Always short of a few bob, each week I scour the internet for fun, interesting or just plain intriguing Indie Freebies. This week’s highlighted titles are: Notes of Obsession, a first-person horror game set in a modern Swedish house; Xenotep, a short but pretty puzzle-adventure game set on an alien planet; and Without Room: An Arena FPS, a single-player shooter with a heavy nod and wink to Doom and Quake.
Vince Zyle writes "Star Wars Hunters is a really fun game! It’s not as good as other Star Wars games like Star Wars Battlefront 2 but coming from a developer like Zynga who worked on very underwhelming and low-quality titles before, this is a major upgrade.
There’s not much objectively wrong with the game aside from the work needed to make visuals smoother during animations. That’s one of the biggest issues at present alongside frame drops that occur from time to time when there’s too much going on which isn’t too bad but certainly noticeable.
In conclusion, Star Wars Hunters is a game for arena shooter fans who are looking for an action-filled game. Some of the other issues will hopefully be ironed out with future updates."
Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty thinks they "deserve a pretty positive grade" for the recent Xbox Games Showcase
You bought it all around six months ago. You spent billions because the company is literally inept but yeah a plus man
It's like a kid that pays the smart kid in class to do his science fair project for him, then brags "Hey, look what I made! That's an A+ effort right there!"
Wait didn't Sony buy all the great studios THEY own also? So Microsoft is a villain for trying to catch up?
@GamerRN the only example I can think of that you're referring to is Bungie with Destiny? Maybe a few others that were already in financial risk of closure?
Almost all the others were long nurtured studios that Sony help build up from their beginnings. Insomniac for instance is what it is today because of Sony's support from the early PS1 days from Spyro to Ratchet & Clank onward. (Or for me, the hidden gem Disruptor) Insomniac even gave Microsoft a chance w Sunset Overdrive and hardly anyone bought it, so Insomniac saw MS as a wasted effort. They probably heard about the Gamepass plans early on b4 it was announced and ran. Gamepass is where games go to die bc unless you're in the 5% most successful titles, you're in risk of your game, and possibly your studio dying off.
Gamerrn
Play coy all you want but Sony never went and bought 2 of some of the largest publishers in gaming. There is a huge difference. Doesnt matter much anyway because as Ms has already shown, it's base cannot support all the ips they've bought.
@ Gamer: “ Wait didn't Sony buy all the great studios THEY own also? So Microsoft is a villain for trying to catch up?”
Ugh a few thousand of my brain cell expired after reading your comment.
Edit: sorry forgot to comment on the article
Good job microsoft on showing the stuff you stole and dangling it on front of the police saying you deserve it because you work hard to get it 🤦🏿
‘ Xbox Studios Boss: We "Deserve a Pretty Positive Grade" for Xbox Games Showcase’
And what grade do you think you deserve for the rest of your 2024 shenanigans? 🤔
@1victor
"Ugh a few thousand of my brain cell expired after reading your comment."
Based on your comment history I assumed that your brain cells already had a battle royal and that's how you ended up with that user name?
I think it's the gamers that get to decide that... you don't take a test and then go up to the teacher saying "I deserve an A".
Here’s the thing and I know it’s going to cause a stir like it’s some fanboy bullshit but it needs to be said
Microsoft did indeed have a great showcase, no way about it, they did
BUT…theres a lot of ways to go about it
We’ve been moaning for years how studios constantly keep showing off games that are years away and the thing is this is exactly what Microsoft has done this year
Simple reveal trailers to fully showing of a bit of gameplay, it’s irrelevant the fact is Microsoft already revealed Perfect Dark, Fable, State of Decay, Avowed, Indiana Jones before the showcase and some of those titles were revealed a LONG time ago. They did the same thing with Hellblade 2 for a while until it finally released, it always felt it was at every show. Gears of War had no release date so how many shows is that going to be at realistically? I just assumed going by the comments online people hated this sort of stuff and yet the next they praise it. We’ve still got other games MS revealed a while back and will get more re-reveals in the future so the same will happen again.
