Don't take it too seriously. Discussing the games you play should be relaxed, and fun. The internet can ruin that with console wars, and constant negative discussion but you just need sort through the noise.

Why not just get into discussion about the actual games, announcements, etc.

Just lay off the politics especially surrounding the gaming industry.

Its what I do. No point in stressing over something you have no control of.

Give yourself a 2-week ban. Give some time to cool off and take a break. Then see how it goes. Burnout is easy to do when burning the candle at both ends. Take a break. Recoup. Reevaluate see if you still feel the same way or not. Also would help to post less frequently if you do decide to come back after a break. Also stay away from topics that frustrate/anger you. Your mental state comes first.

Today I am sharing news regarding leadership changes within our team. After more than 30 years at Microsoft, Alan Hartman is retiring at the end of November.

Alan's career has been marked by innovation, dedication, and an unwavering passion for gaming. Starting as a contractor at Microsoft in the fledgling CD-ROM group in 1988, Alan has worked on a variety of projects in his time here, from Age of Empires, to Brute Force as the studio head of Digital Anvil, to the founding of Turn 10. Over the years, Alan, Turn 10 and Playground Games delivered 13 Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, building Forza into one of the top racing franchises in the world and regularly pushing the capabilities of our hardware. His work to advance accessibility in gaming has set a benchmark for the industry and under his leadership, Xbox Game Studios has shipped multiple critically acclaimed titles this year and set the stage for highly anticipated games like Avowed, South of Midnight, Fable, and more.

When seeking our next leader to navigate the complexities of our business and foster the creativity needed for our games to thrive, we collaborated with HR to evaluate both external and internal candidates, considering the unique demands of the XGS role.

I am pleased to announce that Craig Duncan will assume the role of Head of Xbox Game Studios. Craig brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at Codemasters, Midway Games, and Sumo Digital before joining Xbox in 2011 to lead Rare. During this time, Rare has achieved sustained business success and developed new IP, most notably the ever-evolving Sea of Thieves, a cross-platform franchise with over 40 million players.

In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated game experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players by investing in new IP. Craig will report to me and join the Game Content and Studios leadership team, working closely with Alan during the transition. The existing XGS leadership team Alan established will remain intact and report to Craig.

I am also pleased to announce that Joe Neate and Jim Horth will take over as co-leads of Rare. Their leadership has played a crucial role in Rare's growth, and I am confident they will elevate the studio and its games to even greater heights.

Please join me in congratulating Alan on his retirement and welcoming Craig, Joe, and Jim into their new roles.

Matt Booty.

Congratulations to Craig Duncan on becoming the new Head of Xbox Game Studios! The British are Coming!

Sad to see him leave Rare but I'm legit thrilled for him, he has always came across as a genuinely lovely chap. The culture at Rare on the surface always comes across as a very positive and happy place to work at. Sea of Thieves is obviously a massive success and one of Microsoft's few actually successful new IPs in recent history. Craig successfully navigated Rare out of a post-X360 Kinect world where they seemed lost and was close to the chopping block. He put Rare on the map again, say what you want about SoT being a MP-only title and it may not be your thing but it's undeniable it has been a massive success and has a huge fanbase who adore the game. 294,000 Reviews on Steam at 89%.

His influence across Xbox Game Studios should be a positive one, based on how well Rare always comes across. Rare throughout its history has always tried new things, Craig is no different in that regard, I know people want Banjo, Conker, etc. But I respect how Craig always used to say that Rare isn't about looking in the past but trying to create entirely new things cause that's what they want to do. Having a Brit as Head of XGS before Fable's release and ex-Rare before Perfect Dark's release is cool too, Lol.

Equally thrilled for Joe Neate becoming the new Co-Studio Head of Rare! That dude is awesome, low-key one of my favourite XGS developers. No to mention he is a big part of why Sea of Thieves has been so successful. Also he looks like Josh Stewart, Lol. But I've never heard a bad word about him either. He's a great guy who isn't afraid of speaking his mind, Joe Neate called out Jez once for leaking shit about another XGS 😭😂

In his new role, Craig will continue to focus on helping our studios deliver high-quality, differentiated game experiences that can grow into successful franchises and reach more players by investing in new IP.

Multiple world premieres will be pretty cool! With RE9 getting the MC page yesterday makes me believe that will be one of the announcements!

Played So Far in 2024.

• Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Jusant
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Tales of Arise
• Dragon's Dogma 2
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
• Fallout 4
• Neon White
• Dungeons of Hinterberg
• Age of Mythology: Retold
• Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
• HUMANITY
• Deep Rock Galactic

Need 6,275GS to hit 200,000. 133 Achievements to hit 10,000. 2 more titles to hit 200 played.

Ahh...Going to need to play like 8-10 games to get 6.2k GS before end of the year, I don't think I can, Lol.

Humanity was good, it wasn't annoyingly difficulty, it wasn't too easy either, a fun concept on a puzzler. As for Deep Rock Galactic, it's from former veterans of Press Play, I think it's going to be one of my "forever" installs, it's pretty fun but the achievements will take a long time, Lol. If Ice, Spade or Noble actually play it then I think I could actually put 100s of hours into it. Pretty fun solo though, I don't know why I just randomly felt the desire to play it, Lol. It's like taking only Minecraft's digging aspect but mixing it with FPS combat and alien creatures.

Looks like I have my next title: Neva Reviews - OpenCritic

But this is Spooky Season and I usually reserve October for watching dozens of horror films or TV Shows, Lol. I've not even started yet, I've been distracted by Deep Rock Galactic. Maybe I'll start tomorrow...But I want to play Neva now...Probably just play it during the day until it gets dark then put my horror films on, Lol. So the rest of the year looks like (so far).

• Neva
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Maybe Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess as well.

Oh, I forgot, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was good too, I forgot how fun Dead Rising 1 was. Funny, I had played Dead Rising 1 but like when it first came out, I used to say I hated the timer but playing DRDR I had almost zero issue with it...I just made my first few playthroughs me fucking around and reaching max level before attempting a serious playthrough and sailed through it, Lol.

Honestly would say they should just reboot Dead Rising but use Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster as the first entry in the reboot.

Nice, hoping for some good new reveals.

How did these guys even have the money to keep the lawsuit going for this long?