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Xbox Gamescom Presentation - Discussion Thread (Now with voting added)

How would you rate the Xbox stream?


  • Total voters
    119
  • Poll closed .
I missed the first hour. When I turned it on, they were talking about Psychonauts.
The whole thing was pretty much ass though, eh?
They just played it super safe and really didn't show much. Surprising since they've shown so many titles since E3 2020 at these diff shows, folks were expecting updates on some stuff. Forza Horizon 5 looks like its on another level compared to damn near everything else out, but other than that the rest of the show felt like it could have been contained in a few tweets/news articles on sites lol. If you watch the new Forza trailer thing in 4K and simply read about the other stuff you'll be doing yourself a favor lol.

People have shifted to thinking tomorrow will have some sort of big thing during the opening night show, but I think the most we'll see is a Halo release date and more Forza. Forza looks insane, this is absolutely the first time I've re-watched a trailer for a racing game multiple times like this
 
Meh. I thought it was boring and pointless. But, to Microsoft's credit, it was no more boring and pointless than Sony or Nintendo would have done in COVID-ravaged 2021. Forza Horizon 5 looks like a really pretty Forza game, giving MSFS more content is welcome, but is there anyone alive who cares about State Of Decay 2 DLC? I'm sure there will be someone on here who will scream 'ME I CAN'T WAIT WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU LOL', but it seems like a fairly minor addition to Gamepass.

Oh well. They know we're all waiting for Halo Infinite, so I'm interested to see that.
I thought the State of Decay 2 thing was really left field. I think most folks would have been cool with seeing a quick gameplay trailer and update on State of Decay 3 rather than a random DLC announcement for the old one. Im not the biggest fan of the series tho, so maybe that audience walked away satisfied.

I was surprised there weren't any "Such an such is available on gamepass as of right now!" type announcements - then again Psychonauts 2 hit today and they probably wanted to clear the way for that. It's a dope game so far
 

Fredrik

Member
Meh. I thought it was boring and pointless. But, to Microsoft's credit, it was no more boring and pointless than Sony or Nintendo would have done in COVID-ravaged 2021. Forza Horizon 5 looks like a really pretty Forza game, giving MSFS more content is welcome, but is there anyone alive who cares about State Of Decay 2 DLC? I'm sure there will be someone on here who will scream 'ME I CAN'T WAIT WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU LOL', but it seems like a fairly minor addition to Gamepass.

Oh well. They know we're all waiting for Halo Infinite, so I'm interested to see that.
For me it was great, they had lots of update talk for one of my favorite games of the year, MS Flight Sim, racing will be an awesome addition for the game, annoying to not get any release dates but that was still enough for me to get excited.
It’s such a bummer, they have possibly the best game I’ve played in years on Xbox, big cool updates, one of the highest rated games on next gen, and it won’t be elibable for the GOTY award since it’s a 2020 release on PC. So close yet so far.

As for the rest. Forza Horizon 5 is going to be awesome, looks mind-blowingly good imo, but the rest was so-so. I played SoD2 a lot back in the days but it’s an old game now, haven’t even bothered checked out how it is on XSX. Feels like the DLC comes to late. Maybe they’re using it to check what the community thinks of stuff they plan to have on SoD3?
 
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kanjobazooie

Mouse Ball Fetishist
This is always a double edged sword. MS shows games like at E3 and everyone screams show me gameplay.

Then they do a stream like this full of gameplay with developer deep dives and ppl shout boring.

It's a catch 22 you'll never win.
People are asking for gameplay from the games they teased with CG trailers, not gameplay from games they've already seen before.
(I know Hellblade/Fable/etc are not yet ready, but that's what people really want)

I'm certain they didn't ask for more Forza Horizon or Flight Sim. We had that last E3.

For the record, I didn't hate the Gamescom show at all. I thought it was okay.
I actually loved the AoE4 bit.
 

Kagey K

Banned
People are asking for gameplay from the games they teased with CG trailers, not gameplay from games they've already seen before.
(I know Hellblade/Fable/etc are not yet ready, but that's what people really want)

I'm certain they didn't ask for more Forza Horizon or Flight Sim. We had that last E3.

For the record, I didn't hate the Gamescom show at all. I thought it was okay.
I actually loved the AoE4 bit.
They said before the show that today was going to be about stuff launching before the holiday, many times.

If you tuned in knowing that and expecting more, that's not on them.
 
