Thanks for all the support!! Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code XB2 at MANSCAPED.com!! Timestamps: Getting ready to go live 0:00 Intro and Housekeeping 7:16 Jez's thoughts on gears collection and xbox show predictions 27:50 Xbox cod marketing and others 51:00 Cod on last gen consoles 57:40 Hellblade 2 reviews 1:10:44 Xbox games 2025 predictions and 2:02:12 Rumour: MS wants to buy valve 2:04:45 Short games vs long games 2:19:25 Ign buying gaming publications 2:24:45 Xbox selling 'early access' 2:39:30 College football game coming back 2:47:55 Beware of the leaks! 2:53:05 Patreon Questions and Closing 2:59:25
Timestamps Getting ready to go live 0:00 Intro and Housekeeping 7:16 Jez's thoughts on gears collection and xbox show predictions 27:50 Xbox cod marketing and others 51:00 Cod on last gen consoles 57:40 Hellblade 2 reviews 1:10:44 Xbox games 2025 predictions and 2:02:12 Rumour: MS wants to buy valve 2:04:45 Short games vs long games 2:19:25 Ign buying gaming publications 2:24:45 Xbox selling 'early access' 2:39:30 College football game coming back 2:47:55 Beware of the leaks! 2:53:05 Patreon Questions and Closing 2:59:25 If you want to stay away from leaks, I purposedly stamped it as leaks. Stay away! Enjoy the show 🎉
Finished Hellblade 2 and it was a cinematic graphical masterpiece. It was so enthralling and intense, it felt very realistic. Definitely a 10/10 for me and I enjoyed the previous game. Hellblade was never one for the masses, so makes sense not everyone likes this game which is fine. But it’s ridiculous to state someone doesn’t like it, therefore it sucks. The game achieved exactly what it meant to and appeased the fans. They could change a lot about the game, but then it would become less realistic, less enthralling and more of a button smasher which we have enough of.
I'll believe the new Doom is going on PS5 day and date when I see it. They would cannibalize potential console sales and Game Pass subs. Now if they made it a timed exclusive they get the game pass/console growth and please their hardcore fans while making money on PlayStation a year later. It would just be a longer term investment. I bet there is PS5 version ready to go and waiting for a year.
Looks like ms doesn’t care anymore. They have too much first party overhead now to wait for GP to grow. Starfield didn’t grow GP, then what will. Hellblade 2, avowed and Indy certainly won’t.
The thing about Hellblade 2 is we all loved the first one, but that was in 2017, and our tastes change over time. I bought an Xbox on launch due to the fact that I could only play this game on the xbox. The game looks great and the sound is good, but there is just something missing, to be honest, it's unfortunate to see a game like this get less players than Red Fall, and that's so bad.
Hellblade 2 is a good game but it’s largely the first game with better graphics. The graphics are amazing but the game didn’t evolve after 7 years, which pretty much all sequels have. Hellblade 1 was a new thing and the story hit different. The new one is a spectacle but it’s the same game so it loses some of the prestige. Hellblade 2 would have scored exactly the same as it did today but it would have been seen more positively as an independent developer. We have higher expectations of first party devs, same thing happens to ps games. Problem is Xbox also marketed the game to be much more than it was. Even the Xbox fanbase got behind it thinking combat was going to be vastly improved, it would be more open world etc. Also, Xbox needs a goty contender at this point, and they still may not have it. People just had higher expectations of hellblade 2.
Exclusives are a thing of the past. I bought a $500 piece of plastic and it doesn’t dictate my life. I want to play all the games, with all of my friends, wherever they are. I refuse to believe that the biggest company on the planet by market cap will ever shutter the Xbox studios unless they are truly just unambitious.
Xbox dropping games in PS is all about grabbing there audience.....we forget about all the new generation that plays and some of them are sadly on PS....it legitimately is destroying PS identity....
I am simply begging for COD’s addition to Game Pass to not include a major price increase (wildly unlikely). Been spending lots of money for many lean months.
What would happen to Rand if all of a sudden this world end up being all about Pokémon? Everything related to movies, movies, movies, video games, TV shows, books and any other forms of media including the news and all the foof was just mayo?
