The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S thread

I get that with no gameplay, but it's a new IP from the people who did Skyrim and Fallout. I can't help it haha.

I'm more excited for the new Elder Scrolls game we're going to keep seeing for the next two decades, always wanted to go back to Skyrim but just never had the time despite having every oppportunity.

Struggling to think of a game I care less about than Starfield.

a new IP from the people who did Skyrim and Fallout

That is more a damning indictment than a reason for enthusiasm, in my books.

I have never enjoyed an Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim is a shallow experience that infected the consciousness of millions of people for no reason I've ever been able to determine; it's visually drab, has terrible voice acting, and nothing you do in the entire game, apart from the Imperials/Stormcloaks choice, materially affects anything in the wider world. I hate it.

Fallout 3 I got bored of. The retro-futuristic apocalypse styling does nothing for me, but I could maybe get past that if it didn't have the same wide-but-shallow issues that all Bethesda's other big, sprawling RPGs have. I never bothered with 4.

I don't care about Starfield

Fixed it for you.

(This is how I feel, but then I can't think of many Bethesda games I like or have an interest in)

Struggling to think of a game I care less about than Starfield.

a new IP from the people who did Skyrim and Fallout

That is more a damning indictment than a reason for enthusiasm, in my books.

I have never enjoyed an Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim is a shallow experience that infected the consciousness of millions of people for no reason I've ever been able to determine; it's visually drab, has terrible voice acting, and nothing you do in the entire game, apart from the Imperials/Stormcloaks choice, materially affects anything in the wider world. I hate it.

Fallout 3 I got bored of. The retro-futuristic apocalypse styling does nothing for me, but I could maybe get past that if it didn't have the same wide-but-shallow issues that all Bethesda's other big, sprawling RPGs have. I never bothered with 4.

YES. Thank you for saving me a shedload of typing, I can just go 'This!' and be done with it.

I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed haha 😂 I get it though. If you're not into them games I don't think this will change your minds. I love fallout, I'll even say some of the greatest games going. So that's why I'm so hyped. Hoping for a Fallout style game in space. Pretty much the same reason for Avowed too. Fallout Vegas may even be the best one of them all, and Outer worlds didn't disappoint.

I am excited to finally get to Outer Worlds and I did really love New Vegas, I just need a crumb of something to see how Starfield is going to play and look like because it's hard picturing what direction they're going in.

That's true. I have high hopes, but I am worried it's gonna play more like No Man Sky for some reason. 😅

Are you planning on playing outer worlds? It's a 9/10 for me. It's plays like Fallout with Mess Effect levels of team mate's during combat. Also, having the game in different hubs over one big open world works well I thought. It's not as long as other western RPG's too. If that helps.

It's on my enormous backlog, yes. I am going to take a wild guess and say Starfield will be quite a bit different to it though, doubt you'll get similar experiences from either.

Need 300ish Microsoft points to buy Sonic Generations, but the Forza 500 punch card on the Xbox app isn't working. Is anyone else having this issue?

Which one’s that? I’ve done all the ones on offer to me this month without issues, though it’s often really glitchy in general anyway.

That app is so hit and miss. The 'buy this game' rewards generally run well beyond release, but only seem to work if you pre-order - after launch, the store blocks you because pre-orders don't work any more. If you're entitled to points and it's not working, capture some pics and message the customer support through the Rewards website… they're good at giving you stuff if you can prove it's broken.

They really are. I had a issue with the daily "play game pass game" that would of stoped my monthly 1000 points quest, but they fix it pretty fast and gave me back my points.

@Garwoofoo it's on the app now. It's Forza 5 with 4 boxes to tick off. Pretty much just have to get an achievement for the game, but it's not working at the moment.

OK, haven’t seen that one yet. The Top Ten cards where you have to get an achievement in specific games often fail to register too, so I’d just give it a while. The Microsoft Rewards subreddit is pretty good at tracking what’s broken and what’s fixed.

Yeah, just checked it now. Seems a few people having the same issue. I'm sure it'll get a fix soon. Just hoping it's tonight so I get Sonic haha. Won't be playing anything until Monday after tonight with work and stuff. If it's not fix, it's not the end of the world really.

Which app are we talking about - the one on Xbox with the medal icon or the phone one? I've never understood why they keep two totally separate sets of rewards, but there you go… and that's before you factor in the Bing stuff as well.