I'm crying from the inside for halo literally the conference should've starter with halo sp and end with halo multiplayer ,this shows u the shitshow 343 is running , September is in a few days and still no release date , still no campaign , still nothing concrete , it saddens me how they massacred halo
Fuck 343
 

Kagey K

Banned
I'm crying from the inside for halo literally the conference should've starter with halo sp and end with halo multiplayer ,this shows u the shitshow 343 is running , September is in a few days and still no release date , still no campaign , still nothing concrete , it saddens me how they massacred halo
Fuck 343
Yep Halos done for. Hopefully the next team can make a game where he learns not to be so angry and how to be a dad so John 117 can have a redemption arc...

Or we can just wait 12 hours and see....
 
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kanjobazooie

Mouse Ball Fetishist
They said before the show that today was going to be about stuff launching before the holiday, many times.

If you tuned in knowing that and expecting more, that's not on them.
100% True. But most people either didn't read the tweet/blog or chose to ignore what it said.

It's just that after the infamous Inside Xbox from last year, people started to have this notion that Xbox will always strive to have a great showing. People will go with high expectations because they think Xbox owes it to them.
It's a huge mess, and I don't envy the Xbox marketing team at all.
 
I think this is another case of fan expectations running wild. Microsoft even announced that this will just be a look at already announced games with no real surprises, but people still thought they will surely have some surprises.
Microsoft showed nearly everything they have to announce at E3 and now it's time to refill until the next E3 to drop some bombs.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Only The Gunk looked interesting for me, FH5 looks great visually but is simply not my cup of tea, especially this whole cringe festival thing, and the showed gameplay looked like Fast&Furious minus the cast... Multiplayer mode for FS2020 looks to be a huge deal, it might be too early for such statements, but I think launching on consoles and reaching new, different audience might be the best thing that happened to this stagnant franchise.
 

mrBandoza

Neo Member
First I was underwhelmed then when I thought about it I think it was good. Gave more "fan" attention to FS, AOE4 and Forza Horizon. Guess people who love those games got their fix. For me the only interesting bits were the Gunk, sadly didn't show us much and humle bundle to gamepads.

I think they have found a great format with two hosts now just remove all the over the top cheesy bantering and "Danger Zone". I understand it is an American thing to bolster about nothing, but come on. Just act as plain hosts, everything else is great you don't need to try so haaaaaard to make it look cool. It doesn't.
 

Markio128

Member
Bored Married With Children GIF
 

Haggard

Banned
What is it with MS and this stupid cringy talkshow-format for all their shows. This could`ve easily been a decent 10 minute trailer rotation....
meh.
 

Fredrik

Member
Multiplayer mode for FS2020 looks to be a huge deal, it might be too early for such statements, but I think launching on consoles and reaching new, different audience might be the best thing that happened to this stagnant franchise.
Yup! I didn’t even play it on PC until I had played it on XSX after the renewed hype. I think the Xbox release ignited the interest for flight simulators for lots of people. It’s better on PC but still fantastic on console too.
 

Fredrik

Member
I think they have found a great format with two hosts now just remove all the over the top cheesy bantering and "Danger Zone". I understand it is an American thing to bolster about nothing, but come on. Just act as plain hosts, everything else is great you don't need to try so haaaaaard to make it look cool. It doesn't.
Nah it’s not just an american thing, Top Gun was huge all over the world, maybe not for younger people but it’ll soon be once the new movie goes up. Perfect timing! If they can nail that update they’ll sell like crazy! (If the movie is good…)
 
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They said before the show that today was going to be about stuff launching before the holiday, many times.

If you tuned in knowing that and expecting more, that's not on them.
Oh wow didnt know that. That means Scorn, Bright Memory Infinite, Second Extinction, Crossfire X, are all coming during the Holidays next to Forza and Halo! That's gonna be one packed holiday!
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I had no specific expectations, but that was ridiculously bad. DLC for old games, and Forza. How incredibly boring. The super annoying, super fake hosts didn't make it any better.
 
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MikeM

Member
I wasn't a fan. I get what Xbox is trying to do, but showing games we already know about doesn't do anything for me. I stopped watching 15 mins into it. A few games interested me from the Humble games stuff, but otherwise meh.
 
I voted a C. It was pretty much exactly what I expected.

Anytime I get an indie game I'm looking forward to, that basically pays for the month of Gamepass since most games are $15-30. I'm interested in that ninja retro game, Fight Express, Gunk. The last 4 months were already stacked, so these were exactly what I hoped for and expected.

They could have communicated a little better on Halo. C.
 

