J4MES OX4D

I remember when PC games made the transition - I used to love the big box games of the 90's with the CD case, fat instruction booklet and sometimes gifts included. Suddenly around the early 2000's, games began to move to DVD's and we instead got DVD cases with some lame thin instruction booklet and nothing else included. Going from Half Life, Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament, Age of Empires 2 etc.. with their big boxes to DVD's with their respective sequels was a huge downturn. It saved space, cheaper to produce and at least the games were still physical although most were Steam-bound, but a part of gaming died for me in those days. Consoles have been pretty much dead in the water since the absolutely iconic Xbox 360 and PS3 era. That was a conveyor belt of quality games where things were still innovating and people were still adapting to online gaming. Gamers were treated fairly and the industry was thriving. Although we've seen some great games in the previous gen and even this one, it's nothing that will really go down in history, apart from maybe Expedition 33, The Witcher 3 and Red Dead 2. Gaming is stagnant, the industry is riddled with corporate greed and cheapness along with shocking practices that make being a developer an extremely insecure profession. In 10 years time, console games will be streamed only so we will look back at this and think ourselves lucky at being able to at least own games on our digital accounts (assuming Sony don't take them away) Not only that, consoles will probably be digital-only too and require a connection to stream games in 8K through our common hardware like TV's and PC's. Companies like Microsoft and Ubisoft have explored this and are still working behind the scenes at making this a reality in the next decade. Others will soon follow and Nintendo are also expressing interest. So the future of gaming will essentially be sit in front of a TV, connect to a virtual console and stream games that way. You will not own anything but pay for a streaming service and then a subscriptions or rental. Valve may be on of the few entities that keep things outdatedly traditional. You'll probably spend £249.99 on a controller and that's it.

Hopefully more retailers will enter this space if it's going digital only. AAA publishers get ripped off by Microsoft and Sony relentlessly now so if comparable sites to the likes of Humble Bundle, Greenmangaming, Fantatical, WinGameStore, Gamesplanet, 2Game etc... enter the fray and buy keys/licences at a wholesale level then maybe there will be more competition in this space and gamers will get a better deal. I've picked up so many £50 games elsewhere for way less than £15 which were still £20+ discounted on Steam. Console needs to create non-premium alternatives where they can sell in volume and bypass the ludicrous PS and Microsoft Stores. If Sony and MS along with Nintendo continue to rule this space then every game going forward will cost £60-100 with very little reduction opportunities. On PC, I can literally get a brand new release for 20-33% off just through one of these alternative sites who are happy to sell in volume with lower margins and the publishers who distribute the keys don't have to worry about paying store premiums for every copy sold. I fear that because console gamers have been conditioned to the central stores and digital-only, this wont change though.

I'm not going to pre-order and instead will wait for reviews. Lots of staple content locked behind the £100 ultimate edition paywall and it looks like the online component may be sold separately down the line. So many big names from the series have departed in recent years so I'm not sure they will be able to replicate the spirit of previous games. If anyone has played the latest GTA Online seasons, they will see how utterly shambolic and cringeworthy the writing and characters have become. If the whole of GTA 6 is of this standard then it will be unbearable to play no matter how good the city is.

Modern gaming is so garbage that there really isn't any title which I want to own the physical version of now. Also digital prices drop so much on PC that it is way cheaper than what the pre-owned market used to be. Most physical games these days typically require day one updates and some even contain blank discs where the game needs to be downloaded from scratch anyway. Digital libraries just feel more convenient now especially when it comes to managing hundreds of games and I don't really mind not having the opportunity to sell used titles because many games just feel like consumables now. I actually think console gaming has much greater concerns with value and sustainability now. I could sell my first gen PS5 second hand for practically the same price I paid for it during the pandemic new. The price rises are utterly insane especially on such dated and inferior hardware. The next gen is inching towards the £1000 mark which puts it slightly behind mid-range PC's that could comfortably play a lot of titles in 4K 100fps+. There's also the subscription models, online premiums and top-end digital pricing. The future does look bleak especially with the amount of AI and UE5 slop.

Doom: The Dark Ages - much better than I was expecting. Not worth £70 but brilliant purchase at a deep discount.

Some new footage. Looks pretty good but £50 for a remaster of a remaster of a remaster is a big ask. Some good mission customisation but no MP. Let's not forget that the MCC for the same price got you the entire collection and every MP component on top.

Looking forward to this and it's on console also

Finally!

Should keep people occupied until Black Ops 8 eh

You still need to finish Fallout 4 Phil🤣

I just watched Mack's review on WAB and he's the only one that has really pulled the game apart. I still can't get over that it's basically just Hitman-lite. The combat looks incredibly ropey and the AI looks absolutely diabolical. Doesn't look at all like a Bond-type game and looks more like a shell of HItman and Uncharted from Temu slapped over it. I think a lot of reviews have been very kind and whether that's based on low standards or because of their previous excellent work with Hitman, I just don't know. I may pick it up down the line for £15 but this really isn't a £60 title.

Out next year. If it's anything like the last two expansions then we are in for a real treat. Bit late in the day but should be a fantastic conclusion before The Witcher 4 is out.

