Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct: Betting Special [OVER]

[Astral_lion02]

Microsoft reveal almost all their upcoming projects in good trailers but concretely they don't release a lot of games.
So we end up with a huge list of games lying around without a release window.

So 2023 at Microsoft is therefore Hi-Fi Rush, Redfall, Starfield and (again) Forza. This include 3 games that were supposed to be released in 2022. It's a bit light for a manufacturer with so many studios.

For the vast majority of games there is no date and when there is a date it is a vague "2024".
Knowing the industry it's 50/50 to see these games delayed to 2025 for X or Y reasons.

Apart from that Microsoft was able to make a good show and they were some good third-party games.
And obviously they have established a very good partnership with Sega/Atlus.

Starfield is very promising too.

 

[RDragon]

And like clockwork, the most trending thing on Twitter on games is Starfield being confirmed at 30fps.

 

[master94ga]

Because some games like Fable needed to be more than just an in-engine trailer considering how long the game has been in development and some trailers like South at Midnight didn't even tell you its genre.

Fable was in game as confirmed by the trailer, not in engine, and was running on Series X, also confirmed on Twitter by a Playground developer.

South at Midnight is an Action/Adventure in third person.

 

[Tokuiten]

After sleeping about it, I think it was objectively a good presentation that still failed to cover one of Xbox' biggest shortcomings. And there were too many bad trailers that showed nothing but cutscenes and leave us in the dark about the actual game just as if we hadn't gotten a trailer at all. That Fable-trailer, ugh.

But the thing that disappointed me was the lack of Indiana Jones OR another new IP that covers the above mentioned shortcoming: Adventurous games with likeable heroes. Basically what Sony has in droves with Uncharted, Last of Us, Spiderman, etc.. The closest MS comes to that is the Gears-franchise and that is a dudebro-franchise. Really would have liked to see something more colorful, with a hero who's fun and cool (in a human way, not in a caricature, over-the-top way). Guess we'll have to wait for such game to be revealed.

Starfield looks amazing on one hand. On the other hand, between all these things you can do, I have two major problems with the game so far, and maybe/hopefully those will resolve themselves when I found out more: For one, just like above, I haven't seen any likeable NPCs so far. Nobody who looks/sounds interesting. The stiff face animations might play a huge role here, too. No matter how many possibilities a game gives you, when I don't care about any of the people, that's bad. For two, again, with so much stuff to do, I haven't really understood WHY I want to do it to begin with. Finding artifacts, okay, cool. But if the majority of the game is spent attacking and looting enemy bases, that has the potential to get tiresome fast. But while that sounds negative, it's two things that can and probably will change once I find out more about the game. Since it's on GamePass, I'll be there day 1 either way.

Metaphor ... I'm honestly through with Atlus-games. Too much release/platform politics shenanigans. If they want to grow as a developer, they should commit to an audience, whether it's PS-exclusive, Non-Nintendo exclusive or true multiplatform. Having to worry and beg and pray with every of their announcements is no fun. Fwiw, tech-wise the game looks disappointing, the town especially is extremely basic like many of BandaiNamco's anime-games. And I expected are more different experience from "Project Re:Fantasy", so this Persona-spinoff, while interesting, is a bit disappointing as a "medieval fantasy"-game.

Flight Simulator continues to look amazing and the Dune-collaborations rules. Really need to get into the game.

To fit all this into a sales-related conclusion: Starfield seems to live up to what most expected/hoped and it looks like a real cornerstone-title, one that will draw in people for years to come. If MS can have a more steady flow of releases in 2024, GamePass subscriptions should be on the rise. Still, a successful ABK-acquisition even now seems like something MS needs to truly compete with Sony and Nintendo.

 

[awng782]

And like clockwork, the most trending thing on Twitter on games is Starfield being confirmed at 30fps.

I doubt this will end up mattering at all if the game delivers on what it is promising.

 

[RDragon]

I doubt this will end up mattering at all if the game delivers on what it is promising.

If the game is ambitious, the game can run like dog water and still reviewed and sale well. Case in point: Skyrim, Pokemon S/V, and Jedi Fallen Order.

 

[Dakota Joestar]

And like clockwork, the most trending thing on Twitter on games is Starfield being confirmed at 30fps.

Twitter just needs to accept that 30 FPS is pretty much the standard for most people and is gonna become more and more common as we go further in the generation.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

The game running at native 4K and the way Todd talks about it in the latest interview, there usually seems to be a lot of headroom with regards to performance. Would love if they offered an unlocked framerate option.

