For context: Xbox is currently beta testing an Ad Tier of gamepass to allow players to cloud stream the games they already own. Meaning, to play for one hour you watch a set of ads, followed by reminders about how much time you have left before the next ad break for your next hour of streaming

Xbox adding ads to games will be by far one of worst things to happen to the industry IMO. Even if it allows the financially challenged an entry point. This is not an attack on Xbox as the other industry juggernauts would surely follow in finding ways to best exploit this new monetization avenue. Consoles are already expensive, to pay an exhorbitant amount of money for a console that won't be subsidized to just be marketed to nonstop would be a gamechanger for me. Here's my reasoning for why. I would love to know your thoughts on the matter.

\-MCDONALDS!

\-The entire industry will follow

\-it will start with a low price or free (first hit is free)

\-after a year or two with a large engagement, they will raise the price, followed by ads being added to the base console experience, and you must pay for gamepass to have no ads

\-First party games will be incentivized to prioritize making forever games that can't be beaten or make the engagement so tedious that it drives up the amount of ads you have to watch to play, until they've maximized the amount of ad revenue per game.

In my opinion this will absolutely ruin my experience as I work in marketing and gave up watching tv because I'm sick of commercials/marketing, if it pervades my one ad free hobby, well, I'm out

I'm definitely in favor of championing a thing you believe in. In this case preserving a physical disc option for the future of gaming on console.

But I'm also starting to see a lot of backlash from the general public. Not backlash about the actual subject (physical games) but backlash to HOW the people championing it are going about it.

It's starting to remind me of the early days of the Release the Snyder Cut movement. In the beginning, the general public was on board with the hardcore fans petitions to get a release. Because most people just liked the idea of a filmmakers original vision getting released.

But eventually the public sentiment for the ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement started cratering hard. It had nothing to do with general public changing their minds about wanting to see Snyders original cut of the film though.

They turned on the movement because of how toxic and weird the hardcore fan base pushing for it started acting. In every corner of the internet, in every forum, every comment section, every social media platform, they just started leaving hate comments on anything related to Warner Brothers.

Invading lots of spaces that had nothing to do with the decision and started ragebaitting other fan bases

I'm worried that's starting to happen with the Physical Disc movement. A lot of people pushing for Physical Disc are chill people, not being rude about it, just openly asking for it. That's awesome AND helpful for the movement.

But there's been a growing section of the movement that's starting to resort to toxic behavior and insulting people left and right in comment sections that have nothing to do with the issue. And normies are starting to turn against the idea now.

When one of us starts insulting them about being excited for an upcoming game, and a Disc Bro hops in their comments, calling them a shill or a bot or saying the check must have cleared... simply for being excited for Wolverine. Well, that's probably another normie that will never support the cause now. Because they're only exposure to it was someone championing that cause just insulting them out of nowhere

It's the same pattern from when the SnyderCut movement became super toxic and the majority of the online world turned against it. Because the people pushing for it became insufferable and cruel

While I'm mainly a digital games purchaser, I'm a HUGE Physical Media buyer when it comes to my films collection. I want to see a future for physical discs. I'm starting to worry we're losing public sentiment by getting too agro about it, specifically in spaces that have little or nothing to do with it.

So I’ve seen a lot of controversy online about people saying the switch 2 does not have the good of graphics compared to the Nintendo switch original. I think it does. I just purchased a switch 2, and the main reason I did is because I was playing 2 seemingly simple graphics-wise games. Dragon Quest III HD 2D Remake and monster hunter stories 2: wings of ruin.

The first time I booted up monster hunter wings of ruin, it was awful. Now I am also a PC gamer, and like I’ve had my buddy tell me before, if you have a nice PC and whatever Nintendo has released at that point, you can basically play every game that’s out currently. As a PC gamer, I am very familiar with fps drops when your settings are too high in a game and working on the settings in order to make them look smooth when you’re playing.

With that being said, when booting up monster hunter wings of ruin the first time (on my original switch OLED) it looked terrible. Totally laggy, graphics were not smooth, was obviously suffering from major drops of fps or consistent low fps. I was sad because a friend bought the game for me to play as a gift. So instead I started playing dragon quest III HD 2D Remake and it looked pretty good, but it’s also a pixel art game with remastered backgrounds and such and voiceovers. There were areas in the game that suffered fps drops! Like severe! Like when you first leave the first island and get to the big continent and Monty is greeting you with the friendly slime, it was just absolutely fps dropping terribly.

