By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Interesting. James Gunn has just confirmed that WB Games will be making games that directly connect to the DC movies. Not just a cinematic universe but a……entertainment universe?



Around the Network
Ryuu96 said:

Questions for those who play Xbox IP on PC.

  1. Do you play Xbox IP through Windows Store or Steam and if so, why?
  2. How'd you rate Xbox's efforts on Xbox App/Windows Store specifically and how can they improve?
  3. How do you think Xbox will improve from 7th or do you think it's futile and they need to get Game Pass on Steam?

I use the Xbox app on PC to play PC Game Pass. 

Microsoft has improved the Xbox app, but it still has a ways to go to match Steam. 



VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTubeFollow me on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Writer of the Sales Comparison | Weekly Hardware Breakdown Top 10 | Weekly Sales Analysis | Marketshare Features, as well as daily news on the Video Game Industry.

gtotheunit91 said:

Interesting. James Gunn has just confirmed that WB Games will be making games that directly connect to the DC movies. Not just a cinematic universe but a……entertainment universe?

Not sure I like that idea, I mean I watch movies and TV shows from DC but you'll be limited to what you can do if they all share the same universe.

Like would you kill/introduce a major character in a video game over a movie?

I prefer they go the Batman Arkham/Spider-Man route where its separate.





I just completed my first playthrough of Pentiment. The game may cost only $20, but the story and heartfelt connection you have with the characters by the end plays out like a full-priced game! I cannot stress enough that this is truly still an Obsidian game in terms of its storytelling. Josh Sawyer, whatever you make, I will always play!

Overall, I do give it a 10/10. I have very minor nitpicks, but it's towards the nicheness of the game and wasn't something that took away from my enjoyment of the game. I was able to complete 27 out of the 41 achievements as it's definitely impossible to unlock all the achievements on a single playthrough. There are several achievements that are not entirely known as to how to get them and they're very vague in their description to where not even TrueAchievements has any guides on them yet or there's a guide, but the comments talk about all the different ways it took to unlock it lol. 

As far as the nitpicks, very minor, but I do have a brief mention of the ending, so I'll add a spoiler tag even though I won't mention what actually happens.

Spoiler!

So......much......text I cannot tell you how many times I had to constantly press A to go through dialogue lol. But the story was so good I eventually just ignored how much text I was going through. If the game had the budget, voice acting would've been HUGE!!! With Narrative Adventure games, there's usually some sort of audible voice cue when characters are talking, which even that would've been preferable over just hearing the sound of writing. 

I cannot say that the ending was 100% satisfying. At least not at first. It was a bit too unexpected, and it was a bit too difficult to fully buy it. But it was still a satisfying ending to the story that I was happy with. So the ending I'll have to experience again on my second playthrough to see how satisfying it really was. But the actual ending to the game itself........beautiful!!!! It was literally a work of art. 

Definitely a game I highly recommend. Like every review has said, it's a niche game. You may get bored of it because of the gameplay loop, which is why it's so perfect for Game Pass. But if you are able to get through that, you're in for an experience.  

Currently on Steam, it has 870 reviews and it's sitting at a 97% Overwhelmingly Positive. So those that are playing it, are loving it. And it's player count has not dropped as fast as you'd think. Not huge. Most concurrent players ever were a little over 1,200, but after almost 2 weeks since launch, the game had nearly 1,000 concurrent players in the past 24 hours. So players are not only sticking through it to the end of the story, but they're already replaying it. It only took me 16 hours to beat. And that's with seeing quite a bit of everything in the world. 

Last edited by G2ThaUNiT - on 28 November 2022

gtotheunit91 said:

Interesting. James Gunn has just confirmed that WB Games will be making games that directly connect to the DC movies. Not just a cinematic universe but a……entertainment universe?

Eh. While I love James Gunn and as someone who couldn't care less about the current DCEU, I have 100x more faith in Gunn than the previous leadership of Hamada and now I'm actually looking forward to DC stuff again. However, I don't love this idea and have a few issues with this approach already.

Firstly, it's hard enough keeping up with the MCU, all of those films and tv shows that we need to watch, now DC is doing the same but adding games on top of it, I don't want to have to play games to understand certain things. Plus, based on history, the best DC projects have been the standalone ones whilst the worst have been the shared universe ones, by a significant margin.

The current DCEU is already damaged goods, both in quality itself and the actors connected to the projects. I think at minimum if they are going to do this then they should do a reboot whilst keeping the good stuff intact somehow but I'm fairly confident that this isn't what they're going to do and they're going to try to salvage the current DCEU.

