What’s next for Resident Evil? (pic: Capcom)
The Tuesday letters page asks if social media has ruined gaming, as one reader asks for new sequels to Pilotwings and Wave Race.
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A Winters’ tale
Disappointing but not surprising review of the Resident Evil Village DLC. I’m willing to bet that was not originally how the ‘Winters’ saga’ was supposed to end. I think Capcom realised third person and new characters – that you can’t even see – were never going to be as popular as the old school ones, especially after the remakes proved how popular they still are.
Especially with the hype for Resident Evil 4, I think they’ve likely come to the conclusion that a more traditional sequel is the way to go, with the old crew and third person. I don’t know if they’d keep the time skip that saw Rose grow up though – if that even is a time skip and she doesn’t just grow fast or something.
That’s my bet as to what Resident Evil 9 will be: a reintroduction of the old team and maybe using Rose as a bridge to the last two games, if it sounds like she doesn’t die in the DLC. As to what the theme of the game could be, I’m not sure. We haven’t had actual zombies for a while, so that seems a good bet to me. Zombies and maybe proper superpowers for the characters? It sounded like that was what Rose was going to get when they first announced the DLC but apparently it just stuns enemies?
I’d kit out Leon and Jill and co. with some special abilities and then have them take on some zombies and… have we had robots before in Resident Evil? If not, let’s have some Terminator style hijinks as well! As for the release date, well… it’s obviously not going to be next year, so I’d say 2024 at the earliest and probably 2025.
Octopal
Society is to blame
A bit disappointed to see that last week’s Hot Topic failed to generate enough letters. I thought it was a good question. I don’t normally get involved in these as I feel people will be sick of me from my other contributions on here, but I always read this at the weekends.
I’d like to throw up a question. Is social media good for gaming?
Social media is at the centre of many of the news stories you feature, and many go on to be false, inaccurate, baiting or toxic. Just last week we had the Bayanetta wages row, Xbox Series S is holding us back, and a Bloodborne tease and look how those developed. Personal attacks, accusations, and heaven forbid death threats! How can this be positive?
A lot of gamers now refrain from multiplayer chat because of how bad that has got. Will we now lose the personalities we have become accustomed to, to the haters on Twitter?
This is probably a bigger question about society in general than just gaming.
Dirtystopout
GC: We were surprised too, perhaps people are just too modest.
Recent update
I’ve found myself playing a lot of N64 games on the Switch recently, after being killed several times in Returnal, Metroid Dread, and having a break in between Live A Live sessions. As a late 40s gamer I’m starting to wonder if the rose-tinted glasses are really kicking in, but I’ve completed F-Zero, Wave Race 64, and am now on with Pilotwings.
I can’t understand two things… why Nintendo haven’t decided to at least graphically updated these games in HD and widescreen and why these franchises haven’t been revived. Pilotwings, particularly, is such a relaxing yet challenging game (I know there are issues with racers).
I appreciate that there are not yearly or even bi-yearly updates or an absolute milking of the IPs but to let them slowly die makes me a little sad.
Ah well, more plodding with the big games and can’t wait for 1080° Snowboarding, a game I reckon I could have been an esports champion in had that been a thing then!
Catcave
Playing: Returnal, Gran Turismo 7, Metroid Dread, Live A Live, and lots of N64!
GC: Pilotwings has by far the most recent sequel out of those three, even if Pilotwings Resort on 3DS wasn’t great.
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Classy statement
All right, time to add my two pence to the Xbox Series S debate. I’d like to present a possible solution that has a chance of keeping a lot of (but of course not all) people happy: cloud gaming. Streaming games on the cloud doesn’t need more power than Vergil desires, it barely needs power at all, just a good stable internet connection.
So if developers make sure their new game can run on cloud, they’re in turn making sure it can run on the Xbox Series S without having to compromise for its lower specs. Microsoft have been pushing cloud for a while now, their new Keystone project potentially getting rid of the console, so this seems like a good compromise that’s still in line with the company’s desires and keeps people playing games.
