Xbox Game Pass

sniper_samurai · 28-02-2017 3:28pm #1

Seems MS are starting their own EA Access style subscription services which will give you access to over 100 games, a 20% discount on games and 10% off dlc for titles currently on the Game Pass. Seems interesting but the wording makes it look like games will be rotated instead of being on the Game Pass permanently.

http://www.xbox.com/en-IE/games/xbox-game-pass

CatInABox · 28-02-2017 3:42pm

sniper_samurai wrote: »

Seems MS are starting their own EA Access style subscription services which will give you access to over 100 games, a 20% discount on games and 10% off dlc for titles currently on the Game Pass. Seems interesting but the wording makes it look like games will be rotated instead of being on the Game Pass permanently.

http://www.xbox.com/en-IE/games/xbox-game-pass

It's currently available to alpha testers. Downloading the app gives you a free month to test out the service. There are currently 21 games available to testers, a mix of Games with Gold and older 360 games, along with a few recent Microsoft releases.

Here's the list:

A kingdom for keflings
Banjo-Kazooie
Comic Jumper
Dark Void
Defense Grid 2
Gears of War: Judgement
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Halo: Spartan Assault
Hexic 2
Jetpac Refueled
Kameo
Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood
Monday night Combat
Ms. Splosion Man
OF: Dragon Rising
Perfect Dark Zero
Sacred 3
Sam & Max Beyond time
Sunset Overdrive
The Maw
Viva Pinata

Fingleberries · 28-02-2017 3:47pm

Good to see that the Game Pass is not limited to a US-only service.
It will be interesting to see if the currency conversion will be $9.99 = €9.99 per month.

Mickeroo · 28-02-2017 3:50pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

Good to see that the Game Pass is not limited to a US-only service.
It will be interesting to see if the currency conversion will be $9.99 = €9.99 per month.

Almost guaranteed i'd say. Think it's the same for a Groove Music pass.

sniper_samurai · 28-02-2017 4:07pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Almost guaranteed i'd say. Think it's the same for a Groove Music pass.

Agreed. I wonder how long each game will stay on the pass for as I doubt that they will rotate all the titles each month, I'd reckon a rotation of 5-10 games each month would probably be the usual.

28-02-2017 4:54pm

Given I've likely played most of the stuff or don't want to play the rest I'd likely treat this the same way I do netflicks. Get a month here and there when theres something there I want. Otherwise it's pretty expensive Vs EA Access. Might be worth it if they threw in Groove for that price.

Also slightly worries me in terms of the future of Games with gold.

MiskyBoyy · 28-02-2017 5:05pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Also slightly worries me in terms of the future of Games with gold.

https://twitter.com/XboxQwik/status/836598065473581058

Fingleberries · 28-02-2017 5:09pm

Yeah, in the FAQ, it highlights that you don't need to be Xbox Live Gold member to take advantage of Game Pass - other than for Multiplayer elements.

I'm in the Alpha ring, but I'll be waiting a bit before using up my free month. Those initial games aren't worth wasting the free month on

Fingleberries · 28-02-2017 5:14pm

Another interesting one from the FAQ:

Q: Will Xbox Game Pass be available for Xbox 360?
A: Xbox Game Pass will only be available on Xbox One and Windows 10 devices. While some Xbox 360 backwards compatible games will be included in the Xbox Game Pass, those titles will not be available on the Xbox 360 console via your subscription.

(Emphasis added)

CatInABox · 28-02-2017 5:22pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

I'm in the Alpha ring, but I'll be waiting a bit before using up my free month. Those initial games aren't worth wasting the free month on

I get the feeling that they're not going to change, we'll have to pay for the rest once they all go live.

28-02-2017 5:25pm

MiskyBoyy wrote: »

https://twitter.com/XboxQwik/status/836598065473581058

Thinking more in terms of the age and quality of the GwG stuff.

Fingleberries · 28-02-2017 5:45pm

Phil Spencer says that "Xbox Live Gold members will also be receiving exclusive access to Xbox Game Pass prior to the program launching to the broader community.". So here's to hoping that everyone will get a month free trial, like Hulu or Netflix often do to get people to sign up.

Of course there'll be some enterprising individual who will try and play all 100 games within the free month. Heaven help their download cap and lack of sleep for that month.

CatInABox · 28-02-2017 5:51pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

Phil Spencer says that "Xbox Live Gold members will also be receiving exclusive access to Xbox Game Pass prior to the program launching to the broader community.". So here's to hoping that everyone will get a month free trial, like Hulu or Netflix often do to get people to sign up.

