When reading opinion pieces, especially ones on topics that I am passionate about, I try and keep a level head and not let the fact that it’s written in a publication I enjoy inform my opinion too much. That being said, I thought this was a well done look back at so many of the things the Xbox brand has gotten wrong over the years.

In today’s fast paced world I think it can be easy to forget stuff like lionhead’s closure and especially the PR releases that were said at that time. The similarities in the pr releases to the recent closures and lionhead’s closure were interesting to see.

I find myself overall agreeing with this piece and it’s conclusions. I do feel the author’s idea of why entertainment companies exist to perhaps be a little idealistic (although I am admittedly pretty jaded on the industry and capitalism as a whole at this point in my life). They claim that entertainment companies exist “to provide that entertainment.” Sure I think creative leads and the devs (especially in the games industry) are there to provide entertainment that they are passionate about. But idk if I can ever see a period where the publisher was in it for the art, despite what they may say. My jaded view is it’s always been for profits. That being said, while reading this and having that view in the back of my head, I did start to question myself a bit. Why is Xbox struggling so hard? I mean if every publisher is in it for the same reason, (profit in my mind) why is Xbox struggling so much with having a clear path. Sure the industry as a whole has been struggling this past year or so, but Xbox seemingly has been struggling for a lot longer. While not a huge Sony fan, they have provided a large list of really excellent games. Sony is of course in it for profits, but they seem to have had more success in getting quality games out the door.

Idk the piece made me think about the whole thing more and I’m not really sure where my thoughts are going to settle. I do know that I really think this shouldn’t have happened. Despite the state of the industry, Microsoft had $20 billion in profit last quarter. I see no reason why this needed to happen.

Thanks for sharing

Idk id argue it is surprising. Say what you want about the performance of these games financially, but these studios were bought by one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Sure maybe the games weren’t a huge hit, but like… So? You have money. One flop and they’re axed? Xbox said they want to be bigger in the Japanese market, yet they closed their only Japanese studio. A studio with a bunch of talent and training that is gone now. Xbox has a huge problem bringing studios up and getting good output. Their best exclusive (at the time) of 2023 is now without a developer. Why not eat that cost? Yes I get a lot of studios are closing right now but that shouldn’t be happening at a company like Microsoft. But line must always be going up I guess

There’s a statement on this ign article that says arkane Austin will have devs go to other studios, but nothing on the tango front. They’re just closing it.

https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-closes-redfall-developer-arkane-austin-hifi-rush-developer-tango-gameworks-and-more-in-devastating-cuts-at-bethesda

Absolutely devastating. Prey, high fi rush, evil within. All amazing games. Hate this shit. Love that one of the wealthiest companies in the world bought these studios and are still closing them. Fuck this shit

And the battle music for it is sooooo good

Earthbound and the whole mother series are some of my all time faves. Mother 3 in particular is so outstanding it is a crime it hasn’t been localized! I have the osts in my regular rotation. Earthbound is probably my favorite for nostalgia reasons since I played it well before the others, and I like its format a bit more than the chapter based format of 3. However 3 is probably the more polished and better game

Only real reason I use fennec over mull is mull by default has a fingerprinting setting that, while being better for privacy, locks the app to 60hz and my phone supports 120hz. If 60hz doesn’t bother you then I think mull is the better choice. But they’re really similar at the end of the day

Afaik he’s always been independent. I think he ran with the democratic party for the presidency, but unless I missed something he’s always been independent with his senate position

It also likely wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t an epic exclusive (they funded it). I do wish they could have gotten someone else to publish it of course, but I’m thankful the game exists at all, it’s really outstanding

The headline is kinda misleading. Yes it hasn’t recouped costs yet, but they sound confident it will. It’s the best performing Remedy game ever released

Edit: misleading maybe not the right word. “Doesn’t tell the full story” is probably better

https://freedium.cfd/https://medium.com/@patalcala/finding-the-right-javascript-frontend-framework-for-you-c6a633e1bd1a

I agree it shouldn’t be the ESA’s responsibility. However as it says in the article:

In 2023, the Video Game History Foundation revealed 87 percent of games released pre-2010 were currently not preserved in any capacity. Attempts previously made by the Library of Congress were halted by the ESA, which said it’d rely on publishers to take care of those efforts themselves.

So the ESA have made themselves the problem by halting such attempts

Fantastic article, and I have the full book on hold at my library now :)

tied with Outer Wilds

I knew you were cool 😎

Journey is also fantastic. I didn’t get to play it until it was on PS4 but I absolutely loved it. An extremely unique experience that had my jaw on the floor with how beautiful it looked. I feel like I should try that Sky MMO kind of game the studio made that just got launched for more platforms… Doubt it can live up to journey but who knows

The saddest moment of every outer wilds fan is the realization it cannot be played again :'(

Yessss!! Everyone needs to play the game ༼⁠ ⁠つ⁠ ⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠ ⁠༽⁠つ

I’ve been watching streamers I like playing it so I can relive it in some small way

Nice! I got pretendo set up too. Mainly to play Mario maker though. It’s an awesome service

My favorites:

• Mario maker 2
• Metroid dread
• Mario Odyssey
• Botw and totk
• Metroid prime remaster
• Advance wars 1+2
• Mario 3d world + bowsers fury (really mainly just for bowsers fury, although 3d world is good too)
• Cadence of Hyrule (crypt of the necrodancer x Zelda)
• Pikmin 4
• Mario wonder
• Mario RPG
• smash ultimate
• probably some other wiiu ports I’m forgetting

Def agree with doing botw first if you want to do both. Though I suspect you’ll want a break in between the two. They’re both extremely meaty games

Oh yeah I played a ton of re5 coop back in the day. Eventually you can unlock the “professional” difficulty and it’s wild. Basically 1 shot deaths and the revive meter goes down in less than a second. You have to be right next to your partner at all times if you want to be able to revive them before it’s game over…

Still pushed through it and beat it though 😂