Gaming Xbox Series X|S

Which of these do you prefer

  • Microsoft Game Pass

  • Xbox Game Pass


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Redlambs

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I'm loving Tunic, what a great little game. If I had to nit-pick I'd say the lock-on is pretty ropey (why have the latest games gone backwards with that? It's like we never passed on how to do it) and the items are too common so far so it's not really a challenge to figure out what most of them do (bar one!), but so far I'm really enjoying it.

Not looked online (hence the lack of upgrading I guess) nor taken notes and so far so good. I have no idea what coins do, only just found you can warp and found my way to the Librarian (greatly underpowered I'd imagine) and nearly beat it first time by grabbing his sweet ass. I'm not paying attention to the order I'm playing, it seems balanced enough that you can just play it how you want. The level layouts are nice, though I think the secrets are a little too obvious...having said that, I'm probably being a smart arse and will end up missing a lot of things.

I will say though, so far I'm not finding much challenge. Though I've just found a page that shows a few bosses/biomes, so I'm guessing I'm still in the hand-holding phase :lol:
 
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Redlambs

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Nah, I had the same issue. The manual explains it but I don't think we're conditioned to actually pay attention to stuff like that.
Boomers need no manuals, we certainly don't need shite videos to show us how to play! (We do evidently need no builds in Fortnite though as we clearly can't compete on a dexterity level any more :lol:)

I'll have to have a look, but yeah I didn't see that. Then again, I've only just seen you get a map for the dungeon areas and I've not noticed nor looked at one once :lol:

The souls/zelda comparisons are typically lazy on the surface, but not without merit. On a deeper level than the whole bonfire/item thing latched on to, I think these designers get the idea of what makes those genres work. There's that sense of progression and intrigue that many clones of both those games miss. As long as the complexity and difficulty ramps up (I want to have to take notes dammit!) I think this is a strong contender alongside Sifu for my favourite game so far this year.
 

DavelinaJolie

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Okay. So, I'm on the verge of completing Tunic, couple of things left to do. I think it is one of the best games I've played since Celeste, maybe The Witness. Some of the combat is a bit frustrating, but the level design is brilliant, it is fantastically paced, and the it feeds you the information very cleverly whilst giving you the option to learn more if you wish. I stopped trying to translate the language because it seemed like everything could be worked out without it*.

I don't know why but it always feels refreshing when someone makes something that treats you like a thinking person, not sticking objective markers all over the place and holding your hand through the game. The game also hasn't really outstayed its welcome.

*
I can see that there is a treasure I'll need to go read a guide for, the hidden instructions don't appear to give away enough without deciphering the runes - Edit: yep, no way to get that one without being able to translate the runic

Edit: Completed. Up there with The Witness as one of the best games I've played.
 
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Redlambs

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I've only just realised what the cards you find are for :lol:

Not really had a tough time with fights yet, the hardest bit is how sluggish combat can be and the whole roll/run nonsense to close the gap to the bigger bosses just feels a bit off. Other than that, so far so good.
 

VeevaVee

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Give me some good reasons to buy this over the PS5, fellas.
Game Pass is reason alone. Worth seeing which exclusives you'll prefer though, whether it's Elder Scrolls and Ori or you'd like to throw your controller at the wall because you can't shave 0.001 of a second off a corner in a Honda Jazz.
 

Eckers99

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Give me some good reasons to buy this over the PS5, fellas.
It's fast, quiet, has a ton of great older games on GP (especially if, like me, you had a PS4 and missed the likes of Ori), quick resume is generally excellent and you can pay for it in zero interest instalments from a few places.

There's also plenty of worthwhile new games, such as Psychonauts 2, Forza 5, Hades, Halo Infinite, Flight Simulator, Tunic etc...

Honestly, I love it.
 

Spoony

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Do what I did: The Xbox was a birthday present for the boy, the PS5 an Xmas one for the missus.

I mean they don't know they are actually mine and the present was the loan of them, but you know I could at least justify the cost that way ;)
My mate bought his missus a PS5 as a birthday present. She hates games.

