Microsoft Congratulations to Microsoft on "winning" Year 1 of the Ninth Console Generation

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The evidence is pretty much here right before us:

 

- GamePass is an unqualified, industry-defining/disrupting success

- Forza Horizon 5 is probably gonna be the consensus GotY

- Age of Empires IV was a return to form for the venerable RTS series

- Halo Infinite multiplayer has been very warmly received (of course, we await the reception for the campaign)

- Psychonauts 2 is an absolutely genuine delight and also a legitimate consensus GotY candidate

- The updates to the overall console UI experience, especially in terms of accessibility features, have been very promising

- Backwards compatibility and FPS Boost that has given new life to games from previous generations.

 

I'm sure there are a few more things that I'm forgetting, but all-in-all, I really can't see how there is any dispute that Microsoft can readily be declared the victor of the First Year of the Ninth Console Generation.

[Bacon]

car game

goty

 

GOTY is EW, btw 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, Bacon said:

car game

goty

 

GOTY is EW, btw 

 

EW?

[SaysWho?]

Forza's off to a rough start in that consensus, then. And Game Pass was noticeably under their subscription target. I've wondered for a while if there's a ceiling for game subscription services and I've been thinking more that there is, but time will tell definitively on that.

 

Probably one of their better first party years since the 360 days, though. Fortunately, I'm able to play some of them on PS5.  

[Bacon]

Gamepass is great. Not that I have ever really used it yet, but I will for the Halo SP down the road. Honestly doubt I ever buy another MS game. 

[Kal-El814]

Just now, Bacon said:

car game

goty

 

GOTY is EW, btw 

 

Burnout Paradise was a top 3 game of its generation.

[Bacon]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

EW?

FFXIV: Endwalker. 

[Kal-El814]

1 minute ago, Bacon said:

FFXIV: Endwalker. 

 

That abbreviation was the real eww.

[Bacon]

Just now, Kal-El814 said:

 

Burnout Paradise was a top 3 game of its generation.

There has only been one good racing series of video games and that is Mario Kart. Car games are fucking some of the most boring trash to have ever been made, only next to, shudders, Sports games. 

[stepee]

Agreed. I can almost tie it as PS5 had a much better launch and through the first half imo with some actual new exclusive games to play leading up to the visual spectacle of Rachet. They also had some solid opening months of psplus games until they dialed it back. 

 

But MS owns the back half of the first year with ease and everything else surrounding it as you mentioned has been better.

 

You didn’t even mention the launch of their cloud gaming platform which has been growing quite extensively. This week they launched a way by which current Xbox One users can technically just continue on their same system through next gen. 
 

Gamepass is just such a fucking monster of a thing that it really impresses me how strong the playstation brand is to still be enough to overcome it with basically no extra effort.

 

 

[Brian]

I don’t think Forza will win GOTY but it has overtaken Gran Turismo as the premier racing game which is pretty crazy.  
 

I don’t care much about Game Pass success but it’s definitely been the best value in gaming when you consider the games that have been, will be, and currently are on the service. I don’t think I have gone a month without downloading at least a couple of games to play. 
 

Both companies have done extremely well this generation so far which is nice to see. There things on both systems that I am excited to play.  

[crispy4000]

I don't think they've shown why you need a Series X just yet.  But this is their best Q3-Q4 of software releases in a decade.  Or at least it feels like it.

 

Don't forget the backwards compatibility and FPS boost announcements.  Many of those games were reliant on the progress of emulators beforehand.

[stepee]

7 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

I don’t think Forza will win GOTY but it has overtaken Gran Turismo as the premier racing game which is pretty crazy.  
 

I don’t care much about Game Pass success but it’s definitely been the best value in gaming when you consider the games that have been, will be, and currently are on the service. I don’t think I have gone a month without downloading at least a couple of games to play. 
 

Both companies have done extremely well this generation so far which is nice to see. There things on both systems that I am excited to play.  

 

This is also my take too in that I think it’s a good start to the generation for both all around and despite stupid shit like ea saying nft’s are the future I’m pretty happy with how things are rolling at the moment.

[best3444]

@Commissar SFLUFAN buy me an XSX. I appreciate it in advance. 

[crispy4000]

9 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

This is also my take too in that I think it’s a good start to the generation for both all around.

