crispy4000

Pikmin 4 Reviews OPENCRITIC.COM Pikmin 4 is rated 'Mighty' after being reviewed by 33 critics, with an overall average score of 87. It's ranked in the top 2% of games and recommended by 100% of critics. Another solid entry. This year keeps on giving. Game Information Game Title: Pikmin 4 Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Jul 21, 2023) Developer: Nintendo Review Aggregator: OpenCritic - 88 average - 100% recommended Critic Reviews Daily Star - Tom Hutchison - 5 / 5 Eurogamer - Tom Phillips - 5 / 5 Eurogamer.pt - Vítor Alexandre - Portuguese - 5 / 5 Siliconera - Jenni Lada - 10 / 10 Atomix - Alberto Desfassiaux - Spanish - 96 / 100 Destructoid - Chris Carter - 9.5 / 10 God is a Geek - Adam Cook - 9.5 / 10 The Games Machine - Daniele Cucchiarelli - Italian - 9.1 / 10 Game Informer - Kyle Hilliard - 9 / 10 Gameblog - KiKiToes - French - 9 / 10 GamesRadar+ - Sam Loveridge - 4.5 / 5 Geeks & Com - Anthony Gravel - French - 9 / 10 Glitched Africa - Marco Cocomello - 9 / 10 Hobby Consolas - Daniel Quesada - Spanish - 90 / 100 IGN - Jada Griffin - 9 / 10 IGN Italy - Francesco Destri - Italian - 9 / 10 IGN Spain - David Oña - Spanish - 9 / 10 Nintendo Life - PJ O'Reilly - 9 / 10 PCMag - Jordan Minor - 4.5 / 5 SECTOR.sk - Michal Korec - Slovak - 9 / 10 Spaziogames - Gianluca Arena - Italian - 9 / 10 Stevivor - Matt Gosper - 9 / 10 TrustedReviews - Gemma Ryles - 4.5 / 5 Wccftech - Nathan Birch - 9 / 10 We Got This Covered - Shaan Joshi - 4.5 / 5 WellPlayed - Mark Isaacson - 9 / 10 GAMES.CH - Benjamin Braun - German - 89% CGMagazine - Steven Green - 8.5 / 10 COGconnected - James Paley - 85 / 100 Enternity.gr - Nikitas Kavouklis - Greek - 8.5 / 10 LevelUp - Pedro Pérez Cesari - Spanish - 8.5 / 10 Press Start - James Mitchell - 8.5 / 10 Video Chums - A.J. Maciejewski - 8.5 / 10 GamePro - Dennis Michel - German - 83 / 100 ComicBook.com - Logan Moore - 4 / 5 Digital Trends - Giovanni Colantonio - 4 / 5 Digitally Downloaded - Matt Sainsbury - 4 / 5 Entertainment Geekly - 4 / 5 GamesHub - Edmond Tran - 4 / 5 Metro GameCentral - GameCentral - 8 / 10 Post Arcade (National Post) - Chad Sapieha - 8 / 10 TheSixthAxis - Stefan L - 8 / 10 VG247 - Alex Donaldson - 4 / 5 VGC - Andy Robinson - 4 / 5 Checkpoint Gaming - Elliot Attard - 7.5 / 10 GameSpot - Steve Watts - 7 / 10 TheGamer - Jade King - 3.5 / 5 Ars Technica - Kyle Orland - Unscored Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - Recommended Polygon - Emily Price - Unscored

I don't disagree. But part of keeping CoD relevant in 2023 includes sustaining and growing Warzone and CoD mobile. Keeping these and the main entries relevant as GaaS titles in the age of Fortnite. And now, making promised Switch ports. Activision is basically split today into CoD, Blizzard, King and Other. So to say they're all just CoD now is a bit too reductive, even if there is some truth to how its cannibalized the Other category.

Microsoft didn't buy CoD to watch it diminish. We'd probably need see CoD fall from its prominent position for them to want to invest less in it than now. Like, um, Halo.

I think he was referring to Activison effectively killing other studios to pour resources into CoD. (And Blizzard in Neversoft’s case)

More than any other major publisher, Activision is laser focused on franchisement. If a game doesn't have potential to turn into something long running and hugely profitable they won't (continue to) pursue it. If they wanted to be more like an EA and take more chances, they certainly could. CoD is the gravy train, of course they're going to support it in what capacity it needs to keep churning. If it ever was to stop for them, they'd simply pursue something else. Blizzard and Candy Crush kept them plenty safe. That's been their leverage.

I wish we could have something like GoG for classic console games.

*Waves hands with FSR2 motion artifacts*

I've got no beef with paying for utilities.