Lambs you're impartial... Which one has the best games, bear in mind that it's for my 6 year old son. I think he's out grown his Switch.
 

Redlambs

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My mate bought his missus a PS5 as a birthday present. She hates games.
Oooof I'm not that bad, my Mrs is a gamer. She plays (and definitely clears) way more games than I do now.


Lambs you're impartial... Which one has the best games, bear in mind that it's for my 6 year old son. I think he's out grown his Switch.
As you'd guess, the PS5 has by far the best exclusive games for him, Spiderman, Miles, Ratchet and Clank are all perfect. That being said, obviously the Gamespass is a big draw and will let him find his own way with games more (there's plenty on there for kids). Though I will say my youngest got the X on release for his 10th and I've got to be honest, he barely touches it and much prefers his PC and steam/roblox (the latter of which is very underrated as a games platform and some of the games do work on the consoles I believe).

I would probably say if it's for your boy, ignore the X and get the S with gamespass and save the rest of the money towards a PS5 down the line when more games drop.
 

Alock1

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Series S for Gamepass and Roblox. PS5 later.
 

Sarni

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Give me some good reasons to buy this over the PS5, fellas.
It’s a much better experience overall, Microsoft have nailed it with this generation. I bought both of them at launch, PS5 was planned and preordered, Xbox was an impulse buy when I was home alone for a week before PS5 launch and wanted to kill some time. For the first year they were maybe split 50/50 only due to the fact I bought 2K on PS5, these days it is 90/10 Xbox for me. Much easier to jump into a game with Quick Resume, Game Pass makes it incredibly easy to try new games and see what works for you and what doesn’t. PS5 has the edge in exclusives for now, though actually the most appealing one of the current generation and the one I’m sure to spend the most amount of time with is actually on Xbox (FH5) but with Starfield, Avowed, Redfall, Stalker 2 coming out within the next 12 months, then followed by Fable, new Forza, new Elder Scrolls, it will get more even. As I said, GP will give you many games you would not even normally try that will sink you for hours.

Even the unboxing is on a different level to PS5. It feels premium.
 

Redlambs

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Oh well, I didn't know the box was a selling point.

In that case, get a Quest 2 @Spoony it has a far better box than both of them. It has many more exclusives than both of them combined, is great for the kids, and you can watch youtube, football and porn on it. Your Mrs can even watch her tv shows on it in peace (though hide your history). Everyone's a winner!
 

Sarni

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Oh well, I didn't know the box was a selling point.

In that case, get a Quest 2 @Spoony it has a far better box than both of them. It has many more exclusives than both of them combined, is great for the kids, and you can watch youtube, football and porn on it. Your Mrs can even watch her tv shows on it in peace (though hide your history). Everyone's a winner!
Well it’s a nice touch basically which adds to the experience, even if very slightly. The console design should not be all that important either but it’s minimalist design looks ways better at home than the strange looking PS5.
 

Spoony

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In terms of design and aesthetics the Xbox does win hands down, to be fair. I'm actually swaying towards the Xbox, you awful people. Big fan of Halo CE - been a bit disappointed with the look of the new Halo... oh well.
 

Redlambs

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Well it’s a nice touch basically which adds to the experience, even if very slightly. The console design should not be all that important either but it’s minimalist design looks ways better at home than the strange looking PS5.
:lol: No I get that, I was just semi-joking (the Quest 2 is a great piece of kit and does have a much better box).


In terms of design and aesthetics the Xbox does win hands down, to be fair. I'm actually swaying towards the Xbox, you awful people. Big fan of Halo CE - been a bit disappointed with the look of the new Halo... oh well.
The X is an incredibly well designed piece of kit. The S is too, internally more though as the shell looks like someone tried to make a speaker out of a cereal box, then kind of stuck with it when they realised they miss-read the brief.

