Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

2022 VIDEO GAME CATCH ALL THREAD


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

33 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Theoretically - I will feel less guilty tipping my toes back into the Overwatch waters when Overwatch 2 finally comes out

My self-imposed boycott of Diablo may come to an end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. If anything is "exclusive," then it will be Xbox players getting first dibs on DLC content whereas before it was sometimes a question of which console would get exclusive content first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why wouldn't they be exclusives? If elder scrolls will be exclusive so will other big games. Feel like Microsoft has future proofed themselves with their focus on game pass. Once consoles are a thing of the past, game pass will be the big deal. Bigger than it already is. 

It's a fantastic service. I got a mega gaming pc recently and playing shit like Halo and Back 4 Blood with friends on their xboxes has been a blast. Haven't turned my ps5 on in months and don't see myself doing it for the foreseeable future. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Craig H said:

This also makes me wonder about how salty EA is over this. You'd think they'd happily accept a purchase of their company so someone else can right their busted ass ship. 

I wouldn't be surprised if EA is next. If Sony were smart, they would buy EA since PlayStation does a lot of marketing at FIFA games (which until EA's deal ended was what made EA money worldwide).

I just have a feeling that Microsoft will buy Square Enix, EA and Ubisoft. They have the money to do it.

Edited by Andrew POE!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

This also makes me wonder about how salty EA is over this. You'd think they'd happily accept a purchase of their company so someone else can right their busted ass ship. 

You think EA's deal with their sports licenses has something to do with it? There's gotta be some contractual failsafe to prevent Madden going Xbox exclusive, for instance. I mean, Players' Associations and everything are caught up in that - it's one thing if Elder Scrolls goes exclusive but pissing off countless, profit-generating sportspeople worldwide might? be a bridge to far. I know the FIFA contract runs out this year and that ground is shaky, but I'm not qualified to comment. Maybe nobody can make a move until then?

Of course, if there is some contractual failsafe then maybe NFL 2K comes back. I might live in the neutral territories of retro/indie/JRPG  dorkdom but I know damn well who made the better football sim back in the day.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

You think EA's deal with their sports licenses has something to do with it? There's gotta be some contractual failsafe to prevent Madden going Xbox exclusive

The Show was ported to Xbox last year after MLB (allegedly) threatened to take the license away from Sony if the game didn't go multiplatform.  I think it's safe to assume that none of the major sports leagues want their games to be exclusive to one console.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Andrew POE! said:

I just have a feeling that Microsoft will buy Square Enix, EA and Ubisoft. They have the money to do it.

Square Enix is a Japanese run company.  I can't believe they'd sell to a US company, especially not MS.  If they were looking to be bought, they'd sell to Sony or Nintendo first or they'd break up so that Sony & Nintendo could buy them piecemeal.  There is some keiretsu mentality shit going on there.

If I were MS, I'd just buy BioWare.  The rest of EA is too much of a train wreck to throw good money after bad.  ActiBlizzard is also a bit of a train wreck, but now they own Call of Duty and World of Warcraft and now have an in into the mobile market with Candy Crush.

I'd probably pass on UbiSoft too.

2 hours ago, Jiji said:

Why wouldn't they be exclusives? If elder scrolls will be exclusive so will other big games. Feel like Microsoft has future proofed themselves with their focus on game pass. Once consoles are a thing of the past, game pass will be the big deal. Bigger than it already is.

Spencer has always been vocal of his hatred of exclusives so he probably wouldn't make any of ActiBlizzard or Zeni's titles exclusive to XBox.  

Halo has traditionally been Xbox only and Minecraft has only been ported to PC and Xbox, so those games / game franchise staying in house would not change the balance of power.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Spencer has always been vocal of his hatred of exclusives so he probably wouldn't make any of ActiBlizzard or Zeni's titles exclusive to XBox.  

Halo has traditionally been Xbox only and Minecraft has only been ported to PC and Xbox, so those games / game franchise staying in house would not change the balance of power.

They've already confirmed the next Elder Scrolls is Xbox (and Windows) exclusive. Starfield is exclusive. So he can't hate them that much. Their press release said:

Quote

“we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalogue.”

They have recently released relatively big third party games as day one Game Pass releases, like Back 4 Blood, but for games by their own studios? I think this strongly suggests they'll be exclusives. I'm fine either way. Would suck for people without a good gaming rig or Xbox though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before people get ahead of themselves, remember that the Microsoft/Activision deal still has to be approved by regulators.  And with the increased Congressional scrutiny towards the "Big 4" (Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft), that's certainly not a done deal as it would have in the past.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Jiji said:

They've already confirmed the next Elder Scrolls is Xbox (and Windows) exclusive. Starfield is exclusive. So he can't hate them that much.