I am so glad I have totally ignored all that incidental crap.

I am so glad I have totally ignored all that incidental crap.

You say that, but it's basically free money. I press a few buttons on my phone in the morning and earn 30p's worth of points. I boot up a game through cloud (so there's not even any install time) and get 50p. It mounts up pretty quickly, I've got money off multiple games for doing practically nothing every day.

My friend does this, and it’s basically turned into a job. A very, very low paying job. It’s only a few minutes per day, but they’re boring, rote tasks he wouldn’t be doing otherwise.

The Microsoft rewards system is insanely underrated. You can get just over two full price £60 titles per year on release, sometimes you get 6,000 points back when buying them (£5ish) . I know some people who get GPU with it and have a bit of change after that. I mostly get £15 games ever month with them now. It depends what's on the app for points, but even then you'll have enough a week or so later. I think the two separate apps is to make people who have a Xbox have more value maybe? I have no idea to be honest.

My friend does this, and it’s basically turned into a job. A very, very low paying job. It’s only a few minutes per day, but they’re boring, rote tasks he wouldn’t be doing otherwise.

I can see that, and agree it's not fun. But if he's overdoing it, that's on him. The time I invest versus the reward makes it worth it for me.

There are actually three different apps to earn rewards for, each doing different things:

Game Pass (on mobile, but also accessible on the Xbox through your profile in the top left of the dashboard) - This is the 'Play this, get points' method, and you can amass points pretty quickly depending on the missions. Ones that allow me to just boot up a game through cloud and immediately quit, I'll do - I generally ignore the ones that require time and effort in games I have no interest in though.

Microsoft Rewards (on the Xbox) - Offers one main set of three tasks each week that, when completed as a set, give you points and a streak. Big bonus of £2.50 every so often for keeping the streak alive. Since the tasks are usually just 'Look at this game on the store', 'Open the app on three separate days', 'Earn three achievements' and 'Do Bing searches', it's very little time and effort. It's here you can also get the 'Buy this game, get 6k points' missions. Plus, smaller daily tasks just for looking at games on the store, 50 points daily if you earn an achievement and randomly just 100pts just because. Not difficult or time consuming.

Bing app (on mobile, but also the Rewards website accessible through mobile and desktop) - Daily 'Look at this thing on the internet' stuff and pointless quizzes. I do this either while I'm eating breakfast or on the bus to work since I'm not otherwise busy… it takes me all of five minutes to do all the tasks, complete the quizzes and look up enough Nic Cage and Bruce Willis movies on Bing to earn roughly 300 points daily.

It really does mount up, despite sounding like the kind of pyramid scheme cav would chastise me for when written down. I spent all my points (40k) on MS store vouchers and saved big on Lego Star Wars about three weeks ago, and I'm already back up to over 12k. You can even use points in the physical MS store online to buy a controller (about 75k). I just look at it as a decent rewards scheme unlike Nintendo gold points (rewards only when you buy stuff) and the non-existent scheme Sony doesn't have.

There's another one, Mart, which only seems to be active for some people at the moment. The main Xbox app on mobile (not the Game Pass app) gives you up to 300 points per day for playing an online game on PC. I tend to load up Human Falls Flat for 2 minutes each morning, join a random game and watch the points roll in.

I'm probably a bit strange but I find all this stuff quite compelling. Maximising your points is like some sort of metagame while you play your other games. It's lucrative (it pays for Game Pass each month and plenty more besides) and I've definitely discovered good new games through it too.

There's another one, Mart, which only seems to be active for some people at the moment. The main Xbox app on mobile (not the Game Pass app) gives you up to 300 points per day for playing an online game on PC. I tend to load up Human Falls Flat for 2 minutes each morning, join a random game and watch the points roll in.

That's interesting… I could easily just boot Sea of Thieves on my laptop at some point in the evening and that's another 30p in the bank. If that's daily, it's over £2 a week… that's not bad!

Where is it in the app itself? Curious to see if I have access to it.

It normally pops up for me when I load up the app (as a Daily Mobile Streak Bonus), but if you tap on your profile picture in the bottom right it should also take you to the Earn Rewards screen.

No idea why it's only active for some people though so if you don't have access to it, I don't know why!

I don't get that - clicking on the profile, I get Posts, Achievements and About, nothing else. Weird. Maybe it's a version thing, or Apple versus Android (I have the latter)?

