It’s sad to see so I’m going to keep a close eye on what GOG do from here.

If you can get a One X for $120 I’d consider that a great deal. I don’t think Xbox’s are particulary great for 4k blurays but if you are playing games too then its good enough.

I bought this too. The demo was great and Iooking forward to playing it next.

Fable Anniversary

I’m about 10+ hours in now and just finished “The Arena” quest. I’ve only played like 30 minutes of the game before so everything is new to me and I’m really enjoying it. I’m a big fan of Fable II so it’s nice to see everything in its original glory and learn where it all began.

Apart from the daily 20 minutes on Animal Crossing New Leaf I’ve spent more time tinkering and “fixing” stuff than playing. The best thing I did was setup Syncthing on my emulator handhelds which I should have done a lot sooner but didn’t even think to.

I’m not a fan of Steam or any launcher really but they have some useful features like friends lists and multiplayer updates. I don’t miss the times of downloading individual patches and having to insert a disc but nowadays has its own problems like “online” requirements for singleplayer and being forced to update. Thankfully GOG exists and some devs still offer DRM free versions and that’s my priority now.

I remember with ME2 (and around that time in general) we started getting “online passes” with games which was on top of already paying for Xbox Live. Sad times from EA and the other publishers.

Its a great trilogy though and ME1 is fantastic.

I’m not convinced by the trailer/gameplay we’ve seen so far as it just feels looks so bland to me. Hopefully I’m wrong.

Animal Crossing New Leaf

I uncovered the 2DS’s while tidying up last week and thought I’d play a couple games. It’s been relaxing just playing for 20 minutes a day getting the fossils, bells/gem and a little chatting and fishing.

Halo CE

Still making my way through the campaign but I’ve slowed right down now after finished Reach a couple weeks ago. The game is fine but I’m not really enjoying the Series S at the moment for some reason.

Death Stranding 2

Really enjoying it still. I just get lost in walking everywhere so progress is slow but that’s how I like to do it :) I think I’m at the 2nd boss fight so putting it off a while longer as I explore more of the land.

I did the same a couple months ago. Mostly played PGR4 and was also thinking about the Fable games the other day.

Kingdom: Two Crowns is great fun in co-op.

The start of DS is a little rough and it’s probably a solid 4 hours to get going. One you do though its top tier walking sim. I’d recommend actually walking and avoiding vehicles as much as possible to.

Death Stranding 2

It’s more of the same which is great. The game is gorgeous and so far after about 10 hours I’m really enjoying it. I can get lost for hours on a single delivery just walking and exploring everywhere :)

I know exactly the trailer you’re talking about. Obviously the game didn’t turn out that way but in my opinion The Division is an under-appreciated gem. It was absolutely awful at launch though and I think it took over a year to fix and adjust the gameplay.

Halo: Reach

So I finished up the campaign on Monday and it’s still as great as I remember. Noble Team :(

Satisfactory

Not normally my kind of game but my wife wanted to play together and it’s been fun. Our base is a mix of tidyness (her) and absolute mess (me)… So the perfect match.

Catalyst is pretty good but I think making it more open takes away the urgency of free running, and that’s the most important part.

Calling it a horrible game is a bit much.

I don’t think it’s as amazing as people make it out to be but, like you mention, turning off crossplay significantly improves matchmaking and supposedly giving feedback helps balance it even more. Its also a lot more fun with friends but the amount of PVP increases with groups and especially much more with 3 man.

Halo: Reach

I thought I’d start the year off by playing through the series using the MCC. Reach is my favourite but I haven’t actually finished any of the other so that might change.

Have a look at the Heroic Launcher. I remember reading it included a feature to play some Windows games in compatibility mode or something?

Apart from that I guess it’s Geforce Now, Amazon Luna etc…

Looks good so thanks for the recommendation.

I don’t pre-order but I do buy early access games. Unless it’s something genuinely limited edition and unique there is not reason to risk buying before release.

Merry Christmas!

Astro’s Playroom

In anticipation for the kids (and me) getting Astro Bot tomorrow I’ve been finishing up with all the artifacts and puzzle pieces. The game is actuality quite wonderful with the nostalgia and gameplay so I’m really looking forward to playing the next game :)

Arc Raiders

Its taken me a couple weeks to get in to but I’m enjoying it a lot right now and epecially duos with a buddy because I haven’t yet got a proper feel for the maps. Looting games are usually my thing but this one is great.

I have mixed opinions on physical media but. I’m starting to agree with you on this point. In the past I’m all for having the option to buy it on disc/cartridge but when you have to install the game anyway and download a day one patch it kinda defeats the purpose of it. Also offline mode on consoles if just a joke at this point.

Project Gotham Racing 4

It’s a shame that the series isn’t backwards compatible on the newest Xbox because they are awesome games. Driving has a really nice feel to it (not so much for the motorcycles), the circuit locations are all so well done and genuinely interesting to look at and race on. £2 well spent!

If I didn’t already have a Miyoo Flip v2 I would buy this version in a heartbeat. The love the clamshell design and portability of these things is a huge upside and I take it everywhere with me. I have been using MinUI on mine and it works great (especially quick save state and resume on open) but after reading your article I decided to change it up and move over to Knulli which has a lot more options.

Citizen Sleeper

It’s been a couple years since my first playthrough but enjoying it just as much this time. It’s definitely a solid top 10 game for me so I really need to buy the sequel after I’m done.

Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront

I’ve been playing through the Finnish campaign and also some dynamic conquest on hard difficulty and getting absolutely destroyed by the ai :(

It’s ok to use all the different stores.

Personally I use Steam for anything that has online functions and/or early access and GOG for everything else. Also I will buy direct from the developer (eg something like Software Inc) if I can but that option is getting harder to do.

Yeah I do all that myself with ETS2 but wanted to give another example.

Yeah I guess I am. Just give it to us in a bigger form…

Yeah I guess I am. Just give it to us in a bigger form.

It didn’t really take off to begin with but dual screen support like Supreme Commander had with the real-time map overview on the 2nd monitor. It could be a skirmish map or live track map for a racing game, live scoreboard, player status or inventory system.

I have the slim model and it was surprisingly easy with a good tutorial video and a set or torx screwdrivers.

As for controllers I also did that too with a good clean and new thumbsticks but sorry can’t help with any 3rd party recommendations.

I decided to dust off the Xbox 360 and played a couple games that aren’t available on the new consoles. I also gave it a refresh with new thermal paste, bearing oil for the fan and a good clean. It’s running great now.

Burnout Crash, it’s a top down version of crash mode from the main games.

Swarm, you collect 50 swarmites and make your way through the levels using student abilities.

That is a reason why offline installers are so important. At the very least we should be able to disable auto updates and still launch the (outdated) game.

Internet Connection - On/Off

I’m not sure what Halo has to do with it? Also from what I remember Gears was a huge franchise back in the peak Xbox 360 days so of course it got sequels

I got bored of the semi open-world part but it was still much better than Gears 4.

That’s impressive. I’m more of a “play everything but finish nothing” kind of player…

They really did do a great job on gameplay. About half way through I realised that increasing the difficulty level, not using vehicles and barely using weapons was the perfect way to play DS. Items what were rarely used actually become useful (eg, sandalweed and repair sprays), building/upgrading structures becomes meaningful and appreciating other players more because of the connection I felt. I would walk across the entire snowy mountain pulling 2 carriers of packages and it would take me like 90 minutes for one journy but it went by so quickly. Also you find points of interest like the giant cryptobiote corals and the Japanses torii style gateway.

I’ve avoided DS2 like the plague but actaully bought it today for a christmas present to myself :)