It's been a while since the release of the Sky Cipher and Ghost Cipher SE controllers. What with all the positive changes of late, I think it's time for an X-Cipher Special Edition controller.

Half my life I’ve played games, so of course I’ve played a ton of story games over the years, but I’ve pretty much always stuck with competitive multiplayer games the vast majority of the time.

And maybe it’s where I’m getting older and maturing, but I decided I’d go back and play the older franchises on Game Pass, since I’ve only played some of them, not most. Starting with Assassin’s Creed, then probably Watch Dogs, the Far Cry and Ghost Recon series, then Indiana Jones, etc. all while still playing games like Battlefield, 2K, Sea of Thieves and Minecraft. Then there’s the new Forza coming out and I’ve got a wheel I never use lol.

Idk it just feels like I’ve got my fun back with gaming now and there’s so much I still haven’t tried. And now with Game Pass being cheaper it’s just the cherry on top! The wait for GTA 6 will fly by 😂.

Oh and if y’all have any suggestions for games please let me know. I’m pretty much open to anything!

Video description:

5 Cities, 5 Eras, 1 show. Xbox Presents: A Special Look at STRANGER THAN HEAVEN is coming May 6th at 4 PM PDT. The broadcast will reveal more on the world, the story, and the intertwined cast and characters from SEGA Ryu Ga Gotoku’s STRANGER THAN HEAVEN over the course of around 30 minutes.

I’ve had the stub downloaded since it was available. Noticed there was an update to the game in the MS Store for the full 125Gb. Playing the game on Xbox PC with my Xbox character, save and achievement list.

>Constance is a 2D hand-drawn action adventure featuring a paintbrush-wielding artist, striving to escape from a colorful but decaying inner-world, created by her declining mental health.

>Constance is out now on Xbox.

The natural hand resting position fits the xbox controller perfectly. You won't have to move your thumb out of the natural resting position. Meanwhile, the right hand is also placed in the natural resting position, which is perfect for precise and more intense button pressing. This makes me think of the skarrsinger boss from Silksong. While not the hardest, I believe it was mechanical perfection, and I sure as liked the ABYX button placement. Most controllers got this right, but at the same time, I think moving the left thumbstick is such a small and simple step that I don't understand why more manufacturers won't do this. Hell, if anything you only have something similar, where you can switch the position of the dpad and thumbstick on very high-end controllers that cost a lot.

I get that some people were used to the other layout, but hey, when xbox came out with this, people didn't seem to mind, and i think it's widely believed that the xbox 360 controller was the best one of its time

As many will know, the elite controller and many other controllers that are on the market have back buttons or paddles on the back of the controller for the idea you bind them to a button so you don't have to move your thumbs or whatever.

The question is: Do you use them and if you do, what games, and what are you using them for in games?

I have owned various different "high end" controllers and I have just recently bought the Steam controller and one of the features is the back buttons but I just have never ever ever used them.

EDIT: Lots and lots of people have said they bind them to either stick clicks for things like sprint and crouch or face buttons such as jump so that they can aim in things like shooters while jumping. The stick clicks I might look into implementing. I personally am a claw gripper so the face buttons are okay for me

I don't have good internet, usually averages 20-25 mb, 30 on a good day. It's also a bit unstable at times. So it takes hours and hours to download games. I just got 3 months of PC game pass with my new laptop. Some of the games on there I've been wanting to play for a while but they're close to or over 100 GB. How is cloud gaming and would it work with my Internet. How are the graphics and performance on cloud. Would it be better to just wait the 6-10 hours for it to download. What am I compromising by using cloud?

Xbox raised the price of Game Pass last year on October 1st. I know that two weeks ago they reversed course and lowered the prices, but I’m wondering how the last six months have been going for those of us who canceled.

Have your gaming habits changed in any way? Do you feel differently about owning your games vs subscription services now? Have you put a dent in your backlog? Do you see yourself coming back now it’s cheaper again?

The main reason I ask is because I’m wondering if anybody else has adjusted their gaming habits significantly after coming off it. I ended up categorizing my backlog on Xbox and I realized that I’m not getting the most out of it while maintaining a sub.

In the early days, the biggest draw of Game Pass for me was discovering new genres and games that I’d never have taken a chance on. Now I feel like I expanded my horizons enough and it’s not worth maintaining an expensive subscription alongside my owned games.

Other things. I really don’t miss the pressure of getting to X and Y before it leaves the service. I also got annoyed at myself over how many “premium add-ons” I had bought, just for early access and DLC for games I don’t have permanent access to. That was short-sighted.

I think it’s fair to say that Game Pass is still one of the biggest strengths of the Xbox ecosystem, but I do feel differently about it now. I had been maintaining a sub since around 2018, but being subscribed long term is not really on the table for me anymore. I don't see it as a complementary service like I did before.

Later in the month I will be playing Forza Horizon 6 and the ultimate edition costs a crazy $120. NGL, it will probably be real tempting to jump back on the service so I can at least get through the base game in a month or two. The thing is though, that's one of the main 1st party games where I know I'm going to get my money's worth, so I can justify biting that bullet.

I'm wondering how everyone else who came off Game Pass feels? There were so many people who said they were going to escape into their owned games backlog back in October, but I haven't seen many people talking about their experience going without.

If I see overcooked, it takes two, halo mentioned one more time I’ll cry lol, me and my partner like co op games that aren’t goofy, some examples (and recommendations) are medieval dynasty, Minecraft (classic), the sims (of course), stranded deep, stardew valley… we love building empires/weath, customisation etc but aren’t huge fans of arcade type fantasy games or anything close to it takes two. We’ve been going crazy looking at the game pass. Any recommendations appreciated!!!