Of course there'll be some enterprising individual who will try and play all 100 games within the free month. Heaven help their download cap and lack of sleep for that month.

Who needs to eat and sleep?

Max Mafioso · 28-02-2017 6:18pm

What the heck is sleep?

Stone Deaf 4evr · 28-02-2017 6:22pm

The more I look at the lineup (from the list above and the promo image), the more underwhelmed I am by it.

It looks for the most part to be a way of having a second crack at any games with gold you might have missed previously.
It'd be fantastic if this is your first console and you're a student with hours of time to kill, but for me , I'd probably be able to buy the actual games I'd want to play cheaper than €120 for the yearly sub.

TitianGerm · 28-02-2017 7:26pm

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

The more I look at the lineup (from the list above and the promo image), the more underwhelmed I am by it.

It looks for the most part to be a way of having a second crack at any games with gold you might have missed previously.
It'd be fantastic if this is your first console and you're a student with hours of time to kill, but for me , I'd probably be able to buy the actual games I'd want to play cheaper than €120 for the yearly sub.

When they announced backwards compatibility the majority of games weren't anything to write home about but over time they've developed quite well. I'd expect the same with the Xbox Pass.

CatInABox · 28-02-2017 10:31pm

As was pointed out on reddit, Gamestops share price dropped 8% or so after the announcement of this, primarily because they think it's going to eat into the second hand market.

Thinking about it, yeah, I could see this eating into the second hand market, if people looking to buy a few second hand games each month, then perhaps they'll look at this and see a lot of value in it.

erkifino · 28-02-2017 10:44pm

In my 2nd year of EA Access and all I've played is FIFA...

Game pass may also effect their own 'Deals with Gold', as I see Mad Max in their ad for this. I've yet to download it...

As if it wasn't bad enough when GWG had games I bought in a previous sale it'll be a sickener when they start popping up on this program.:p

MiskyBoyy · 28-02-2017 11:35pm

Looks like sharing works with this too, so that's good.

01-03-2017 1:03am

http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/28/gamestop-stock-price-tanks-after-microsoft-announces-new-digital-gaming-service/

They recovered to -2.08% currently.

CatInABox · 01-03-2017 8:38am

Deleted User wrote: »

http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/28/gamestop-stock-price-tanks-after-microsoft-announces-new-digital-gaming-service/

They recovered to -2.08% currently.

Nah, it's down $2.08, or ~7.8%

um7y1h83ge06nx · 01-03-2017 10:44am

Everyone will have a different take on this depending on how much they play and what they like.

I doubt a possible €120 a year sub will work for me as I don't get to play that much. With bargains and been mindful of regions I could buy at least 6 games for that price and not be keeping an eye on when they will be rotated.

For heavy gamers who might have missed out on older games I would see it as a good thing.

WarpAsylum · 01-03-2017 11:10am

I think it'll be cool so long as you can sub/unsub by the month like you can with Netflix/Gold etc.

See a few games you've been interested in for a while, join up for a month to try them out, possibly buy a couple at a discount, drop back out....

Though, maybe they'll have something in place like the discounts only being available to 3 month/Annual subscribers...?

dr.kenneth noisewater · 01-03-2017 11:16am

Probably a bit too expensive for me considering how much I play, think it would work out great for heavy gamers

Stone Deaf 4evr · 01-03-2017 12:59pm

WarpAsylum wrote: »

I think it'll be cool so long as you can sub/unsub by the month like you can with Netflix/Gold etc.

See a few games you've been interested in for a while, join up for a month to try them out, possibly buy a couple at a discount, drop back out....

Though, maybe they'll have something in place like the discounts only being available to 3 month/Annual subscribers...?

Actually, if they go down the line of offering 1 month codes, It'd make an ideal €10 birthday / christmas present for people.

CatInABox · 01-03-2017 2:15pm

WarpAsylum wrote: »

I think it'll be cool so long as you can sub/unsub by the month like you can with Netflix/Gold etc.

See a few games you've been interested in for a while, join up for a month to try them out, possibly buy a couple at a discount, drop back out....

Though, maybe they'll have something in place like the discounts only being available to 3 month/Annual subscribers...?

Preview testers have been given a free month, and the discount is available to them, so I'd say that it'll be available to one month subscriptions.

I can't see them restricting it either, if you're going to buy a game that's in the catalogue, then you've already paid at least a tenner. Any sale that comes out of this will be seen as a massive bonus for Microsoft.

