Maybe I should add an option for solo, fuck em all, roleplay creating your own empire across 1,000 planets

See? This is what I'm talking about:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CB9D2GVR/ref=twister_B0CBB6JKLY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

It's insane how these indies know how to market their shit for potential double-dippers better than Microsoft. Now that memory cards are - slowly - being solved, this is becoming my new pet peeve with them.

The spice must flow

Completed Fist: Forged in Shadow Torch (on gamepass).

Negatives:

- Game map has markers with a small font even on my above average sized TV it felt small but not an issue if you know what the symbols mean.
- Being a metroidvania it can be annoying because it has in plenty of occassions different paths to go trough I really recommend to just follow the quest marker because some upgrades will be needed that you get at the end of the game.

-Fast travel points are relatively limited but again not so much of an issue at the end of the game because you will be fast but an small map on the game screen would have been welcome.

Postives:

-Love the atmosphere and graphics; at moments it feels the game looks to good and will make it harder for me to enjoy other metroid vania games the total packages feels so well presented.

- Fun to complete 100%; achievement wise it is relatively easy even things that I am very bad at like parry 5 times in a row or complete the Dujo classes were fine.

Verdict:

When you play an Indie metroidvania game for 20ish hours, complete everything and still feel like playing more you have succeeded as a game dev anyway a big 9/10 from me.

I caved and got the spongebob dlc for powerwash simulator ^^'

Been a strangely dramatic day for console prices at New Zealand retailers. I noticed early in the day PS5-Disc got a big (temporary) discount as low as $765 from what I've seen, even lower than it's original retail of $800 (currently $900 since the price increase).

Now I've also noticed the first non-bundled Series X sku I think I've seen all year. Unfortunately it also came with the dreaded confirmation 'Beat the price rise, new RRP of $899 as of August!'

Maybe I should at least feel fortunate they listed the non-bundled Series X before increasing the price, which I assumed they'd try to sneak in. And considering just this morning the cheapest Series X sku I could find was the $900 bundles compared to the $765 PS5-Disc, it's saved me from a serious dilemma-- the idea of paying $135 more was feeling like a bridge too far. $35 is a negligible difference to me.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen Series X discounted in New Zealand whereas PS5 has had multiple discounts in the last few months, though never quite this low. I will wait a couple weeks just on the off-chance it does happen. Orginally I planned to wait until the final week of August, but if they're increasing the RRP that month I doubt they'll suddenly discount it by $100+ leading into Starfield.

It is the same in The Netherlands. Finally some Series X in shelves, but now PS5 is discounted to €469 (was €550).

Xbox really is failing on the hardware front sadly, they just can't seem to get their act together, between the low X production, S being overpriced, price increasing in various countries for no good reason, no limited edition console designs since Halo Infinite 2 years ago, bundles where you only get a $10 discount over buying the game separately (compared to last gen where bundled games were completely free), etc. 

Meanwhile you can go on Amazon US right now and multiple PS5's SKU's are in stock. How is Xbox still failing this hard on X production numbers? Surely they are no longer using X chips to expand their Cloud server network, not after they revealed in court that Xbox Cloud Gaming isn't really making any headway. Why can they not get TSMC to make them more X chips?

It kind of feels like Xbox has just given up on this entire gen in terms of hardware. They better come out swinging next gen with killer hardware at a killer price, if you are going to give up on this gen you at least need to put tons of effort into next gen.

Well yeah I have been saying Xbox is not going for the 10/10, I understand people were in a form of excitement after the xbox showcase but it is back to reality and xbox is getting dominated and destroyed in sales and gaming news. It would have been great if xbox listened to gamers; soon they will release the xbox series s 1Tb edition that during its release will be almost the same price of a PS5 digital version. Xbox deserves to be owned.

I think we are very close to a point that MS has to pay stores in Europe to carry xbox consoles. In shops like Mediamarkt; Auchan (Belgium/Germany/Netherlands/France) you find a huge shelf of games for PS/Switch but barely any for Xbox and if you dare to ask it is because no one wants to buy an Xbox.


It is great to see Nintendo who were the biggest losers with the WiiU during the digital generation trying very hard to make their fanbase happy and make the switch a succes while xbox is like ' we are losers'.

Anyway don't be mad, I know very well that some users will want to quote me and say how Xbox is doing great while they are playing TToK on switch or FFXVI on the PS5 XD.

Edit: Was bored so bought Leisure Suit Larry Wet dreams dont' dry...     I miss point click adventures games and never tried this franchise..

I seem to recall that one of the leaked documents in the court trial mentioned that Xbox were repeatedly trying to increase Xbox Series X production but failing to meet targets so I don't think they've given up (although nobody should expect them to come close to PlayStation 5 this gen). It seems as though there is some sort of bottleneck in Xbox Series X production which makes it harder to make than PS5. They probably aren't doing a Starfield LE console because their stock is so shit.

We also know from the court trial that Xbox does not have a blank chequebook from Microsoft, Phil was pretty clear that Xbox is treated differently than most other Microsoft divisions. They have to make a profit and they have to continue to grow, likely explains why they price Series S and Series X like they do. Likely explains why they can't just outbid Sony for manufacturing space, PlayStation is a better manufacturer than Xbox and likely receives priority (in the same way that Apple does) because PlayStation has in recent history destroyed Xbox in sales.

In all honesty though, in a lot of these countries where Series X was priced match to PS5...It really doesn't change much, a lot of them were countries where Sony crushes Xbox to begin with and it wouldn't matter if Xbox was $50 cheaper or w/e, a small price difference won't be enough to convince the majority to abandon PlayStation if the major exclusives still aren't here (yet). Microsoft needs to fix stock before Starfield though because that will be a huge reason for the larger consumer audience to pick up an Xbox.

Expanding their Cloud server network will likely be an ongoing thing for the entire generation, if they want to increase user capacity, they need more Xbox consoles in the server racks, if they want more global appeal, they'll need more Xbox consoles in the server racks around the world. The amount needed will surely decrease overtime after they prioritise key markets but I think they'll always need consoles every so often to put into datacentres and expand their network, we know for example, that xCloud has a maximum capacity of 5,000 concurrent users in UK...

I also think that xCloud is here to stay (even if I have major doubts about its future), Phil didn't even seem that excited by it years ago in internal emails but they still push it, xCloud is Microsoft's future goal and they are unlikely to abandon it after a little difficulty, I think it's likely a push from the very top (Satya) as he continues to push every Microsoft product to Cloud...Now there are rumours that Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the Cloud...It's not a surprise, Azure is Microsoft's biggest money-maker.

This xCloud stuff was part of Phil's pitch to Satya years ago as well to continue investing into Xbox...So that likely complicates things in abandoning it, Lol. Phil is trying to align Xbox with the rest of Microsoft and Microsoft wants that too, they want Xbox aligned with Microsoft's larger focus (that is Azure) so they're investing in that future. But there are other lucrative futures as well...Mobile for example, Phil has expressed in emails that he knows people don't want to use xCloud on Mobile and they want native ports.

So I'm curious what Microsoft thinks about the fact that Azure could be the thing that tanks a deal which would likely make them far more money in the short-term than Cloud Gaming would make them across 10-15 years, Lol. Are they still invested in that future? I don't think it will help them now but if I had the hindsight as the CEO of Microsoft of choosing between xCloud or Activision-Blizzard-King, I'd dump xCloud without a second thought, maybe that makes me a bit of a coward but I wouldn't bet a future gamble over losing a guaranteed multi-billion-dollar revenue/profit business.

But Idk what Satya is thinking and his mind is always focused on Azure so he may be willing to take that bet.