Then you have multiplatform games on top of all that because let’s be honest between the Summer Game Fest and Microsofts Showcase you’ll want to reveal your games at something more established and bigger so these big third party studios will chose Microsoft to show their games at since Sony hasn’t got any presence at these shows and people like EA don’t really do their own shows because they are always terrible.
It just feels like overtime, if Microsoft finally go third party in the next few years, the Microsoft Showcase will basically become a third party mini E3 show more multiplatform developers will want to get in on as long as there’s an Xbox version.
I'm glad someone else has pointed it out.
Everybody got angry at trailers of games with no gameplay or release dates and some of these didnt even have a year, so I'm not sure what's changed? Those of us with a series X spent the first two years saying 'wait till next year'. After this show we are still kicking the can down the road....
I'm happy to see what's coming, but the show did everything that everyone said they hated in the past! I guess given the shocks of the early year for MS, any optimism is appreciated, but I'll be reserving judgement for when we actually see games. At least ID know how to do a gameplay trailer - more of that please!
"You bought it all around six months ago. You spent billions because the company is literally inept but yeah a plus man"
Sure thing...
Perfect Dark, South of Midnight, Fable, Flight Simulator 2024, State of Decay and Gears 6 all looked incredible it those has absolutely nothing to do with ABK or even Bethesda.
I guess some people simply can´t accept that MS is on a whole new level of quality, quantity and variety that competition can´t come close!
Xbox has the whole generation on the lock and even some games to spare and save for the next generation console. All Top tier games day one on Gamepass including COD.
Things will only get better for us. This is just the beginning of something ever greater.
Guess what they didn't show much of? Exclusive titles. Not even Gears 6 was cited to be exclusive to Xbox.
Looks like you were proven wrong yet again.
https://ibb.co/qWLK4Zp
https://ibb.co/Xk7Y5qj
Haven't you learned to wait for release yet? You said the same about Redfall and Starfield. Looking great in previews is all well and good. It's how they actually play that matters. Where is this "whole new level of quality"? They've yet to even be nominated for game of the year, nevermind winning it. That's what a whole new level of quality means.
“Things will only get better for us. This is just the beginning of something ever greater”
Good grief.
Fanboy shit aside…come on
Cringe
ah spare me with this “us” mentality, you corpo mouthpiece are getting tiring...
if you’re a gamer and you see games you like buy it (and the device to play it if you haven’t) and move on, it’s a box not a homeland to defend.
Don't be a slave to company please man and be open minded about different views man.
I see an Obscure_Observer post I don't read it but simply down vote it and I'm not even a simple man. :)
"Things will only get better for us. This is just the beginning of something ever greater."
My God. I can't even imagine what is wrong with this person and what kind of life he lives. Just look at the things he writes and spews. Can you imagine, he is talking about video games, just a form of entertainment? He talks as if he is on a holy crusade or a fight for freedom awaiting salvation or liberation. How can someone become so obsessed, crazed, and devoted to a videogame brand that serves no purpose in life except to provide some entertainment during your free time?
@shinoff2183
"Xbox has lost. Just accept"
They´d lost. Xbox and PC gamers won.
Fair trade to me, since I couldn´t care less if the´re losing while we get our games! TONS of games day one on Gamepass.
@frosty cause they release on pc, are we now gonna call all sony 1st party games not exclusive anymore because they also release on pc?
I agree. Dont you find it interesting how Microsoft bought Activision after their own internal studios failure and then at first chance they say "We"...... You didn't do anything but dig deep into Papa Microsofts deep pockets and take their money to buy someone else's work. After several years managing the business, yeah, I'll probably allow you to say "we" when you've proven yourself. That's like me having the school nerd do my science project, paying him to do it and then turn it in and say I did it. I don't see any difference
As a primary Playstation gamer i give it positive grade since the showcase was OK and most of the games coming to PS5.