I still haven't tried the new Halo as the developers aren't the best and it looks odd to me. Then again I was not the biggest fan of Halo 2 (playing it from launch, the dual weapon thing and changes to the weapons was a big issue among many and balancing) and I actually dislike Halo 3 as it's incredibly boring. ODST and some parts of Reach were decent enough though, but nothing compares to that initial launch of the OG XB and playing Halo 1 in the series. Absolutely a great time and set the scene for modern console shooters.
 

Alock1

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Whats better about the quest 2 box? Literally got one the other day. Was a nice box but I distinctly remember the series x opening being 'cool' (as cool as something like that can be anyway) in how it presents itself when you open it, has that power your dreams wrapper on etc.

Obviously it means f all when comparing vonsoles. But agree with Sarni it's a nice touch. If you get something expensive and it comes in tin foil it immediately gives you doubts on the quality of the item.
 

Alock1

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New Halo lacks content vs a games as a service multiplayer but the base game is the best arena shooter in years. The maps, mechanics, sound design and polish are all excellent.

The single player is good but could have been great with if it was kept in the oven a bit longer. The linear campaign missions lack variety and the story (for somebody who has never cared about Halo story) has wrapped itself up in knots a bit, and is having to try too hard to refer back to things from past games. It has story notes and character development that are isolated and specific to Infinite only though, and it does pretty well there. The open world sandbox is brilliant, just wish co op was available.
 

Spoony

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:lol: No I get that, I was just semi-joking (the Quest 2 is a great piece of kit and does have a much better box).




The X is an incredibly well designed piece of kit. The S is too, internally more though as the shell looks like someone tried to make a speaker out of a cereal box, then kind of stuck with it when they realised they miss-read the brief.

I still haven't tried the new Halo as the developers aren't the best and it looks odd to me. Then again I was not the biggest fan of Halo 2 (playing it from launch, the dual weapon thing and changes to the weapons was a big issue among many and balancing) and I actually dislike Halo 3 as it's incredibly boring. ODST and some parts of Reach were decent enough though, but nothing compares to that initial launch of the OG XB and playing Halo 1 in the series. Absolutely a great time and set the scene for modern console shooters.
That game blew me away on launch subsequent Halos have been let downs. I didn't think much of Halo 2 either. But yeah Halo CE was amazing, the single player campaign was so engrossing.
 

Redlambs

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Whats better about the quest 2 box? Literally got one the other day. Was a nice box but I distinctly remember the series x opening being 'cool' (as cool as something like that can be anyway) in how it presents itself when you open it, has that power your dreams wrapper on etc.

Obviously it means f all when comparing vonsoles. But agree with Sarni it's a nice touch. If you get something expensive and it comes in tin foil it immediately gives you doubts on the quality of the item.
Absolutely nothing, I'm amusing myself at the fact you guys give that much of a shit.

Having said that, I do get it. My 3080 came in an awesome case that let me know I was getting what I paid for. Not sure I'd use that in a comparison though, but each to their own :lol:

Enjoy the Quest btw. It's not the most brilliant VR kit in terms of power (though when I plug mine into my PC, it's obviously much better), but it's a step in the right direction. I would advise getting a cheap 3rd party headstrap though (not the shite that comes with it, or their expensive upgrade) as it makes the world of difference.
 

Alock1

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They are all doing it and so they should be. Gives options for streaming services when people have subscription fatigue and their pockets are stretched, and will fund more and more free content. They just need to make sure the experience is good and not intrusive or annoying. Equally, gamers got to accept there's a value exchange for free content, so some ads are more than fair enough.
 

VeevaVee

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They sure are. Anywho...

The two sources said the tech giant did not seem intent on taking a cut of ad revenue, and that it seemed more interested in building out the Xbox ad network. Ad revenue will be shared by the game developer and the adtech company that places the ad, those sources believe.

One of the sources speculated Microsoft isn't currently interested in collecting a cut of ad revenue because it wants to provide more money-making opportunities to developers who make free-to-play games.
Doesn’t sound so bad if it’s just in-game billboards in f2p games
 
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