crispy4000

I'm all for this. Sounds like Obsidion gets a new lease on life, and Microsoft gets an IP portfolio boost and a solid studio.

If that's truly the dream, they'd make it all free. As in, Fortnite on mobile. But that's extremely doubtful. It's more than likely just PR speak. We shouldn't gleam anything about the price from it.

Must have been revealed now so that Google doesn't steal their thunder.

Xenoblade 2 is an amazing game. Sits right up there with Zelda and Mario for me. I put in a good 150 hours without buying the expansion pass, which I'm getting as soon as I finish with DQXI. Don't skip it because of performance issues. I played the game 50/50 docked and portable. Docked definitely is the way you'll want to play if you're at home. Handheld does a better job maintaining framerate than resolution. Some of the towns look gross with the resolution dips, as do some battles at their heaviest load. Oddly enough, general exploration fares a bit better. The game was just too good for me to cut playing it portable out of my life. I put more time into Xenoblade 2 at a faster rate than any game I can think of. My advice? If you haven't played Xenoblade 1, start with that. It's still a fantastic game, and you'll be a little more copacetic of the portable resolution issues (especially if you come from Xenoblade 1 on the New 3DS's display). ... One last thing. Performance steadily improved with the patches they've been rolling out the past year. Not to perfection, mind you. But you should see heavy resolution/framerate drops a little less commonly today.

I wonder if it'd even be worth it for the old team to finish it out without job security at the new outlet. Bet some of them have already landed jobs elsewhere.

I had Shadow Warrior 1, not 2. So this was perfect. No cloud saves though, I noticed.

pfft, no. EA's been one of the worst offenders this gen. I do think their subscription plans have only encouraged that. At least Battlefront 2 gave them a bit of a scare. Though surging sports microtransactions more than made up for it. I also think Sea of Theives would have been delayed further if not for Games Pass. So that's another. ... I don't expect the worst of it to come from the console manufacturers. There's slightly more accountability, since they also have to maintain their hardware business. We might have a different definition of predatory microtransactions then. Regardless, this gen has been marked by microtransaction tactics found in F2P games crossing streams into $60 retail titles. The only thing we haven't seen is "pay more to speed up build process" junk. Although you could say in-game currency purchases are a close cousin. I don't think buying games to own will ever fully go away. But I doubt you'll see Ubisoft (or others) drop new releases on competing streaming services without their own up-charges. Look at the PC client landscape. You've got your Valve launcher, your EA launcher, your Ubisoft launcher, your Microsoft launcher, your Blizzard (/Activision) launcher, your Rockstar launcher, etc. Sure, many games from these publishers do cross services. But they purposefully put the large discounts on their own clients. They want people in their own ecosystems, even without subscriptions. They don't want to have to pay royalties. Why would it be any different with streaming games? I'm not expecting publishers to be generous. I'm expecting a mess of the major ones each trying to carve out their own piece of the pie. With subscription services, I don't see that as a good thing, for the reasons I gave earlier. As for microtransactions being a fad, it's doubtful. They've been a reality for two generations now. Publishers take two steps forward to make them more intrusive, then one step back to address blowback if they need to. We all get dragged along with it. After all, Horse Armor is perfectly acceptable by today's standards.

I want to know how the kids broke the Switch.

Depends on how long the commute is. The Switch isn't going to die if it's an hour each way. Plus a slim power pack like that can fit inside most Switch carrying cases.

You're welcome.

Because addiction fuels subscription retention. Having people spend hundreds of hours on a single game can easier rake in money. It only makes sense to design games to do that, and more: Step 1: Get people interested in trying your subscription. Step 2: Hook them on a GaAS game to keep them subscribed. (and not dropping it full stop for a competitor's plan) Step 3: Extract more cash from whales and dolphins via transactions in said game, making them feel even more invested. They can have their cake and eat it too. A lot of the backlash has been over games being $60 products while containing loot boxes, buyable in-game currency, etc. As righteous as people feel about those things now, subscriptions will be an easier way for publishers to get us to accept them. Many people will insist you're already getting more than your money's worth when you subscribe. That's a bit naive. Sony's been at this just as long. Microsoft will be soon. Google appears to be operating in partnership with Ubisoft. Even Capcom's doing some experiments. If streaming catches on, you can bet every major publisher will have a horse in the race. As I've said, I don't see the download-only subscription services so differently. It's the same subscription library concept, just a different execution. If the future is all-streaming, as you say, services like Origin Access and Games Pass are bound to make the transition. We'll probably see it done in reverse too, with streaming services adding digital download options, like PS Now just did.

