J4MES OX4D

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. 

Resident Evil Requiem








 

Final Fantasy 9

Yet even more of Expedition 33

Even more of Expedition 33

Some more of Expedition 33







 

This game is pure art 

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. 

I feel like the PS5 has never really got into its stride, its just a slightly faster PS4 as far as I'm concerned...with the PS5 Pro being more in line of what it should have been...and with talk that to really be able to enjoy the next GTA its best to have a Pro, which is currently around £700 🙈
and they're already talking about PS6 being on the horizon 🙃

Yeah i can't see myself going back. If they ever do a Fallout 3, New Vegas remaster, or Elder Scrolls 6 (won't hold my breath) I'll just buy the games themselves.

If they do, they'll probably demand £39.99 for it! 

Just when you thought Bethesda couldn't sink any further, they've just released Fallout 4 Anniversary for £53/$60 and in the process broken the majority of established mods. They are also now offering 'their' own paid mods for an extra £20. So basically they have repackaged something you could've bought for £14.99 a month ago, butchered every mod in the process - some of which had 6+ years of work on them so they can reintroduce their paid mod fetish which has failed 3 times already. 
 
This company is beyond being creatively and morally bankrupt. I can't see how they will survive beyond 2030 even with a new Elder Scrolls game. Microsoft also need to shoulder a huge portion of the blame as they've done nothing for the studio who still rely on outdated tech and concepts. 

The maps are largely (excuse the pun) bad Battlefield maps but I don't think they are all atrocious MP maps in general. These are what COD maps used to be 15 years ago. After 75 or so hours, here's my final thoughts on them:-
 
Blackwell Fields - now this map is an atrocity. Terrible visibility, way too open, aesthetically nasty and just a hideous layout. 
 
Cairo - decent map and plenty of destruction. Drone glitchers galore though. Works well in several modes.
 
Manhattan Bridge - good layout and decent size. C flag is well-positioned for a good battle. Action on and off the ground and it works well in all modes. 
 
Empire State - really small and frantic. There's very little room for any tactics and squad play is irrelevant. Decent MP map but not a good Battlefield experience.
 
New Sobek City - one of the bigger maps but still really small. Pretty fun in Breakthrough but lacks any scale or complexity like the Gulf of Oman map.
 
Mirak Valley - tries to be a BF1 map but feels mostly like a barren land. Big but not huge. Still fun in breakthrough but hardly feels like a traditional map from this series. 
 
Iberian Offensive - not a very good looking map. It's really basic but has a decent enough flow. Doesn't feel like a Battlefield map.
 
Operation Firestorm - 30% smaller than the older variants and it feels really watered-down. The inflated colours make it look really off too. A horrible remake. 
 
Liberation Peak - A good size and finally a map where vehicles can utilise the landscape. Still feels a bit compact on how the action flows but a good all-rounder. 
 
 
No naval maps in inexcusable and it's clear the developers don't like water because it fragments the action and they are probably worried people will get bored if they don't have a gun fight every 10-15 seconds. I think there is probably only one half-decent Battlefield map in this game and the rest are detrimental to the series although they aren't terrible in MP terms and how the game is designed. One map per season is not good enough either especially if it is as bad as the Blackwell Fields. 
 
Considering how bad the maps were in 2042, there really hasn't been many good maps out of this franchise for a very long time. Most of the maps also negate squad play that made the series so special. You can literally ignore your squad the whole game and still end up top with 45-60 kills and 20 captures. In older BF titles, squads were imperative especially for maintaining territory and pushing objectives. In this game flags change hands so often, if you ain't got double figures of captures come the end of the game, you've barely played the objective. 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes home an absurd 9 wins at The Game Awards, more than Baldur's Gate 3 in 2023 | PC Gamer
WWW.PCGAMER.COM This year's Game Awards GOTY (and almost everything else) is the popular French RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.  

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

Gears of War: Reloaded

Another of the new games announced at the games awards, looks interesting.
 
 
 

I believe they're giving all players a gift of one thousand raider tokens too, which is nice.

Some more Dark Souls 2






 

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

Here's a interview and info with Larian devs which may clear some of that up for you 😘
 
 

Hogwarts Legacy FREE on Epic until the 18th
Just a moment...
STORE.EPICGAMES.COM  

I haven't played Arc enough, I can't get myself off Tarkov, particularly now that you can actually escape, which is a massive though very enjoyable grind. EFT actually has a story now and I'm loving it.
 
I'm off work for most of the festive period so I'll finally be able to give some time to Arc hopefully.
 
Anyway, let me leave you with these thoughts from a man who is definitely not an unstable grifting wank stain 🤪
 
 

New Larian game, they certainly know how to make em 🤪