Bobfoc

Good stuff.

Super duper. Presumably, you had to buy it outright, rather than on finance, though.

There are apparently some back in stock at Amazon in the USA.

That's bad luck. Are they sold out everywhere or have all the sites just been overloaded?

Which site was this?

This is stupid. Fans won't be coming back for a while and teams were already scheduled to play three league matches a week to make up for the delayed start.

Interesting. I really thought that would be the first one to sell out. It was revealed that retailers were selling smaller quantities of the PS5 Digital than they were of the standard console, so I assumed that would be the case with the Xbox. It's a shame for UK customers that the finance option was restricted to GAME and Smyths Toys. You'd think the Microsoft Store would offer it, at least, like it does in America. The alternatives for people over there are Walmart, Best Buy and Gamestop, so there are slightly more options.

That was always going to be the case. I was just wondering if they'll release them on PS5 as well, but use the marketing pitch I suggested or if they'll keep the games exclusive to Xbox and PC. There are a lot of people complaining about sites being overloaded. Pre-ordering consoles seems to be a lottery.

Pre-orders of the new consoles sold out really quickly in Australia. I imagine it'll be a mad rush for other regions too.

Probably. It's the kind of thing you'd be surprised if they didn't say.

I wonder if Microsoft will take the same attitude WWE did to Pay-Per-Views when it launched the WWE Network. "Well, you could be a sucker and pay $70 for this game on PS5, or you could be savvy and get it on day one as part of your monthly Game Pass subscription!" Even if it's not Xbox-exclusive, you're still getting the better deal if you pick it up on a system other than PS5.

True. Really, though, I'm happy with Smash Bros. being the all-encompassing cross-franchise fighting game. Bring all the Microsoft and Sony properties there.

Phil Spencer has said that all current plans will be honoured, so Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will still be timed PS5 exclusives before coming to Xbox and PC. The possibility of other future Bethesda games appearing on platforms other than Xbox and PC will be looked at on a "case-by-case basis".

Fallout: New Vegas on Switch would be very welcome. Besides that, Skyrim, DOOM and the new Wolfenstein games are already on Switch, with Doom Eternal on the way, so Nintendo already has a good relationship with Bethesda. It will be interesting to see what happens with Nintendo's next system and how it could run the Bethesda games of the next generation.

I suppose it depends on how much of a market share Microsoft has by the time potential exclusives materialise. If nobody's subscribing to Game Pass or buying Xbox consoles, then exclusivity might not be worth it. We'll see. I have to think that Microsoft's timing here was intentional. Announcing this just the day before Series X/S pre-orders start is a big way to take back some of the thunder Sony gained from its well-received showcase last week.

I just don't think there are enough characters with sufficient mainstream appeal. In any case, I can't see it happening, although it's fun to think about.

You could already put a reasonable roster together with Rare characters alone. Other than that, you've only really got Master Chief, Marcus Fenix, Doom Guy and BJ Blazkowicz that are especially well known. Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale was thin enough on the ground with a larger range of recognisable characters, so I don't think Microsoft is in a great position to put something like that together without whipping round a few third parties.

You would think that they will be on Xbox and PC, but not anything else. Anything that's already been announced for other systems shouldn't change, just as games like The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 came out on PS4 after Microsoft purchased their studios. Microsoft doesn't publish games that are completely exclusive to Xbox consoles now. Game Pass is the thing that's being pushed hardest now, and getting PC players on board is a big part of that strategy. Unless you're strictly a Sony or Nintendo-only player, you should still be able to access future Zenimax games.

Holy hell. Microsoft has bought Zenimax, which makes it the owner of Bethesda, id, Arkane, MachineGames and Tango Gameworks. That ought to mean Xbox console exclusivity for Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Dishonored and Wolfenstein moving forward.

There are still a fair number of people who want both, and they're the people who could be swayed. For example: In the long term, the PS5 will surely outsell the Xbox consoles by a considerable margin because it has a bigger fanbase, and also because Microsoft is also putting its games on PC, with streaming options to be rolled out elsewhere. Even so, let's not forget about the many console-only players who still want to play every game. They'll be interested in getting both systems along the line, but something like this could influence which one they buy first.

No, but there are bound to be those who are on the fence. It wouldn't be out of the question for people who missed out on the PS5 to order an Xbox instead.

Sony says there will be more pre-orders available soon, but an exact date hasn't been announced. With the Series X and S pre-orders coming on Tuesday, you'd think they'd want to do it before then.

Leeds are an exciting team.

I forgot about this. It starts at 10.15 BST (about 105 minutes from now). It's weird that there are two Nintendo shows in one day, even if this is a Nintendo Life presentation.

I saw that scalpers were selling pre-order priority slots on eBay, while others were already selling the consoles at inflated prices.