![]() Where did the time go? More gray hairs have arrived, but I’m still waiting for games.Īt the same time, the future looks bright. That TBC still feels like a TBC, two years in. Software is always what matters without it, the hardware is useless, no matter how snazzy it is.” It is TBC – it must be proved in the future, with software. But there’s nothing exclusive here at launch that helps to truly demonstrate that, and so that mission remains a question mark. And you know what? It might be! On paper, the specs look killer and like great value for money. “That’s touted by Microsoft as the “fastest, most powerful games console ever” – I take that as a mission statement. “Then there’s the Xbox Series X,” I wrote. ![]() You can't resist Kratos' appeal, can you? CAN YOU? I said that playing older games with features like auto HDR, lightning-fast loading and quick resume “really does feel like the future, even if the games are a decade old.” It remains an impressive party trick – but after two years, it’s wearing a bit thin. I talked about how Quick Resume is magical, and how the performance uptick on older games is great to see and experience. In VG247’s hardware review, published five days before the machines launched to the public, I described living with the consoles as great. In a sense, I suppose that means little has changed over the last two years. Regardless of how one feels about the methods used, Sony is undoubtedly winning that specific battle. The hot new games I want to play, both already out and upcoming, are mostly on PS5 - either by virtue of Sony’s seemingly more efficient first-party development pipeline, or through the signing of aggressive exclusivity deals with third parties, like that with Square Enix for Final Fantasy 16 and Forspoken. I use my Xbox far more as a result… but I’m primarily using it to play old games, to dabble in Game Pass indies, or to watch bloody Andor on Disney+. And, of course, Xbox Game Pass is an irresistible proposition, hands-down the best deal in gaming right now. I’m no great fan of the Dualsense and its fast-depleting battery. I like the Xbox operating system more (though it’s certainly a lesser-of-two-evils situation), I enjoy the cross-ownership and cross-play with the Windows Store on PC. Of the consoles, I vastly prefer the Xbox Series. The Xbox list has Forza, and Flight Sim – both utterly excellent – but that’s sort of it? There’s Halo Infinite too, of course, but though I enjoyed that game’s campaign tremendously it’s absolutely fair to say that it has been severely damaged by a botched roll-out that still sees the game lacking cooperative play and with a glacial multiplayer update cadence. I don’t have a particular desire to replay The Last of Us or Spider-Man, to be honest, but when viewed through this lens, that of padding out the difficult early years of new hardware, these ports suddenly seem more necessary. Then, of course, there’s Sony’s long laundry list of ‘are these really needed’ remasters of PS4 games. ![]() You can't argue with the Series S' aesthetic, can you?īut Sony’s list is also punctuated by God of War Ragnarok, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon: Forbidden West, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7, and even Astro’s Playroom – a pretty strong sextuple of first-party hitters for PS5’s first 24 months. A lot of the same games dominate both lists, in fact proof that with Covid-19 and everything else, it’s been a difficult few years for first-party production. Some things are shared – both have Elden Ring in the top spot, with Hades and Persona 5 Royal securing the bag in multiplatform terms. At least there’s not much that isn’t also available on PlayStation.Ī pretty good yardstick to measure this two years in is the list of the best-scoring Xbox Series X and PS5 games on metacritic so far. But even counting those, there’s just… not much to shout about. Cross-generation games are a reality and a necessity right now for numerous reasons – so I’m cool with the hot Xbox Series games also being on Xbox One. What's holding the Series S back? It's not what you think.Īfter two years, I step back and look at the Xbox Series X and S, and realize… Does this thing really have any must-play exclusive games? Is there any one game you can point at to make you feel brilliant about your purchase? I’m not even strictly talking about true exclusives here.
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