For me, it's Rewards, Posts, Achievements and About, so there's a difference there for sure.

Don't think it's Apple vs Android (although I am on Apple). It seems to be a staggered roll-out but on what basis, I have no idea. I've had it available for a couple of months now.

I have the rewards version of the Xbox app, too, but I can't get the Game Pass app challenges - it tells me I need Game Pass Ultimate to get those (I only have Game Pass PC).

Big delay for Microsoft with Redfall and Starfield now releasing in the first half of 2023. I'm disappointed, but I'm hoping for a good E3 level showcase next month. If no games are announced for the end of this year on this show. That would mean Xbox hasn't released a first party game for the whole of 2022. That's worrying to think about.

If no games are announced for the end of this year on this show. That would mean Xbox hasn't released a first party game for the whole of 2022. That's worrying to think about.

How so? Does it really matter? Business is thriving, Game Pass is doing killer numbers and pulling people into the platform, there's never a shortage of stuff to play on Xbox… right now, it doesn't feel like first/second party games are even that important to them. Sure, it'll be nice when it happens but given everything else they're getting revenue from, it's not the end of the world. Better to ensure the games are good than rush them just to meet a deadline.

I'd rather they took their time rather than "doing a Cyberpunk" - rush-releasing the games in time for Christmas then belatedly trying to fix them for most of the following year.

If they genuinely have no first-party games this year then hopefully it means the bottomless chequebook will make more appearances as they try and get something spectacular for Game Pass as compensation.

The amount of money spent, compared with the return they're getting, is pretty incredible though.

Better to ensure the games are good than rush them just to meet a deadline.

But then you've got Sony, actually releasing games of a consistently high standard. So it must be possible to do both. You wonder whether it's mismanagement, a problem with the Game Pass funding model, or just the old excuse of 'give the devs a year or two…'. These acquisitions have been promising fruit for a long time now.

Sony, actually releasing games of a consistently high standard

Consistently high review scores, sure, but I had to go look up what Sony has actually published for the PS5 because none of them have made any impression on me whatsoever. (I only remembered about one – the Horizon sequel, because our 6-year-old saw it on the side of a bus and thought there was a new Zelda game.)

According to Wikipedia's List of Playstation 5 games, Sony Ineractive Entertainment have published (or co-published) seventeen games for PS5. Of those, seven are remasters or "Director's Cut" versions; another eight are sequels.

I'm not saying Microsoft is doing better (Xbox Game Studios have only published ten titles, with seven of 'em sequels, plus a couple of remasters and cross-platform releases with PC), but Sony aren't exactly knocking it out of the park with the volume of first-party material either.

I'm not saying Microsoft is doing better (Xbox Game Studios have only published ten titles, with seven of 'em sequels, plus a couple of remasters and cross-platform releases with PC), but Sony aren't exactly knocking it out of the park with the volume of first-party material either.

Yeah, that. I had to stop and think what Sony's titles were and when I remembered, they're all just sequels to things like Ratchet & Clank and Horizons. That's fine, but it's just making old ideas slightly shinier. Nothing they've done resonates with me which, as someone who doesn't own a PS5 because there's no absolute banger of a reason to, isn't exactly great.

I think Returnal is the only real PS5 original that I'm interested in. Sure I'd like to play a new Ratchet, a new God of War etc etc but they're not doing anything new there.

(Nor are Microsoft with Halo, Forza etc but I probably wouldn't have bought either of those. I got a few days' fun out of each thanks to Game Pass then moved on).

Also worth bearing in mind that Microsoft have been much better this gen at providing free next-gen updates for existing games - including substantial upgrades to chunks of the Xbox 360 library - while Sony have typically tried to monetise those upgrades. That leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

“Both company’s games are lacklustre, but at least Microsoft’s are cheaper.”

Are we headed for another gaming crash? 😅

How so? Does it really matter? Business is thriving, Game Pass is doing killer numbers and pulling people into the platform, there's never a shortage of stuff to play on Xbox… right now, it doesn't feel like first/second party games are even that important to them. Sure, it'll be nice when it happens but given everything else they're getting revenue from, it's not the end of the world. Better to ensure the games are good than rush them just to meet a deadline.

