Joe_McCallister

That's a major bummer. I love the LFA, but these games always do a great job at letting me build a huge stable so I'm sure I'll be fine without it, still not great.

@thepanzini: The play anywhere comments weren't directed at you. Alan Wake also came out mid-month up against Red Dead so it's not a surprise it didn't smash anything. QB sold better than Sunset Overdrive - but was still at a time when Xbox One was finding its identity and trying to shake off the early stigma of Mattrick. Exclusives by nature are a risk, that's why they take them. I guess my confusion comes in what you're asking for from Microsoft, you want them to take chances but don't want what they've taken risks on so far with a Japanese game from a relatively competent developer, or a Pirate game from a super-competent developer that's getting great feedback all over the internet from people who have actually had hands-on. I'm not sure where the "little improvement" part of Sea of Thieves even comes from because the game has come a long way, was probably just announced far too soon so our impression of how long it's been worked on is skewed. I think I'm most curious when people make these statements in hindsight that things like QB or Scalebound were massive mistakes anyone could've seen coming, what would you have done differently?

To me, the bets made sense, and while Scalebound wasn't my cup of tea I could see they were doing something different and the studios they were trusting were calculated risks. Remedy doesn't make unadulterated crap, and Platinum tends to be hit or miss - they were hoping for a hit.

Sony also is having a solid quarter and seeing some growth but I wouldn't call it "in the black for a while" as their financials for 2016 were showing decline (https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/fr/16q4_sony.pdf). They've got work to do across the board but I agree they're making great moves, I just worry they're getting stagnant and comfortable (candidly they can afford to be with a 3x console sales lead).

What? Alan Wake sold north of 4 million, Quantum Break "exceeded expectations", Sea of Thieves alpha feedback and general feedback has been super positive. Don't get me wrong, MS doesn't have exclusives and has a ton of work to do, but they're also catching flak for things out of their control. Scalebound being cancelled isn't necessarily on Microsoft directly unless we've got a full picture of what happened between the studio and MS. I honestly feel a bit bad for MS in the respect of exclusives because of the cases like Scalebound, Crackdown's delays, Phantom Dust, etc. - they're trying things but seem to either not have the teams that can get something compelling put together, or the ideas just aren't appealing enough to dictate promising sales.

The idea that they need to just get exclusives for exclusives sake is a bad one, they don't need to pump out low-effort titles just to say "see we've got some too!". They need to be the home for third party to play best, and they need a few titles that are so compelling that they attract purchasers. Halo doesn't have that draw any more. I can't help but think that Sunset Overdrive coming out around this time would've been better than when it did - instead of coming out when the messaging around the console and business were so crazily off the mark, coming out now with play-anywhere would be a big draw.

Don't forget Microsoft is bigger than just Xbox as well, saying "play anywhere doesn't count because it's PC too" is a weak argument. Microsoft is still getting your money, while Sony as a larger company struggles with the gaming division pulling their profits up (albeit in a substantial way). Play Anywhere gives MS a unique advantage, and for me personally it's been great to play Forza Horizon 3 on the Xbox in the living room, then when the wife gets home just flip over to PC.

On a whim fired up Halo 5: Guardians and played some co-op Warzone - I had an absolutely great time with a team that ran through the round in only a few minutes. Made me think I'll get a few more rounds of that in, and reminded me that it's really a good game by most all of my standards. I also fired up my Xbox One for the first time in a long time as a result and remembered that I actually really like that console, I just haven't had much reason to get on there. I love what MS is doing with cross play and play anywhere, and as mentioned on this weeks Bombcast, I think they're doing the best they can with the hand their dealt (Jeff said something along the lines of 'playing the hand the best they possibly can') and I really look forward to how the X does.

I also played a bit of the COD WWII Beta, and really like the chances Sledgehammer is taking - definitely going to get more time in that and looking forward to see how it comes out after being off the bandwagon for the last 2 titles.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/ and maybe codewars - I haven't tried either but hear decent things about them.

This is the game I was most excited about being on the SNES classic - I've played it a handful of times since my youth but every time I seem to either bounce off it or just not have time. I'm probably over-nostalgic so I'm glad it's getting a remaster/remake so a new gen can see what it was like, but for me it's in the "neat" category while I stare at a backlog that's so huge it makes me cringe when I buy a new game.

This is a pretty salient point. It can be done, but you've really got to show grit, and be sure you're doing something different. There's a reason GB is successful, and it's because they're doing things in a way that others didn't for a while, and possibly can't do today. I would recommend taking a good look around at the popular content out there and try to figure out what's missing. In my industry I try to look at things and ask "what sucks about this" or "what's the worst part of this" and figure out how to make it better be it through automation, UX design, or something else. There are 2 ways to be really successful - do it better, or do something not currently being done. Both are tough, so just know your challenges and risks, and if you're serious - commit.

I played one round last night and really enjoyed what I saw just from a menu and depth perspective. Played one round of war and it was really varied. I'm one of those take/leave COD fans where I played Advanced Warfare and loved it, and I have a lot of faith in Sledgehammer of late, so it reaffirmed that this could be a great game. I'm excited to see how it turns out and I'll be holding on to my Ps4 preorder. Eager to hear what folks here and the duders think of it, definitely pumped for the return to WWII.

I think the sales will be decent - the chatter around the game was generally positive but I agree, I really liked what I played. I wasn't prepared for it to be so closely aligned with Bioshock/System Shock/Dishonored - idk what I expected but I really enjoyed almost every part of it. I hope it at least comes up in GOTY talk, don't think it'll win anything but I really like the direction and the stab they took in general for a game/franchise that was basically abandoned years ago. I also wholly underestimated how terrifying some of the enemies can be - the nightmare in particular

This plus the steam sale was enough to get me in. I bought at launch on PS4 and actually really liked zoning out to it for a few hours but lost interest once I got what the loop was. I launched the new update just the other day and have remembered that sense of awe and discovery, but can't remember exactly what was and wasn't in before this update, so to me it's almost like this is the way the game is supposed to be (maybe like a re-first play). I'm enjoying it so far and will definitely mess around - first thing I noticed was even the difficulty I don't think was there the last time I played and the "Creative" option is really cool.