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Metro
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
As an Xbox fan all I can say is that Microsoft betrayed us - Reader's Feature
A reader is angry with the recent layoffs and changes at Xbox and accuses Microsoft execs of betraying both their fans and their employees. I don't know where to start with this week's Xbox news, but I can tell you this, if Phil Spencer or any of the other execs dare to appear in another showcase or livestream, I don't think I'll be able to hold in my anger. Then again, I'm not sure I'd watch anyway. I'm done with Xbox now and while I'm too deep in the 'ecosystem' to get out quickly, I'm going to try and make sure I give them as little of my money as possible. I remember, back in the day, that I had vague dreams of being a game developer but the way things are now I don't know if there's a less stable or less respected job in the world. Although developers are made to feel like pampered kings at other companies, compared to how Microsoft treats them, where they're literal human sacrifices to make their financials look better for investors. Even though Microsoft is the richest company in the world! Even if your empathy levels aren't where they should be, it's a terrible thing because now they have less people to make their games, while they try and use AI to plug the gaps. Studios have been shut down, games have been cancelled, and you know that's only the start of it. We're going to see Microsoft making less and less games until all that's left is Call Of Duty. All of this is on top of the blatant lies told to us about Microsoft's multiformat plans. They'll say that their plans changed but they knew, when they said it was only four games, and that some games were never going multiformat. Gears Of War is already announced, Halo is inevitable, and they only haven't done Starfield yet because they've realised no one will care. I'm not upset about this because of console wars jealousy but because I realise, as many fans do, that without exclusives you cannot have a console. Microsoft tried to convince itself that wasn't true, and that Game Pass alone could be their exclusive, but now they won't admit to themselves that it hasn't worked and that by making everything multiformat they've lost everything that makes them special. Sure, they might be the biggest publisher in the West, because they own Call Of Duty, but who ever cared or had any loyalty to Activision? Which is who they've taken the place of. But Xbox isn't just a third party publisher now, they're a company that used to be much more than that and nobody's going to forget what they should've been or how far they've fallen. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The worst thing is I can only see things getting wore from here. Especially with Spencer staying in charge. Xbox is only going to get more bitter and petty over time, trying to undermine Sony and Nintendo, especially when it comes to AI and streaming – technologies which Microsoft has full control of. You can laugh if you want, but I feel betrayed. I imagine their developers definitely do. Xbox don't care about its customers. It doesn't even care about gaming. It just cares about the bottom line. I no longer see Xbox as the upstart company, doing the things Sony wouldn't or couldn't. I see them as the giant bully, trying to muscle out other firms that have done so much for gaming, but which Xbox couldn't beat even with all the money in the world. Particularly in the Xbox 360 era, I was an unashamed Xbot fan and felt like Microsoft were pushing the envelope in the face of the stuffy, old-fashioned PlayStation. Now though I see that it was nothing but a mask, that they have now ripped off entirely. More Trending Nobody important at Xbox cares about games or their fans, only money. And now I think they are going to have considerably less of both. By reader Gambit The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: Gaming peaked with the PS4 and I want the PS6 to recognise that – Reader's Feature MORE: After 24 years of wasted potential the Xbox dream is finally dead - Reader's Feature MORE: Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World is the best track ever – Reader's Feature
Metro
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Xbox hardware ‘is dead' says former Microsoft exec in scathing YouTube video
One of the original Xbox team members has criticised the current state of Microsoft and how it seems to be abandoning the console market. When Microsoft announced it would start bringing Xbox exclusives to PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, including older games like Gears Of War, many wondered if this meant the company would exit the hardware business entirely. Since then, sales of the Xbox Series X/S have only worsened and, in 2023, Microsoft admitted it had lost the console war to PlayStation. However, despite this, Microsoft remains committed to new hardware and is promising multiple Xbox consoles for the next generation. There's also the new handheld Microsoft has partnered with Asus on – the ROG Xbox Ally – but former Xbox executive, Laura Fryer believes this handheld's existence is the precursor to a 'slow exit' from the hardware business and proof that Xbox hardware 'is dead.' Fryer was one of the first members of Microsoft Gaming Studios and the team that worked on the original Xbox, having joined the company in 2000. She would eventually become an executive producer during the Xbox 360 era, before leaving to join Warner Bros. in 2009 and later Epic Games in 2012. She appears to have retired from the games industry since then but she currently runs a YouTube channel to discuss gaming and provide her own insight. In her latest video about the future of the Xbox brand, Fryer doesn't pull her punches. She criticises many of Microsoft's business decisions in recent years, such as the closure of Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and the decision to start charging $80 for certain games in the US. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Regarding Microsoft's current Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, which is built around the idea of being able to access Xbox games on any platform, Fryer believes this is a sign that the company is putting all its focus on driving more customers to the Xbox Game Pass service and letting Asus handle the hardware side of things. 'This wasn't surprising. Hardware is expensive to make. It's much easier to slap an Xbox sticker on an existing piece of hardware and call it a day,' says Fryer, referencing how the ROG Xbox Ally is really no different to the current ROG Ally already on the market. She doesn't mention the rumour of Microsoft abandoning plans for its own custom handheld device, to focus on its 'software platform.' If true, this would back up her argument, although Microsoft's most recent next gen announcement already seems to counter that rumour, insisting its 'portfolio of devices' will include handhelds. 'If you don't care about console sales of exclusive games anymore, why bother innovating in hardware?' Fryer continues, adding that the whole Xbox Play Anywhere push is pure marketing with 'no substance' and Microsoft's history of pivoting means it could very well change its mind in the future. Fryer also believes there's no good reason to invest in the ROG Xbox Ally since it has no exclusive games to call its own, it forces customers into using Windows 11 (which she admits she's biased against), and despite Microsoft's slogan of being able to play all your games anywhere, the device only runs native PC games. Fryer is clearly very upset at how Microsoft has changed over the years and how 'it looks like they're abandoning pretty much everything that made the Xbox brand great in the first place.' Fryer continues, 'As one of the founding members of the Xbox team, I'm not pleased with where things are today. I don't love watching all of the value that I helped create slowly get eroded away. More Trending 'I'm sad because from my perspective, it looks like Xbox has no desire or literally can't ship hardware anymore. So this [Asus] partnership is about a slow exit from the hardware business completely. Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead.' Again, Microsoft has confirmed plans for more Xbox consoles, though little has been shared about them aside from promises of 'deeper visual quality, immersive gameplay, and AI-powered experiences.' The new consoles will also be backwards compatible with existing Xbox libraries and there could be hints of them supporting third party storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store (something it's already bringing to the Xbox PC app later this year). However, these all sound like conveniences for established Xbox customers. Sony's PlayStation 6, while similarly nebulous, will likely be just as powerful and presumably continue to receive ports of Xbox games, so the question remains: why would anyone who's not already bought into the Xbox ecosystem jump ship? Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Xbox layoffs could put 2,000 video game developers out of work, says insider MORE: Xbox VR headset officially announced and it's much more expensive than normal MORE: The 20-year-old Xbox 360 just got an update and it was actually kind of worth it
Digital Trends
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Halo Infinite deserves a second life, and Nintendo Switch 2 could give it one
This past year we've watched Xbox be the first to start tearing down the walls of game exclusivity. It began with just four titles, but now we've seen the likes of Forza Horizon 5, Oblivion Remastered, and Sea of Thieves become top sellers on PS5, and more are already on the way. The Outer Worlds 2 and Gears of War: Reloaded are confirmed for a multiplatform release, which leaves only one major Xbox IP unaccounted for. Halo is the last franchise that Xbox hasn't let go of yet. Perhaps it's a matter of timing, or concern that seeing Halo on PlayStation will truly be the mark that it has crossed the Rubicon. Many speculate, myself included, that it is only a matter of time before that glass is shattered and we see Halo break free from Xbox consoles and PC. The question, however, is which game should make the jump first? The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite are the two clear targets. After revisiting the latter this week, I believe Halo Infinite could find its second wind if given the chance with a new audience on Nintendo Switch 2 and PS5. Recommended Videos Feels like coming home This week I stumbled upon a post on a gaming forum detailing a new Halo 3 throwback event going on in Halo Infinite. Looking inside, I was greeted with the iconic Hayabusa helmet as a new cosmetic reward and my mind rushed back to a hot summer day in the back room of my mom and stepfather's house. Two online friends and I had read about the helmet and had loaded up The Covenant level to jump through the holographic Halo rings in a specific order to unlock the final skull required to get the helmet. It was a memory I didn't know I still had. Below the helmet, I saw promotional images of recreations of several iconic Halo 3 maps and knew I had triggered an itch that only a true Halo experience could scratch. Just to satisfy my nostalgia, I downloaded Halo Infinite for the first time in years. I