Housemarque's Returnal remains one of the best PS5 games. Built to kill, raised to die, and fine-tuned to annoy the shit out me while dragging me back in for yet another go at 2AM. Not-a-sequel Saros ropes in my one of my favourite actors Rahul Kohli into the mix with proper shields, greater weapons freedom, Indian-styled visuals, and borrowing Xenon 2: Megablast's palette and violence. Saros is set on Carcosa, a shape-shifting, hostile alien planet. It changes on every death, where a total eclipse changes everything (very Pitch Black!). The video shows the first biome, hopefully the others shift up the palette more than Returnal did. Along his journey he finds Nitya Chandran (Shunori Ramanthan), adding some depth to the Returnal-mayhem. The stunning environment Arjun explores is that of a lost ancient civilization fueled by the twisted enlightenment of the eclipse. Saros lands in March 2026, check out the PlayStation blog post for more details on w...
ROG Xbox Ally is here, don't all rush...
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Xbox for me began and ended with the glorious 360 days, and a very dusty One S. But since then, the brand just keeps shooting itself in all four feet as this poor mule limps on. Over-priced acquisitions, draggy series and a brutal lack of respect for its history (rather like post-PSP Sony, but hey-ho).
I'd love the Ally to succeed, driving more portable gaming interest, but can I see that happening? Not in the numbers Microsoft expects.
Certainly not helped by the 50% Game Pass price rise, the stream-only option for Xbox Games Pass titles, console gamers having to face PC settings menus. And the weird ad-supported version, streaming-quality tiering and other own goals.
UK Amazon pre-orders here with the full range of storage, carry bags, cases and accessories. Some folks got theirs early, making for embargo-busting reviews.
Your thoughts? Am I being cruel as Xbox has little meaning to me? Is this just another gaming slab among the PC portable herd? Or is the comeback on?
Perhaps the biggest positive is that Sony now has to respond with a device beyond the PlayStation Portal when the PS6 comes around, as already rumoured. Will Sony learn from XBox Ally's mistakes? Probably not!
Not that Sony and Nintendo haven't had their own positioning problems. Following on from the the Switch and PlayStation Vita/Portal, Xbox finally decided to get into the portable world, but with a not-even-unique solution. The hype about its development was way more interesting than the actual product!
That's about 1/3rd of the problem, it is in no way unique or has any cachet. The rest is down to pricing and the ongoing struggle for distinctive games. When Silksong appears to be the main game in the hardware adverts, that's not a great look.
The ROG Xbox Ally (X) is over-priced (£500-£800 or $600-$1,000) and lands in the middle of a portable PC gaming battle with a dozen other brands. If you want, you can pre-order one now for a mid-October release date.
But where are the games? I mean the new games just for this - there aren't any, and won't be any which feels like a screaming miss. Not even one pack-in exclusive Ally-only title? Has Xbox forgotten everything about what makes gaming special?
But you may ask why is cloud gaming a big feature on a £800 gadget (compared to the £200 Portal)? Where's the £150 cloud-only streaming model that could do big numbers?
I feel the mixed messages rumbling in my consumer head. And hopefully more retailers beyond Currys and EE will get on board in the UK.
As such, even though I should be super-excited for a new portable, especially one packing AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme tech, but this really feels like another dud waiting to happen.
Anyway, I hope Microsoft finds some peace with Xbox Ally and it keeps them in the game.
Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5
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