Ould Mr Brennan · 01-03-2017 2:48pm

I would hope that the mention of rotating out games is just like EA access saying the same but showing no hint of doing it. It looks like great value for a newbie to the Xbox one franchise but I've nearly 200 games in backlog so I'll probably leave it for a while. Hope it does well though

erkifino · 01-03-2017 7:42pm

What would be great is, this cloud Microsoft have been talking about facilitated the ability to play the games without the need for downloading or installing.

WarpAsylum · 01-03-2017 8:30pm

erkifino wrote:

What would be great is, this cloud Microsoft have been talking about facilitated the ability to play the games without the need for downloading or installing.

Is that not what PlayStation Now is? ...and is (apparently) crap?

erkifino · 01-03-2017 9:13pm

WarpAsylum wrote: »

Is that not what PlayStation Now is? ...and is (apparently) crap?

I did not know that.

CatInABox · 01-03-2017 9:34pm

WarpAsylum wrote: »

Is that not what PlayStation Now is? ...and is (apparently) crap?

Essentially, yes. They've got servers that are emulating a PS3 and the game is then streamed over the internet to your device. There's many benefits to doing it this way, but there's also one massive downside.

The latency that it introduces mean that many games are totally unplayable. Even adding a quarter of a second onto a button press means that some games suddenly feel as if you're using the controller while wearing oven gloves.

That's not just a criticism of the PS Now service, that's a criticism of every streaming service. There's just no way to get around it.

Fingleberries · 02-03-2017 12:55pm

I think that's why in the announcement MS talk about playing games in "full fidelity" (PS Now and any streaming service would often compress images or video resolution to ensure smoother playback)

Fingleberries · 06-03-2017 3:29pm

I'll openly admit it: My name is Fingleberries and I am a new gadget and Gamerscore addict.

I signed up for the preview of Game Pass (despite my earlier protestations, and knowing that there are only 20-odd mixed quality games) and have downloaded nearly 90GB of games in under a week. Played some for a few minutes, some for a few hours. It's actually a very good service and as long as there is plenty of notice when any third party titles may be moving out of the Pass, I can see myself subscribing.

The only possible downsides I can see so far.
- It doesn't help my A.D.D. when trying to choose what to play with the already limited time I have to play.
- My Backlog / Pile of Shame won't thank me.
- If you have a slow download connection, or heaven forbid a download cap, this service may just tease you.

marcbrophy · 06-03-2017 4:12pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

I'll openly admit it: My name is Fingleberries and I am a new gadget and Gamerscore addict.

I signed up for the preview of Game Pass (despite my earlier protestations, and knowing that there are only 20-odd mixed quality games) and have downloaded nearly 90GB of games in under a week. Played some for a few minutes, some for a few hours. It's actually a very good service and as long as there is plenty of notice when any third party titles may be moving out of the Pass, I can see myself subscribing.

The only possible downsides I can see so far.
- It doesn't help my A.D.D. when trying to choose what to play with the already limited time I have to play.
- My Backlog / Pile of Shame won't thank me.
- If you have a slow download connection, or heaven forbid a download cap, this service may just tease you.

Us mopes in the beta circle won't see this before it goes live to the public, will we?

Question:

When you sign up, do all available games show up as Ready to Install?

That would drive me mad :P

Fingleberries · 07-03-2017 9:08am

marcbrophy wrote: »

Us mopes in the beta circle won't see this before it goes live to the public, will we?

Question:

When you sign up, do all available games show up as Ready to Install?

That would drive me mad :P

Nah, luckily it doesn't. Could you imagine suddenly having 100+ ready to install games. (I shudder when the mail icon on my phone has a '1' beside it).

Currently there's a new "Memberships" section in games and apps, that is divided into Gold, EA Access and Game Pass. That links out to games in those programs - at the moment it just directs you to that section of the store.

Microsoft have said that this is not the final design, so hopefully will become more intuitive.

CatInABox · 07-03-2017 9:33am

Fingleberries wrote: »

Nah, luckily it doesn't. Could you imagine suddenly having 100+ ready to install games. (I shudder when the mail icon on my phone has a '1' beside it).

Currently there's a new "Memberships" section in games and apps, that is divided into Gold, EA Access and Game Pass. That links out to games in those programs - at the moment it just directs you to that section of the store.

Microsoft have said that this is not the final design, so hopefully will become more intuitive.

My OCD kicks in when I see someones phone and they've got "1,263 Unread Emails". It's like my skin is crawling, what are these people doing?