contemplated going for The Master Chief Collection instead to get the pure nostalgic experience instead of a simulacra, but had caught mumblings here and there over the last year or two that Infinite had managed to pull itself together and solve most of its issues and thought I would give it a second chance. My first order of business was to switch back to my old preferred control scheme from back in the day. Yes, I'm sure mapping zoom on R3 and melee on B isn't optimal from a competitive standpoint, but anything else just feels wrong. Thankfully, most of the old control schemes are available, but I could fully customize them if needed. With that sorted, I was instantly reminded that Infinite's problems never laid with its gunplay. Getting my hands on a Battle Rifle and nailing my first four-shot in years felt like I was right back in high school grinding Slayer matches late at night with online friends. My ability to navigate maps on instinct also snapped back into place. Somehow, my muscle memory never forgot all the best routes, sightlines, and trick jumps in multiplayer levels I hadn't set foot in for years. Beyond that wave of nostalgia I felt, Infinite is just plain fun. While it isn't the pure multiplayer experience of the past, the battle pass and leveling system are unobtrusive enough to ignore until I feel like exploring them. I was mostly free to enjoy the tense thrills of a CTF match and the exhilaration of pulling off a clutch snipe in a way that feels lost on many of the modern multiplayer games I try out. The best thing I can say about Infinite is that it stays out of its own way of letting me have fun just playing each individual game. Nostalgia isn't universal, of course, so I eventually had to leave my comfort zone of classic maps, modes, weapons, and movement style to see if Halo Infinite could stand on its own. Diving into the regular playlists, my main takeaway was that if this were the package Infinite launched with, the entire narrative around the game (at least its multiplayer component) would be vastly different. Playlists are easy to navigate and I can further tweak what game modes I want to search for within different categories. The map selection is huge, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a ton of community-made maps featured in official playlists with credits to their creator. There's even a new version of Firefight, the PvE hoard mode that I somehow never knew existed. But it is the community maps and playlist browser that make Infinite, well, infinite. Even though official support is waning, a thriving community can keep this game alive so long as there's an audience. Launching without Forge may have been the single biggest unforced error that set Infinite into a death spiral. Daily and weekly challenges are still here, as are battle passes with currencies and cosmetics to unlock. Personally, those were a big part of what turned me off of Infinite in the early days — specifically the challenges. At launch, those could include things like getting kills while holding the Oddball, getting specific weapon kills, and playing specific playlists. Those might seem innocent enough, but since challenges were the only way to progress at the time, it created scenarios where matches weren't about winning but each individual player trying to complete their own objective. I knew that had been fixed at some point, and I was glad to see that just playing matches was rewarding me with meaningful amounts of progress toward both a battle pass and individual rank. I might've just gotten lucky in my few days back in the game, but all the challenges I saw were as broad as 'Play any match,' and 'Win X matches' that didn't conflict with playing the game naturally. Battle passes are another area I remember hearing was overhauled, and that is indeed true. There's a premium path with extra goodies, sure, but unless you're really into customizing your Spartan and don't want to wait to earn enough currency naturally, there's no real pressure to invest. Plus, you can pause and go back to any battle pass previously released so there's no sense of FOMO gnawing at you if you take a break. For those who have been paying attention, none of this is new news. Infinite has been on this path of redemption for years now and probably deserved a big comeback story long ago. Sadly, I believe that era is over for most games. Infinite had its shot at a good first impression and fumbled it. People have moved on and, like me, have plenty of new games to play. Many PS5 and Switch 2 players know what Infinite is. They might even only know it from its initial bad reception. However, we're still early enough in this experiment of Xbox games coming to competing platforms where just the novelty of a Halo game on PlayStation and Nintendo hardware will draw people in for the sheer novelty of it. Being free also goes a long way to entice anyone with only a passing curiosity to pull the trigger. We've already seen Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 5 enjoy this effect. Both games, despite their age, topped the sales charts when they came to PS5. With full cross-platform support, Infinite could elevate the Halo IP back to its glory days with a fresh audience. The Xbox has already seen how well PS5 players take to its games, but the Switch 2 is a budding market still hungry for new experiences. Infinite could be the only game in town for a polished multiplayer FPS. And if it could incorporate the new mouse controls, it could be the best way to play. Everyone on PC and Xbox who was willing to stick with, or return to, Infinite has done so already. I'm not done playing it, and know that it could have a fresh start with a new audience.
