Microsoft Games General Thread

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Microsoft’s 20th Anniversary Xbox controller has been revealed early.

[melancholy]

Well crap. Now I have to decide if I want to cancel my Forza controller preorder to get this instead. They are both awesome.

[pixel]

I need a new controller as much as a kick in the head But damn, yes that's a hard argument between the 20th anniversary and Forza controllers

[melancholy]

I admittedly don’t need a new one either, but I was looking for an excuse to upgrade my PC Xbox One controller with a Series style controller, and that Forza one definitely caught my eye when it was announced.

[ian]

I was thinking about the Forza one too, then I come here this morning and see this beauty...
FUCK THE FORZA CONTROL!!!

I don't even have a series XS and don't want one in the future, and still happy with my 2 xbone pads and my 360 pads for PC.
BUT I want this controller... I have never wanted a controller this bad, but it just looks magnificently stunning, and then its translucent as well and adds to the cool, as an aside I guess it commemorates 20 years of Xbox, but who even cares about that once you see this gorgeous triumph of perfect looks.

This makes the previously alright looking Forza control look like a garish abortion conceived by a coulourblind toddler on a raspberry cordial high...

[melancholy]

Thanks Ian. You’re unfiltered opinion has once again helped me make a decision.

Right, I’m going with the Forza one. But not as a ‘screw you’ to Ian. No. In a world where damn near every console eventually has a ‘magnificently stunning’ black-on-black-with-color-accents controller, I want to be the guy with the controller that makes you feel like a ‘toddler on a raspberry cordial high.’ Screw having people look at the controller you brought and say, ‘wow that’s nice.’ I want people to say, ‘WTF is that‽’

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[ian]

Thanks Ian. You’re unfiltered opinion has once again helped me make a decision.

Right, I’m going with the Forza one. But not as a ‘screw you’ to Ian. No. In a world where damn near every console eventually has a ‘magnificently stunning’ black-on-black-with-color-accents controller, I want to be the guy with the controller that makes you feel like a ‘toddler on a raspberry cordial high.’ Screw having people look at the controller you brought and say, ‘wow that’s nice.’ I want people to say, ‘WTF is that‽’

Fair enough. You've always been an artistically inclined person, though. I'm boring with no sense of creativity or artistical inclinations. I might as well be a robot with most of my purchasing decisions. And the clean, sterile black lines of the 20th controller appeal much more to my sensibilities, and will match most of the other stuff I own.
Not to mention my favourite colour is green.

When I first saw the forza one I was on the fence, I actually liked it. But didn't know if I wanted to pay $100 considering I don't even have plans to get a series X (I was going to get one for Horizon 5, but then found out my Xbone will play it, so no need to upgrade) but I will pick up one of these anniversary ones, if they haven't pre sold out to all the scalpers yet.

I think the difference between the Forza one is it is LIMITED, and the anniversary one is SPECIAL... So there will be no shortage of the 20th controls.
in 10,20,30 years time, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Forza control worth many, many magnitudes more than the anniversary one (If you buy games for that reason)

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Xbox Game Pass subscriptions miss Microsoft’s target​

Subscriber growth for Microsoft’s signature gaming service, Xbox Game Pass, was slower than the company hoped for in the past year, according to a new financial filing.

Why it matters: Xbox Game Pass is often touted as the best deal in gaming and its subscriber count is a shorthand measure of Microsoft’s gaming success.

By the numbers: For the 12 months that ended on June 30, Xbox Game Pass subscriber growth was up 37%, but the company had set a 48% growth goal.

- In the company's prior fiscal year, which ran from mid-2019 through mid-2020, Game Pass subs were up 86%, exceeding a target of 71%.

For those who just want to see actual subscriber counts, that’s the catch. Microsoft hasn’t been sharing them lately.

- The most recent confirmed figure is 18 million, as of January.
- The service costs $10/month for console or PC players, or $15/month for a combo.

Between the lines: While it’s notable that Microsoft missed one target, it's also of interest that Game Pass subs are a target at all.

- In 2019, the company added Game Pass subscriber growth to a short list of performance goals for top executives, including CEO Satya Nadella.
- It’s the only pure gaming metric listed in the execs’ payment plan, and sits alongside other priority targets including a number of LinkedIn sessions and usage of Microsoft Teams.
- Reaching certain targets over the course of three years pays out more stock to those executives.

The big picture: Game Pass is core to Microsoft’s model of gaming’s future, one in which players subscribe to the all-you-can-play service and play its games on Xbox consoles, PCs, phones and, eventually, smart TVs, via streaming if necessary.