 

To be fair, both have been inconsistent.  Microsoft dialed in the launch line-up as if Series X was a mid-gen refresh.  Sony has its share of UI woes and delayed everything out of Q4.

 

They’re on the right track now at least.  I think we’ll start to see the two companies duke it out more directly with big hitters than they ever have before.

[stepee]

6 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

To be fair, both have been inconsistent.  Microsoft dialed in the launch line-up as if Series X was a mid-gen refresh.  Sony has its share of UI woes and delayed everything out of Q4.

 

They’re on the right track now at least.  I think we’ll start to see the two companies duke it out more directly with big hitters than they ever have before.

 

Yeah, there have been issues, but considering the pandemic and all things are looking good. And yeah I just think MS really gearing it up this gen and then Sony’s eventual rebuttal, it’s going to be fun!

 

The biggest issue imo this generation is still stock, which is obviously pandemic related also amongst other things. It is sad that there are still a lot of people really wanting one of these that just can’t even if they have the money.

[Brian]

Sony pitched the idea of defined generations and quickly backpedal to the point where most of its first party offerings are cross-gen. 
 

While, Microsoft pitched the idea of no more generations and changed its tune where most of its first party offerings seem to be next gen only though maybe XCloud can help with last gen. 

Both companies are figuring out its path forward but the consoles and games have been great. Considering the pandemic and the extreme pressure on the supply chain, it’s been a good start to the generation. 

[SaysWho?]

All I know is this could be the first generation since the PS2 days that the Big Three all have a good first party showing so this thread title sucks.

 

I win, bitches. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

47 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

Don't forget the backwards compatibility and FPS boost announcements.  Many of those games were reliant on the progress of emulators beforehand.

 

See my last bullet point

 

[crispy4000]

33 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Sony pitched the idea of defined generations and quickly backpedal to the point where most of its first party offerings are cross-gen. 
 

While, Microsoft pitched the idea of no more generations and changed its tune where most of its first party offerings seem to be next gen only though maybe XCloud can help with last gen. 

Both companies are figuring out its path forward but the consoles and games have been great. Considering the pandemic and the extreme pressure on the supply chain, it’s been a good start to the generation. 

 

I have doubts that either console is powerful enough for a hard breakaway from the past.  For instance: Who is still waiting for the Cyperpunk next-gen patch to wow them?  Who believes 60fps will still be the norm when UE5 takes over?

 

A next-gen upscaling solution should have (already) solved this.

 

[stepee]

I think actually this gen finally when UE5 is the norm, there will be many 60fps games. There is so much room for easily scaling down with resolution difference either fixed or dynamic, and Xbox Series S spec is here to stay as two of the biggest reasons. I mean when UE5 is running, they will be using taau which can do wonders even if it’s no dlss. 

 

I mean as an optional mode of course. I think people were always thinking of games having to hit this one target but I think this will be the generation where games have two targets (quality and performance) to give people both and let them decide.

 

I also think this means as it already become more the norm, pc gamers move to 120fps as their reasonable target for AAA instead of 60fps.

[Xbob42]

I hope the consoles continue to push for 60FPS performance modes. It's been one of the few nice surprises of the generation and in my estimation the only good thing (to me) to come out of last-gen's mid-gen upgrades. The mid-gen refreshes got people used to the options, and so I think the uptake on being presented with these options without Jeff Gerstmanning (He wants as few options as possible on a console, which is a somewhat fair point, but not when the default is always going to be "run like shit to look a little better") all over the place all over the place has been great. Those who care about performance and those who don't now both have options, and everyone wins in that situation.

Ideally the true solution would be ever game targeting 60 FPS and then designing the game to look pristine despite that frame rate, but LOL bro we got screenshots and trailers to sell.

[stepee]

10 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I hope the consoles continue to push for 60FPS performance modes. It's been one of the few nice surprises of the generation and in my estimation the only good thing (to me) to come out of last-gen's mid-gen upgrades. The mid-gen refreshes got people used to the options, and so I think the uptake on being presented with these options without Jeff Gerstmanning (He wants as few options as possible on a console, which is a somewhat fair point, but not when the default is always going to be "run like shit to look a little better") all over the place all over the place has been great. Those who care about performance and those who don't now both have options, and everyone wins in that situation.

Ideally the true solution would be ever game targeting 60 FPS and then designing the game to look pristine despite that frame rate, but LOL bro we got screenshots and trailers to sell.

