Portal 2 Ends 9 Years of Xbox 360 'Games With Gold' Freebies (arstechnica.com) 16
Starting September 16, Portal 2 will be the last Xbox 360 game made available for free to Xbox Live subscribers via the Games for Gold program. Ars Technica reports: Microsoft told subscribers in July that its monthly Games with Gold offerings "will no longer include Xbox 360 titles" starting on October 1 because "we have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalogue." The Games with Gold program will continue to offer free monthly Xbox One games, though, as it has since 2015. [...]
Interestingly, September's Games with Gold offerings also include Thrillville, an original Xbox title that was made compatible with more modern Xbox hardware in November 2021. This is just the 19th original Xbox game offered via the Games with Gold program, and it's the first since Conker: Live and Reloaded was added in July 2021.
Interestingly, September's Games with Gold offerings also include Thrillville, an original Xbox title that was made compatible with more modern Xbox hardware in November 2021. This is just the 19th original Xbox game offered via the Games with Gold program, and it's the first since Conker: Live and Reloaded was added in July 2021.
Done with consoles (Score:2)
No problem, I'm done with consoles. Steam for me.
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I mostly agree with you, but my problem is that Portal 2 hasn't been ported to 64-bit, so some Steam platforms [apple.com] can't play the game anymore :-/
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Works fine on Linux, including Steamdeck.
Lost the Ability?!? (Score:2)
What? Did they lose their Developer Keys?
Re:Lost the Ability?!? (Score:4, Funny)
They had inadvisedly stored the keys in a Bored Ape NFT. And the backup copies were on OptiFi.
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They had inadvisedly stored the keys in a Bored Ape NFT. And the backup copies were on OptiFi.
Indeed!
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They can only overcome development and compatibility problems, the biggest problem in bringing games on is 3rd party licensing.
There you go; giving a perfectly logical answer!
Portal 2 - When Microsoft hated cross-play (Score:2)
I remember Portal 2 marking official Steam support on the PlayStation 3, with cross-play and cross-save.
These were the times Microsoft hated this idea.
PlayStation also had cross play with Final Fantasy 12 and many other titles with PC. Due to competitors being involved, MS did not want to join in.
It would take them a long time, and going from 1st place to 3rd place in console sales, to get into the idea of cross-play.
Luckily now everyone is mostly on the same page!
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Sorry I meant Final Fantasy 11, not 12
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Portal 2 has the same thing going on with the PC version. The portals act like they have a "funnel" that guides you in even if you aren't lined up properly, and it's pretty much impossible to accidentally lose a cube when going through a portal. I preferred the first Portal where you had to be careful to line up right or you'd miss the portal or your cube wouldn't make it through with you.
Portal 2 is $1 on Steam (Score:2)
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No it isn't. It's $10. I assume you mean that it can be bought for $1 on sale.
And yes, game value is very low when you consider sales and free game offers. That doesn't mean that free game offers have no value.
In this case the Steam price is irrelevant, since buying a game on Steam offers no ability to play it on the Xbox.
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Games with Gold was better early on. The first four games were Fable III, Defense Grid: The Awakening, Assassin's Creed II, and Crackdown, which was a pretty good list, especially considering it was 2013. Other giveaways in the first few months included Halo 3, Gears of War, and Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Keep in mind that by the time a game hits Games with Gold, it has essentially been written off by the publisher. These are the games you get 4 for $20 used at GameStop. By 2022, there's not a whole lot of game