If this is what they want to do then fine, but if it were up to me, I would at least do a Flashpoint to soft reboot the universe whilst keeping some things, such as Henry as Superman (but dear God no more emo Superman, we have Batman for that), Momoa as Aquaman, keep Peacemaker and bring Doom Patrol into the DCEU.

But as for the games specifically, I really can't be bothered to have to also play games to keep up with a story and it's also really restrictive for the developers to have to follow someone else's canon, an example of that would be Shadow of War, another WBIE project, the ending Imho was absolutely awful and clearly done because they wanted to make it stick to the canon of Return of the King.

Also, what happens if Rocksteady wants to do another Batman game? Will they be allowed? Or is DC going to get protective and say you can't since it's the same Batman as our movie Batman? What villains can they do without clashing with future films? Will they be mocapping the film actors? Lol. Or will WBIE have Batman games in a standalone universe and the games connected to the films/shows will be irrelevant characters?

I'll end by saying that my favourite things from DC have been Doom Patrol (Not Canon to DCEU), Peacemaker (Canon to DCEU), The Sandman (Not Canon to DCEU) and Legends of Tomorrow Post Season 1 (Not Canon to DCEU). I've also seen a dozen or so episodes of Harley Quinn (Not Canon to DCEU) and it's great and I've heard good stuff about Superman & Lois (Not Canon to DCEU).

I've heard a lot of high praise for The Batman & The Joker too, neither being canon to the DCEU and not even each other, Lol.

On the plus side, at least WBIE will be safe from layoffs or being sold off.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 28 November 2022

Around the Network
shikamaru317 said:
Barozi said:

Idk why some people claim such a thing. It's ridiculous.

The Switch is somewhere between WiiU and Xbox One in power and yet gets ports of pretty much every game out there. Yeah the results are often times pretty bad and they're obviously not even on the level of Xbox One but they exist. Therefore, I don't see how Series S could hold anything back. Every game will be playable on it, even if it's sub 720p with sub 30 FPS (which I don't think will ever happen).

The difference between Switch and Xbox One X is IMO far bigger than the difference between Series S and Series X.

You have to realize though that the Switch rarely gets what you would consider to be a typical, scaled port. Few was the developer who even attempted to scale the same game from Switch all the way up to high-end PC. On the AAA level, scaled Switch ports are practically non-existent, almost all of them have been late ports due to a need to create new, lower than PC low quality assets for Switch. Almost all Switch ports of AAA games have been handled by porting studios rather than by the original developer, and they often take 3 quarters of a year or more to develop due to how long it takes to create lower than PC low quality textures, models, and other assets. The few AAA devs who have attempted to scale the same game from Switch all the way to high end PC, ended up holding back the more powerful consoles and PC as a result. Scaled Switch ports are more common on the AA and Single A/indie level, but no AAA dev in their right mind even tries to scale a game so that it can run on everything from the less than 300 glflop in handheld mode Switch all the way up to 30+ tflop monster PC GPU's. 

Series S won't have the same issues of scaling as Switch for sure, it will take longer into the generation for devs to begin to feel like it is holding them back, but I do think we will reach the point where scaling doesn't work properly anymore and devs will start to feel like making customized Series S ports with lower than PC low assets is a necessity. We have already reached a point where the highest end PC GPU's have 10x more flops than Series S and we are only 2 years into the generation, towards the latter half of this generation we will be seeing mid-range GPU's with more than 10x the flops of Series S, and high end with more than 20x the flops of Series S. Especially since this gen is shaping up to be 1-2 years longer than any previous console generation, Series S will be an issue for some devs later on, mark my words on that. The final 2-3 years of this generation are going to be pretty rough for Series S I suspect, devs will be annoyed by the fact that they are still mandated by Xbox to support it, and we will see lots of ports with framerate issues and sub-720p resolutions. 

Flops on PC will only matter to devs who make exclusive PC games. The devs who develop for PS5+Series x consoles means as long as them consoles last the flops on pc wont matter. Pretty much the Series S will always be the same amount of flops under the Seres X and PS5 till the end of the gen. Trust me the Series S wont hold back the console gen anymore then consoles are holding back them high spec pc's.



Spade said:

Looking like this deal is going to fall through unfortunately (fortunately for some). I don't think some of the forum people realize that leaves MS with what 55-60 billion of cash to burn. Subtracting a few for penalties.

Wonder what they could buy with 55 billion

Any wants?

