230°

Xbox Games With Gold handed out $900 worth of games in 2015. Was it worth it?

Games With Gold. Buy the $60 yearly subscription and Microsoft throws in a few titles for free on the first and 15th of each month. So? Are they good? Are they old? Is this stuff anyone would care about?

Polygon is looking back on the year in free games today by picking apart both the dollar value of free games given out by Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus and the critical score of each game on offer. Here is our analysis of Games With Gold, which in 2015 gave out 42 discrete titles for the Xbox One and Xbox 360.

thexmanone3109d ago

I`ll take $900 worth of free games anyday.

Blaze9293109d ago

was hella worth it. and with backwards compatibility - 2016 will be even better!

Kurisu3109d ago

How does Games with Gold work? Can I add them to a cart and then download them anytime I'm subbed like with PS+? I got an Xbox One almost a week ago but haven't set myself up with Gold yet.

Jerredh3109d ago

Leave your console to instant on. Then you can download them from the xbox website or straight from the dashboard. Either way you still have to have gold. I dont know how it is on PS+

mynd3109d ago

You need a gold account to get them, but yes, you don't have to own a XBO to get them. I started getting them well before I got my XBO and when I got it they were all there waiting for me.

MikleDemi3109d ago

Yes. God yes. As much as I hate Micro$oft, I have to say I am impressed. And now that we can play ALL Gold games on our XBONE, its trully epic.

Much, MUCH better value than the shitty and overpriced PS+.

Having said all this, I use my PC amd Wii U the most. Still at least I actually enjoyed some Gold games this year, unlike the regurgitated indie crap I got with + for the PS4.

Good going Microsoft. I am impressed.

3109d ago
xxShadow-Shockxx3109d ago

What are you talking about, ps+ is cheaper than gold and offered more value. They gave away $1000 in free games. Both gave out some good value but I'm just stating facts.

MikleDemi3109d ago (Edited 3109d ago )

PS+ is cheaper?

This shows otherwise.

http://slickdeals.net/f/832...
Pair it with another coupon and you get 12 months of Gold for $21.97, so most frugal gamers stocked up.

PS+ has never been this cheap. Moreover, most PS4 games given out have been indie ones you could have bought for dirt cheap on Steam or as part of a (Humble) bundle/ Bundle Stars, etc.

Oh oh, backing up my statements with... Facts? Not good for the fanboys eh?

Be a gamer, not a fanboy, and do your research before you type.
I will admit to being cheap, but I also have all the consoles and both the handhelds. I am a gamer first, and as a gamer, PS+ is currently junk compared to Gold.
Remember, ALL Gold games can be played on the XBONE. Not all + games can be played on the PS4.
Also once your + expires, all your games are gone till you resub... Not so with Gold.

Kingthrash3603109d ago

Ps+ gives games for 3 different consoles...ps3 vita ps4....what are you taking about?
I'm so confused.
OT good job ms!

freshslicepizza3109d ago

@MikleDemi
"Be a gamer, not a fanboy, and do your research before you type."

then why bring up ps+ and then trash it? both have brought in good value. in fact it was the ps+ service that finally got microsoft to offer free games and stop putting things like netflix behind a paywall.

travestyj3109d ago (Edited 3109d ago )

So you enjoyed months of receiving the same game with GWG and receiving less games overall? You must really love Pool Nation... Or was it receiving Thief that made you happy because that game was awful even though it is considered AAA. Rocket League on release is still the best game either has received since launch.

TheCommentator3109d ago

Hi. MS supporter here.

PS+ is every bit the equal to GWG offerings to this point. Since the BC announcement I'd give XB1 the advantage by having 360 games as part of their monthly offerings, but who knows what PS4 will do now that they have PS2 emulation. Regardless, they both have fantastic free offerings and PS+ is cheaper by $10 per year unless you buy a 24 month XBL sub at $100.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3109d ago
timlot3109d ago

I'd say it was worth it. I have more games on my xb1 (more than 90) than I have add on any prior console going back my 89' NES.

Corpser3109d ago

What a deal and Netflix hands out millions worth of movies for 8 bucks a month

MikleDemi3109d ago (Edited 3109d ago )

None of which you keep after your sub ends... Unlike the 360 games playable on XBONE.

Plus getting Gold on sale for $27 for 12 months, well you do the math.

@Corpser.
Can I get some of your pot? I am simply saying that the games Microsoft offered this year were worth more to me for $27 than what PS+ offered for $36.

Corpser3109d ago

If they are worth $900 you most be willing to pay $895 for it, saves you 5 bucks!