AGRacing

Gold Member
Look I'm really loving Xbox this generation... and VERY happy they'll be pushing some exclusives out that I want to play this holiday (Holiday time is game time here).

But this show was unnecessary. Felt like a show that needed to exist because there's probably a team over at Microsoft whose job it is to pump out shows.... and they're panicking because they need to justify their existence.

Also the lady host looked like a parody of a GTA Online character.
 

Little Chicken

Gold Member
They said there wouldn't be any new announcements weeks ago, but we got some DLC and a look at Crusader Kings III and FH5 which was nice.
 
It was very tame and basic and nothing really interesting. Horrendous choice of hosts with clown hairstyles and fake attitudes. Black guy was the only saving grace as he is quick and to the point without any extra uncesserary shit.

This was more of a Game Pass advertising than anything else. I mean it's fine and no biggie and honestly I did not expect anything big here to begin with considering E3 happened 2 months ago or so.

1 big AAA title would of been nice but it is what it is. This will get a big fat C from me.

Halo Infinite was playable recently and what else will you shown for Forza? Nothing, at this point both of these big titles are already on many peoples Must Buy list including myself.

I was happy too see The Gunk still exists and that 1 new Stray RPG game looked interesting. This show was more for the fans of the games they already love and want more content for, which is justifiable I guess.
 
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Pantz

Gold Member
All they need to do to make the show better is get rid of the interviews. Let the devs say what they need to say over the gameplay footage. Like the Stray Blade game was a perfect example of a dev talking about the game during the footage. Put interviews up on youtube later if you must.
 
Is today tomorrow, or yesterday?

It's becoming a never ending cycle of hype hype hype, meh, hype hype hype, meh, rinse repeat
I believe his talking about the Opening Gamescom Night with Geoff Keighley which is in 2 hours from now.

I think the Saints Row reboot will be there, not sure if its related to Xbox though.
 
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This is always a double edged sword. MS shows games like at E3 and everyone screams show me gameplay.

Then they do a stream like this full of gameplay with developer deep dives and ppl shout boring.

It's a catch 22 you'll never win.

Don't think it's as simple as that; the right mix must be had and FWIW, I think their E3 this year had a great mix overall.

For me it was great, they had lots of update talk for one of my favorite games of the year, MS Flight Sim, racing will be an awesome addition for the game, annoying to not get any release dates but that was still enough for me to get excited.
It’s such a bummer, they have possibly the best game I’ve played in years on Xbox, big cool updates, one of the highest rated games on next gen, and it won’t be elibable for the GOTY award since it’s a 2020 release on PC. So close yet so far.

As for the rest. Forza Horizon 5 is going to be awesome, looks mind-blowingly good imo, but the rest was so-so. I played SoD2 a lot back in the days but it’s an old game now, haven’t even bothered checked out how it is on XSX. Feels like the DLC comes to late. Maybe they’re using it to check what the community thinks of stuff they plan to have on SoD3?

Speaking of Flight Sim the racing update is very exciting, I think it'll garner interest from lots of racing game fans who aren't necessarily used to racing with planes (because there's been no games with that in ages), but are intrigued to give it a try.

May also help open the game up further to a wider audience especially once the Top Gun content comes too.

100% True. But most people either didn't read the tweet/blog or chose to ignore what it said.

It's just that after the infamous Inside Xbox from last year, people started to have this notion that Xbox will always strive to have a great showing. People will go with high expectations because they think Xbox owes it to them.
It's a huge mess, and I don't envy the Xbox marketing team at all.

It's weird but at the same time Xbox has to fight harder for attention and props to try catching up with Sony given how each of them performed last gen. Although it feels like Sony's taking that for granted now (for example, there's still no "big PlayStation event" announcement and the insiders vomiting the rumor up time and again look super stupid now for doing so), that's still what things are.

Basically Sony enjoys a lot of built-in mindshare even if they aren't doing much and they haven't really done anything catastrophic enough to start generating a metric ton of negative mindshare. Microsoft has a lot of negative mindshare due to XBO gen and they've been doing a really good job clawing away at that with the new systems, but that also means they have to go over and beyond in some cases to get get some types of mindshare that Sony would get by being more mediocre in those same instances.

Is it fair? No. But that's what things are. Over time though they'll start getting a lot more built-in positive mindshare if they keep making the right moves at the right times.

It was very tame and basic and nothing really interesting. Horrendous choice of hosts with clown hairstyles and fake attitudes. Black guy was the only saving grace as he is quick and to the point without any extra uncesserary shit.