I was mistaken about the annual sub not being there, they're keeping it at $60. It's in the article posted earlier. Introducing Xbox Game Pass Core, Coming This September - Xbox Wire NEWS.XBOX.COM Today, we’re continuing our commitment to give players more choice and value by introducing Xbox Game Pass Core, launching on September 14. Game Pass Core is the evolution of Xbox Live Gold. Game Pass Core will give players access to our advanced multiplayer network, a select collection of over 25 games to play with friends […]

So Microsoft makes their calls on pricing based on consumer feedback moreso than taking cues from Sony. That's the point it illustrates. I cited the Deck for a reason. Dedicated gaming hardware with no online fee in 2023! Woot.

Yes, so further discounts are speculation at this point. It's about the why it didn't. Adding to what you said: I (HIGHLY) doubt MSFT would let Sony significantly out-price them for a yearly membership for the baseline membership if enough gamers complained about it. If gamers didn't make a stink about it, Xbox Live Gold would have already been $120 annually for the past two years. I don't think they'd get the same blowback from Core. Oh, and if Microsoft got away with it back then, I HIGHLY doubt that Sony would still be at $60 for the baseline membership. And that's why Valve charges a monthly fee too on the Deck. Oh wait, they don't.

So they're not price jacking if they're not price jacking. Which we don't know for sure unless they announce Core discounts. Gotcha. To be fair, jacking is probably the wrong word. Core is a different product than Gold. It could be argued that there's double the value in it. *cough cough* Microsoft doubled the price of Xbox Live Gold memberships to $120 per year and gamers aren't happy WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM Current 6- and 12-month Gold members won't see prices increase, but anyone who signs up for a new monthly plan moving forward will pay more. It wasn't Sony that made them change it back. When has Microsoft ever been scared to charge more than Sony? Its part of Xbox Live's history itself.

You’ve got that entirely backwards. It’s speculative that they’ll offer a bigger discount than they’ve announced. Retailers may on those cards, granted. No other tier of Games Pass offers an official annual discount (outside of sign up promotions). And we knew Microsoft wanted $120 yearly out of Gold. So the supporting evidence is strong that this is it if you automate payments.

The only thing officially stated is that Core is $9.99 a month. If there was a half off discount when purchased annually, like Gold, they would have mentioned it.

EDIT: Botched this, $60 annually was announced. I'll preserve this post below and the rest of the convo, but yes, I was in the wrong.

It’s at the finish line.

Microsoft apparently planned for that to change within 5 years, with the exception of CoD. By then, any existing contracts with Sony would have been wrapped up. There's also this: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sonys-jim-ryan-discusses-cloud-gaming-call-of-duty-and-starfield-in-court If the 5 year deal didn't even include forthcoming releases (at the time), it was pretty much a nothing proposal.

Hoping for change from new corporate overlords while the old cronies still manage the day to day. The one positive to come that we know of was Raven unionizing. Activision has long had the freedom to do things in the way it wants. They didn't need a buyout to be flush with capital. And again, its the same people still making the decisions. I'd love to be wrong. Perhaps one day I will be. But then we'll be taking about whatever would-be multiplatform new IP, revived IP or spin-off not coming to Sony and Nintendo platforms. The main thing Microsoft enables Activision to do is save face on the harassment lawsuits. Again, Activision has long been in the position to try something different. Remember Skylanders? Because they own Call of Duty, WoW and Minecraft now, among others. Sony sees it as a gap in their portfolio, and they're not wrong.

We need Valve to try making a console now that they’ve succeeded with the Deck, and not half ass it like Steam machines.

They should just let everyone play multiplayer like on PC and let the library offerings speak for themselves.

The more people that play Psychonauts 2 the better.

Players can continue to access any Xbox One games they previously redeemed through Games with Gold if they remain a Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate member. Regardless of subscription status, any Xbox 360 titles redeemed via Games with Gold in the past will be kept in a player’s library. They couldn't flip the switch for Xbox One games, huh. Sony still does the same with PS+. I wish they all could take a page from Amazon and Epic and let you keep the games outright.

Sony agrees to 10-year Call of Duty deal with Microsoft - The Verge WWW.THEVERGE.COM The deal means Microsoft and Sony’s Call of Duty battle is over Sony was first offered 10 years multi-platform for CoD, 5 years for everything else. Only the CoD portion remained in the final deal. Microsoft’s intent with other Activision IP laid pretty clear with that. I think they tried to play nice initially, even though it’s still not much.

Oh, one more detail if you missed it: Xbox Live branding would be retired. Everything is Games Pass ______

So basically: - Unlocking online multiplayer on console still costs $60 annually. PC multiplayer remains free. - The game collection on “Core” (formerly Gold) could have been a response to the now concluded PS+ collection. - You can get Games Pass for $112 annually if you choose to forgo online multiplayer, xcloud and EA games. - Games with Gold ending. - No PC Games Pass price increase. PC gamers get a much better deal than “Core” for the same price. Overall these changes give a bit more choice and value to those not needing the full package. It still leverages multiplayer in a scummy way on console, but slightly less than before. The Games Pass library can (mostly) be decoupled from it, and the 25 game library in Core is an improvement on what GwG became.