80°

Digital Foundry's Best Games of 2023: The Oliver Mackenzie Collection

It's been a tumultuous year for games development - and yet the quality of releases has been absolutely phenomenal. In this video, Oliver Mackenzie shares his thoughts in 2023 and offers up his top five titles for your viewing pleasure.

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digitalfoundry.net
340°

Tango Gameworks Dev Asks “Not Enough?” Amid Studio Shutdown Despite Multiple Awards

Amid the studio’s shutdown, a Tango Gameworks developer has questioned whether its many awards were not enough for the Xbox management.

XiNatsuDragnel1d 19h ago

I'm sorry but I'm going for cringe *insert madara got betrayed by black zetsu here* but fr tango it's never enough for Microsoft. Microsoft are cannibals imo

TheProfessional1d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

Yeah PS hasn't shut down any studios.

Arkane austin made redfall, everything about that was bad regardless of microsft's involvement. Plus prey didn't sell well either.

Tango gameworks shouldn't have been closed though. The others make sense.

notachance1d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

it doesn’t take long for xbox fanboys to put on their fanboy glasses again huh?
it’s always the classic combo of “PS did it too” and “it makes sense”.

And they wonder why there’s barely any new fans since xb1 era, that’s because normal people are disgusted by the corporation and its fanboys.

Reaper22_1d 9h ago

"Yeah PS hasn't shut down any studios."

Now you know that's a lie.

thorstein1d 9h ago

Today's lesson in rhetoric:

Whataboutism

-a type of red herring fallacy. Both are argumentative fallacies that divert attention away from the original topic to a new one. However, whataboutism uses the new topic to attack the other party, while a red herring fallacy introduces an unrelated topic.

XiNatsuDragnel21h ago

Yes we understand ps isn't perfect especially not recently but this fallacy doesn't mean anything because if ps saw potential they'll cultivate usually and problem particularly tango where they made bangers that xbox needed but nope man shut it down like tf

DarXyde21h ago

1. Why are we talking about PlayStation closing studios? We know they did, but the "they did it too" deflection is such a lazy way to redirect frustration and outrage about what is happening now. We're not talking about Sony, are we? The problem is Microsoft straight up closed studios they've held for less than five years after releasing single projects. And being the cowards they are, they closed Tango when staff was away during Golden Week in Japan.

2. I don't play Arkane games as first person games are not my flavour, but let's look at this exactly as it really is: Microsoft, a company with a market cap over 3 TRILLION dollars, has doubled, tripled, quadrupled, and quintupled down on their Day one subscription service. They have sabotaged their own titles' chances of success related to revenue by doing that—add to the fact that they insisted on having all of these studios with the publishers (refusing to cleave off any studios) and having a drawn out legal battle over ABK. And even with Game Pass, Microsoft had to close the loophole for $1 subs because their players don't even want to pay the full sub fee.

And now, the developers are on the chopping block. Spencer acting as the remorseful figure after Red Fall bombed, yet he's still got his job and the studio is gone.

Stop the madness. And just to appease your whataboutism, yes, Sony deserves this fire too if/when they go that way. I can't speak for others, but I was absolutely livid when they closed Japan studio. I don't even have Plus because they raised the price and haven't had it since.

None of these corporations are good. I wouldn't lose sleep if they all burned to the ground and something that balances labour and consumer best interests came from it.

Until then, keep the anger righteous. Today, that happens to be Microsoft.

Profchaos17h ago

Arkane Austin were under direction for zeninax to make redfail prior to that arkane actually had a really impressive history so one mistake they partially made remember it's zeninax that drove the games direction and it's a yeah they suck they deserve it.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 17h ago
MrDead1d 18h ago

You have talent but MS is IP hoarding so only the biggest IP's will survive, a few new ones might slip through but if they don't sell like the big titles like COD or Fallout then bye bye and thanks for the money we'll make from continuing to sell your games.

InUrFoxHole14h ago

That's a fair take. While Tango made hi fi it's not like any of there other games were system sellers

Hugodastrevas1d 13h ago

This is legitimately heartbreaking, you pour all you got into your craft, you're recognized for it, you're successful... Just to be discarded like leftovers

MrDead1d 10h ago

The games haven't been discarded, MS just made sure the people who created them are not receiving any money from future sales... like the massive c**** they are.