Spencer hates exclusives.  Xbox has traditionally been an RPG wasteland, so it makes sense to keep ES, Fallout, and Starfield for themselves.  

Sony will still have great ARPG and JRPG titles developed for it and some of them like Ghost of Tsushima will probably be exclusives.

5 minutes ago, Jiji said:

They have recently released relatively big third party games as day one Game Pass releases, like Back 4 Blood, but for games by their own studios? I think this strongly suggests they'll be exclusives. I'm fine either way. Would suck for people without a good gaming rig or Xbox though.

It's being reported that MS has no plans for making exclusives out of ActiBlizzard games, but we'll see what happens.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot stress enough how enjoyable I am finding a Sekiro playthrough as I go through the FromSoft games in preperation for Elden Ring. The combat and style is totally different than all their other games in recent years, but it is soooooo satisfying when you get things right. Maybe the only game in years where I've actually enjoyed stealth because it feels so rewarding. Also, just an incredible soundtrack, like absolute all-timer in how it incorporates music into the action.

It's also gorgeous.

Image

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Death From Above said:

I cannot stress enough how enjoyable I am finding a Sekiro playthrough as I go through the FromSoft games in preperation for Elden Ring. The combat and style is totally different than all their other games in recent years, but it is soooooo satisfying when you get things right. Maybe the only game in years where I've actually enjoyed stealth because it feels so rewarding. Also, just an incredible soundtrack, like absolute all-timer in how it incorporates music into the action.

It's also gorgeous.

Image

My son is a Souls maniac and is constantly trying to get me to play them all, especially with Elden Ring coming. I've tried Bloodborne two or three times and I honestly cannot stand it, especially the visuals. Sekiro, however, always catches my eye and might just be the one I get into... once I finish a shit ton of my backlog ??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got some entertainment out of reading breathless, overheated takes on the Activision sale.  Lot of Xbox fanboys proclaiming the death of Sony, lot of PlayStation fans shaking their tiny fists in the air while chanting "We will overcome!".  Sigh.  I don't understand fanboy-ism, but then again, it's been a long time since I wasn't planning to buy the new Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo consoles asap.  I was surprised Push Square - which is essentially a news site with a narrow focus rather than a fan site - declaring the sale disastrous for PS.  My favorite take was a message board poster who wrote "Microsoft just spent $68 billion to lock games away from gamers.  That's evil"  I literally fell out of my chair reading that.  I have the bad habit of using every chair i meet as a recliner and rocking back so the chair's on two legs.  

I am interested in what comes next.  I'm not that bothered by the sale, though as said earlier, I don't buy a lot of Activision games because I'm not interested in their big franchises.  And i don't see exclusives as a bad thing.  I dunno why i'd buy an Xbox, a Switch, and a PlayStation except for exclusives.  I think without exclusives, I'd put the same thought into buying a console that I do buying a tv or a toaster.  I don't remember ever discussing the merits of various toaster brands or following what the toaster company is doing in R&D.  Same with tv's.  I don't have a brand preference.  When I need a new tv, I read some reviews, buy a model, and forget about it as long as the picture quality is good.  I have no idea what brands my various tv's are without looking.

Lol, maybe that's an argument against brand loyalty.  We'd probably all be better off if gamers had the same attachment to their gaming devices that they do to their toasters.

Where do we go from here.  Does MS keep acquiring and simply outspend Sony?  Do they make Activision games Xbox exclusives or do they start publishing PlayStation titles?  There's an argument to be made for making Call of Duty a console exclusive and using it as a system seller.  But.... there might be/probably is more money in publishing CoD on PlayStation and using Gamepass and exclusive/early DLC to lure players to Xbox.  

Do strategies change?  Microsoft seems to be taking a kitchen sink approach to acquisitions and acquiring publishers while Sony has generally been more focused on acquiring developers.  Does that change?  For me, personally, the Bethesda and Activision acquisitions haven't affected a lot of studios i really like.  Nothing Bethesda or Activision's studios makes stacks up for me to Sony's formidable first-party offerings.  I'm sure Starfield will be fine, but, if i unexpectedly run out of money, I'll save for Sony games 100 times out of 100.  It's not even picking God of War 2 or Horizon Forbidden West over Starfield.  I'd probably buy Sunset Overdrive 2 or Driveclub 2 before i pick up Starfield.

In any case, 2023-? may be tough times for fanboy-ism.  It seems like console exclusives are going to be more of a selling point going forward.  I never expected not to buy a Switch 2, Xbox Series XX, or PS6, but a lot of people don't think that way (or just don't have the cash).

I do hope MS buys Ubi.  It'll be hilarious when Ubi announces Assassin's Creed: Wereoutofideas and Far Cry 7 are Xbox exclusives and PS owners respond with "Meh.  We already played that game.  Last year.  And the year before that.  And the year before that.  And...."