The Verge
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Xbox's new handheld is a surprisingly comfortable way to play Gears
Xbox has revealed its new handheld line, the ROG Xbox Ally and the Ally X, made in partnership with Asus. And I got the chance to play it during Summer Game Fest. My colleague Tom Warren has already broken down how the handheld works with its operating system, UI, and integration with the Xbox app and third-party game stores. Meanwhile, I'll get into the simple experience of playing the dang thing — and the biggest selling point, for me, was comfort. Despite my best efforts, the eagle-eyed Xbox PR reps did not let me peek at the device's storefronts or play the much-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong. So for this brief hands-on overview, I'll cover the game that I did get to play — Gears of War: Reloaded. I can sum up my experience with the Ally X (as I recall, the less powerful white Xbox Ally was not available) with a few words: I need this. The Ally X felt roughly the same weight as a Steam Deck. But with its hand grips, modeled to resemble the form factor of an Xbox controller, it felt like a literal dream. I've struggled with my Steam Deck for a long time because it's not comfortable to hold. After extended gaming sessions, my hands stiffen into claws that take a moment to regain their flexibility and normal use. While I wasn't able to spend hours playing the Ally X to test my hands' endurance, I could already notice the difference in my fingers within moments of picking it up. It felt good to hold, both in weight and form factor. As for playing Gears, it was a seamless experience. Microsoft had the remaster of the seminal Xbox shooter (its second remaster in the game's 25-year history) set up across the different platforms that the game supports. I played on a regular Ally at first, then I moved over to the Ally X, and the differences were subtle but noticeable. The device's weight felt comparable to a Steam Deck. I performed better on the Ally X, which could be a component of having already warmed up, but my shooting was tighter and more accurate. Visually, between the Ally and the Ally X, I didn't notice a difference, but I really wasn't looking for one. I was so enamored with how comfortable it felt in my hands that any graphical differences seemed less important in comparison. I wish I could have seen more of the home UI to judge the ease of loading in games or jumping from Steam games to Xbox games or judge Xbox Play Anywhere games versus those streamed from an Xbox or over the cloud. But like I said, the eagle-eyed PR folks kept this to a Gears demonstration only. I love the portability of my Steam Deck, Switch, and PS Portal. Those three are my preferred ways to play over my desktop and consoles. While there are still a lot of question marks around the Ally X, particularly with its interface and how it holds up over long sessions, that little bit of comfort has gone a long way to selling me on a portable Xbox.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gears of War creator admits he can't explain a key event within one of his games: "Sometimes ya just put stuff in a game you think is cool"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. While there's still no release date for Gears of War: E-Day, series creator Cliff Bleszinski has decided now is the time to just let it all hang loose and reveal he kind of winged it with some of that Locust and Riftworm stuff. Recently on Twitter, Bleszinski shared that a major showdown in Gears of War 3 kind of... makes no sense. In Gears of War, the Locust Horde are mutated humanoids, the result of genetic experiments, and develop their own governing society. This also included a religion known as the Trinity of Worms which worshipped the Riftworms, giant, 10-mile-long worms which created the Hollow, where the Locust reside. Despite the rich lore surrounding the Riftworms and their relation to the Locust, it turns out some stuff was left blank. During Gears of War 3, one Locust known as Ketor Skorge, awoke a Riftworm to be used as a weapon of mass destruction in their war against the humans. There's just a tiny detail missing from the fact that Skorge was able to command the Riftworm at will: Bleszinski has no idea how he did it. According to his tweet, Bleszinski has no explanation for how the Locust "got control of the Riftworm in the first place, and two: how they guided it to their desired target." While sharing his retrospection, Bleszinski defends his lack of explanation with a simple idea that some gamers can get behind, while others will demand answers for: "Sometimes ya just put stuff in a game you think is cool. You don't have to fully explain everything; let 'em wonder." The only issue now is that regardless of how much Gears of War fans "wonder," they'll know in their heart of hearts that even the creator doesn't have a clue. REPO and Schedule 1 receive the highest honor an indie game can possibly get outside 2 seconds in a Nintendo sizzle reel: Geoff Keighley telling the world they're outselling some genuine AAA juggernauts