Jerredh3109d ago

You cant have opions here that are pro xbox. 20 million flaming fanboys will tar and feather you with disagrees.

mkis0073109d ago

your profile pic was aptly chosen.

P_Bomb3109d ago (Edited 3109d ago )

@mikie
I don't plan on letting my plus subscription expire so the majority of your argument is moot. Gold I won't renew after my current $1 month is up as I do all my multiplayer on PS. The free 360 games offered this month I wouldn't want to keep anyways. I may not even download them.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3109d ago
Genuine-User3109d ago (Edited 3109d ago )

Of course it was worth it. I got 12 months of live for £20!

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120°

Leaked Early Prototype Footage Reveals Development Stages Of Several Assassin's Creed Games

Prototype footage from several of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed titles has leaked, revealing early stages of their development.

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90°

The Best Pirate-Themed Video Games (Not Skull and Bones)

BY JASON MONROE: The very best pirate-themed video games that you should play instead of the disappointment that is Skull and Bones.

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thorstein100d ago

PoE: Deadfire, Unless you have a or PS5 or an SSD don't bother, loading times are insane. A minute and a half to go into a room to investigate a desk in an inn and then an additional 1 1/2 minutes to leave the room and then load to leave the inn???

And they never fixed it.

220°

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag vs Skull and Bones Video Comparison Is an Eye-Opener

Ubisoft has just released Skull and Bones on PC and consoles. And, from the looks of it, the game wasn’t received well by some gamers. Not only that but it appears that Skull and Bones can be worse than Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, a game that came out a decade ago.

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OtterX114d ago (Edited 114d ago )

I wanted a Black Flag sequel so bad. It's still my favorite AC entry. The fact that they ignored everything that we loved about that game in this "spiritual successor" is making me enjoy watching this game crash and burn quite a bit. Either do it right or don't do it at all. (I understand the legal binding they got themselves into with the Singapore government to release this game at all costs)

/grabs popcorn

isarai114d ago

My thing is, if the Singapore govt was forcing you to do it at all cost, why not make what people wanted? How did ubi delay it for 5yrs, then again for 1yr and not just make a similar experience to black flag? How do you spend so much time and make so little?

Chocoburger113d ago

Ubisoft did make a sequel, Assassin's Creed: Rogue. It has a short campaign, and its packed with filler side quests for upgrades, but it's still a decent time.

It released on the same day as Assassin's Creed: Unity, so it was mostly forgotten.

porkChop113d ago

11 years of development. Multiple restarts. All the while people have been saying they don't want some pirate game where you can't even get off your ship. 11 years of people telling Ubisoft all they want is a pirate game that's basically Black Flag without any of the assassin or animus stuff. Yet they still served up this trash that no one wanted, charged $70 for it, and had the balls to call it AAAA.

The Guillemot family honestly needs to be forced out of Ubisoft. They've doubled down on everything players don't like about their games, they want AI to create "rough drafts" of their stories rather than letting their writers do their jobs, and they literally do not give a shit what their playerbase actually wants. 5-6 years ago their stock was worth more than 4x what it's currently worth. The company is dying.

Jin_Sakai113d ago (Edited 113d ago )

What has happened to developers? How can you possible make a worse looking game 11 years later? It’s honestly mind boggling.

darksky113d ago

It's because the older developers were better at it. The new generation pass most of their exams by copying code from around the web so are not nearly as good at understanding what they are developing.

LucasRuinedChildhood113d ago (Edited 113d ago )

No, here's the truth:
https://www.channelnewsasia...
This was made in Singapore and it's the first game of this scale to be made there. Ubisoft would probably cancel it normally since it clearly wasn't shaping up well but they were getting government grants to try build up the industry there.

Do you really think game developers are radically different than just 10 years ago? And this game has been development since Black Flag released.

Using one crap game to trash a whole industry of developers is stupid. It's like saying "Alien Colonial Marines proves that game developers suck now."

yeahokwhatever113d ago

i know this to be at least part of the puzzle from experience.

senorfartcushion112d ago

It's the multiplayer aspect of the world. MP games look worse than single player games, period. Every comparison we keep seeing are for games like Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad and Skull and Bones. They all have multiplayer focusses.

SyntheticForm113d ago

God, I'd love a remake of Black Flag.

Yi-Long113d ago

Enough has been said about this game already. The gaming world shrugged when it was announced so many years ago, and instead of listening to all the criticisms from the community back then, Ubi just sailed on and kept making a game nobody really wanted. What a waste of money and effort.

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