Xbox Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate now Includes EA Play! [XGP, GamePass]

[RancidLunchmeat]

Are people are giving money to Microsoft to play games they would not have bought?

I certainly am. I can't think of any of the hundreds of games I've played on Game Pass that I would have purchased had they not been made available by the subscription.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Not yet, but I'll likely buy Alan Wake for $20 sometime this summer to finish it. I only got 60% of the way through it before it left the service. Also, after the next-gen Witcher 3 patch comes out, I'll finish that one and very likely buy all the DLC for that game as well.

 

[BRiT]

I've picked up DLCs for titles that I didn't have to purchase that will always remain on the service. I also picked up some titles when they were on sale when it seemed they were nearing the end of their inclusion (gut instinct based on timing and sale prices).

 

[AzBat]

I've bought Disney Land Adventures, Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure, Lego Worlds, Lego Jurassic World, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ori & the Will of the Wisps and Sea of Thieves all after they left the service. Those last 2 will always be on the service.

Tommy McClain

 

[eastmen]

Seems that Kim Swift joining is part of a longer strategy on cloud native experiences (the main thread of the article is on diversity).

They have no idea what cloud native experiences look like, so hopefully we get some interesting experiments



https://www.polygon.com/interviews/22539158/xbox-game-studios-diversity-peter-wyse

I hope they are experiences like Flight simulator. Imagine being able to stream in from the cloud large cityscapes and advanced physics

 

[cheapchips]

I hope they are experiences like Flight simulator. Imagine being able to stream in from the cloud large cityscapes and advanced physics

They have the option to render on the cloud too and stream video. That pretty much removes the problem of syncing many objects/behaviours between clients. Costly way of doing though, with the obvious downsides of input latency and image quality.

 

[see colon]

I've always thought the best application for game streaming would be a massive MMO or RTS where latency isn't that much of an issue. You could do some world destruction that would make actual changes to the gameplay and it would be seamless to the clients. Microsoft can finally leverage the power of the cloud, they just advertised it a generation early.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I've always thought the best application for game streaming would be a massive MMO or RTS where latency isn't that much of an issue.

This isn't necessarily true. Most modern MMORPGs are pretty latency sensitive once you get into end game content. While tab-targetting MMORPGs are more latency friendly for casual leveling up content, boss fights and raids become increasingly latency sensitive. In FFXIV, if you don't have really low latency, Raids are going to be almost impossible due to boss mechanics (limited time to react to boss mechanics that can one-shot kill you and thus lead to a failed Boss attempt).

In action MMORPGs (like most Korean and Chinese MMOs), they have 3rd person action combat and latency is almost always important. Especially since almost all of these have heavy PvP integration.

And while you can be more casual and sloppy with controls in single player RTS with lower difficulty settings, once you get into competitive or really hard AI, latency is the difference between getting slaughtered or not slaughtered in some of the more popular RTS games. For example, at a competitive level, Starcraft 2 requires as much or more twitch reflexes and twitch inputs as a FPS.

That said, almost any game at a casual level (like say easy difficulty) will be latency tolerant just because there's a lot of buffer for the player to make mistakes, which includes slow responses to on screen prompts, with few consequences.

However, some game types will always "feel" bad with higher latency than you're used to. For example, all FPS games "feel" bad on console for me as a result of higher latency and more importantly limited control response (turning for example is limited by what the game allows for max turning rate with a controller versus mostly unlimited limits on how quickly you can turn with a mouse) and limited control precision.

Anyway, all that is to say that there are few exceptions where higher latency doesn't have a sloppier feel. Something like a point and click adventure game is likely going to feel the same even with relatively high latency. Simple RTS games like the tug of war subgenre or other mobile types that are basically just queuing up actions likely won't feel much different. While a full RTS experience in competitive or higher difficulties will degrade with higher latency.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

This isn't necessarily true. Most modern MMORPGs are pretty latency sensitive once you get into end game content. While tab-targetting MMORPGs are more latency friendly for casual leveling up content, boss fights and raids become increasingly latency sensitive. In FFXIV, if you don't have really low latency, Raids are going to be almost impossible due to boss mechanics (limited time to react to boss mechanics that can one-shot kill you and thus lead to a failed Boss attempt).

In action MMORPGs (like most Korean and Chinese MMOs), they have 3rd person action combat and latency is almost always important. Especially since almost all of these have heavy PvP integration.

And while you can be more casual and sloppy with controls in single player RTS with lower difficulty settings, once you get into competitive or really hard AI, latency is the difference between getting slaughtered or not slaughtered in some of the more popular RTS games. For example, at a competitive level, Starcraft 2 requires as much or more twitch reflexes and twitch inputs as a FPS.

That said, almost any game at a casual level (like say easy difficulty) will be latency tolerant just because there's a lot of buffer for the player to make mistakes, which includes slow responses to on screen prompts, with few consequences.

However, some game types will always "feel" bad with higher latency than you're used to. For example, all FPS games "feel" bad on console for me as a result of higher latency and more importantly limited control response (turning for example is limited by what the game allows for max turning rate with a controller versus mostly unlimited limits on how quickly you can turn with a mouse) and limited control precision.

Anyway, all that is to say that there are few exceptions where higher latency doesn't have a sloppier feel. Something like a point and click adventure game is likely going to feel the same even with relatively high latency. Simple RTS games like the tug of war subgenre or other mobile types that are basically just queuing up actions likely won't feel much different. While a full RTS experience in competitive or higher difficulties will degrade with higher latency.

Regards,
SB

I figured that Cloud rendering would be sorta like Foveated rendering where locally you would handle the character and any interactive things. But the cloud would be used for anything that isn't interacted with . So for instance a mountain range out in the distance or the sky or even a large castle your battling through.

 

[eastmen]

anyone try that new vampire game ? Its like xcom

 

[Eolirin]

anyone try that new vampire game ? Its like xcom

I did. It does some interesting things, but it's got some significant polish issues and it's a little shallow. If I had less on my backlog I'd have more interest in spending time on it I think.

 

[eastmen]

I did. It does some interesting things, but it's got some significant polish issues and it's a little shallow. If I had less on my backlog I'd have more interest in spending time on it I think.

I was enjoying it but I am going to download it on my pc. I think it be more fun on that with mouse and keyboard

 

[orangpelupa]

I figured that Cloud rendering would be sorta like Foveated rendering where locally you would handle the character and any interactive things. But the cloud would be used for anything that isn't interacted with . So for instance a mountain range out in the distance or the sky or even a large castle your battling through.

also maybe use it as a "cheat" like old PS1 games.

IIRC final fantasy 8 did it amazingly in the scenes with the boss spider robot.

environment = CG Video (FMV) and 3D player controlled character overlaying it.

 

[Karamazov]

been trying my little XsS since yesterday and must say gamepass is the great value for the price.
It's a joy to go back to franchises i loved on the 360 like Gears 5 that looks really good at 60fps in this little machine.
tried FS2020 and FH4 too.
Very happy with my purchase. A great addition to my PS5.

 

[goonergaz]

So I finally played a game I would never play or even look at and am kind of hooked. I said I would report back if/when it happened and I’m a man of my word!

Darkest Dungeon is the game in question, I’m not even sure How I stumbled on it, I think it was a weekly quest or something. Anyway, it’s a great game if really confusing and complicated. I should switch it off but I keep coming back as it’s ideal for ‘10-20 min plays’ and you can also tinker for as long as you want between dungeons or even have a battle then pause, so it’s ideal for short playtime.

Anyway, I can recommend- it’s only 2.8gb so not even like it takes up much space.

 

[Malo]

Darkest Dungeon is the game in question, I’m not even sure How I stumbled on it, I think it was a weekly quest or something. Anyway, it’s a great game if really confusing and complicated. I should switch it off but I keep coming back as it’s ideal for ‘10-20 min plays’ and you can also tinker for as long as you want between dungeons or even have a battle then pause, so it’s ideal for short playtime.

Fantastic game. Art style and voice over is excellent and addicting game loop. My god it's hard though.

 

[goonergaz]

Fantastic game. Art style and voice over is excellent and addicting game loop. My god it's hard though.

Yeah, it’s really well done. My biggest grip is the unintuitive console controls, it’s a PC game shoe-horned into console and I often do ‘bad/wrong’ things accidentally which can be frustrating.

 

[cheapchips]

Art style... is excellent

It's odd that I really don't like Darkest Dungeon's art in screenshots. In-game I think it looks great.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Wow, Game Pass is really kicking it out of the park for me the past few weeks. I can't keep up with the stellar games that are coming out on it.

Superliminal just arrived on it. A spectacular puzzle game that plays with your perspective and subverts it. The Artful Escape is actually a really engrossing musical adventure, although the start was a bit slow. I spent way too much time in The Crown Trick, an absolutely lovely kid appropriate rogue like. And those are just the games I've had a chance to play.

Holy crap, it's starting to get like my Steam library where I just don't have enough time to play all the incredibly good games that are coming out on a weekly basis on the service. And looking at the coming soon list of games ... shit, I don't have enough time to play everything good that is coming to Game Pass.

First world problems I guess. Indie games and AA games are where it's at for fantastic gameplay. At this point, if I never play another AAA game for the rest of my life, I would die happy.

Regards,
SB

 

[see colon]

I said a while ago, Gamepass went from a place that had games I wouldn't mind checking out sometime but maybe didn't want to buy full price to a place that was getting stuff I fully intended on buying full price.