If PS is smart, it'll work out backwards compatibility.  That's a comparatively inexpensive way to compete in the long run.  There have been some rumors and a new patent application suggesting we might be getting PS1-PS3 games on the PS5, but who knows how much truth there it to that.  Personally, I'd be fine if they'd just build an emulator with an optical drive that i can plug into the USB port.  Charge me a couple hundred for that.  It's not my preferred (digital) solution, but I could live with it.

Wonder what Nintendo did yesterday?  Sigh.  They probably spent the morning wondering if they should remaster Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, then took a four-hour lunch without deciding anything.

Edited by Tarheel Moneghetti
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of the sites you'd expect to demonize MS like Endgadget and Kotaku are pretty much trying to tie everything from potential voter fraud to colon cancer on ActiBlizzard's sale to MS.  It's not that big of a deal.  Sony has a solid 65% of the market share, lots of good development houses, and they have sympathetic studios that will produce exclusive content without them having to buy the company.  Microsoft is just now spending the money it needed to spend years ago to acquire content producers.  They are behind the curve.  This isn't MS conquering the world; this is MS playing catch up.

People angrily saying stupid things like "Microsoft just spent $68 billion to lock games away from gamers.  That's evil!" seem to conveniently forget that you can't play God of War, Horizon, Ratchet & Clank, or many other badass AAA titles on a fucking XBox and you probably never will.  

Besides.  Are players REALLY upset about CoD possibly becoming an XBox exclusive?

Think of the ulcers you will avoid by being a PS customer.

PS has no choice but to work out BC.  For a while there, it convinced its customer base that they weren't interested in playing "old games" but GamePass has wised them up on the value of a large library and the importance of legacy titles.  Just think about what might happen when a generation of new players rediscover Legacy of Kain or Skies of Arcadia and maybe demand a re-master or a full blown revival?  Old business becomes new opportunity.  Just ask Bioware.

In the end, the new competition will be good for customers despite what the doomsayers say.  

And Nintendo will still be Nintendo.  They will carve their niche and quietly make their money.  Once this supply shit quiets down so that we can all own a Switch in addition to whatever else we've got, things will get back to normal where every gamer worth his salt had multiple rigs going on.

Edited by J.T.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

With XBOX running a Backwards Compatibility Sale, I've never touched Bully in spite of having access to it for years at a game rental store. In 2022 standards, is that a game worth going back to and touching? I know briefly touching Vice City on that GTA Definitive Edition that I could see some of the aging of a game that seemed mind blowing when I played it in 2003. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played Bully: Scholarship Edition last year and, for me, it's still great fun.  I feel like it's still definitely worth going back to, but I would say the same thing about the PS2 GTA games, so your mileage may vary.  

Personally, I don't have an issue with going back to games with "dated' mechanics.  Good gameplay holds up for me, regardless of the decade.  In general, the only retro games I have trouble getting into are PS2/Xbox-era games that were trying to do realistic graphics on consoles that couldn't yet do realistic graphics.  So many shades of muddy brown.  Vice City doesn't hold up for me visually, but the gameplay does, so I can go with it.

 

46 minutes ago, J.T. said:

All of the sites you'd expect to demonize MS like Endgadget and Kotaku are pretty much trying to tie everything from potential voter fraud to colon cancer on ActiBlizzard's sale to MS.  I

Lol, in fairness, I've never heard Phil Spencer deny that he fixed the Little Miss Mon County (WV) pageant.  Or that most Microsoft employees are radioactive and sneeze glowing green phlegm.  

It's probably just as well that Bill Gates is the head of the Illuminati.   Otherwise, we'd be blaming that on Phil too.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

PS has no choice but to work out BC.  For a while there, it convinced its customer base that they weren't interested in playing "old games" but GamePass has wised them up on the value of a large library and the importance of legacy titles.  Just think about what might happen when a generation of new players play Legacy of Kain or Skies of Arcadia and maybe demand a re-master or a full blown revival?  Old business becomes new opportunity.  Just ask Bioware.

Any company that allows me to play Skies of Arcadia on a current gen system will get my money. Like, that would literally sell me a PS5 in a way none of the exclusives have. My DC copy is apparently scratched to hell and won’t load. It’d be less convenient to play for me, too, as the DC is hooked up in the spare bedroom.

Sega’s gotta do something with it someday, right? Right!?!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing entertains me more than all the doom and gloom from the comments on those sites JT mentioned about how it is the end of the world and no video game will ever be produced ever again and then like 20 seconds later they are all HERE ARE THE 20 GAMES I CANT WAIT TO PLAY THIS YEAR!!!!

  • Like 1
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...