This was more of a Game Pass advertising than anything else. I mean it's fine and no biggie and honestly I did not expect anything big here to begin with considering E3 happened 2 months ago or so.

1 big AAA title would of been nice but it is what it is. This will get a big fat C from me.

Halo Infinite was playable recently and what else will you shown for Forza? Nothing, at this point both of these big titles are already on many peoples Must Buy list including myself.

I was happy too see The Gunk still exists and that 1 new Stray RPG game looked interesting. This show was more for the fans of the games they already love and want more content for, which is justifiable I guess.

Yeah Parris is generally clear-cut and they're enjoyable as a host, I didn't actually have an issue with Kate co-hosting tho. My issue was that there were some awkward moments when they were presenting together, but that might've been caused by it being their first time co-hosting together. If they co-host subsequent events I'd expect the banter and ebb & flow between them to be more natural.

I mean they showed The Gunk but they barely showed anything of it tho? I was kind of surprised how brief the update was, and there was no Bright Memory Infinite, either.

All they need to do to make the show better is get rid of the interviews. Let the devs say what they need to say over the gameplay footage. Like the Stray Blade game was a perfect example of a dev talking about the game during the footage. Put interviews up on youtube later if you must.

I agree with this.
 

Tripolygon

Banned
It was a cookie cutter show. I didn't expect anything from it and was not disappointed in the end. Although the media went with their Sony is doomed and Microsoft will dominate the media schtick they usually do. In the end everything is going just as it normally does.
 
Is today tomorrow, or yesterday?

It's becoming a never ending cycle of hype hype hype, meh, hype hype hype, meh, rinse repeat
The show is today but don't go in expecting much.
All they need to do to make the show better is get rid of the interviews. Let the devs say what they need to say over the gameplay footage. Like the Stray Blade game was a perfect example of a dev talking about the game during the footage. Put interviews up on youtube later if you must.
I agree, people want to see gameplay. Not boring interviews with devs, not cgi trailers. Just simple gameplay that showcases what we will actually be playing.
 
This is always a double edged sword. MS shows games like at E3 and everyone screams show me gameplay.

Then they do a stream like this full of gameplay with developer deep dives and ppl shout boring.

It's a catch 22 you'll never win.

Nah, this was a pretty bad showing. People are fine with seeing gameplay from other types of games, even games that we may not necessarily be quite as excited about as the more heavily hyped AAAs, but what people tend to want to see is some gameplay or some kind of update or footage from those bigger AAAs mixed in to balance these kinds of shows out. I don't think a very good job was done in this case. Forza Horizon 5 and Psychonauts 2 were to me the biggest highlights with a few other things that I liked on the smaller side of things. And Game Pass, as always, with the wealth of choices available is always a major star of the show.
 

mrBandoza

Neo Member
Nah it’s not just an american thing, Top Gun was huge all over the world, maybe not for younger people but it’ll soon be once the new movie goes up. Perfect timing! If they can nail that update they’ll sell like crazy! (If the movie is good…)

I didn't mean the movie. I meant the way they are over excited about things like for example doing a really dorky thing about "Danger Zone" and then go on and not showing anything from that part of the gamejust leaving us cringing. :)
 

Fredrik

Member
I didn't mean the movie. I meant the way they are over excited about things like for example doing a really dorky thing about "Danger Zone" and then go on and not showing anything from that part of the gamejust leaving us cringing. :)
Lol yeah that was a bit odd, but they’re just having some fun with an otherwise super serious ultra nerdy game 🙃
 
Meh. I thought it was boring and pointless. But, to Microsoft's credit, it was no more boring and pointless than Sony or Nintendo would have done in COVID-ravaged 2021. Forza Horizon 5 looks like a really pretty Forza game, giving MSFS more content is welcome, but is there anyone alive who cares about State Of Decay 2 DLC? I'm sure there will be someone on here who will scream 'ME I CAN'T WAIT WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU LOL', but it seems like a fairly minor addition to Gamepass.

Oh well. They know we're all waiting for Halo Infinite, so I'm interested to see that.

I played state of decay 2 not long ago after I found a disc copy brand new for £3 (even though its on gamepass). I thought it was a good game and I enjoyed it..... But once I completed it... I had no desire to 'start over' which it seems like the game is designed to be played.

I don't even think DLC would bring me back to it. Not saying it's a bad game at all. But just wouldn't play it again.
 
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