Connect with us

Video Games

This was the best Xbox showcase in years (and the hardest to root for)

Published

on

AND campaign This looks like an Adam Curtis documentary prequel introducing fans to E-Day and the birth of the series’ iconic “Lancer” chainsaw, in addition to a trailer showing not only is he still alivepotentially blooming. Microsoft’s summer presentation for 2024 was the best the Xbox had looked since the Xbox One. But this comes at an enormous cost, which the company doesn’t seem ready to admit publicly.

Insiders have been raising interest in the presentation for several days, partly because the full list of disclosures and announcements has already been leaked to some media and others. Fans were already furious, expecting Xbox to finally turn the corner, just for football to be dragged out of the field once more and realizing that the platform was still in one other of its inevitable “recovery” years. The proof is at all times in the games themselves, and their effectiveness can only be truly assessed once they’re in the hands of players. For now, though, the presentation has been delivered.

Advertisement

There were over sixty minutes of games small and huge, offering every part from zombie survival to nostalgic teen hangouts, punctuated by massive first-party games and third-party teases. If you own an Xbox Series X/S console, there’s plenty to play this yr and next. Xbox gaming studios lead Matt Booty’s long-running promise of a consistent variety of quarterly Xbox games price appearing in may finally come true. The only thing missing from this event was accountability for what and who Microsoft sacrificed to get here.

Just over a month has passed since the company’s announcement closes three studios and reorganizes the fourth. One of the victims, Tango Gameworks and is the hit of 2023 , seemed to symbolize the best of Xbox in the Game Pass era: a highly stylized passion project from a more moderen team that wowed critics and won awards, and would not have been possible without the “let a thousand flowers bloom” strategy behind the platform go to a subscription library similar to Netflix. But in a devastating turnaround, the deep-pocketed tech giant has parted ways with the team together with renowned immersive sim creators Arkane Austin and others. According to internal comments from Booty and the head of parent company Zenimax, there was simply not enough bandwidth for one in every of the three Most worthy corporations in the world to manage so many studios.

The bad news and nonsense explanations wouldn’t have fallen like a lead balloon if Microsoft had not announced mass layoffs in several departments just a number of months earlier, including the newly acquired Activision Blizzard. The cuts affected everyone from the team to developers Sledgehammer Games and included the cancellation of , a fantasy survival game that would have develop into Blizzard’s first latest franchise in nearly a decade. Microsoft spent $69 billion on the acquisition, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer visited the Activision Blizzard King offices shortly after the deal closed last fall, after which in early 2024 the mask got here off.

Advertisement

In interviews with and , Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer blames the heel activate a mix of investor pressure and a stagnant console gaming market. In other words: capitalism. But completely shutting down Tango Gameworks, originally founded by director Shinji Mikami to train a brand new generation of creators, seemed particularly capricious. The Xbox team didn’t mention the developers it fired or their contributions in its remarks to the live audience before today’s presentation or during the pre-recorded event itself. (Even after learning his fate, Arkane Austin worked hard to post a much needed final update.)

Instead, Spencer opened the presentation promoting the company’s desire to bring one in every of its hottest franchises to much more gamers through the power of a $17/month subscription. This was perhaps unsurprising given the billions Microsoft paid to acquire the series, but the decision to open the series in this fashion underscored a brand new reality for the Xbox brand, which now must return a return worthy of all those investments. “I haven’t talked about it publicly because now is the time for us to focus on the team and the individuals.” Spencer said later that dayaway from the a whole lot of 1000’s of fans watching the show.

He continued:

Advertisement

It’s obviously a really difficult decision for them and I would like to make certain, through departures and other things, that we do the right thing for the individual people in the team. It’s not about my PR, it isn’t about Xbox’s PR. It’s about these teams. After all, as I actually have said again and again, I actually have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that implies that sometimes I actually have to make difficult decisions that, truthfully, usually are not decisions that I like, but decisions that somebody has to make.

Meanwhile, the presentation didn’t even explain itself the bar set a number of days earlier by Geoff Keighley during the Game Awards host’s presentation. Xbox CEO Sarah Bond, who he responded with a word salad of corpo when asked about the studio’s closure last month, he closed the Xbox presentation by pointing to the future fairly than dwelling on the recent past. “Our mission is to make Xbox the best place to play by including games from our own studios on Game Pass at launch, to take gaming into the future with our commitment to game preservation, to push the boundaries in our future hardware, and to enable you to play games, wherever you want, on Xbox, PC and in the cloud,” she said. “This is what defines Xbox today and in the future, and that’s why we’re working hard on the next generation.”

This was a pledge intended to reassure fans who are still reeling from the shock of the recent changes to the franchise’s history. But the future is built on the past, and every new shiny Xbox game now raises the question of what happens to the teams Microsoft has bought or partnered with when they no longer feel like they’re serving its bottom line.

IGN

Advertisement
This article was originally published on : kotaku.com

Video Games

Red Dead Redemption 2 and several other games are a 75 percent discount in Epic Games winter sales

Published

on

By

(*2*)
The cowboy is preparing for snow.

