Games Exclusive to Xbox One | Part 2 - Digital Games

Continuing from Part 2, we will look at the digital games that are currently only available on Xbox One consoles. Now there's not as many to look at, well to be honest - there's only 3, but they're well worth looking at. There's plenty of other games that are also on PC, or strange Asian mobile games ported over like Q, but we'll focus entirely on games you can only get on Xbox One. 

Playing Differently | Watch Dogs - No upgrade playthough

Watch Dogs didn't set the world on fire on its release, but it was still a fun game nevertheless and scratched that next-gen open world game for me at the time. One thing that struck me was how quick you can die. The game pushed for stealth; utilising the environment to your advantage. Strangely this went to odds with the fantastic gunplay, probably some of the best in an open world game of it's kind.

Aiden Pearce - everyone's favourite protagonist

The game features a skill tree which offers a range of upgrades. Initially I was going to ignore this entirely. However my only exception was the hack skill tree simply because it's a unique mechanic to the game and is a core gameplay element. The other abilities on offer are arbitrary upgrades that provide no additional gameplay features. Greater accuracy? reduced recoil? Not only does this dilute the gunplay to aim and shoot, but goes against the game's push towards stealth and environmental takedowns. 

Games Exclusive to Xbox One | Part 1 - Physical Games

To say Microsoft has changed gears during the Xbox One's lifespan is a bit of an understatement. At first, their priorities were in shifting consoles and now, it's about shifting subscriptions. Microsoft will happily launch their first party games on PC and Xbox (and in rare occasions, Switch and PlayStation) as long as you play their titles.

Now the Xbox One doesn't have many exclusives to speak about, and notable first-party franchises always get a PC release. So that means, inevitably, some games have been left behind on the Xbox One. So we're going to look back at some Xbox One Exclusive games that you cannot play elsewhere.

Playing Differently | Dead Rising 4 - no combo, no exo and no skill playthrough

Rules:

• No Exo suit (if obtained one, get out straight away)
• No use of combo weapons (if obtained one through story, get out/drop it straight away)
• No Exo combo weapons
• No upgrading of any skills

Exceptions:

• Exo suit was used on the last boss as it was too difficult without it
• Going to be some anomalies in there due to how the game forces you at some point to use combo item/vehicles.

Capcom Vancouver have continuously advertised during release that Dead Rising 4 is "going back to it's roots" with the return of the main protagonist Frank West and the Willamette Mall. Though despite what the developers claim, this is most certainly not a call back to the original Dead Rising. Everything from Frank, to the combat mechanics as well as the location have had major overhauls to the point where Dead Rising 4 resembles very little of the original game. Despite the reception of changes, it's become unanimous that this game is easy, in fact - very easy. The addition of the ludicrously overpowered combo weapons became apparent with the third game, where combo weapons can be created on the fly with many having little to no balancing whatsoever. 

So I decided what better way to play the game than to play with no upgrades and avoiding combo weapons entirely. After all, the developers emphasised it's homages to the original series so I thought I'd play in a way that pays homage too. I want to play the game the developers didn't really intend and hopefully provide some much needed difficulty. I like a good challenge! 

PS3 Demo Disc Collection | Games that are no longer obtainable.

The Official PlayStation magazine (OPM) was the only PS3 based magazine that handed out game demos through a Blu-Ray disc. Many other magazines couldn't afford to use Blu-Ray such as PSW (PlayStation World) and PSM3. Instead, they decided to use double sided DVD's where they tried to make up for with their inclusion of videos, themes, pictures, save files and more. 

What makes these demo discs even more interesting is the fact that only the UK and some selected European countries (from my knowledge) were the only OPM to have access to these demo discs. Finding any information on what is contained on these discs is impossible due to the limited appeal, regional exclusivity and just a lack of coverage in general.

So it's time to scour through my complete collection of these discs and find out what's on them. Here's the list of games that you will never be able to get access to ever again and which never saw a PC release.

Game Over for Xbox One | The time when Microsoft nearly sold Xbox

The 7th generation of consoles was nearing to a close. Microsoft were coming out strong, despite the huge RROD (red ring of death) fiasco that plagued early consoles. The 80 million sales figure was in reach and the Kinect was a huge success. 

The Xbox One destroyed all that in just one conference. We all know the story; always-online DRM, mandatory Kinect, no game sharing - it was not looking good for Microsoft. When the console finally launched, Xbox 360 faithfuls jumped ship to the PS4; making it one of the fastest selling consoles in history. Microsoft on the other hand, still had unsold 'Day One' edition consoles well into early 2014.

Microsoft had a huge problem, the PS4 was outselling the Xbox nearly 3:1. Amazingly, Microsoft had to make one of the biggest decisions in their company's history - whether to keep Xbox going. 

Welcome to Input Archive - My First Post of Many

Thank you visiting! 

This will be the place to find everything strange, unheard of and interesting about gaming.

I will update the blog on a weekly basis with information such as game specifications and articles regarding unreleased consoles and games.

Enjoy!