I really tried to enjoy RDR2. It’s got some great qualities, and the acting, writing, and cutscenes are phenomenal. But… The gameplay… I’m all for slowburn walking simulator type games (e.g. I loved Detroit Become Human, among others).
But with RDR2, the world is so massive and yet there was no sense of excitement when finding stuff. You get just about all your upgrades fairly early in the game. There’s no sense of character gameplay progression. And after just a few hours of traveling around, it felt like I quickly had seen all the random event variations on the roads/trails (e.g. stop bandits hijacking a wagon, robberies, etc). I don’t know, it just felt like a hyper realistic GTA5: Western, but without all the plethora of goofy shenanigans that game has.
Rather, it isn’t sustainable at its current pricing model. It takes the average studio team 3-5 years to make 1 AAA game.
Microsoft’s internal studios (excluding the ones they just bought over the last 4-5 years) have made Halo Infinite and… Hmm… Is the Forza studio considered OG first-party? I’ll just lump them in as well, since they’ve been associated with MS for awhile. So 2 major games in the last ~8 years. Then you have the major studios they just bought: Bethesda and Blizzard/Activision. Bethesda has released 2 major AAA games in the last 5 years while under MS ownership (I think Doom Eternal came out before the purchase). Blizzard has done 1 and Activision has done 1 CoD game.
So MS paid $7.5b for Zenimax/Bethesda and $68.7b for Blizz/Activision, for a whopping total of $76.2b. Starfield sold around 3m copies, Diablo 4 has generated around $1b in revenue since release (chose revenue since it’s a live service game and that includes copies sold), and Black Ops 6 has sold… I’m not sure, a quick search doesn’t show any hard numbers, just Xbox propaganda that it “was the biggest release in franchise history.” (I say propaganda bc many of their larger shareholders weren’t super pleased with how much it cost to purchase Activision, so of course they wanted to spin it as being a smart investment).
And it costs MS a lot of money to license some of the bigger games to come to GamePass.
I just don’t see it being sustainable without cost increases. And if the cost goes up, they’ll turn off customers. And we’ve already seen that their cheaper, indie studios aren’t safe from being axed despite releasing successful hits.
We definitely play on the XSX as a family a lot more than the PS5 that’s collecting dust upstairs. Its smaller form factor makes it much easier to use as a gaming console in our main living area. But yeah, GamePass is a crazy good deal if you know how to use the conversion trick (buy GamePass core for like 2 years for $80-100 from key reseller, then convert it to Ultimate on MS site at a 2:3 ratio or whatever).
That being said, everyone knows GamePass isn’t sustainable long-term. Microsoft truly is killing their gaming division with such short-sighted planning.
I, too, can’t handle 30FPS on many games. Fortunately, there are still lots of recent games that can hit ~45FPS, which–while not great-- makes it much more bearable. And if it’s too poor of performance, I will often just stream from my desktop while in bed or on the couch. But again, I primarily use it for less demanding games to begin with (e.g. I’ve been playing a lot of Dragon Quest X on it recently).
I’m not saying it’s worth it for everyone, but if the choice is between its closest competitors and the Deck, I think the Deck offers more value for the money spent.
But yeah, there are quite a few AAA/higher graphical fidelity games I just won’t bother, even if it’s technically playable at a "smooth’ 30FPS. Like Kingdom Come 2 ran pretty decently on it, surprisingly, but damn did it really make the game look pretty rough.
I expect there’ll be a new Steam Deck in the next year or two.
But, honestly, I still use my Deck a shit ton, especially at work. It’s hands down the best portable emulator machine and there are tons of indie games that run great on it. It also works great as a small laptop in desktop mode. I use it almost daily at work.
Wow, holy shit. How fucking far Vice has fallen. There was a time they would go the extra mile to cover wild shit that no one else was doing. Greed and the wealthy’s critical need to have control over the media ruins everything.
That really sucks, man. I fully empathize with getting fucked by a greedy government that protects the wealthy while abusing the working class. The world needs to unite against the elites destroying it.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was the most creative game I’ve played in years and years. Amazing story, amazing characters, amazing art and world design, all topped off with a beautiful soundtrack. The gameplay was of course good-- not perfect–but, very satisfying when it hit its stride.
All that to say: Yes, I want more weird and creative games of that caliber. I haven’t played Death Stranding 2 yet, but I definitely plan to at some point.
All fair points. I can definitely see the appeal of wanting the same functionality that the Deck controller brings, as I myself really enjoy the extra flexibility the trackpads and back buttons provide. But the ergonomics in this example just looks awful and feels really reminiscent of the original Xbox controller.