IMO best of the shows
Astro bot
Black myth wukong
Phantom blade zero
new Doom
new Gears
MGS Delta
Mario Party Jamboree
Zelda EoW
Pass on Doom Gears and Mario party for me though my kids may want to play Mario Party. Also a temporary pass on Black Myth until they get discs in their house physical copies of the game. Not a huge fan of the Zelda art style but I will still get it as it has the old school gameplay
didnt know you could throw around beds and tables in the old school zelda gameplay, it seems it is a puzzle game, not an adventure game.
How are "most" coming to ps5?
Astro Bot while to much of a kids game for me looks cool, but that was all Sony had.
XBOX had some game this year for sure! Looks like "most" won't be on PlayStation
Fable
Perfect Dark
OD (I know nothing about it but I love Kojima)
Indiana Jones
State of Decay 3
Stalker 2
Avowed
Gears 6
The Outer Worlds 2
Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 ( the best looking game I have ever seen!)
I would say so. Well done showcase. I do still miss E3 though as I still just don't really like these online showcases replacing much of the in person presentations where everyone gathers. Companies, devs, and fans of the whole industry (not just for one platform) alike at one event.
You deserve a steaming pile of shite just like the Series S you released to gimp this generation
Even in a “slow year” Sony still has more games than Xbox coming out in 2024. One C rated showcase showing games 5+ years away and all of a sudden Xbox fans think they can beat their chest.
if that's your issue you can just play on pc, uncapped framerates, better textures, more options, mods, user fixes if a dev fucks something up and if you wanna talk about that, consoles hold the gaming industry back because it already runs on 2+ years old hardware on release, but I bet you don't care about that
The only thing Microsoft crushed were studios like Tango and Arkane, just think we could have seen games from them if it wasn't for xbox.
Plenty of things to cry about in the industry. Like those studios closing. Sony stopping psvr 2 support. MS crappy elite controller endurance. Sonys lack of games. I could go on and on. You really seem to have a hard time dealing with MS's success. MS crushed the showcase and NiN did great. All sony really did was let you know ASTRO bot is what you have to look forward too and they are going full 3rd party.
Why would I care what Sony did or didn't do? All I want from them right now is Bloodborne on PC.
"You really seem to have a hard time dealing with MS's success." Yes I do, because MS "success" means industry consolidation and studio shutdowns as a direct result of MS's greed spree of newly purchased Publishers. Success to you is just buying and consolidating an industry at the cost to gamers and the workforce... but hey as long as the CEO's and shareholders get their payday and people like you keep cheering them on they'll keep doing it.
Buddy I hate to inform you of this but every company is a consolidation of studios. Further more there will continue to be layoffs across the industry. I will say this. Your 1st sentence is exactly why people don't take you seriously on n4g. Why would I care what sony did and didn't do? You seem to follow Sony with blind eyes then hate on MS for doing the same exact things that sony does. You gotta be objective man. That's the part you're missing. Game on!
"You seem to follow Sony with blind eyes then hate on MS for doing the same exact things that sony does. You gotta be objective man."
Please quote me caring about Sony (lets make this easy for you) in the last 3 years and please show me defending Sony spending $80 billion on industry consolidation.
"Buddy I hate to inform you of this but every company is a consolidation of studios."
Just say you have no idea what industry consolidation is and it's impact on the workforce and consumers.
"Your 1st sentence is exactly why people don't take you seriously on n4g."
Looks at InUrFoxHoles profile and comment history... sure buddy, self awareness isn't a strong point here. Why not explain where my comment isn't truthful of the current situation.
Defend gaming not your obsession over your favourite plastic box whose owners are currently the biggest danger to the industries workforce.
A new Red Faction game was apparently in the works, but Embracer never greenlit it and instead canceled it along with studio layoffs.
It's a shame that the level of environmental destruction in this series was treated as a novelty and not followed up.
I get that tightly controlling the gamer's experience is desirable but there must be some scope for some games to let people go nuts and for it to still make sense from a design perspective.
Yeah. Developers ditched that for better graphics. Even Red Faction developers are guilty of this.