I totally disagree, I actually believe from what I am hearing that this deal will definitely go through and that it will go through without any real problems for MS.  Way to much concentration on things that this deal really doesn't matter to MS which they can easily provide concessions for.  If anything I believe MS is happy about the current discourse going on because I believe it plays right into their strengths and what they will have to give up will be not of importance to what they want from this deal.



gtotheunit91 said:
Ryuu96 said:

Questions for those who play Xbox IP on PC.

  1. Do you play Xbox IP through Windows Store or Steam and if so, why?
  2. How'd you rate Xbox's efforts on Xbox App/Windows Store specifically and how can they improve?
  3. How do you think Xbox will improve from 7th or do you think it's futile and they need to get Game Pass on Steam?
  1. I play through the Windows Store with PC Game Pass for games I'm interested in or just want to try out that I wouldn't have otherwise, but I'll actually purchase games through Steam that I want to own. 
  2. Over the past year, I'd give them an 8 out of 10. What holds them back is the store is still sluggish. Just goes to show how bad it was. They can improve by further optimizing the storefront and adding more features that would allow them to be more in competition with the likes of Steam. Such as forums and better mod support. Right now, the Xbox app is nothing more than a way to buy/play games and chat with friends. Which is great if you're on console, but on PC, Steam has spoiled us lol. Steam is an entire ecosystem and community that gives very little reason for you not to use it. Plus, it's been around for 18 years, so Xbox needs to be as close to on par with Steam in terms of features. Also, the PC versions of games on the Windows Store are just.....off. It's hard to explain, but the Steam versions of PC games just play better I'll also throw in having Play Anywhere integration added to Steam. 
  3. It's not futile. Windows Store/Xbox app automatically comes with every copy of Windows. As great as it would be for PC Game Pass to be on Steam, it would probably hinder the storefronts ability to grow because Steam users would then have an even bigger reason to never leave Steam lol. If Xbox is able to focus on getting the Store up to par with Steam, at least in a meaningful way rather than a 1:1, it would see more growth. Plus, anything else that would allow it to standout from Steam. Idk what, but Xbox coming up with something to entice Steam users that only the Windows Store/Xbox app offers. Beyond Game Pass of course lol.

Unfortunately, Windows Store will never get higher than top 5 if they don't get the games added to the storefront. You'll have quite a few, but what about the Elden Ring, Monster Hunter, GTA, Apex Legends, Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy (lawlz) basically all the big games on the market that would be on Steam? That's also a huge factor. 

All this pretty much is my answer too so ill just repost gto's reply instead of retyping it all out .



Machiavellian said:
Spade said:

Looking like this deal is going to fall through unfortunately (fortunately for some). I don't think some of the forum people realize that leaves MS with what 55-60 billion of cash to burn. Subtracting a few for penalties.

Wonder what they could buy with 55 billion

Any wants?

I totally disagree, I actually believe from what I am hearing that this deal will definitely go through and that it will go through without any real problems for MS.  Way to much concentration on things that this deal really doesn't matter to MS which they can easily provide concessions for.  If anything I believe MS is happy about the current discourse going on because I believe it plays right into their strengths and what they will have to give up will be not of importance to what they want from this deal.

Eh...FTC may sue to block and while Microsoft can beat them easily in court, it's the CMA who is the problem here, if CMA blocks the deal, then Microsoft has to appeal to CAT who ultimately throw the decision back to CMA who can then just block the deal again, the CMA has very little legal oversight and very rarely loses.

By comparison to the FTC, who don't actually approve anything, they just let it pass, nor do they actually block anything, they get the courts to block deals, the CMA doesn't do either of those things, it's CMA who approves or blocks things without any court oversight, that's at least my understanding from what I've read.

So, we need to be careful that if FTC sues to block it doesn't encourage CMA to block because if it does then the deal is likely dead.

I think it's still more likely to go through than not, but I doubt Microsoft wanted to make concessions this extreme, a 10-year guarantee to a competitor is an extreme concession, Hoeg spoke on this that he thinks it's the absolute maximum that Microsoft is willing to offer and they're doing so in the hope that they get the issue out of the way.

Plus, if FTC does sue to block, which is a strong possibility regardless of the reasoning as they've sued to block a lot of deals lately and are very eager to look like they're cracking down on big tech, it would very likely mean that Microsoft has to renegotiate the acquisition with ABK as the court case will likely delay the closure date beyond July 2023.

If a renegotiation does happen, it means that the acquisition has to be redone, if ABK still desires to be acquired, and that will almost certainly lead to ABK asking for an even higher sale price than $68bn and Microsoft used that cash when interest was at shit levels so who knows how much higher than $68bn they're willing to go now that interest is back at decent levels.