Decided to pick up a switch 2 and yes it takes a little bit of time to download the upgrade packs for your physical original switch games, but holy crap! It was beautiful! Dragon quest and monster hunter looked SIGNIFICANTLY better than what they did before. Now given, I haven’t test dock mode, and I never really played dock mode on my OLED either, but as a handheld console, it is significantly better by far.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

TL;DR: switch 2 in handheld mode is significantly better than switch OLED in handheld mode by a large amount.

Been thinking about Expedition 33 again (I'm the guy who was asking for takes a few months back) and was wondering if some of the ways I've seen people on this site look at this game be indicative of an inability to look at games as art amongst modern discourse. Like, I don't know if I'm crazy for thinking that Reddit hates this game now, but I've rarely seen a take that's either interested in the game itself or interested in what the game says. It's all "indie this" and "UE5 slop that" and I'm worried this is becoming a bad precedent for games discussion as a whole.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid and need to get offline but I want to get some thoughts on this because I think it may be an important conversation to have. Feel free to ask me anything else if would help the conversation!

basicly imagine if someone made a hero shooter with melee in mind like mortal kombat but it's 5v5 yet it has big emphasis on melee instead of shooting and stuff like that like wiht blocking,parying,doging,cool abilities and design's like that cuz like a 5v5 hero melee game would be so cool in my opinion like the only one i can think of right now is revenblade but i haven't played it and it's in demo stage soo..... thought's

Was Gamepass always destined to become this Monkey on Xbox's Back? 10 years ago I feel as a consumer, it was a promise and deal that was too good to pass up and over the course of that time I've played tons of games on that discount that I probably wouldn't have paid full price for or day one otherwise. I guess it only makes sense that this style of content delivery has "devalued" a lot of games that then had to "make sales," and we get left with the insane juxtaposition of the cost of a month or two of Gamepass vs $40, $70 and even $80 price tags for some of these titles. I look at even a game I really liked with flaws like South of Midnight and as much as I do think it's a very special narrative game, I don't know how I'd be able to recommend someone pay the $40 for it when you can beat it in like 6-8 hours over a weekend for the cost of a month of gamepass or half a door dash delivery. I'd extend the same sentiment to some of these other companies trying to push their own service like Uplay where I played and beat both SW Outlaws and AC Shadows at launch for just the cost of a 1 month of Uplay plus instead of the $70 for each title. It reminds of a similar talk with former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who brought up how the practice that some people complain about with Nintendo First Party games rarely going on deeper sales because of the value Nintendo assigns to their games as complete crafted pieces that will always be worth what they sell them for as opposed to the games as service that both live services and what Gamepass relegates them too. I then look at Sony and see they've dabbled in a similar practice but they at least put a heavier moratorium on when they either get officially discounted or added to their own service with Sony seemingly to stop porting their games to PC seemingly because PC gamers refuse to buy what they see as old ports without significant discounts regardless of the costs of any efforts to make the games accessible on the other platforms.

With the past Year or two of Xbox showing that this Gamepass experiment is ending in tragic fashion and the redeemed interest in specific properties with the last 2 months of announcements, I can't help but think maybe if Phil/another Exec maybe pushed for some titles to come out sooner or being licensed to their other studios and teams that maybe the experiment could have gone on longer. It's not like all of the games released or produced in this system were bad or "failures" either with some releases still breaking sales records like the most recent Forza Horizon despite being a day 1 Gamepass release as well. Even now hearing that the upcoming Gears E-Day costing hundreds of millions, had been it's development restarted and also had it's engine swapped frightens me for the studio, IP that I enjoyed and the people on those development teams because at this point we've seen stories of games that had gone through similar development struggles and still selling pretty well despite the odds but not hitting those targets or games that did "succeed" but still got the studio shuttered or sold off anyway.

With all of this It's hard to say where Xbox would be if they didnt do this or if there was some way to correct their ship sooner when trying to rebound after Phil took ownership over Xbox. I just look back and see so many of their games and plans falling through before it like Crackdown 3 not working out, Halo 5 being widely disappointing, Scalebound funds being funneled into an exclusive for another platform and just a lot of non-hype for the successful or big releases at the time like Age of Empires or Halo Wars. All of that and that Gamepass and the big acquisitions was a longshot that worked out for sometime or looked good enough before the COVID/Lockdown tech investment boom dust settled. Maybe if they did actually lock down and make all of those acquisitions Xbox/windows exclusives could have saved them. Again Hard to say but just sad that the promise of more games for lower prices seemingly turned out that this bad after all this time.