Palitera1d 8h ago

Well, in the past, they gave away their choice power for money.
They just want to receive the aquisition and full funding money, but still call the shots?

shinoff21831d 12h ago

Hopefully they can move on and continue, whether forming their own studio, or getting a job elsewhere. This dev is exactly right.

CDbiggen1d 11h ago

I loved ghostwire, such a shame.

Show all comments (59)
150°

Hi-Fi Rush Gets Surge Of Positive Reviews On Steam After Studio Shutdown Announcement

Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush has received a surge of positive reviews on Steam after the announcement of the studio's shutdown.

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twistedvoxel.com
TiredGamer1d 14h ago

I mean.... okay. While I can appreciate the virtue-signaling of it all, this along with the recent Helldivers 2 debacle is only proving that Metacritic scores really can't be trusted and are just something that can be used to manipulate. If a game/movie/etc is not rated solely on its own merit, what good are the reviews to a consumer actually looking to make the best choice in selecting a piece of entertainment?

CrimsonWing691d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

Exactly! I said this and people jumped down my throat as it was an attack to democracy or some sh*t when I brought it up in a Helldivers 2 article.

It 100% shows how pointless user reviews are. I personally, never make a purchasing decision based on them and if I’m on the fence for a game I’ll watch streams and gameplay and check out professional reviews to form a decision.

Typically, I get what I’m interested in regardless of reception, but that’s just me. If I’m being honest, reviews are pointless and more for validation. I see a game I’m hyped for get an aggregate high score it’s just like a good feel sort of thing. I’ll still buy what I want regardless of people’s opinions.

shinoff21831d 13h ago

Exactly. People put to much stock into reviews and stuff. It never made sense to me. I buy the same way. If on kinda either way I look up about the game not what someone else thinks for the most part.

15h ago
northpaws1d 13h ago

Ya, just stop trusting reviews, and give interesting games a chance.

sagapo1d 11h ago

Yeah, the thing is back in the day we got demo’s and they gave you a glimpse of what to expect. And most demo’s were pieces of the final version, not chuncks of beta material.
Today with barely any demo’s, bying on a gut feeling is kinda tricky as games aren’t getting any cheaper.
I do watch and read reviews nowadays, paying attention to the con’s mostly. If certain negatives keep reappearing in reviews, there migt be some truth to it and it’s up to me if I let that negative influence my decision to purchase.

Vits1d 13h ago

You are conflating two different things. First is the score, and scores, by definition, are something completely open to manipulation because they are quantitative measures of qualitative analysis. The second is the review itself, which is what is written, and that is where the value of reviews lies, especially user reviews because they can point out things that "professional" reviews will not, for example, how the game behaves after an update or if it scales well with a certain tier of hardware, etc.

The issue is that most people don't like to read. They see the score, and that's about it. Which is even worse in the case of Steam, as the score system is binary, so it alone doesn't tell anything.

jwillj2k41d 14h ago

All they’re doing is paying Microsoft. Nothing positive comes from this.

romulus231d 14h ago

It's a great game, it shouldn't have taken the studios closure to receive a surge of positive reviews.

Kurisu1d 13h ago

I wish I had supported the game at launch. I mean, I "did" in a way because I played it when it shadow dropped on Game Pass and I absolutely loved it, but didn't buy it. When the studio closure got announced I purchased it on PS5 while it was on sale though, and have started the game again.

romulus231d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

I purchased it on PS5 as soon as it became available, worth every penny. At least we did our part to support the developer, too bad it wasn't enough.

15h ago
Psychonaut851d 14h ago

Wish we could start a gofundme for the Tango employees, but I have no confidence the money would actually get to them.

northpaws1d 13h ago

That's XBox for you... Promote the shit out of Star field and shadow drop good game like Hi Fi Rush... they simply don't know what is a good game. HI-Fi Rush proved that you don't need huge budget for games, you just need to know what make a game fun.

anast1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

In actuality, both games are not that good. Hi-Fi is an average good game, which is why even the fans of these types of games could only muster a 6k peak on steam. Now, Imagine spending a 100 mil to advertise it.

15h ago
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50°

Humble Choice Bundle May 2024 Lineup Includes Hi-Fi Rush

The games for Humble Choice Bundle for the month of May, 2024, have begun to be revealed, and they include Hi-Fi Rush.

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twistedvoxel.com