 

[Dakota Joestar]

The game running at native 4K and the way Todd talks about it in the latest interview, there usually seems to be a lot of headroom with regards to performance. Would love if they offered an unlocked framerate option.

If this game has console mods like Fallout 4 did, I can see someone making an unlock frame rate mod, since that was something modders made for Skyrim and Fallout 4 shortly after the PS5 and Series X released.

 

[derby_440]

I doubt this time people will get fooled by "in-game" Fable. Its likely slated for fall 2025 or early 2026 and team have came up with in engine like cut scene for showcase. They didn't even bother to make fake gameplay like Ubisoft. Or that early TLOU2 demo which was also downgraded by release time. Basically anything 2-3 years out isn't locked in graphically. That part is always left by very end, last 6-12 months. Thats when devs make compromise trying to run games on actual console hardware.

 

[SoonyXboneUhh]

Premium upgrade Bundles for Game Pass were previously also available via download code at retailers, but this Premium Upgrade for Starfield including a Box and sticker is the most widespread I've seen so far.
Every major retailor in every market (those i looked at) has those.

So that's a main SKU for the game.
Standard, Premium, Upgrade and CE


Will be tracked by NPD and should generate a lot of revenue

 

[RDragon]

Twitter just needs to accept that 30 FPS is pretty much the standard for most people and is gonna become more and more common as we go further in the generation.

The problem is that a lot of MS’s PR people pushed that 60 FPS would be the new minimum for the first year of the Series’ life.

 

[fiendcode]

The problem is that a lot of MS’s PR people pushed that 60 FPS would be the new minimum for the first year of the Series’ life.

Sure, the first year when they were crossgen.

 

[Welfare]

They said the FPS can reach up to 60 but they'd rather it be locked to 30 for consistency.

An uncapped option would be nice for VRR but maybe that's something for post launch so they can focus on the one setting they'll launch with.

Also, Bethesda games do way more in terms of compute and logic than nearly every game. 60FPS would be crazy to expect. GTA6 will be 30 as well.

 

[RDragon]

Sure, the first year when they were crossgen.

Not the point. The point is that MS brought a lot of this on themselves and gave fuel to the trolls by pushing that 60fps would be the minimal for their first-party games. Because no one would have cared or expected Starfield to be 30fps if they didn't make such a lofty claim.

 

[fiendcode]

Not the point. The point is that MS brought a lot of this on themselves and gave fuel to the trolls by pushing that 60fps would be the minimal for their first-party games. Because no one would have cared or expected Starfield to be 30fps if they didn't make such a lofty claim.

I'll be honest, I don't even remember than claim and I'm pretty clued in. Was it before or after they actually owned Bethesda?

 

[RDragon]

I'll be honest, I don't even remember than claim and I'm pretty clued in. Was it before or after they actually owned Bethesda?

I saw people requoting the claim on Twitter, so yeah they were real. I thought it was from some Xbox fanboy until I saw the official marker from Twitter showing that they did indeed work for MS or are extremely close to the company. One idiot went as far as to mocked R/C for the PS5 for being 30/40fps.

Now you can say that since this is before Beth was bought they not beholding to MS's PR and I would agree. But the fact is that they are now own by MS and as people pointed out with Redfall they're now held to an even higher standard, fairly or not, and some people still haven't forgiven Beth for Fallout 76.

Personally, all this 30fps vs 60fps is all console war nonsense and the only time frame rate should be a minus is for fast-pace games like Bayonetta or FPS. At the same time, MS is really their own worst enemy.

 

[fiendcode]

I saw people requoting the claim on Twitter, so yeah they were real. I thought it was from some Xbox fanboy until I saw the official marker from Twitter showing that they did indeed work for MS or are extremely close to the company. One idiot went as far as to mocked R/C for the PS5 for being 30/40fps.

Now you can say that since this is before Beth was bought they not beholding to MS's PR and I would agree. But the fact is that they are now own by MS and as people pointed out with Redfall they're now held to an even higher standard, fairly or not, and some people still haven't forgiven Beth for Fallout 76.

Personally, all this 30fps vs 60fps is all console war nonsense and the only time frame rate should be a minus is for fast-pace games like Bayonetta or FPS. At the same time, MS is really their own worst enemy.

