Xbox Game Pass

[SmoothPancakes]

Announced this morning, the Xbox Game Pass, unlimited access to more than 100 current and backwards compatible games.

http://news.xbox.com/2017/02/28/intr...box-game-pass/

At Xbox, we put gamers at the center of everything we do and remain committed to giving you the freedom to play the games you want, with the friends you want, on the devices you want. This year is shaping up to be an exciting one for gamers. As we prepare to launch Project Scorpio this holiday, bringing the most powerful console ever made to the Xbox One family of devices, we continue to make platform improvements to connect the growing community of players on Xbox Live and add to a robust and diverse portfolio of games across Xbox One and Windows 10.

Today, we’re continuing our commitment to give you more options to diversify and expand your library of games with Xbox Game Pass, a new gaming subscription service coming later this spring. Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games – all for $9.99 per month.

With great games from top industry publishers such as 2K, 505 Games, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, SEGA, SNK CORPORATION, THQ Nordic GmbH, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Microsoft Studios, there’s something for everyone to enjoy and you will always find something exciting to play across a variety of genres. Some of the fan-favorite titles coming to Xbox Game Pass when it launches to the broader Xbox community later this spring include Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, NBA 2K16 and SoulCalibur II.

One of the best things about Xbox Game Pass is that you can discover and download the full titles directly on your Xbox One. That means continuous, full-fidelity gameplay without having to worry about streaming, bandwidth or connectivity issues. In addition, all Xbox One games in the catalog – and related add-ons – will be available to purchase at an exclusive discount for Xbox Game Pass members, so you can make the games you love part of your permanent library to play whenever you want. Every month new games will cycle into the subscription with some cycling out, giving you a constantly-updating library of games. Xbox Game Pass is your ticket to endless play.

It’s important to us that Xbox Game Pass provides an enjoyable and seamless experience. Before the program rolls out to the broader community later this spring, we’ll be testing Xbox Game Pass with select members of the Xbox Insider Program in the Alpha Preview ring starting today with a very limited number of titles. The titles that are available in Preview are just a small glimpse at the expansive catalog of games that will be available when Xbox Game Pass launches this spring. Xbox Live Gold members will also be receiving exclusive access to Xbox Game Pass prior to the program launching to the broader community. We’ll have more details on timing closer to launch.

We hope you enjoy Xbox Game Pass and all that it has to offer. We’re looking forward to hearing the feedback from the gamers in the Xbox Insider Program and then from the rest of the Xbox community when it’s broadly available later this spring. Your feedback will make this program better for all gamers.

Thank you for your continued passion and support of Xbox.

Phil Spencer
Twitter: @XboxP3
GT: P3

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[SmoothPancakes]

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

Highlights of the FAQ section:

1. You don't need Gold. (except for multiplayer). Gold members get access to new games first.

2. More games will be added and some may be removed, on a rotational basis.

3. Games are downloaded not streamed. Can be played offline for up to 30 days.

4. Game pass games can be bought for 20% off for members Add-ons will be 10% off

5. For Xbox and Windows 10 devices not 360

6. Launching in 27 markets

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[bdoughty]

Bonus, Gamestop stock took a sharp nosedive after this was revealed.

http://venturebeat.com/2017/02/28/ga...aming-service/

[CLW]

Basically its PS Now only downloading games instead of streaming them. So i expect you all to poo poo this viciously if any of you have any logic/reasoning/integrity.

The interesting thing to me is its Windows 10. MS apparently doesn't want you buying their hardware just play games on your PC built by someone else on our software that virtually noone paid for.

[SmoothPancakes]

Yeah the problem with this service (as current setup) is the lack of a subscription model and for twitch timing games are probably going to suffer due to the cloud.

Quote by CLW in PS Now thread

You weren't entirely on board in the past with PS Now yourself.

I was interesting in Now last year, but the rental prices at the time (when they were doing rent by the game) killed it for me. Even when they went to an overall subscription model, it was still $15 or $20 a month. And at the time, it was nothing but a bunch of old PS3 games.

If Now was $10 a month, had recent PS4 games and let you download the games instead of stream them, I'd actually be very interested in Now and may very well probably already have it.

This has some promise as it's only $10 a month and it has a lot of newer Xbox One games (Halo 5, NBA 2K16, Gears of War Judgment, etc) and 360 games. And instead of streaming the games, which means you had better have a damn stable internet connection and some decent speed, whereas this you download the full games and you can even play them with your console entirely offline for up to 30 days.

Add in a 20% discount on the price of the games if you're interested in buying them, and it has some actual true positives.

What remains to be seen is what the list of games included will look like.

I'll probably get to try it in the coming weeks as I'm in the Xbox One preview program, whether I end up subscribing will depend on what games are offered. Right now, it essentially is set up very similar to EA Access, which I have been nothing but happy with since it was made available on Xbox One (and still isn't available on PS4, which is entirely Sony's loss).

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[bdoughty]

Basically its PS Now only downloading games instead of streaming them.

I remember being able to stream Nintendo SNES games at hotels back in the mid 90's. It was neat last century. Xbox Game Pass is basically Netflix (offline mode) with the option to own and current gen games. Not even in the same ballpark.

So i expect you all to poo poo this viciously if any of you have any logic/reasoning/integrity.

I might get it, might not. Depends on what games are being offered. At least MS is giving us reasonable choices that benefit the customer.

EA Access
Backwards Compatibility
This Game Pass

Options are great. For a lawyer, you sure seem to ignore a ton of facts.