A mere few weeks ago I came at Xbox for relying so much on the Game Pass system that it appeared to have directly impacted their ability to put out solid games. And as is typical, that means they immediately course corrected with their latest showcase and actually ended up earning more praise from gamers than Sony or those attending the Summer Games Fest thereby forcing my last article into irrelevance. I'm not an Xbox fan myself but from the lineup alone even I must admit they came back swinging.

This showcase had a little something for everyone and showed off progress on a ton of game series including Call of Duty, Doom, Gears of War, Fable, State of Decay, Perfect Dark, Indiana Jones, Starfield, and a ton more. Before we all circlejerk and ride off into the sunset though, a reminder should be noted that we're still just seeing a bunch of announcements. Xbox hasn't actually managed to turn around their low output of releases. That being said this certainly indicates a bright future ahead for owners of the console. Or really, owners of the Game Pass because you can bet your ass they triple-downed with a ton of these titles coming to Game Pass day one. Even with these huge blockbusters in the pipeline I'm curious if Game Pass can truly be a long term viable solution to get profits but perhaps Microsoft knows a thing or two more about making money than my dumbass. I just hope this renewed interest in their IPs means not shutting down a studio five seconds after they make a game (especially one like Hi-Fi Rush that  performed well in reviews and markets for its scale).

I'm not a Gears guy, but this one had everyone popping off.

I'm still a Sony shill but the competition is fun to see. Really with Game Pass offering so much for PC players it feels like the industry has shifted from a traditional console war to a value war for consumers' time and money. Sony has clearly been in the lead by sticking to releasing quality products at higher price tags... but perhaps this roster of heavy hitters coming from Microsoft will start siphoning a ton of people over to Game Pass who previously didn't find much value in the concept. Did you watch any of the showcases? What titles are you excited for? Did Xbox manage to turn things around? Stock your fridge, grab a controller, and get ready for some long gaming sessions in the comments below!