Wait, this only comes from a single tweet? From a possible MS employee? That's it?

And you you don't think the response is outsized here? MS really "brought this on themselves"?

 

[RDragon]

Wait, this only comes from a single tweet? From a possible MS employee? That's it?

It was actually several, more than one. The one tweet is from an associate of MS that mocked R/C for not being 60fps.

And you you don't think the response is outsized here? MS really "brought this on themselves"?

Quoting myself:

Personally, all this 30fps vs 60fps is all console war nonsense and the only time frame rate should be a minus is for fast-pace games like Bayonetta or FPS.

I gave my opinion. I think it's console war nonsense. But it is MS's own PR from their employees and associates that people are beating over their heads, which is why I said MS is it own worst enemy.

 

[fiendcode]

Can you source these tweets from MS, uh, associates for us then? I'd love to see them.

 

[RDragon]

Can you source these tweets from MS, uh, associates for us then? I'd love to see them.

I have to find them again since I only saw them because it was on the popular Twitter timeline because '30fps Starfield' was trending. I am not subscribed to any of these people.

Edit: Here is the most popular one I’ve seen.



You also have gems like these from Jez, an Editor at Window Central:





A few years ago:



Honestly, this entire discourse is console war, so I’ll stop here. Bottom line, as long as Starfield lives up to its promises, no is going to give a flip about frame rate.

 

[Xevross]

30fps is fine for starfield, most people will be expecting bugs, glitches and poor performance so if it's well polished and locked 30fps that'll be a huge win.

 

[Welfare]

Bet results! Man I was thinking the main show would be 90 minutes, not 60.

Spoiler: First Party

New id developed Quake is announced for 2024 - NO

A Japanese or Chinese developed exclusive is announced - NO

Flight Simulator, an Age game, and Halo Infinite all show new content - NO (No Age or Halo)

Minecraft will have a new game/update revealed - NO

At least 200 enemies are shown to be killed or knocked down - NO

Skyrim is mentioned 6 times - NO

Sea of Thieves has another cross over event - YES (Monkey Island)

2 new IP are revealed - YES (South of Midnight and Clockwork Revolution)

Marcus Fenix reveals himself - NO

Wolfenstein 3 and Indiana Jones are shown - NO

Compulsion announces their new game - YES (South of Midnight)

Fable is dated for 2024 - NO

Other than Starfield and Forza, three more are scheduled for 2023 - NO (Everything was announced for 2024 or no date)

The Elusive 5 (Fable, Perfect Dark, State of Decay 3, Avowed, Everwild) ALL make an appearance - NO (Fable and Avowed only)

More than 10 Xbox Game Studios + Xbox Game Studios Publishing will appear - YES (11 games exactly)

Spoiler: Third Party + Game Pass

PC Game Pass makes another partnership with a popular franchise - NO

At least 10 indie games will show trailers - NO

Three FPS will be demo'd - NO (Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and Payday 3 were the only two)

Sports will be played - NO

Dragon Ball Tenkaichi is given a gameplay trailer - NO

Kiryu punches Majima - NO

The EA, Ubisoft, Warner Bros, and Take Two logos will reveal themselves - NO (Only Ubisoft)

Shin Megami Tensei V will be shown right after Persona 3 Remake - NO

A Dragon Quest character will cast Zap - NO

Activision/Blizzard/King will announce at least 1 game coming to Game Pass - NO

At least 25 games not from XGS will be shown as coming to Game Pass - NO (Only 14 third party games showed up)

Spoiler: Starfield Direct

A romance scene will be shown - YES

While playing, Todd will look at a mountain in the distance and drive to it - NO

We will be taken through the start and conclusion of one quest - NO

The player shoots at an enemy on at least 20 different planets - NO (Being generous is hard here as a lot of the combat is in closed spaces and not out in the open and certain spaces look to be connected)

5 companions are revealed - NO (They specify Companions and Crew Members. Only 4 Companions were shown)

We know the controller and headset leaked, but along with those, a new Series X limited edition is revealed - NO

The game is still dated to release September 6, 2023 (9.6.23) - YES

At least 20 different guns will be fired by the player - No one chose this so it doesn't matter

An easter egg to Elder Scrolls will be shown, but not talked about - NO

A nuke will go off - NO

Third person gameplay will be shown off more than first person - No one chose this so it doesn't matter

Mod support on Xbox will be talked about - NO

The third party bets were all losses jeez