The memberships areas aren't great, really hope that the functionality improves, if it's just a link to the programs, then it's useless to me. The EA Access one in particular is totally useless, it takes about a minute to get into that app.

marcbrophy · 07-03-2017 12:19pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

Nah, luckily it doesn't. Could you imagine suddenly having 100+ ready to install games. (I shudder when the mail icon on my phone has a '1' beside it).

Currently there's a new "Memberships" section in games and apps, that is divided into Gold, EA Access and Game Pass. That links out to games in those programs - at the moment it just directs you to that section of the store.

Microsoft have said that this is not the final design, so hopefully will become more intuitive.

I would end up installing every game, just so it'd be gone

Also, isn't "Spring" something that runs until June 20th for them Americans? That's a fair bit away if you guys are only getting the first month free!!

sweetie · 07-03-2017 12:46pm

CatInABox wrote: »

My OCD kicks in when I see someones phone and they've got "1,263 Unread Emails". It's like my skin is crawling, what are these people doing?

The memberships areas aren't great, really hope that the functionality improves, if it's just a link to the programs, then it's useless to me. The EA Access one in particular is totally useless, it takes about a minute to get into that app.

my missus has about 10 times that, drives me mad!

Fingleberries · 07-03-2017 12:51pm

marcbrophy wrote: »

I would end up installing every game, just so it'd be gone

Also, isn't "Spring" something that runs until June 20th for them Americans? That's a fair bit away if you guys are only getting the first month free!!

Yep, American "Spring" is until the middle of June and the announcement for Game Pass was "late-Spring" ... probably looking around just before E3, in my opinion, for it being generally available.

At the moment I'm only a member of the Game Pass Alpha Store Catalog (or something similar) so we'll see in 20-odd days if they want to charge for renewal or not - it was set as auto-renew by default.

gmg678 · 11-03-2017 6:46pm

Seems that bioshock bioshock 2 and BC infinite has been added to list.

Fingleberries · 13-03-2017 1:19pm

A nice little touch with the Game Pass games: When you uninstall the game, it doesn't go into the "Ready to Install" list - it's just gone, presumably back to the list of Game Pass games under membership with status "Owned".

I was expecting to have to go back into Ready to Install to hide the games one-by-one again.

Max Mafioso · 13-03-2017 1:27pm

Urgh, I hate having to do that.
If my nephew see's PvZ in the Ready to Install he wants to play it and I sometimes forget to hide those games

Fuzzy Logic · 13-03-2017 1:34pm

gmg678 wrote: »

Seems that bioshock bioshock 2 and BC infinite has been added to list.

Anyone getting charged to download them? Still looking for 29.99 from me.

Iseedeadpixels · 13-03-2017 2:13pm

Max Mafioso wrote: »

Urgh, I hate having to do that.
If my nephew see's PvZ in the Ready to Install he wants to play it and I sometimes forget to hide those games

Brilliant game in fairness

Max Mafioso · 13-03-2017 2:21pm

I enjoy the Garden Warfare one but he wants to play all non stop, he refers to it as the Pea Shooter game.
I've been tempted to tell him that he can get it on his mothers mobile phone

Iseedeadpixels · 13-03-2017 2:33pm

Max Mafioso wrote: »

I enjoy the Garden Warfare one but he wants to play all non stop, he refers to it as the Pea Shooter game.
I've been tempted to tell him that he can get it on his mothers mobile phone

Oh its the original top down game.....yeh no fun

gmg678 · 13-03-2017 3:59pm

Fuzzy Logic wrote: »

gmg678 wrote: »

Seems that bioshock bioshock 2 and BC infinite has been added to list.

Anyone getting charged to download them? Still looking for 29.99 from me.

maybe you need to go through the Pass portal to get them? I will check when I am home if its showing that for me.

trixiebust · 13-03-2017 9:52pm

Fuzzy Logic wrote:

Anyone getting charged to download them? Still looking for 29.99 from me.

Yeah me too. Think it's the remastered version too, not the old 360 version.

Won't let me install either though.

gmg678 · 14-03-2017 10:05am

trixiebust wrote: »

Fuzzy Logic wrote:

Anyone getting charged to download them? Still looking for 29.99 from me.

Yeah me too. Think it's the remastered version too, not the old 360 version.

Won't let me install either though.

seems to be broken for Bioshock. say there will be fix soon. It is still in its infancy.

CatInABox · 14-03-2017 12:57pm

gmg678 wrote: »

seems to be broken for Bioshock. say there will be fix soon. It is still in its infancy.

Just downloaded Bioshock 2 there, so maybe it's fixed?

Fuzzy Logic · 14-03-2017 1:01pm

Yep they're finally showing as Owned and now available to download.

Xbox Game Pass

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