The funny thing is Pokémon as a franchise makes more money then anything Microsoft has produced in years, Pokémon as an IP makes more money than Star Wars. I understand perfectly that people have tastes but Rand always says "who cares about Pokémon" a lot of people apparently. Love the Podcast regardless.
Agian it is still craszy yall want Xbox to ge anti consumer to make you feel better abiut your purchase If all you can think about if they show gears and other games if its on PlayStation imo you really dont enjoy games and way to deep into this bullshit drama like it's more important who dont get to play what you have then how good the game is or game excitement if it being on PlayStation ruins it for you My advice Leave gaming find a new hobby or at the very least leave Xbox we are TIRED of you types Just leave already
why get an xbox when i can play all the games on playstation and more. exclusive content makes you feel better about the console. if everything was mulitplatform on xbox whats even the point.
The multiplatform approach will be the death of Xbox hardware and I don't think anyone can convince me otherwise. It's very shortsighted to do this before they have even had the opportunity to see what having COD marketing and Game Pass will impact them and even then, when they drop a next gen only COD, that will move people from old hardware. Hell splash the cash and get GTA 6 marketing, that will move people. I've already stopped buying games on Xbox because I fear for a digital library, Playstation is the safer bet at this stage.
I also don't see Xbox doing well with marketing, they refuse to even have consistent branding on games. When you load up Starfield you should see "Xbox" throw it in casual faces the same way Playstation do it.
What I don’t get is the idea that Xbox will backtrack effectively if MAU’s are affected. Because surely the damage is done at that point, the trust is further eroded (if that’s even possible), and it further illustrates the ineptitude and indecisiveness of their leadership, and the backlash will intensify? They may *try* to backtrack if things go wrong, but to not simultaneously relay that it’ll likely be too late is somewhat disingenuous
@@KiD1515 Hellblade 2 is so damn easy. When I played Hellblade 1 I almost had a game over because I died so many times and I believe if you die too many times you have to start the game over from the beginning. In Hellblade 2 I didn't die once.
For Microsoft to give out codes I feel you should have to write an article or a decent review that can be posted. Because these codes are just a way for people with a channel or a bit of influence to get free games. Game makers could do better by selecting a random group of people secure an authorization on their credit card. Let them play the game. If they leak the game before the no media ban is up they get charge three times the value of the game. Once they are allowed to speak then let them review the game. The only person whoever reviewed a game properly and I bought a game based on his review was Jez. I can’t even remember the game maybe Diablo or something. But he was honest. Jez explained the positives and he negatives of the game and even said he didn’t really care for the game but if you like these things or style of gaming you’ll like the game. I bought the game was really happy with the game. Jez actually does proper reviews. While others are yeah I played the game it was cool I like it. How the F is that a review. That’s BS Devs give out codes to people who give S reviews and brag about playing the game for free. Maybe it’s because Jez is a journalist and can string sentences together properly. But I’m always annoyed when I hear yeah I got a review code. Dealer podcast did this crap. It was always bro this bro that and not one complete thought about the game. This review code S is B S while gamers pay for games. If Jez did a paid review channel I’d pay to hear his thoughts on games. Best reviewer out there that I’ve found.
Theory 1... Hellblade 2 is being used to showcase what the Devs are capable of to secure the studio. Theory 2... Xbox putting games on PlayStation is just to butter them up for future acquisitions.
HB2 doesen't have flaws like Rand said instead. There are mechanics wanted by the devs and they all worked out as they should. You may like it or not but that is beside the point. HB2 is something unique, special and there's no comparison. We should be happy. But no, we want all the same games all the same flags. It's tiring
Jez my guy you “ saying your peace” you are taking it way to easy on MS. This choice will destroy the Xbox brand I mean it already has you shoulda fought harder to save it.
There are also xbox fanboy who when on record saying they hated hellblade 1 but not praise part 2 as a masterpiece lol it don't matter what people think, just play what you like. Steam player count and sales show you if a game was well received or not.