Picture: Rockstar games
Advertisement

There are many discount games in the winter sales 2025, including the everlasting favorites In addition to newer contenders to Goths, comparable to the apocalyptic builder of the town from 2024. The offers are great, although, unfortunately, the coupon of the sale of the Epic Games store didn’t return, which led some fans to fret that he was abandoned for good.

While Western from the open world has already sold over 67 million copies, it is feasible that you just or someone , we now have maintained the meaning to examine it, but they never bite the missile. Usually 60 USD at a full price is currently only USD 15 with a 75 % discount. Meanwhile, last yr’s excellent continuation, which modified the mechanics and history of the Grim City Management SIM, is currently only USD 36 (20 percent discount).

Here are some other sales events that lasts from February 10 to February 24:

Advertisement
  • Cyberpunk 2077 – 27 USD (55 percent discount)
  • Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – 17.50 USD (75 percent discount)
  • Mass Effect Legendary Edition – USD 6 (90 percent discount)
  • Manor Lords – USD 28 (30 percent discount)
  • Mafia: Definitive Edition – 8 USD (80 percent discount)
  • Land of Wonderland Tina Tina – 12 USD (80 percent discount)
  • Outdoor Wilds – USD 15 (40 percent discount)
  • Homeworld 3 – 30 USD (50 percent discount)
  • Sifu – USD 16 (60 percent discount)
  • Star Wars Outlaws – 42 USD (40 percent discount)
  • Hogwarts Legacy – USD 21 (70 percent discount)
  • Dragon Age: The Veilguard – 36 USD (40 percent discount)
  • Under – $ 5 (75 percent discount)
  • Planet of Lana – USD 10 (50 percent discount)
  • Dredębów – USD 15 (40 percent discount)
  • Blasphemy 2 – 15 USD (50 percent discount)

The latest batch of free games also appeared to the Epic Store. SIM adventures on a deep exploration of the ocean and a tile -based strategy are available to use until February 13 on PC for anyone who has an epic account. And although the present discount on this just isn’t very attention (only a 10 percent discount), it is usually value checking the SIM survival of Roguelike. The game about using garbage to create one of the best machine for killing and taking off giant bosses has many rough edges, but additionally really cool ideas and a beautiful visual style.

The only real bummer is that the Epic Games Store coupon didn’t return with recent winter sales. In the past, users have gained access to the re -use coupon for $ 10 discounts in a store that exceeded a certain quantity. Then it modified to a percentage of the discount. And now It appears to be completely abandoned. The desire to Epic to disassemble the means of creating a significant rival for a couple was expensive. Coupons were apparently the newest victim of the corporate limiting gifts.

The excellent news is you can still get well 5 percent of shopping in Epic Games stores to spend on additional games (or skins).

.

(Tagstranslat) Epic Games (T) Epic Games Store (T) Coupon (T) Fortnite Battle Royale (T) Steam (T) Sales Promotion (T) Kotaku

(*75*)This article was originally published on : kotaku.com

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Video Games

Indicators for Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2, What Gro before the arrival of AC shadows and more best tips of the week

Published

on

By

Regardless of whether you need to cope with the Exile 2 Solo path, use the fully flexible powers of the incredible gentleman in Marvel Rivals, or just the revival of the Final Fantasy VII look on and running best on the Steam deck, we have now tips for you.

Read more …

(Tagstotransate) Exile path

Advertisement
This article was originally published on : kotaku.com
Continue Reading

Video Games

PSN is fallen for over 14 hours in a large break of PlayStation

Published

on

By

The PS portal is trying to connect to PSN.

Picture: Sony

The PlayStation network suffers something that appears to be a huge breakdown to the weekend. PlayStation 5 and PS4 players in social media, including X and Reddit, report that they are usually not capable of connect with Sony online services, including multiplayer matches and PlayStation.

Advertisement

“At the moment, the PlayStation network (including PlayStation store) may not be available,” we read in the announcement concerning the ASK PlayStation Japan account on X at 19:12 ET 7 February. “We apologize for the inconvenience attributable to our clients. We are currently examining the issue and we’re working on restoring services, so be patient. “It is a particularly unlucky time for the network to skip Last free beta test weekend Currently in progress.

There is no information yet about the cause of the failure, how many people affect it or when the service can return to the Internet. While some disruptions of services can last only a few hours, others can last much longer, with the uneven quality of the connection, even when the network returns online. PlayStation status page Currently letters All online services as absent.

And so far it seems that this is one of the major PSN failures that PSN has suffered lately. Players began to report a disconnection soon after 18:00 et and so far there is no trace that someone can come back. The failure also seems to be around the world, not insulated to some countries or continents. Sony did not answer the request for comment.

Advertisement

A nightmarish scenario for Sony would be a malicious hack or a deeper problem that causes a failure to keep for several days or even weeks. It was unheard of in the modern era, but it happened in the infamous failure of the PlayStation 2011 network. At least so far there is no sign that something on this scale is happening again. We hope that the system is coming back online soon. For example, I was supposed to spend my cups tonight tonight.

Update 2/8/2025 8:58 AM ET: Whelp, after all, there is no rocket league for me or for anyone else. Over 12 hours later, PSN still has no new information about the cause of Sony’s failure or schedule for restoring it to the Internet.

.

(Tagstranslate) PlayStation

Advertisement
This article was originally published on : kotaku.com
Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending