"The video game industry, like many others, is an industry of trends. One company does something, it works, then five other companies follow suit. The multiplayer rewards from Call of Duty 4, regenerative health, and motion controls are all examples of the trend centered, follow the leader mentality that the games industry observes. While it generally helps improve the overall quality of the games there’s one trend that disturbs me: releasing incomplete games."
Carlos writes: "Christmas may have come and gone in the blink of an eye, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t still got plenty to look forward to, and as 2019 creeps up on us, the reality of countless exciting new games is just around the corner. Before we start splashing the cash too early however, let’s first take a look at the Xbox One and Xbox 360 freebies on offer with the Xbox Live Games With Gold of January 2019. As we kick off the new year, just how good or bad are the titles nestled within our monthly subscription?"
celest's pixelated look put me off (main reason why i refuse to give minecraft a try) but i keep hearing great things about it in terms of overall game design and a story i can relate to so now i'm looking forward to it.
Just trying to help out those newcomers to the Xbox world I guess! Nowt wrong with that.
How would you feel if the next digital game you paid for was a duplicate of an item already in your library?
Major Nelson: For the month of January, Xbox Live Gold members will receive four new free games - two on Xbox One and two on Xbox 360 - as part of the Games with Gold program.
Celeste looks cool, as for the rest...meh. another lackluster month for GWG.
Hopefully I don't get an..oh, it's an Xbox article, no worries.
Celeste is supposedly a great little indie, but it seems like GwG doesn't offer the same number of quality AAAs since the advent of Game Pass. I know BF1 was given recently and there was one month featuring For Honor and another AAA, but overall that is an aberration rather than the norm. Tbh BF1 is practically given away these days. It's $3.99 on PSN atm.
A ton of games just released on Games Pass. Ashen, Below, Senu Helblade, I have so many games to play, I cant keep up!
yah I'm drowning in games, I'm nearly done with Shadow of the Tombraider, nearing the end then a few of the extra dlc challenge tombs. Then I have Final Fantasy Maxima, FFXIII-lightinging returns(recently BC x enhanced), Hellblade, Below, then KH3 at end of January, also need to give Spiderman a go (just finished kingpins intro section), crackdown3 and Black Desert in feb.
Tons on the backlog too. Great time for gaming.
Ori and the Blind Forest released today! The new one drops soon, and will be on Games Pass day one. Have never played Ori.
if you've not tried guardian of light with a friend, its great coop fun, unfortunately I've beaten both of those Lara Croft games.
Celeste is awesome. However they gave that Lara Croft game before. This is the first time that either PS+ or GWG has hit us with a duplicate and it's not cool. It doesn't matter if some people missed it back then it's not fair for those of us who have been members since the start and already have it. First they give us an old OG Xbox game last month and now they hand us a duplicate. Not cool at all.
Not cool? You feel so entitled that you deserve something new every month? Gold was meant for playing online, they added the games as a bonus.
Entitled? Give me a break you corporate apologist. It doesn't matter that Xbox Live was only for playing online years ago. The fact is they promised 2 new titles on Xbox One and Xbox 360 every month for years now. There are people who purchase Xbox Live just for the free games. Not everyone cares about playing online. You aren't the one who decides what Gold is for.
Same thing happened a couple of years ago on PS+. People complained and got Sony to offer up something else. Neither situation is something really worth crying over imo.
I'm sorry when was this? I've been a Plus member since day 1 in 2010 and they have never given me a duplicate game. Can you tell me exactly when this was and what the game was? Was it in another country? I know for sure the US has never had one.
Ah so yeah it was in Europe only. I'm in the US so that's why I wasn't quite sure. They've never pulled that stunt here. Still at least they made it up for the EU players and gave them something else. Microsoft needs to do the same thing.
I honestly don’t care. more then half the time i don’t even play the games with gold games, or i already own them, so to me this isn’t a big deal that i get a 360 game twice. I’m sure if there’s enough people that complain about it then they’d do something about it, but otherwise meh, not something to get worked up over unless it became the norm. then it’d be shittier.
i’m sure you are flaming mad about sony removing PS3 and Psvita games as well, especially right after their prices went up they announced it
Actually no I'm not. I've been expecting it honestly for awhile now. At least they gave people a head's up a whole year in advance. They did it right. That way no one who only had those platforms renewed their PS+ and then felt ripped off later. Microsoft is just straight up changing their rules without any notice and leaving some members with less than what they promised.
First time in about 6 months that im actually looking forward GWG. Celeste alone makes it worth being excited over.
Weird how people used to rip Sony for giving quality indies on PS Plus, but now people are hyped about them on GwG. The tides have seemingly shifted a bit.
I haven't played any of these titles so I'm excited to give them try. Far Cry 2 is the only one of that series that I skipped.
Carlos writes: "It’s already been a great year for Xbox One Backwards Compatibility, but we’re still only a few months in and that means there is plenty more to come throughout 2018, with many more of our favourite titles still yet to be added. Whilst the latest additions aren’t more of the recently promised titles that will be getting Xbox One X Enhancements, they still continue the trend of frequent releases, and it's always good to see old Xbox 360 becoming available on Xbox One. The question is though - are they games that we should be heading back to?"
the game is probably heading as a remaster to ps4 and xbox one though so most ppl are better off waiting for those version
I mean it could, but I kinda feel like it would have happened already if it were the case. Both Vanquish and Bayonetta came to steam last year, and if they were going to be remastered for current consoles i feel like it would have happened around then or even before the PC ports. Could still happen tho
Unless they would like to play it for free. i hope there is a remaster for bayonetta, it would look great at 4k 60
@BLK there were rumors last of end year but no official statement ... though i would surprised if doesn't happen
nowhere does anyone say its coming to consoles. it was only done for pc. there are threads of people asking if it will be released on console but 0 mention from the studio or distributor.
The cool thing about BC on the xbox one x specifically tho is that it can render the game geometry at 4k and get better frame rates without a patch so even the base game gets a bit of a performance boost.
Better of waiting to play a remaster of a game that has not been confirmed vs playing it now for cheaper with the potential of it being Xbox one enhanced? Ooooooookay.
Since when are you "better off" paying for a game you already own AGAIN instead of playing said game with improvements at no cost?
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Vanquish is the best third-person cover shooter I ever played. The whole game is a pure adrenalin rush.
I remember playing the demo and thinking it was badass, never got around to buying it for some reason though xD
Best I've played. It forces you to think on your feet all the time. Makes you have to move constantly as your always overwhelmed and getting flanked but you have abilities like sliding and slowing time down plus a squad with you to help give you a chance. It's short but so good and can be picked up so cheap now.
Well...the 360 does too to be honest. But there are tons of great games that are not being made for 360 anymore but is for the Xbox One. If I can play these games on One, along with all the great 360 titles, then no, I mean Xbox One...
MS loves their lame timed exclusives that come out looking like crap. Remember the buggy mess that was The Last Remnant?
Honestly, who gives a shit? Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is perfectly playable as a single-player experience (and is really quite good) and local co-op works fine.
I have't cared about Tomb Raider in over 15 years. Why should I start not? This version looks like the GBA versions, actually. And they all sucked.
This game looks really fun and co-op/online is always welcomed. My only beef, and that may be a bit of a fanboy hidden deep inside, that this game has yet to get a gig for it's lack of online co-op. If it were on PS3 first it would of been sh*t all over for it.
But the online is coming. I kind of think the game was in a deal to be part of XBLA Summer of Games, but didn't get done in time. MS did have exclusive DLC with Underworld, so they could of easily payed for a timed deal.
This is nothing to freak out over. It's good timing. 360 gamers are able to play this before REACH consumes them in september, while PS3 gamers can play it the month before november so they have free time to be consumed with GT5 & LBP2.
@STK026
I agree
Regarding the article, the reason SOCOM was punished in the reviews was because it was mostly unplayable and had very long load times. These issues have now been resolved for the most part, but back when it launched, the game was unplayable, at least in my opinion.
However, for Lara Croft, the game is missing the online portion as of now, but that doesn't mean the single player and local multiplayer are unplayable or anything. Why would a reviewer give the game an abysmal score, just because ONLINE co-op is not included in the game from the get go? Also, the writer doesn't take in account the fact that some reviews probably removed some points for the lack of online co-op.
So, the difference is, SOCOM was barely playable when it launched and was under review. Lara Croft was playable and extremely fun, but was lacking its online component when under review. Should both games be punished to the same degree when their flaws are on a whole different level?