520°

Xbox Developer_Direct 2024

Welcome to Developer_Direct 2024, an inside look at some of the highly anticipated games coming to Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Game Pass, presented by the game creators themselves. Tune in for updates on Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, and the Indiana Jones game.

EasilyTheBest131d ago

Really looking forward to this. Hope it's good.

RaidenBlack131d ago

Ara: History Untold looked pretty expansive!
And the structure of the game seemed much more interactive and dynamic than other typical 4X games ...

LOGICWINS131d ago

Ara was completely off my radar, but they managed to sell me on it!

Flawlessmic131d ago

Great show overall from MS, I'm personally loomking forward to everything they showed off.

Indi and avowed look awesome!!!

Hellblade graphically looks insane, still unsure on gameplay and get the feeling it will be a very on rails experience.

Lots to look forward to this year :)

Lightning77131d ago

Btw no shadow Drops will happen this time just FYI.

Lightning77131d ago

Well Xbox "confirmed" no shadow drops but you would say that sorta thing... Right before a shadow drop so we'll see here in a little bit.

ravens52131d ago

Dang, I was hoping Indy was 3rd person. Looks cool though.

GamerRN131d ago

Same, I would prefer a 3rd person Uncharted Like with the OG Jones

darthv72131d ago (Edited 131d ago )

If you ever played chronicles of riddick.. that is what this reminded me of. The whole 1st person and 3rd person switching.

That score though... classic.

Lightning77131d ago

1st person is there bread and butter. Tbh I rather them stick to their strengths and not be forced to do something they have no expertise in (redfall) and deliver the best Indy game they can.

ravens52131d ago

Avowed looks cool too. I want to try Indy and Hell Blade 2.

raWfodog131d ago

Avowed is the game I’m really looking forward to. Obsidian makes really good game worlds.

Grilla131d ago

Do they? Outer Worlds was kinda lame

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110°

Avowed Moved to Unreal Engine 5.3

With Support from The Coalition

Read Full Story >>
gamingbolt.com
ThinkThink12h ago

That's great news. Hopefully the Coalition can smooth some of those edges from the last Avowed reveal.

phoenixwing10h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Well I'm annoyed. Especially at all the ppl who said the graphics sucked. It's your fault they probably shifted the game to unreal so it could look more fancy for you. I was ok with it and hoping to actually play it sometime soon. Now it's like 99% chance it's delayed.
Edit: effing graphics whores

Obscure_Observer1h ago

"Well I'm annoyed. Especially at all the ppl who said the graphics sucked. It's your fault they probably shifted the game to unreal so it could look more fancy for you."

What the hell are you talking about dude? Avowed was already in development using the UE5. The Coalition is just helping Obsidian in the transition to its latest version (5.3)

MrBaskerville1m ago(Edited 0m ago)

Probably not even that big of a difference. Coalition might only have helped because they got a deadline to meet.

Unreal isn't nearly as bad as Unity when you update a project. Though it obviously depends on the project. But unity generally gets an aneyurism if you threaten to update.

Reaper22_0m ago

In excited for Avowed and Gears 6.

Fishy Fingers1h ago

It already was Unreal 5, its just moving to the latest build.

Lightning779h ago

Apparently the latest build looks way better graphically. This rumor from Jez Cordin (who's credible) pretty much confirms it.

Interested in seeing more on Avowed in a few weeks.

Notellin34m ago

UE 5.3 has been out since September of last year. I can't believe this is news or that anyone is hyping this up.

MrNinosan25m ago

As Hellblade failed to set the world on fire, just like Halo Infinite and Starfield before it, it's time to look forward to the next Game of the Decade candidate.
Of course it needs to be hyped up ahead of time 😏

truthBombs8m ago

I liked the games unique artstyle when It was revealed. I hope they're not making the migration based on criticism. It's only a rumor anyways

370°

‘Hellblade 2’ Launches As The 23rd Most-Played Xbox Game, What Does That Mean?

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launched last week to solid reviews from both fans and players. But its playercount? That's another story.

helicoptergirl16h ago(Edited 16h ago)

That's awful. This combined with the really low Steam numbers paint a disastrous picture imo. Really bad timing too because Tango was closed down for a similar thing. Great reviewed game, and low sales and/or player count. Hi-Fi Rush reviewed a hell of a lot better and it was widely loved by everyone, Hellblade 2 nowhere near that.

I know the rumor is that the studio has their next game already green-lit, but if I worked at Tango, I would be furious. "Why do they survive while we get binned?" I'd be telling myself.

But the suit woman will have you believe "Oh we have different metrics for the success of one studio compared to another studio. We judge each studio and game on their own set criteria" or something like that, I'm paraphrasing here but you get the idea. But no one who works there knows what the hell that even means. I mean the DLC for Redfall was getting worked on days before they even got the news their studio was getting dumped in the trash. So what are these mysterious metrics to let studios survive and others perish? I bet this is all hogwash, I bet MS don't even really know. They just had to make cuts and certain studios just found their way on the chopping block. Someone had to bite the dust, why not you?

Well I bet all this does nothing for the confidence of other employees in other studios. The truth is you have no idea where your career will be in a year from now working at one of their studios that aren't the mega big ones. MS just have too many studios to manage efficiently. "We'll just throw money at them and buy them and worry about the details later on. I mean we can do it, we're Microsoft."

darthv7215h ago

...have you seen what the top 10 consists of? Its things like fortnite, roblox, CoD, apex... etc. This being a new game that has a niche appeal is actually surprising to see at 23. Its also the 33rd top paid game on the PC through the MS store.

tay870114h ago

Those are dreadful numbers any way you slice it dude. They hyped this game to hell for the last 4 plus yrs. It was supposed to be xboxs big game this yr. Ninja Theory is probably sweating right now.

Scissorman14h ago

And it's already slipped out of the Top 100 on Steam. Meanwhile a port of the 4-year old Ghost of Tsushima is sitting comfortably at #8.

RiseNShine14h ago

One of the biggest games of the year, a multi million sequel and heavily advertised game, at 23 most played? There's no way to justify those numbers.

darthv7213h ago

^^heavily advertised game...?

I mean, I knew the game was coming but outside of a boot screen ad for it, there has been little to no marketing. And yet it still managed 23rd. Make of that what you will.

Elda12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

Here in the East Coast on NY/NJ on cable tv Hellblade 2 has been advertised pretty well. I see the commercials every day at least 3 times a day for the past 3 weeks. It's even advertised as YT commercials.

Chevalier12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

What an idiotic comment. Let me guess the next comment would be GTA V outsold everything so....

Absolutely terrible numbers all round for this game. Ghost of Tsushima at number 8. Good games going to sell regardless of excuses

CobraKai4h ago

Nice try on spinning it but it debuting at 23 isn’t a good thing. It’s one of MS anticipated exclusives.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4h ago
RpgSama12h ago

What a disaster, 2 failures in a row for Ninja Theory, first Bleeding edge, now Hellblade 2, any way you slice it these are not the numbers the most awaited game of the year for Xbox should show (before Activision purchase), also player numbers is extremely low and even more surprising considering is day 1 on gamepass.

Crows909h ago

If they worked on heavenly sword instead then they would have something worth playing and waiting for... unfortunately that won't happen.

Terry_B16h ago

It means that it will be the..50th? 75th? most played xbox game in June.

CrimsonWing6914h ago

That people played it 🤷‍♂️

Scissorman14h ago

If this game cost more and took longer to develop than Hi-Fi Rush, then I would worry if I were Ninja Theory. Projects may have been greenlit, but the increased scrutiny over at MS may very well put them on the chopping block. The incredible irony here is that it was PlayStation players that pushed the original game passed its 1 million copies sold milestone. With that purchasing power cut out, and the Game Pass effect having trained Xbox players to not purchase games, it seems that the sequel may have been set-up for failure.

italiangamer14h ago

And that's exactly what pisses me off about Hellblade 2 not being on PlayStation, Sony promoted the original game and I bought it basically on D1 back in the day because I liked what I saw and ended up really enjoying it!
I really hope Hellblade 2 is next on the porting list because I would buy it in a heartbeat, asshole microsoft robbed me of this game!

darthv7213h ago

Just get an xbox. Then it will be YOU that is robbing Microsoft. Gamepass is a hell of a deal and an addictive one at that.

AndrewM13h ago

No darth, buying an Xbox only helps xbox lol he can play gamepass on com if he wants to take advantage of them destroying themselves.

Scissorman6h ago

If anything I would say that these sales figures and player counts may actually fast-track its PS5 port.

Bathyj5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Just get an Xbox? You're kidding right? No one paddles out and jumps on a sinking ship.

I wouldn't buy an Xbox for this lacklustre game and I wouldn't sign up to gamepass if I did. People want to trade their long term sustainable games industry for a short term saving, go ahead and see how it turns out.

Actually we're seeing how that turns out. Unsatisfied Devs. Mediocre games and a failing Microsoft games division.

Rhythmattic3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

Hay Darth.. "Just get an xbox"
so.. explain.....what is Xbox ?

GotGame81814m ago

You can play it on PC. Heck you can play it, on just about anything, if you have decent Internet. It is an amazing looking game.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 14m ago
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90°

Hellblade 2's Excellent Presentation Goes Far Beyond Its Graphics

Hellblade 2 has great presentation, and that includes more than graphics.

Read Full Story >>
gamerant.com
anast19h ago

74 user score on meta. I wouldn't say it includes much more.

PrinceOfAnger18h ago(Edited 18h ago)

81 meta-critic
Steam user score 85% from
(2,677)..

Death stranding
7.4 user score

Last of us part 2
5.8 user score on meta..

Days gone 71 meta-score.

MrNinosan14h ago

All you proved with those numbers is that Xbox fanboys do everything they can to make Sony games look bad and Xbox games look good, while Sony fans mostly are busy playing games instead of review bombing Xbox games.

romulus2313h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Death Stranding
82 meta-critic

The Last of Us 2
93 meta-critic

Figured I'd give some context since you conveniently left those scores out.

MrNinosan13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Btw, why not use Meta for every game or doesn't it fit your agenda?

Current Gen scores:
Hellblade 2 - 7.4 User Score (81MC)
Death Stranding 2 - 7.6 User Score (85MC)
Last of Us Part 2 - 8.1 User Score (90MC)
Days Gone - 8.5 User Score (71MC)

Death Stranding on Stean has 91%
Days Gone on Steam has 92%

Crows9018h ago

Let it die already. Nobody cares...they should have expanded the games systems

Inverno18h ago

Yeah and many games before it have done what it did and more. Why are we impressed by features that have been standard in many games before? Sites are gonna keep up these fluff pieces for a while longer while everyone has already moved onto some indie game that costs less, took less time to make and does more with gameplay. So many games have been killed off by negative reviews and negative opinion pieces for being more of less like Hellblade 2, but nah this one's special.

EternalTitan18h ago

It dosent even go beyond beyond its mediocre combat.
Graphics will get outdated in a mere two years.
And there is no combat system to hold it up.

PrinceOfAnger16h ago

I hope NT show their next game Project Mara in the coming showcase

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