 

I think for pc gaming this is the place to be really. I think the 60fps mode they have now is close enough to what the games would be like if designed that way, and any further cuts instead of just resolution to get there would just mean less assets and modeling and effects that end up on quality mode/pc probably. But at the same time having a mode that does at least run at 60fps means that the pc version can probably get to 120fps easily enough.

[Xbob42]

Honestly I found that the longer the last two generations went on the less I cared about assets and effects and modeling and all that. In fact I began to become irritated with something looking real nice because it invariably meant poor performance. I just want a super smooth and stable frame rate with perfect frame pacing now. That is by far the most impressive technical trick you can pull for me. Even basic bitch games are getting weird stuttering on both PC and console here and there which is really bizarre.

[stepee]

I kind of want things to be designed for as demanding as possible and then just let people scale down on pc idk. Honestly VRR on tv now and with all the resolution tricks on pc especially dlss I feel it’s been easier than ever to run stuff at your desired performance level in relation to other qualities. It seems now I just max everything out for 60fps or make some smart cuts for mostly 120 or mostly 90 and I never have to really worry about spikes because vrr handles it.

[Xbob42]

4 minutes ago, stepee said:

pc especially dlss

Hey if they can find a way to make DLSS driver-level then we're gold. Until then, we'll keep getting very demanding games that don't have it even though they should, and "very demanding" games don't even always look the best. Like Halo Infinite. I should be getting like 200 FPS on that at 4k max settings because it looks like an Xbox One game that got a new nipple piercing but I ended up having to drop it to 1440p to stay above 90 FPS.

Also people can talk about gsync and VRR all they want. It definitely helps but it doesn't hide big drops or stutters. Stutters are my worst enemy. I would sacrifice all my toes to permanently eliminate stutter.

[stepee]

I think with vrr and gsync when we have stutter the issue lies elsewhere in programming and data streaming and not really anything toning down a game would necessarily fix. I think that’s a whole different thing to go into to fix eventually.

 

But yeah everything isn’t perfect right now but it’s heading in a good direction. You can try running Halo at 1800p upscaled to 4k using the new nvidia driver!

[Paperclyp]

I think GOTY is gonna be split between Deathloop, Metroid, Inscryption, Forza and Hitman 3.

[vaxick]

I'll consider myself an Xbox gamer when I get my Steam Deck.  My PC is a glorified web browsing word processing device at this point, and the PS5 is enough for my TV.

[SaysWho?]

38 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

I think GOTY is gonna be split between It Takes Two, Deathloop, Metroid, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil VIIIage, Inscryption, Forza, Psychonauts 2 and Hitman 3.

 

Fixed.

 

Chicory will be a dark horse in a couple sites. 

[best3444]

3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

Fixed.

 

Chicory will be a dark horse in a couple sites. 

 

I think Psychonauts 2 shocked everyone to the point I think it will win goty. Forza 5 will not win I'm pretty positive. 

[HardAct]

5 hours ago, Bacon said:

There has only been one good racing series of video games and that is Mario Kart. Car games are fucking some of the most boring trash to have ever been made, only next to, shudders, Sports games. 

   Ridiculous to make a statement like that. Ok so your opinion is that you don't like racing games, was that so hard to say. "Trash" now that's just forcing an opinion down your peers throats. Your in a Gaming / tech / etc forum you know, gotta love the internet keyboard cowboys. Enjoy your night you fine citizen you...

[best3444]

5 minutes ago, HardAct said:

   Ridiculous to make a statement like that. Ok so your opinion is that you don't like racing games, was that so hard to say. "Trash" now that's just forcing an opinion down your peers throats. Your in a Gaming / tech / etc forum you know, gotta love the internet keyboard cowboys. Enjoy your night you fine citizen you...

 

That's just bacon being bacon. I agree with your post though. 

[Bacon]

13 minutes ago, HardAct said:

   Ridiculous to make a statement like that. Ok so your opinion is that you don't like racing games, was that so hard to say. "Trash" now that's just forcing an opinion down your peers throats. Your in a Gaming / tech / etc forum you know, gotta love the internet keyboard cowboys. Enjoy your night you fine citizen you...

Alright. Listen the fuck here. 

 

[best3444]

4 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Alright. Listen the fuck here. 

 

 

You're crazy but I like you. You bring entertainment to this forum.