Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

@KratosMD OK - user scores

Gears 4 - 6.9
Halo 5 - 6.5
Sunset Overdrive - 7.8
Forza 6 - 7.7
Forza Horizon 3 - 8.0
Forza Horizon 2 - 8.3
Forza 5 - 5.9
Rare Replay - 7.9
Gears of War Ultimate - 7.6
Halo Master Chief - 7.4

What this shows is that the general community were not so forgiving as 'critics'. The fact that games like Halo Master Chief (4 games, 3 of which originally made by Bungie inc all the MP too) was better received than a 'new' Halo. Gears Ultimate was 'better' received than Gears 4 not unsurprisingly. Even Forza Horizon 2 was supposedly better than 3 - maybe because these are now being churned out every couple of years with Motorsport every other year.

Its understandable that Rare Repay and Sunset Overdrive come close to the general critics opinion - 1 for nostalgia and 1 because its something 'different'. Halo 4 did well mostly for its MP but the campaign wasn't that well received by critics and fans alike. Even a number of the critics awarding 9 or above were stating how 'disappointing', brief, anti-climatic, lacking depth, less of an event etc but still awarded it 9 or above because they enjoyed Warzone or some other aspect of the MP. Halo may have been at the forefront of online MP, but it was the campaign that drew people in and sold countless Xbox consoles.

As for console install base, the Xbox and Windows 10 PC's can easily match, if not surpass the PS4 install base. That doesn't stop MS from expanding their portfolio, expanding their game studios, offering new and unique first party games to entice gamers over to their eco-system. Is it any wonder why peple associate the Xbox as just Halo and Forza with very little else?

I know what Xbox has as I have still got an original Xbox and big box of games for it, Still got my XB360 and a shelf or 3 full of XB360 games. I still have two XB1's as well as Kinect for both the 360 and XB1. I am NOT new to the Xbox ecosystem and Halo was the game that made me buy an OG Xbox at release. In fact the only Xbox I haven't bought in the first week or two of release was the XB1 - mainly because I had just moved house and needed to furnish that first so had to wait 3-4 months after release to buy my XB1 - back when it still was sold only with Kinect! In fact I still have the original releases of each Bungie Halo game as well as all the Forza MS games from the first on the OG Xbox (still preferred Project Gotham though) all through the 360 era inc a few special edition versions. I even have Mass Effect in a Tin long before it came to PS3 so I am well aware of what MS has offered as Exclusives. Rallisport Challenge, Project Gotham, Fable, Jade Empire, Steel Battalion, Mech Assault, Mad Dash Racing, Blinx, Kameo, Blue Dragon, Perfect Dark, Too Human... to name a few

#BringBackBlinx

I haven't visited in awhile because I traded my PS4 in for an XBox One S in January. I moved it to my son's room last week and bought the Gears 4 1TB bundle after finding a pretty solid deal. It should arrive tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to getting into some games I've put off in the past.

After searching for a good XBox Forum and not finding one, it dawned on me to come see if there was any discussion here since Pure Xbox is no longer active. I'm glad there's at least a little!

In the past, I've focused a little too much on sports games, and while that's great, my new goal is to play more games from other genres. I plan on going through Ori and the Blind Forest pretty soon, since a new Ori game will be on its way soon. I also want to get to some other XBox exclusives (Quantum Break most of all) in the near future.

I'm not a big multiplayer guy, but I'm really excited for Sea of Thieves! It just looks like video game fun, although I don't see much hype for it. It looks really good from all I've seen so far.

Any other XBox exclusives I need to know about that may have flown under the radar?

I haven't ever played the Halo or Gears of War series. Am I going to be completely lost by picking it up with Halo 5 and GoW4? I know they look incredible, but that's about all my knowledge on it.

Games with Gold for August....

Bayonetta!!! Trials Fusion is good too....

I might actually finish Bayonetta now! I'll give Trials a go as I've not played one of those before, although I've read many good things about it and it appears to be like Kickstart from the olden days when I was just a wee boy.

@crippyd I have all the 360 Trials games (only 2 LOL) and considered this. Its good fun but can be tricky. For a 'budget' game, its fantastic. I am not usually one to buy 'Budget' games but I have bought the first 2. The second had the ability to build your own courses or play user created courses which obviously gives more longevity. Its quite 'basic' in its controls but it gets increasingly more tricky as you go on. Sometimes 'speed' isn't the answer but you do feel you have to go fast with the clock ticking...

I will probably add the 2 360 games as well - just because I can but have zero interest in adding Slime Rancher!

@BAMozzy Sounds like a fun game. I think the Slime Rancher is aimed at kids and I don't think I'll bother unless my 3 are interested in it. I have both the 360 games on disc but I can now get rid of them and just have the digital ones.

Really excited to play Bayonetta. I wanted to get the two pack on Wii U but it was discontinued before I could get it and now scalpers want too much for it.

I had a few hours of spare time today, so I started Gears of War 4. After about 5 minutes, I figured it was just another shooter that doesn't fit my gaming preferences. About 2 1/2 hours later (and still playing GoW 4), I realized I've been missing out! Thanks for the recommendation, I'm looking forward to jumping back in soon!

