Xbox (Series X - $750 and Series S - $500) - 10/11/20

[Ambrose Burnside]

Cracking end to the year for Game Pass subscribers. Age of Empires 4, GTA: San Andreas, Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite will have me well and truly sorted

[t0mby]

Looking forward to San Andreas big.time. /Googles cast

[Peppermint Lounge]

lestat & Hercy how are you guys playing Forza Horizon 5? Still locked for me.

[Twiztid Elf]

I think you can pay $50 for "early access".

To me it's semantics.
If you can buy it today and play it today, then it's out. Not "early access" or "day -4".
MS first party games are NOT day one on gamepass.

[Madmya]

They've paid for the ultimate edition which has an added bonus of early access, amongst other things like car passes and DLC.

[lestat]

lestat & Hercy how are you guys playing Forza Horizon 5? Still locked for me.

We bought the premium addons pack. It was $62 with a gamepass sub.

image_2021_11_05T08_13_10_529Z.png

If you have no interest in playing the expansions down the line, probably not worth buying this pack. MS is sneaky by not including those expansion in gamepass imo.

We sorta paid to be beta testers because the online features have been working on and off again the last few days, but this has been the norm with every forza horizon launch where online features are flakey the first week or so.

Game is excellent btw, looks gorgeous and it runs exceptionally well on my 3 PCs at home.

9900k+6900xt = 1440p/Ultra ~144fps.
7700k+2080Ti = 4k/Ultra locked 60fps.
2500k+2060super = 1080p/High ~75fps, this box can run ultra with the video card, just the old 2500k is hitting cpu bottleneck.

Note on PC there seems to be a texture LOD bug with the ultra texture setting, bump that to Extreme if you have the vram, uses around ~10GB, makes a noticeable difference.

Oh also with xbox family sharing my kids got all the VIP premium addon goodness too, so they've been having fun with it early as well .

[lestat]

Incredible recreation of Mexico.

[t0mby]

So does this unlock at midnight?

[Ambrose Burnside]

Say what you will about IGN reviews, but a 10 is still rare and Microsoft Game Studios have three this year: Flight Simulator, Deathloop and now Forza.

[Peppermint Lounge]

I bought the FH4 expansions and loved them so will def get on board with FH5. Yes, cheeky of MS that subscribers are still pushed toward a $60 early outlay. I'm in a forgiving mood when it comes to Forza Horizon though. An arcade racer so good it looks like sorcery.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Wow how gorgeous is FH5. Got ~110fps with 6700k+5700xt @ 1440p/Ultra and realised I haven't updated to the new FH5 supported driver. Knew performance would be good given how FH4 runs.

[t0mby]

FH5, first game I've played since I got my Series X that the fan has gone into overdrive, as loud at the PS4.

[lestat]

That's not normal, none of my XSX do that playing this. The heat output also doesn't feel out of the ordinary.

Check your airflow around the unit isn't obstructed otherwise it looks like the thermal paste on your unit is bad.

[pilonv1]

Really impressed by the PC performance. Default high setting at 1440p/144hz and sitting in the 70-80fps zone.

Must have regressed as a gamer because I'm finding the chase view much more usable than the in car view. Maybe I just want to look at the pretty graphics.

[t0mby]

The sound is pretty good too, love the Dolby Atmos effects during the first race "On a Wing and a Prayer" with the sound of the plane overhead, also one of the first races that opens where you take a photo in the storm. You can literally hear the storm and debris above you as well as around. Great stuff.

[t0mby]

Apart from MS first party titles and anything they own (Bethesda etc) how long do games usually stay on Gamepass? Wondering how long I'll have with San Andreas.

[Hercy]

Rockstar games often don't stay long. RDR2 and RD Online were only there for 4 months. GTA V has been there twice but only for about 6 months at a time.

Generally games stay for at least 12 months. There's a Google Sheets list of games with all their addition and removal dates here:

[t0mby]

Thanks for that Hercy. 6 months is still a decent time imo.

[Twiztid Elf]

The rumors were true. Halo Infinite multi is out now. Campaign next month still.

[unfnknblvbl]

76 games added to backwards compatibility as the "final update", and they still haven't tried solving whatever bs "licensing issues" are preventing them from adding most of my 360 library.

I suppose I should be happy that at least Blue Dragon and Red Dead Redemption made the cut years ago, but I'm still mighty pissed off at the lack of Eternal Sonata and Outrun.

[Ambrose Burnside]

76 games added to backwards compatibility as the "final update", and they still haven't tried solving whatever bs "licensing issues" are preventing them from adding most of my 360 library.

I suppose I should be happy that at least Blue Dragon and Red Dead Redemption made the cut years ago, but I'm still mighty pissed off at the lack of Eternal Sonata and Outrun.

They confirmed this is the final update did they? Fuck

I am excited that TimeSplitters 2 and 3 have been added. Still the best local MP FPS out there.

[lestat]

Halo infinite MP is out, already breaking records.

[Hercy]

Amazing what being given away for free can do.

[flipswitch]

The king is back!

So happy to see it back on the podium where it should be.

[t0mby]

And back in your backlog where all the other games are......