Disappointing but hardly surprising and I'm actually shocked it didn't end sooner. Not sure why Sony were beating a dead horse for so long and I actually fear for the entire Destiny future with so much damage done to the brand in recent years. The first and biggest mistake Bungie made was going independent. They were cocky little shitbags and got way too big for their boots leading up to, and after their departure from Activision. They wanted to go alone but they could not handle the tremendous operating costs required to sustain the live service and future content, not to mention the wage bill. 3 years they lasted before they went back to square one with Sony who completely overpaid for their acquisition. Sony then let them get on with it which was a huge mistake because they got way too comfortable unlike the pressure they were under at Activision to deliver worthwhile content and on time. Sony were ultimately losing about £50m a month even when new content dropped. This was supposed to be a 10 year project with a projected 3 games but it was almost dead in the water after half that. They should've moved to Destiny 3 development before the pandemic rather than string Destiny 2 out and I think Activision would've funded it had Bungie not been so arrogant and deluded of their previous success which was somewhat fortunate despite making two really polished and accessible titles. Marathon is pretty much dead in the water a couple of months after release and I don't know what's going to happen to the staff that are left. This is another almighty calamity from Sony that will be a costly as many of their other blunders in recent times. They just love burning 9-figures on very preventable things. I really enjoyed returning to Destiny 2 last year when I picked up a lot of legacy content for about £8. I managed to get an extra 50 hours out of it in that time which was one hell of a return especially as the content would've cost close to £100 new. I tried the new Edge of Fate expansion which was so bad, I quit the game for good and the next one wasn't much better from what I heard. Many of the key staff have long gone and the mismanagement, budgeting and general negative cloud has culminated into a disappointing conclusion. Cannot believe how badly this entire brand has been fumbled over the years but it all started with Bungie being delusional and taking everything for granted. Activision may be scumbags but when you are getting hundreds of millions thrown at you and living in comfort in what is an industry in turmoil, you shouldn't upset the applecart.

People really shouldn't have to pay to play online. Although this is nothing to do with the game pass, this is an extremely outdated model from the 360 days. Most of the burden of content servers and services lie with the 3rd parties now so it's even more unjustifiable for Microsoft to charge a fee. Xbox Live back in the day was a unique and almost groundbreaking platform but now all features are standard and expected and it's free on every PC platform. Cloud gaming should not be costed into the game pass because that just blurs revenue and makes the majority of gamers feel like they are paying for something they don't use, will never use and ultimately don't want. it really should be a separate service altogether. Game Pass should retain its identity of a subscription service to a range of games for the best price possible. Sony may have convoluted their entire business with PS+, PS NOW and tiers within but Microsoft should be able to differentiate the models. Less than half of Xbox customers have used Cloud Gaming and I expect many of those did it just to try it once. Unless 50%+ are using it each month regularly, it should not be part of the Ultimate offering. Microsoft have spent years trying to blend their entire service to make it appear more popular. Sony are a shambles - they confused the hell out of everyone with their bloated tiers and were then charging people £40 to stream 10 year old games for 2 weeks which you could buy in the sale for £3. The trouble with the console industry is prices are rising and nobody can provide a true justification as to why. One does it and they all do it. Nintendo puts games up to £70 and everyone follows. Sony ups their consoles by 10% and then the rest follow and now Microsoft have set the pass standard so Sony will probably raise at some stage despite having no tangible offering or true justification.

Yeah I used the Moguri Mod (I think that's what it's called) which uses some really impressive upscaling techniques. Total game-changer really and made the experience look exceptional!

Resident Evil Requiem

I'll probably grab this in the far future when it's £25. It's basically the same game once again but with a different backdrop. FH4 was where the series peaked but now it's a bit stagnant.

Just saw that it's £790 for a PS5 Pro from Argos. Absolutely disgusting really. I could probably sell my old PS5 standard for more than I paid for it back in 2021. This is also the end of the generation and the prices are still going up. Doesn't make sense. These machines shouldn't cost more than £350 for what's under the hood and how powerful they are.

Smart move from Microsoft to fool consumers once more. Even though the pass is $7 cheaper now, it's still $7 more expensive than it was several months prior. Removing Call of Duty will see them getting paid massively at retail once again, so any freeloaders who choose not to renew the pass even at the cheaper rate, Microsoft will still rake the money in from unit sales of the game which will comfortably exceed any lost revenue at the original pass increase rate. Arguably $23 a month without a flagship title like Call of Duty is an outrageous rip-off in itself. The only consolation is that the games on the pass, particularly the indie games may actually get to make a better share of income without COD absorbing it all. Some indie titles were probably lucky to walk away with 30 cents an install on products that would cost £20 at retail.

The designer of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, co-creator of Call of Duty, founder of Respawn Entertainment and Titanfall plus the man who salvaged Battlefield 2042 which enabled BF6 to exist, was killed over the weekend in a car crash. Tragic news and his name will go down in industry folklore forever. Vince Zampella, the co-founder of Infinity Ward and head of Battlefield, dies in car crash | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM Zampella was reportedly killed in a car crash over the weekend.

I saw the game had a free trial and was discounted but I just couldn't be bothered to go through the download just to try it. Even free and in the sale, the player count on PC dropped between 48,000 and 56k which is insane and this also includes the Warzone numbers. The next game will have to be something special because I have never seen it so unappealing or players so demoralised with it all.

Gears of War: Reloaded

FREE £10/$10 in store credit which you can claim in your in-game messages section. Should be enough to buy a new outfit!

Some more Dark Souls 2

Most of these big announcements at the game awards are typically premature but I trust Larian as they have a track record of doing the business. The new Fate of the Republic Star Wars game on the other hand likely wont arrive until 2029-30 and we are still waiting for the first update to Elder Scrolls 6 which was shamefully announced and never mentioned again way back in 2018. I pretty much just ignore CGI trailers and just leave these games on the backburner though.