I think that the FF pixel remaster being in Xbox is worth a quick reveal on the showcase as an extended reminder that they will support the platform. However putting that on such a big show might not be worth it monetarily.
I don't like hellblade 2 but it's not my type. Didn't like the 1st game either. I actually don't understand rating a game that isn't your type. If it is your type and it suck, then roast it to all hell. But how can you roast it when walking in, you knew it wasn't for you.
MS can't reverse course with their multiplat approach even if their MAU's suffer by releasing on PlayStation. They completely destroyed their community in less than six months and their fans have now become completely apathetic to the Xbox brand, and once apathy sets in there's no getting them back. The biggest mystery in all of this is why the hell MS wasted so much time in court battling regulators to get the ABK deal approved when they could had just said "we're going fully multiplat, including on PlayStation", and ended that entire clown show in a day and saved themselves tens of millions of dollars in lawyer fees.
A game lacking gameplay mechanics doesn't automatic makes it art. And why aren't normal games considered art? Does a thing have to be a sad story in order to called art? Especially games that go for realism because it will be surpassed in a couple of years in fidelity
@jez no your wrong mate ;) you can connect your PC ro your TV and start a game without to log in or even use a Mouse and Keyboard like I did with Playnite I start my PC grab my Controller it's automatically log me in and with playnite I got my gaming libary selecting a game and go never use a m&k 😉
02:58:10 it’s a misnomer and has fallen out of favor in academia since the medieval period wasn’t any darker than the ancient world or the early modern period.
There's no reason regulators should block MS buying Valve. The Microsoft store (or Bnet for that matter) is not competing with Steam, and Microsoft primary platform for distributing their games is literally Steam. PC gamers are not using the MS store for anything. It's completely irrelevant to us.
Hearing grown men say they went to sleep at 11 am and got up at 6 pm but still complain about not getting any sleep( even tho that’s 7 hours) is wild man.
Jez, to answer your question about why Genshin Impact isnt on Xbox, its the same deal as Disney approaching them to make a Marvel game. Microsoft had a chance to snatch up Genshin early on. They passed. Sony didn't.
Just like how Xbox turned down Spider-Man. Phil Spencer and his team are crap when it comes to managing studios or making GOOD business decisions. Their successes are not because of them but in spite of them.
@@EpicScreenReviews Way back in the day, Capcom approached Microsoft to make Resident Evil 4 an exclusive (because the PS2 was a pain to develop for). Microsoft screwed up the meeting and Capcom went to Nintendo instead.
Xbox doesnt wanna payout so their 5 fans can have fun ( I'm clearly exaggerating to drive my point home ) there aren't enough players to justify spending extra
@@lollipopwaraxe6032well they need to stop. I’d pay $10 a season or two if the season was in eternal realm. Instead I’ll be a level 55 until the expansion.
Doc dark killed someone on twitter . They was saying hellblade 1 combat was better . 2 u was missing things. So doc uploaded combat game play and he said u mean this gameplay it isnt good and dude ... named will was like yea its lacking ... and the game play was hellblade 1. Murdered buddy . People full of crap
I enjoyed the combat of 1 more. It was challenging. I almost had game over because I died multiple times and the rot had almost spread entirely. Hellblade 2 I didn't "die" once. It was simplistic and a joke.
@@EpicScreenReviews combat is basically the same stop it lol hb1 and hb2 combat hella simple . Hb2 combat is much more visceral and hard hitting than hb1. But still basically the same. And it's more of it in hb2
@@spectrexr1 dude, if you can't accept other peoples opinions you're literally acting like a fanboy. I'm telling you my opinion as someone that's completed both games. Get over yourself and learn to accept other peoples opinions.
I don’t see what the issue with the console sales because Xbox literally is the better piece of hardware and has the better subscription people don’t buy a PS5 for double A games like the trails series granblue fantasy and Honkai Star Rail they buy the console to play Minecraft GTA NBA2k and call of duty which we have on Xbox if Take two decides to leave the xbox platform Microsoft will just buy them for $15 billion
I‘m just so done with being part of this gaming community. I finished Hellblade 2 and just cannot believe some of the criticism I‘m reading about it. I‘m getting fucking jaded by all these grifters trying to talk down every single thing MS does. This is just Starfield all over again, but even more bizzarre and unwarranted. Hellblade 2 is great. End of the story.
