The XBOX One

The One X has come down on price enough at times that it would be the obvious choice. It would also easily keep you happy past the immediate release of the next Xbox and allow you to wait for more games that take full advantage and maybe a price drop.

The One X is awesome.

All right folks, heads up because I have delisting info:

http://www.capcom-unity.com/capkel/blog/2019/08/06/pick-up-ducktales-remastered-on-sale-now-before-it-leaves-digital-storefronts-starting-august-8th

Good news is that the game is currently on sale for $3.74 and is backward compatible with Xbox One. I’m thinking of getting a copy myself, delistings make me jittery.

https://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/DuckTales-Remastered/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584113c6?nosplash=1

I’m kind of tempted just because it’s going away. But I looked up some reviews on metacritic, and this doesn’t exactly sound like a gem.

On the other hand, I was a big fan of the cartoon when I was a kid.

Microsoft’s The Initiative game studio is continuing to hire up, with designers who worked on Anthem as well as Apex Legends and Titanfall. If a game’s quality were a direct relationship with its pedigree, this will be quite something though of course nothing has even been announced yet.

Is there any precedent for a new studio whose first project is probably a new IP made by a bunch of the most pedigreed people in the industry, and will likely have a massive “triple A” budget?

I honestly can’t think of any.

Unless you have strong nostalgia from playing the game originally I don’t feel like it’s worth it. I had enough of it after 20 minutes and I was a huge fan of the cartoon, just felt more dated than I was in the mood for. Others might have more positive thoughts though.

Respawn? Not sure what Gettysburg!'s budget was, but maybe Firaxis.

Yeah, maybe Respawn. Good pull.

Thanks. You saved me money and time.

Destructoid liked it, for what that’s worth. I ended up picking up a copy but haven’t played it yet.

I wish I could get into platformers, but they fall flat for me every time!

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That’s what the Coalition was supposed to be before MS bought the Gears IP and rebranded the studio and made them a factory.

The Coalition wasn’t formed from nothing though - they started out making Facebook games, then made Microsoft Flight, then became The Coalition and were put on Gears after Microsoft acquired the IP, along with Rod Fergusson from Epic.

The Initiative is literally being staffed up from dust with people from a bunch of the biggest names in the business. And their first game will probably have a budget in excess of $150-200 million dollars, based on who they are hiring, and the types of games they’re known for.

I think Respawn is the closest thing I could even think of, but even they were formed by the heads of Infinity Ward, and a bunch of defectors from Infinity Ward that came with them.

That lineage is a little weird. At least according to Wikipedia everyone was fired before it was “renamed” Black Tusk and they started staffing up as a AAA new IP dev. I’d count it because the Initiative is basically the same idea as Black Tusk was pitched to be before the Gears IP stuff happened, and I’m not sure there’s much connection between it and the Zipline/MS Flight stuff other than physical office space.

The only studios I’m excited about that Xbox acquired are InXile, Obsidian and The Initiative. The former 2 because I’m a big fan of old school RPGs, and the latter because of the sheer talent and potential to make some AAAA exclusives for once besides Gears, Halo, and Forza.

Playground (makers of Forza Horizon) have also established a second team, that is widely rumoured to be making a next-gen Fable game.

Honestly, I think the only studio I’m not really hyped about, is Undead Labs, because I don’t care about State of Decay, and their name alone means they are probably going to be focused on zombie games, which I’m utterly bored of.

Compulsion Games made We Happy Few, which certainly interested me in terms of it’s politics and aesthetic, but the game itself was half-baked. I’m certainly interested to see what they can do with the full backing of a major publisher.

And Ninja Theory, because of course.

Hmm, I wasn’t aware of everyone being fired. Though it still technically doesn’t fall under my original criterion, because they went on to make a sequel to an established series, not a brand new IP, which is presumably what The Initiative are working on (I don’t think you’re luring people away from Rockstar or Sony Santa Monica with the promise of making a Perfect Dark sequel or something).

By the same token, this is why I didn’t include 343 Industries - a new AAA studio founded by Microsoft, but to steward another established franchise.

I played SoD2 last month and was surprised how janky and limited it felt this far after release.

I would have thought they could match up with Dead Rising series by now with MS’s level of resources.

They weren’t owned by Microsoft for the development of that game - the purchase announcement came a few months after the game was released. It’s also not a full $60 priced game, if I remember correctly.

I don’t think Microsoft intends to make every studio they bought into a large, AAA studio, so it’s entirely possible they intend to just keep chugging along making their little zombie games. Likewise, I don’t expect a studio like Double Fine to double in size or something either.