Hardware being changed up makes sense. Feels funky that MS would pull a bait and switch for a game project, but its hard to say if that was MS or Molyneux being funky since they both have a history.

Not in game dev lmao :'-(

There’s actually somewhat of a resurgence for retro-ish games even among new gamers.

General consumers are mostly keeping up with the latest releases or updates because that’s what their friends or streamers are talking about. High fidelity adds to that but I don’t know if that’s the big draw. Especially since things like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite seem to be the juggernauts right now.

Its just harder to create new conversations around something like Ps2 games because all the talk around them has passed.

True, though people tend to replace laptops when they fall out of support or start having hardware issues, much less often to do an upgrade looking for more frames.

I still feel Microsoft has to bring something hot to really sway anyone over since they have a long history of competing in the mobile hardware space and fumbling it hard.

Well a Windows license is just that: Here is a code for the OS, have fun. They don’t care because most support will be from hardware vendors.

Microsoft hardware is a different beast. You need to have parts for replacement, its got to be compatible (and stay compatible) with whatever accessories are coming out, and its got to be better than its competitors on new game launches. That last part takes coordination and support with dev teams.

Don’t care isn’t a great option, unless Microsoft wants another Windows Phone or Zune or one of the many other failed hardware launches they’ve had.

So it’ll be the ROG Ally but ‘better’ because its less Windows than normal. Hmm.

The last part concerns me. Why am I buying into a platform that Microsoft couldn’t care less if it sells at all because they make their money from subscriptions?

People don’t want hardware that just gets abandoned when its not profitable enough, which Microsoft absolutely has a history of doing.

Seems like everyone was all over Avowed the week it was out, then I hardly heard it mentioned at all until now.

That being said, these seem like some nice QoL features but I don’t really see this persuading many people to hop in and buy it.

This feels weirdly too late. I can’t imagine that many people in 2027 who passed on a Switch 1/2, SteamDeck, supposed other upcoming handhelds, or the ROG Ally and are looking for a gaming handheld with money to burn.

Xbox has to really bring something hot to the table, and its certainly not whatever they’ve been doing with their hardware/games/IPs for the past 5 years.

For some reason it didn’t click to me until I saw the Steam page that this game is set in the same universe as Control.

So actually to add onto this, this was bothering me so I had to look into it further:

I was very incorrect - Hyperspace isn’t a pocket dimension per se and you can hit things while moving through hyperspace. The reason they ‘sometimes’ get past shields is because shields have a refresh rate so it may be able to phase through if you get it just right.

I’m more with you on this now, its a little ridiculous that no ones really tried to weaponize hyperdrive engines.

As far as I know all droids in Star Wars have free will.

Han Solo gambled and won the Falcon from Lando (who appears well off), it was definitely too expensive for him to have bought normally.

I think the hyperspace battering ram is funky, but I believe it was less that it was a good tactical idea and more of the First Order being extremely arrogant by not having their shields up, not using a tractor beam, and not just sending a smaller ship forward to close the gap and blowing it up.

I think the movie wanted to show that they were savoring the victory and were willing to draw it out as they believed the rebels were drowning in hopelessness.

As I recall, hyperspace is like a pocket dimension. They just speed up a whole lot to enter hyperspace. So you can’t collide with things ‘in hyperspace’, but only as you’re going really fast while transitioning to hyperspace, which is quite a bit more limited in capability.

Hyperspace drives are expensive, and droids are sentient (so its still suicidal). Using it as a weapon would be like having an shotgun in an fps game, where the first 5 feet is extremely lethal to really big targets, whereas anything after that is a waste of time. Also each shot is $10k.

The real question would be why didn’t she just splat against the cruiser’s shields as they established that was a problem in the previous movie (when they need to hyperspace through the shielding of that planet), unless they had a Galaxy Quest moment where they forgot to flip the shields on.

• Fields of Mistria
• Roots of Pacha

Easy recommends if you liked Stardew Valley.

Weird recommends would be My time at Portia/Sandrock. They absolutely have combat, but have romance systems and a cuter aesthetic. Even the enemies are derpy/cute.

• A Hat in Time
• Trine
• Spiritfarer
• The lego games
• Knights and bikes
• Human fall flat
• Cassette beasts
• Chariot
• Octodad
• Monaco

I don’t remember these being particularly violent but maybe are worth a look:

• Pit people
• BattleBlock Theater

I also liked Moon Hunters and Children of Morta but those are harder.

Divinity Original Sin 1 is also good but definitely falls into the violent category. Its kind of goofy too so it could be worth considering. The second game + BG3 are significantly more violent and serious so are harder to recommend with that criteria.

Edit: hmm it seems the formatting is funky in Voyager, should be fixed now