If it's just ergonomic improvements, count me out. The Switch is fine, as is the screen. I don't need something with better battery life and storage. The work arounds are cheap. With a power upgrade though, I might be interested to trade in. My main motivation is that Xenoblade 2's looks rough undocked, and dips to 480p at worst. If that's the norm going forward for Nintendo's bigger games, it might be worth it.

Any game that's still alive and kicking after 20 years will be difficult to approach in multiplayer. I still love the campaigns. Since the non-remastered version is free and can run on a potato, it's an ideal game for LAN parties. My younger brother who missed the boat initially got into it with friends that way. It's still a great time. I came home for the holidays and was like, wtf, they're playing Starcraft?

Shafted. Seriously, wtf.

Fable: The Journey 2 - Even More Horsepower

It's a little surprising Microsoft pulled it together as well as they did. Last we heard, they were nearing 40 million consoles sold as of March 2018. That's pretty respectable considering all the flack they caught before launch and the $500 price tag. Especially before the X, a lot was riding on their own games. Exclusives matter for a lot more if the hardware is weaker/overpriced. Microsoft also needed to prove they didn't need Bungie and Epic's help. But I suppose they did well enough? Meanwhile, the Wii U flopped resolutely (13.5 mil) with arguably a better set of exclusives. All goes to show that it's better for people to be pissed off than indifferent to your hardware. One is a lot easier to undo.

Movies and TV don't have microtransactions. That alone puts games in a different category. There's many more ways publishers can abuse the system. They've tried to without subscriptions/streaming services, they'll do it with them. There's even be greater incentive to go fishing for whales.

Sounds like it's a return to form, but with a few polarizing changes to the board design (10-coin stars, less star stealing). Hopefully Nintendo gives this one some post launch support.

Quite ironic given their approaches with ReCore, Scalebound, Fable Legends, Phantom Dust, etc, this gen. They haven't been consistent with how they treat troubled projects. Every one of them seemed mismanaged in a different way.

I'm wary of the future of games subscription services, streaming or not. My biggest fears about the 'utopia' we might be headed to: 1) Big publishers will protect their new releases by introducing a myriad of competing premium subscriptions (ie: EA Access Premiere), or premium-cable style add-ons to existing services. 2) Season Passes may not be included in these subscriptions. Spending that money on a game you can't play without a subscription is some MMO-level shit. 3) We'll still be paying access fees like XBL Gold, PSN Plus, etc. 'Free' game additions to those services will get (even) worse. 4) Gaming will feel like more of a chore if you try to hop and skip around subscriptions. Gotta get your money out of EA's library before you move to Activision's subscription next. 5) Game design will gravitate even more around micro-transactions and 'games as a service' ideology. It'll be all about fueling addictions to keep subscriptions and transactions rolling. 6) In the long term: price hikes. New games are roughly twice the price of new movies. I think publishers will lean in on that when justifying rates. 7) Used games industry might take a hit as people buy less physical games to focus on subscriptions. Not just Gamestop, but eBay, etc. 8) Mid-sized publishers without a ton of clout would struggle to adapt. Worst case scenario could be a Bandai Namco or Sega equivalent leaving the industry. The issues associated with streaming services are almost besides the point, IMO. I wouldn't expect everything on that list to happen. But it's some concerns.

Metroid Prime died for this. ... jk. I wonder if there's any future for this as a franchise. Now that it's on Steam, I'll pick it up at some point.

Usually it's in all caps.

More like: as if the IGN Vestible, Gamespot System Wars, and 4chan aren't enough . . .