I'm happy Xbox is doing well again after the Xbox one. It's my favorite system out of the three, but it's a issue when one of you main marketing strategy is Game Pass and all of Microsoft first party games are lunching day and date. When as of now no games have released this year and the only two games that was releasing are now moved to next year. It's easy to say all our games are day and date on game pass when you don't release any games. I know it will be better when all the new studios start kicking in like Bethesda and Ninja theory, but we shouldn't have months or a whole year without anything of there 20 plus studios when Sony and Nintendo have less and releasing more.

I'd rather they took their time rather than "doing a Cyberpunk" - rush-releasing the games in time for Christmas then belatedly trying to fix them for most of the following year.

I think devs have learned a lot from the release of cyberpunk haha.

I'm all up for delays, but look at Halo. Delayed a whole year and the game still isn't finished going in to season two. 343 are one of the biggest studios in gaming right now (maybe the biggest from Microsoft studios). I think something is going on with management or something.

I still got hope with the showcase next month. I've been hearing a lot of Forza Motorsport maybe being announced for this year too, but I'm hoping for more. Last year was great, the series launch had no new titles tho and this year is looking questionable. For them to hit there own target of a game per quarter is far off right now. I think thay can do it I just hope it's sooner than later.

Yeah, Halo is a really weird one. It felt unfinished at launch and six months later they've barely done anything to it. But the team is massive. There's a story there, for sure.

Agreed. I would LOVE to be the fly on the wall during the development of Halo.

I think devs have learned a lot from the release of cyberpunk haha.

I fear you overestimate how much.

😂 Yeah, I think your right.

I have to say. I'm really impressed with the launch titles for this new PS Plus.

Out of the three tiers I'm happy to try out the middle one, PS Plus Xtra (£10.99 per month or £84 a year). A lot of games I'll like to play that I haven't yet, like Demon Souls remake, Returnal, Ghost of Tsushima director's cut and Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

As for the highest tier PS Plus premium. A lot of the PS1 and PSP games I've already played enough times already. I could do without this so I'm good.

As someone who's been playing SFV for years and loves the series. This new Street Fighter 6 is looking insanely good. I've not been this hyped for a game in years. From the RE engine, characters and content. This is looking high budget. Capcom have a showcase this Monday on the 13th. Maybe we'll see more soon. 🤞

Seems like playstation will be getting a new rewards system at the end of this year called Playstation Stars. Sounds interesting, getting rewards for getting the platinum trophy and other stuff like that. Really hoping for a Microsoft rewards points system but for playstation. Here hoping 🤞

Is it going to be backdated?

Reading more on it, it doesn't sound great. Only the first person for that time zone gets rewards for platinum and I'm not sure if it's just random trophy you get points for. 🤔

Well they say that's only one campaign but that particular one sounds fucking crazy yeah. Readingthat blog post it sounds okay to me, not that I even have a PS5.

I do not want a PS5. I've packed my PS4 away. But if Sony ever gets off its arse and does an Xbox Cloud thing, I'd be tempted to get this when an Android version arrives:

https://twitter.com/PlayStationUK/status/1552670635368792064

Very jealous of the reviews Ragnarok is getting. We could do with a big Microsoft game to follow on from (checks notes) Halo Infinite last year.

Starfield is currently scheduled for a late 2023 release… unless I'm missing a biggie, that'll be two whole years between AAA exclusives. What are all these first-party studios actually doing?

Going off Microsoft last E3. Everything they shown was within a 12 month window. Starfield, Forza Motorsport and RedFall are supposed to release in the first half of 2023, but I totally think Starfield is releasing at the end of the year too. The more trailers I see of Redfall the more I'm liking it. I don't know what it is with Arkane studios. They make great games like Pray and Deathloop but they never really sell well. I don't know if it's bad marketing or what. I just hope they have at least two more games for the second half of the year and it's not just "wait until next year". If the Activision deal go through as expected. We'll have Diablo 4 dropping into game pass day one hopefully. Add a couple of third party game pass titles like Atomic Heart and Lies of P to fill in the gaps it's looking promising after the worst year for first party I've ever seen. It's about time we start seeing games like Fable, Hellblade 2 and Avowed now. It's been years they announced them.

I think Ragnarok is the only Sony first-party game this year that's really appealed to me, so missing out on one game this year doesn't seem too bad.

For me personally, the benefits of Game Pass still comfortably outweigh anything Sony has to offer. Obviously Microsoft need to pull their finger out though, the situation is getting silly now.