I definitely think I'll go through all the Halo games too just out of respect to XBox, but that may be a little down the road. I'd like to go through as many XBox exclusives as possible if I'm gonna be an XBox guy!

That being said, my wife and I are currently playing our way through Outlast Trinity. We're about 3/4 the way through the first one. I had it on PS4 but never got more than a couple hours into it. I'm glad I bought Trinity though as I was definitely missing out on a great creepy story!

So, I am thinking of picking up an Xbox One mainly for the exclusives like Ori, Sunset Overdrive etc. My friend is offering to sell me his for $150, since he's planning to buy a Scorpio and has an Xbox One Slim.

Now he keeps good care of his consoles but I am just curious if there were any problems with the first run of non Kinect Xbox One's similar to the 360 red ring. I just don't want it failing in a few months or so.

@Tasuki The XB1 was built so large, with so much space to dissipate heat to avoid the RROD. Heat was the cause as the RROD, like the YLOD with PS3, as a 'safety' shutdown and this occurred because the 'thermal' paste between the APU and the heat dissipation would dry out with the excessive heat and thus lose its effectiveness. the heat could also cause some of the APU pins, the solder that holds them in place and form the connection to the motherboard to melt and come loose. This then forced the 'safety' circuit to engage and caused the RROD. If you had the skills and was out of warranty, you could strip it down, clean up the APU and apply new Thermal Paste. Also if you had a very steady hand, could drop a tiny bit of solder on the pins if you noticed any looking 'loose' and that would cure the RROD.

Because it was 'Heat' related, MS built their XB1 on the very cautious side. It had a bigger fan, bigger space etc and also a reason why they kept the 'brick' outside - All to ensure that RROD would not be an issue this time.

The main issue though with the XB1 was the slot loading Bluray drive. It doesn't always pull the disc in enough and therefore you can get 'alignment' issues. It will say there is no disc and 'invite' you to buy the 'digital version from the store. The way around this though, is to lift the front of the Console up to 30-45 degrees and let gravity help pull the Disc in enough.

This affected mine and a fair few people I know and its one of the main reasons I opted to buy my XB1s as I am much more inclined to buy physical software where possible. I had considered holding off until the 'Scorpio' launched but MS went and released that Gears of War 4 custom Xbox One S - a day before my Birthday so I had to buy...

Anyway, the only real issue that I am aware of was more around the Bluray drive and, if you were looking to buy and aiming to build up a Physical library, that would be the main thing I would check. It tends to occur when flat and its also not designed to be used vertically so check if it pulls discs in and loads up when flat. Maybe mine failed because I play mostly with discs and I guarantee I look after everything impeccably too.

I do think that the Slim is a better buy. It may not offer 'Kinect' - at least not 'easily' but its definitely superior as it has a 'small' boost but its also offering 4k HDR media and HDR gaming too. I appreciate that it may cost more (maybe wait until Black Friday) and I don't know if you have a 4k and/or HDR screen but its also smaller and doesn't have the power brick. Because it also offers 4k and HDR, it also comes with a higher spec HDMI out too. I think the OG Xbox offers Atmos (object based and true 360 sound - it offers height as well for example) but the fact it offers this and the 4k Bluray player, it really is worth that bit extra. Isn't the Slim around $250 new?

@BAMozzy I never play my consoles vertically. For one I don't like how it works and 2 I am paranoid that it will fall over.

As for discs I will probably go digitally as I tend to find better deals digitally then physical this gen also as much as I like the collecting part I need to start getting rid of things since I will be moving here in a year or two but that's another subject.

@Tasuki At the end of the day, the decision is yours - I am just giving you as much information as I can so you can make an informed choice and whether or not you think this deal and the money is worth it. You shouldn't suffer from RROD but as with all electronics, they don't last forever but so far, I haven't heard of any XB1's having an issue - well apart from the Bluray drive anyway...

@Tasuki I have a Day One (2013) machine and it is working as well today as it did on the day I first set it up. I tend to buy digitally and I would say invest in an external drive as the 500GB is woefully small for today's games, I mean Halo MCC is something like 100GB and the files are only going to get bigger as 4K/HDR etc start becoming more 'standard'. I haven't had any issues with the disc drive, but as I said I'm more digital these days, so I don't know if that is a factor.

Anyone here getting Cuphead? That game looks awesome.haha

@WanderingBullet I think I will be. It does look very good, I just hope it lives up to the hype!

@crippyd Cool. I'm only interested in a few Xbox exclusive games, and Cuphead is one of them.

anyone see the info on the new XB1 Update

@KratosMD Maybe because it really speeds everything up and will work better with upcoming Xbox One X. I have no issue with things evolving, adding new features and getting better over time. This looks more flexible - as long as it means I never ever have to see a 'twitter' type feed of every annoying 'friend' that posts a picture, clip or earns an achievement and feels compelled to 'share'!!

All I want/need is to turn it on and be able to play my games as quick as possible.