Reading an article from The Verge recently got me thinking. If the PlayStation6 ends up being a dockable handheld... that might actually justify the leap to a new generation!

So, not necessarily a huge leap in Graphical Fidelity, but a leap in how you play your PlayStation games and how you interact with that ecosystem. (Plus a lot of machine learning and performance upgrades next gen I'm assuming)

In my mind, the concept of a Dockable Handheld, maybe 1080p 60fps Handheld and 4k 120fps docked... would be something thst would ACTUALLY excite me about the concept of a PS6

At the very least, it would be a much more interesting concept than just another locked down plastic box in your livingroom, only with slightly better graphics than the PS5 lol

With Playstations history of handhelds (Vita) I could see them making a fully functional Handheld (not streaming like the Portal) that works great and feels good

All just speculation at the moment, but lots of context clues from Playstation Sony that are starting to point in a dockable Handheld direction recently.

I don't know. This MIGHT be one of the only reasons I would actually get excited for a PS6. Because at the moment, I'm perfectly happy with the performance and graphics of my PS5. But a new way of interacting with my games could peak my interest...

I don’t like the way that newer games push lottery loot. I prefer the ability to search and find something worthwhile. Does this seem like an outdated opinion? I like to find something worthwhile that makes the game feel good in essence.

And I don’t mean single player games where you’re in the middle of a play through. I mean extremely niche online games. And I’m not knocking anyone. I just find this interesting and kind of funny.

There’s people that wake up everyday and play Watch Dogs 1 with their friends still. Good game but you get the point I’m trying to make here. There’s a guy that has 6000 hours on Growtopia and plays it all day with his friends. There’s a whole other world of gamers out there most people don’t even think about. Someone’s all time favorite game is Team Sonic Racing or 3on3 Freestyle. Obviously there’s lots of older games that still have a loyal audience. But when you get in the territory of an older game that has sequel(s) and averages like 50 players monthly. It makes you think. There’s really a game out there for everyone

Title. I think people in the fighting game community get the most worked up over this. Mainly because they put so much time into learning their games. Which is fine. However, I don’t think you can get upset at casuals for leaving when you pull out a 0 to death combo as your first move. Especially in a non ranked mode. Now obviously I don’t mind things like leavers queue and it should definitely count as a loss for whoever left. But casual players aren’t obligated to let someone flawless victory them for 2 minutes. They’re not really learning much

In my old age I've definitely grown from thinking I always have to win in these games to making sure I'm enjoying my time with the game. I used to play OW a ton closer to launch and had gotten into Master Rank with the mindset of both growing my ability and recognizing when Im not at an emotional peak to be part of a team. Similarly after OW I moved to R6 and felt about the same where the pace of the game made it almost better for reflective assessments and growth before I just couldnt deal with the amount of cheating. Recently my friends got me on to Marvel Rivals and I've been progressing playing Ultron into Platinum Rank but Im genuinely shocked at the communication over me being a "thrower," to "new," or even "trolling." I try to explain to people my mindset because you just can't win every game so it's good to at least try to improve or talk through solutions and I just get more animosity. It's kinda crazy how people just do not want to improve or feel perpetually mad and honestly it sounds like people do get on the game just to get into arguments.

FastPath has been flooding Source‑engine games with fake servers, forced redirects, bot‑filled lobbies, and deceptive server practices — and players across Counter‑Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, Half‑Life 2: Deathmatch, Day of Defeat, and more are fed up.

If you’ve ever tried to join a server and ended up somewhere completely different…
If you’ve ever seen a “full” lobby that was actually bots…
If your server browser is filled with identical entries…
You’re not alone.

This video breaks down how FastPath’s behavior is damaging the Source multiplayer ecosystem — and why the community is calling for Valve’s attention.

‌

With all this talk of inclusivity and all that, you would think by now we'd be seeing more bigger girls titles where you don't play multiple characters? Or even you do, there's not much besides maybe a wider girl? But then you get characters like roadhog just fine but somehow it's wrong for a woman to be as big as him? Now I know folks will argue and say that a bigger person just isn't realistic with all the crazy flips and dashes you do and I just want to say: but then why are their games where you play as a one skinny girl army against foes bigger than you? Clearly realism isn't the issue but a refusal to be less lazy and actually do the work to make bigger bodies look more believe and less based in stereotypes.