@@hihosilver1234 Exactly. I kinda hate it, because I love talking about videogames, but I realized you cannot have proper discussions about games you like anymore online.
You two are delusion... and not because you liked the game but because you can't see / understand why others didn't like it. I watched a video of it and in the opening moments it too senua 3mins 30s to climb a mountain and i thought. This game doesn't respect gamers time. And I stopped
@@benjamincurtis1412 I could see why someone wouldn‘t like it. But I can‘t see how you can give a clearly good game a 4.5/10 just because it‘s not for you, or because you set wrong expectations for yourself. By the way, what do you think „respects“ a gamers time more: A) A 10 hours Hellblade 2 that does what it needs to do and doesn‘t overstay its welcome. Or B) A 60 hours God Of War Ragnarok that could have easily been half as long and is just filled with bloated filler stuff to make it longer?
@ohmnesia I think there should be an option C) Games can have bloat but it should be optional and at least give you a new spell or weapon after it. For me Hell Blade is too short and isn't gamey enough but I believe the real problem lies with the hype that came attached to the game and NINJA should have come out and made it clear. This is still gonna be a small game. But they didn't they used words like AAA and that comes with a certain type of expectation. For example is AC SHADOWS isn't better than GHOST OF TSUSHIMA then that game will get a bad score because it could have learned so much from Ghost to make a better game.
1:02:23 the problem I have is that if xbox games go to ps, we aren't getting anything in return. I'd have almost no qualms if os gamed also come to xbox, but that won't happen.
@benjamincurtis1412 and that's the problem man lol they get our stuff but we don't get theirs? not a good trade, if it ever comes to that I'll probably switch to ps
No 1st party gaming no 100% takings for PlayStation. Fortnite Call of Duty Madden NFL NBA 2K FC Football Sea of Thieves Grounded DOOM: The Dark Ages Gears of War Fenix Collection Sony Interactive Entertainment will not receive the full revenue, for these specific games. ☝️
When a podcast of gaming brainrot has as much length as the sequel of a game which was made for 5 years (they share the same depth as well), you know that not all hopes and dreams are going according to plan.
oh noes, HB2 is just a short as the first, truly it's a problem for the ages - also, this isn't even a long enough podcast for this joke to begin with.
Hey guys, do you ever plan on doing a Xboxtwo plus one with Skillup? It seems he wants to talk about Xbox at a longer length (because of whats been going on) but can't because he tends to cover gaming in general. I think your podcast would be perfect for it.
It won’t, they are “predicting” it so if it happens they won’t get upset. They are setting expectations to the worse so you can’t get upset. New doom or anything gears will not be going to PlayStation
I think it’s worse that Hellblade 1, not by much but worse. It has worse combat, puzzles and story. They removed combat moves,only attack one person at a time. The sight puzzles snap too quick and are far worse (cave puzzle, uggh). The story is worse and retroactively makes the first one slightly worse.
I still don't think that games going to Playstation and Nintendo will take away from Xbox. Gears and Halo would have a lot more multiplayer if they go to those systems. Xbox and PC (and cloud) will still be the only places that you could just be subscribed to Game Pass instead of spending $70 on each game.
Any game with the name "Doom" in the title that is MP is an epic PR fail. 30% down again after the disaster of a show where they directly or indirectly confirm 3rd party crap. Your reporting leads to posts like these, btw - so its funny for you to post 3rd party pushes from MS and then react like "uwu people bad for getting mad" even though your other diatribe is just that, you angry that MS is not delivering as they should.
I actually agree with Greg Miller (ik i m surprised) that HB2 takes 2 step forward with audio & graphics but goes backwards when it comes to gameplay. 83 is perfectly fine score, not 45 😡
If Xbox goes multiplat I’m out. No point owning the system if I can get it on PlayStation with PlayStation exclusives on top of that. Crazy Xbox just threw in the towel when they literally had a lot of momentum for once since the 360 days