There could be two angles at play from the FTC here even if their arguments don't make any sense.

  1. Sue to block and hope that CMA also blocks, effectively killing the deal.
  2. Sue to block and hope it delays things long enough that it extends beyond the July closure date, causing either Microsoft or ABK to back out of the deal.

Either option would make FTC look like they won against big tech even if they didn't technically win in a court of law, Lol. I'm at about 60% that the deal passes, it will likely still pass, but Microsoft definitely didn't expect this level of scrutiny from regulators, hence why Brad Smith is openly complaining a little too.

However! FTC could just be formulating a complaint/lawsuit to ask for concessions as that is the usual process, that would still make them look like they had a win against big tech, they can frame it as them strong arming Microsoft into concessions, this is more about politics lately than actual legally sound market arguments.

If FTC is only asking for concessions, then they'll pass as I doubt CMA will solo Microsoft.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 28 November 2022

Ryuu96 said:
gtotheunit91 said:
  1. Over the past year, I'd give them an 8 out of 10. What holds them back is the store is still sluggish. Just goes to show how bad it was. They can improve by further optimizing the storefront and adding more features that would allow them to be more in competition with the likes of Steam. Such as forums and better mod support. Right now, the Xbox app is nothing more than a way to buy/play games and chat with friends. Which is great if you're on console, but on PC, Steam has spoiled us lol. Steam is an entire ecosystem and community that gives very little reason for you not to use it. Plus, it's been around for 18 years, so Xbox needs to be as close to on par with Steam in terms of features. Also, the PC versions of games on the Windows Store are just.....off. It's hard to explain, but the Steam versions of PC games just play better I'll also throw in having Play Anywhere integration added to Steam. 

  2. It's not futile. Windows Store/Xbox app automatically comes with every copy of Windows. As great as it would be for PC Game Pass to be on Steam, it would probably hinder the storefronts ability to grow because Steam users would then have an even bigger reason to never leave Steam lol. If Xbox is able to focus on getting the Store up to par with Steam, at least in a meaningful way rather than a 1:1, it would see more growth. Plus, anything else that would allow it to standout from Steam. Idk what, but Xbox coming up with something to entice Steam users that only the Windows Store/Xbox app offers. Beyond Game Pass of course lol.

Unfortunately, Windows Store will never get higher than top 5 if they don't get the games added to the storefront. You'll have quite a few, but what about the Elden Ring, Monster Hunter, GTA, Apex Legends, Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy (lawlz) basically all the big games on the market that would be on Steam? That's also a huge factor. 

I do wonder if Xbox will always have these issues as long as they're tied to Microsoft store, it may need a complete overhaul, I've long said that MS store should in the future be developed as a gaming first storefront rather than app first, I think they'll honestly make more money from games than apps since I don't imagine people use MS store all that much aside from downloading Office, Lol.

But we've also heard that the Windows team is protective over the store so who knows if that'll ever happen. Also, Xbox 360 emulation built into the store would be nice and yeah, it definitely seems they're missing far too many AAA multiplatform releases.

That's the conflict I suppose, Game Pass on Steam means there's no point in improving Windows Store but I also think Microsoft is going to miss a lot of internal Game Pass targets in the future because Game Pass on console has limited potential, the ceiling will be far smaller than PC and it's currently held back by supply issues, while PC is held back by people just not wanting to use Windows Store, Lol.

gtotheunit91 said:

Also, releasing good, major AAA games wouldn’t hurt

Yeah, though, something like Starfield won't do much because Bethesda's PC fanbase love their mods so they'll rather get it on Steam I would assume.

BasilZero said:

One thing I would love is to see if they can give me a option to change the game list appearance, the current one is...a bit bloated for my taste, reminds me of EGS and EA Origin's interface which I really don't like either.... along with that there's multiple entries for games that should honestly be counted as 1 for the Xbox app unless there's a setting to fix that lol.

3. Whats happening on the 7th?

Bold - Yeah, it's like that on Xbox too, I don't like it either, it's ugly and wastes space.

Nothing is happening on the 7th, Lol. Microsoft said to the CMA that they're currently placed 7th on PC in terms of storefronts so their market share is tiny, they also seem to be implying that PC Game Pass is a tiny fraction too.

Xbox app now allows modding on PC. You can install the game to any folder you want now and access the files without having to do all them shitty steps needed a few months back. I used mods on valheim so 100% mods can be used now.