm just surprised it's a thing at all

They’ve more or less confirmed now that it’ll be an Xbox/PC hybrid, which is what everyone was expecting anyway.

I’m not sure they’ve been as terrible this gen as everyone has made out. The hardware is great, cloud streaming is solid, 99% of games get released on it and I still think Game Pass has been brilliant. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out this gen at all by going Xbox, all I see from Sony are sequels and remakes these days anyway.

I'm glad I got a Series X at launch—the back compatibility with my 360 library, plus options for stuff I missed on Xbone—but I'd struggle to recommend buying one at this stage of the generation, and I don't even have (or particularly want, for the same reasons Gar mentioned above) a PS5.

And while GamePass has been great from a consumer perspective (though I'm not quite willing to compare the cost of stuff I actually played vs. the total subscription cost), there's not much doubt in my mind that it's been a financial black hole for MS, and I'd be surprised to see it continue, in its current form at least, into the next generation.

I’m sure that’s the case. In the entire time I’ve had a One X/Series X I’ve paid literally one pound for Game Pass which was the introductory offer in (I think) 2018. Everything since has been funded entirely by Microsoft’s own Rewards system, which was for a while insanely generous and is still now pretty good. That’s a hell of a lot of gaming for effectively zero outlay, it’s no wonder I’m well disposed towards the system.

I did consider going XBOX again earlier this gen, but I still can’t get access to my old account, irritatingly. It is now (horrifyingly) almost two decades since I had an XBOX, so I don’t expect to be able to resolve that anytime soon either.

I’ve now happily settled into the Sony and Nintendo ecosystems, and adore both my PS5 and Switch 2, so I’m happy enough without. Also, while I appreciate that none of these companies are exactly saintly, I’m unwilling to give Microsoft any money at all at the moment, given their role in current events, so for the time being I remain unmoved.

I have looked at getting a second unit to have in my cellar/gaming space. But they are just so stupidly expensive. The Digital PS5 is currently up on a few ebay sites refurbished for about £280. And you can then add a cd drive to that.

The cheapest Series X I can find is also refurbished and is £380 and is the locked off non disc version. New you can't get one for less than £479.99 it seems.

It has been a very weird generation. The first few years were dominated by cross-generation games to the extent that plenty of people never bothered to upgrade at all, and now, five years in, things are getting more expensive rather than less. I'm not sure how much appetite there is long-term for £70 games on £700 consoles, or subscriptions at over £20 per month, but that's the way we are going.

Given the backlog of retro titles I own I would cancel my GamePass if it wasn't so used by my kid. If it gets any more expensive next year I will be giving it serious consideration for cancelling.

I have looked at getting a second unit to have in my cellar/gaming space. But they are just so stupidly expensive. The Digital PS5 is currently up on a few ebay sites refurbished for about £280. And you can then add a cd drive to that.

The cheapest Series X I can find is also refurbished and is £380 and is the locked off non disc version. New you can't get one for less than £479.99 it seems.

This aged spectacularly badly then didnt it. Considering a PS5 has since become a billion pounds.

That was a decent State of Play but the things that excited me most were the Dinosaur game and Gitaroo Man coming to PS Plus, the Dinosaur game looks like we're fucking finally getting Dinosaurs in a survival horror again but with an emphasis on being scared? Like Jurassic Park 1 kitchen scene shit. And Gitaroo Man speaks for itself.

Not really interested in any new God of War stuff, I'm sure the new game will be good but man, it really is cut from the same template as the main GoW series, not only is the combat and over the shoulder camera similar, the Sony stuff with the dialog and the 'gameplay' were almost identical too

I've never been at all interested in the God of War series (the original games or the remakes) but I loved the art design of that Laufey trailer—plus it looked really fun and the combat physicality was great. Especially coming after the weightless gore-fest of Wolverine (is it just me, or was there a lot of blood and guts in this showcase?), the more openly fantastical stuff in this really grabbed me.

Also I will die for Phranque the Cube.

Kemuri looks like a banger, too, though I'm not totally sold on the gameplay (and three-player co-op) based on what they showed. Hard to tell how it'll work in the hands. Ikumi Nakamura's bit after the trailer was delightful, though.

Wolverine looked like the type of game where I'd want to play on a higher difficulty, because even I get bored of chopping people up in video games if it's going to look quite repetitive like that, he kind of just sliced and dived his way through everything, I didn't get Spider-Man and I don't think I'll get that to be honest.

I will say, Faye (Is Laufey her actual name) looked like a real badass, I like that she explicitly chose to follow through on her threat (He realllly cracked her jaw man, holy shit) and she looks way more interesting in combat than Kratos did, I still think they could have not stuck to the OTS with this one, but whatever this game isn't aimed at me I guess

Also, is the Tomb Raider game the 3rd remake of TR1 now or the 4th? I still think it looked good

Tomb Raider looked fine, though the design on Lara was pretty fuckin' embarrassing. Like one of those incel re-renders that get posted on not-Twitter anytime a videogame has a female lead character who looks like a real normal woman.

This made me glad I never bought a Pro. There were some pretty games there, for sure, but nothing that really caught my fancy. Laufey aside, that'll be wonderful I'm sure.

Also, could Rayman Legends be the first ever remake of a game that looks worse than the game it's remaking? The new 3D stuff looks nice enough, but the original is beautiful.