- Xbox management has spent the last couple of years flooding Game Pass with a remarkable array of high-quality games, including its own marquee releases and lots of excellent indies.
- Just today it announced 11 more notable releases for the service for this month alone.
- But if Microsoft is struggling to get Game Pass where it wants, it will have a strong sales hook 13 months from now with the release of Bethesda's highly anticipated exclusive “Starfield.”

Source: Axios

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

You can now play Steam PC games on an Xbox with Nvidia’s GeForce Now

Microsoft Edge support for GeForce Now is available now

Nvidia is unlocking access to its GeForce Now streaming service on Microsoft Edge today, allowing Xbox owners to play Steam PC games on their consoles. GeForce Now includes access to more than 1,000 PC games, and Nvidia has finally started supporting the Edge browser that now ships on Xbox in a beta update to GeForce Now today.

It brings the dream of playing PC games on an Xbox a step closer to reality, as the result is easy access to stream PC games to an Xbox. As the base GeForce Now service is free, you can stream popular PC games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, and League of Legends at 1080p for an hourlong session.

I’ve been able to do this in the past using Parsec, which is essentially a remote desktop app that lets you stream what’s on your PC to a browser. GeForce Now is a far better solution as it doesn’t rely on you having to own a PC that’s capable of running these games, and you just connect to the service through the browser and launch games.



What makes this all the more interesting is that the Edge browser on Xbox also supports mouse and keyboard input, so you can play certain games that don’t even have gamepad support. It’s not the most ideal experience on the Xbox right now because the virtual keyboard appears when you click and latency isn’t great for multiplayer games.

Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has recently committed to bringing full PC games to the Xbox through the company’s Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service. We still don’t know when those will eventually arrive, but GeForce Now in the browser is the best alternative until they do.

With Nvidia expanding GeForce Now to Edge and even adding an RTX 3080 tier, it would be great to see an official Xbox client for the service, and a way to play these PC games on PlayStation, too.

Source: The Verge

[Hawq]

How long before people are running the Postal series with it I wonder

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Hawq]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

76 new BC games have been added to Xbox One & Xbox Series. Some interesting titles have been added.



Every backward compatible title added today will experience improved visual quality with Auto HDR on supported displays, which automatically adds HDR enhancements on Xbox Series X|S.

Original Xbox games will experience a resolution increase on all Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles on supported displays.

- 4x resolution increase on Xbox Series X and Xbox One X
- 3x resolution increase on Xbox Series S
- 2x resolution increase on Xbox One S and Xbox One

Players will experience even smoother gameplay on 11 titles added today via FPS Boost, which doubles the original framerate up to 60 FPS, including F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. 3, Binary Domain, and NIER.

We are also excited to announce we enabled FPS Boost on 26 more titles from the existing catalog including top requested titles such as the entire Gears of War franchise, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Dragon Age: Origins, Dead Space 2 & 3, Alan Wake and Sonic Generations.

And beginning today, FPS Boost is rolling out to 33 titles via Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) that were previously enhanced on Xbox Series X|S including Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and The Evil Within 2.

Players can easily toggle FPS Boost as well as Auto HDR on or off under the “Manage Game” section for any title. You decide how you want to experience your favorite games, whether in their original form or enhanced with Auto HDR and FPS Boost enabled.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
Aces of the Galaxy
Advent Rising
Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
Bankshot Billiards 2
Beautiful Katamari
Binary Domain
Black College Football Xperience: Doug Williams Ed
Cloning Clyde
Conan
Darwinia+
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Dead or Alive 3
Dead or Alive 4
Death by Cube
Disney Universe
Disney’s Chicken Little
Elements of Destruction
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
F.E.A.R. 3
F.E.A.R. Files
The First Templar
Gladius
Gunvalkyrie
Islands of Wakfu
Lego The Lord of the Rings
Manhunt
Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Max Payne 3
Mini Ninjas
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
MX vs. ATV Alive
MX vs. ATV Untamed
NIER
Novadrome
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
Otogi: Myth of Demons
Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors
The Outfit
Outpost Kaloki X
Quake Arena Arcade
R.A.W. - Realms of Ancient War
Red Dead Revolver
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Ridge Racer 6
Rio
Risen
Risen 2: Dark Waters
Rock of Ages
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
Scramble
Screwjumper!
Secret Weapons Over Normandy
Skate 2
SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam!
SpongeBob’s Truth or Square
Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition
Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
Switchball
Thrillville
Thrillville: Off the Rails
Time Pilot
TimeSplitters 2
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
Toy Story Mania!
Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment
Viva Piñata: Party Animals
Warlords

[melancholy]

Still no Eternal Sonata.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Nope. That would have been a good one for them to add.