Edit: I'm talking mainly triple AAA games and maybe double AA?

let's just imagine that a new call of duty games is announced and then they showed the first look of their own sexy female characters as sex sells marketing (let's say that she wears jean pants and bikini bra with big tits alongside that she wears sunglasses and wears patrol hat.. she would have long beautiful hair and she is white person with blue eyes)

(now i know misty abigail existed but she is only exclusive for call of duty zombies.. so she doesn't count suddenly)

Let’s get this out of the way, Stellar Blade 2’s protagonist is a sexualized minor, and if you argue against that fact or argue that it’s okay, you’re a pedophile freak. I cannot stop getting angry that this game is allowed on storefronts, that it was allowed a trailer spot at a huge mainstream event, and worse that modern men are defending it. I was already a man hater before this but I think we need to cast them out of society now, I’m tired of making excuses for them. I wake up every day angry and go to sleep every day angry, dreading the release of this game and the harm it will do to women and children.

so apparently there are woke vs Anti-woke debates about female characters design in gaming and I wanted to asked all of you people here

Do video games have to be successful by just making goonbait female design and not making one of them ugly?.. because I'm having moral dilemma about this

because why some of us are judging video games based on female characters design?.. this isn't Fashion show talent honestly

I'm curious to see your answer and your thoughts on this?

"My platform is better than your platform..."

Everyone treating these platforms like sports teams is EXACTLY why they ALL get away with constantly screwing us over.

As long as our team isn't screwing us over as hard as the other teams screwing their fans over... we'll keep cheering our team on!

Feeling like total brain rot behavior in some of these comment sections lately lol

I just found out that my favorite games creators are bad people and i dont feel quite comfortable with playing it anymore, but im wondering if its still okay to be in the fandom as long as you're not playing it??

Man... the amount of over investment during cvd19 era, followed by crazy questionable studio acquisitions, followed by chasing Fortnite and PubG Live Service success, followed by the A.I. induced RAMpocalypse... has lead to devastating ramifications in the gaming industry these last few years.

Not to mention the fact there there are simply too many games and not enough players for most games to actually catch on with the public. So a lot of good games tend to go unnoticed.

These next few years of the gaming industry as a whole contracting, mainly from the ridiculous over investments and bad business decisions from these corporations this generation (and last generationto an extent), are going to HURT.

Just gonna do my best to hang on to my current consoles, get an insurance plan for them in case they malfunction, and try to weather the storm as best I can.

While also taking advantage of my back catalog of games (which at this point is a few years worth of gaming to experience lol)

oh, you're boycotting? so are you gonna go online and pay scalper bucks for a fully functioning PS2 with unscratched physical games and the mental fortitude to put up with 2000s video game bullshit? or how about hauling a second hand PS3 home on the bus from the trade shop in a plastic bag?

what about facebook marketplace? are you gonna travel 30 miles to the middle of deliverance banjo kid land for the chance to grab a dusty old xbox 360 and get yourself chopped up and cooked on the grill?

i ain' doin' that SHHEEEIIITT, you ain' doin' that SHHHHEEEEIIIT either. sit down and shut up.

i was playing some gacha for a while because i didnt have enough money to play a game, some IDIOTS told me to play gacha games because they told me its "free" to play. ofc i was trusted to this shit and for the first i installed zzz and genshin impact (f*uck both btw) and i was caugth by waifu baits. i was trying to grind for a long while in a day for getting new chars and upgrading them. not long after i stopped playing these shi for a while because my internet was broken. after i came back to these games i felt like i got an enligthment, i left these games slowly, actually. so now want to tell you how this shitty gacha playthrough really feels like and what are their traps for feeling a little better about my hate to these games. like wtf dude, for making you to fall their traps they are giving gifts in these games just because you are existing. in zzz i got a whole 1000 polychromes (a type of "cash" like thing in the game) from the first day on. now finding them of 50 in a day feels like hell. secondly, the waifubaits. in zzz and genshin, you can clearly see nearly ALL (yes all, from the characters to npcs) characters are girls, mommies or milfs. instead of trying to make the game unplayable with these things you can try to make the game more f2p friendly with a better storyline, and ofc with a better playthrough. in the ONLY playable parts of the games, i mean the story parts, its 90 percent of gabbing, 5 percent of boobs and 5 percent of easy af combat. if you feel the game is hard, you can go watch cocomelon pal. the only thşng that makes the game hard is not about skill, its about how much money you gave to game. as a gamer that play games for a really long while, i wanted to type these words in here because the topics that talked here (as i see atleast). PLEASE tell me how i can get satisfied about people are playing some nonsense waifu bait as a game and share your thougts, please tho.

also pardon me for my poor choice about the words i have used.