Of course, we’ll end up having developers saying, ‘low cost, low Mbps internet is holding back the generation’, but with any luck people will recognise the obvious classism there (also present in the current Xbox Series S debate) and hold back from buying said developers’ games.
Sunny
GC: Streaming games doesn’t work if you have low speed or unreliable broadband. So anyone without that will be the ones being held back.
Authentic dialogue
For me the problem with a Metal Gear Solid movie is the same as with making any sequels: you can’t do it without Kojima. I’ve not heard any suggestion that he’s involved and while it’s great (and unexpected!) that Oscar Isaac is a fan of the series it’s still nowhere near as important as having the man who created it involved.
I have a terrible feeling that Konami might demand that he not play a part, as they seem that petty, but whatever the reason they have to get him.
Although if they do that begs the question of how much control do you want to give him. We all know how he loves his cut scenes and his, ah… unique style of dialogue. Would a Metal Gear movie end up being nine hours long and nothing but nonsense?
Ghostcaller
Doggone bad
RE: adams6legend and the Resident Evil 4 remake. I was one of the people who was negative towards the game when I saw the first trailer but no, I don’t feel silly at all!
I was concerned about the tone of the trailer compared to the cheesiness of the original game.
I got around to watching the new footage over the weekend and while I will admit it does look excellent and has made me want to play it next year, I still do have concerns on its tone and some of the character redesigns.
Luis has gone from a laidback, lovable rogue in the original to someone who I find very creepy in the remake. And as for the tone, why did they have to kill the dog!? I know it’s a small part of the game but helping the dog free from the bear trap, to have it return to help you fight El Gigante later on was such a great little moment in the original.
If that didn’t fit into the remake, they could have just left the dog out, they didn’t have to show it bloody and dead in the trap!
LastYearsModel
GC: Yeah, that was odd.
Role player
It still amazes that people can issue death threats against a voice actor because they didn’t like a character in a video game, so I wouldn’t blame Laura Bailey if she didn’t want to be involved in a third The Last Of Us at all.
I don’t even understand what people were upset about. Ellie was barely sympathetic in the first game and was irredeemably evil in the second one. What on earth were people so upset about?
Makro
Wrong person
It seems curious to me that a developer on Gotham Knights blamed the Xbox Series S for holding back the generation when it has since become apparent that the game is very CPU heavy with even incredibly high-end PCs struggling to hold 60fps consistently. The CPU is one area the Xbox Series S is definitely not limited, compared to the other consoles. It seems they were using the Xbox Series S as a scapegoat in an attempt to deflect from their own incompetence.
Even the compute in the Xbox Series S GPU is fine, the main issue really is the memory which I imagine does cause some developers a real headaches. For this reason, I do believe that it’s very possible that the Xbox Series S being mandatory could hold back the potential scope of some games without some serious effort.
However, the mandatory Xbox Series S will never be the reason that the other consoles can’t run at 60fps. If anything, if the Xbox Series S really is holding the generation back, its presence makes 60fps games more likely on the other two consoles, because they’ll have more headroom to play with.
Richard
PS: Just a final note but Halo Infinite is the way it is because it has to cater to the lowest common denominator Xbox One S, not the Xbox Series S.
GC: None of the developers that have spoken up worked on Gotham Knights.
Inbox also-rans
I wasn’t worried at all about the Resident Evil 4 remake, because of how good the Resident Evil 1 and 2 remakes were.
adams6legend
GC: The Resident Evil 1 remake was 20 years ago, what about Resident Evil 3?
Square Enix thinking of bringing back Parasite Eve? It looks like the survival horror revival is even stronger than I thought. All we need now is a new Project Zero and Eteranal Darkness. Both Nintendo franchises, I might add!
Goof
This week’s Hot Topic
Halloween is almost upon us, so for this weekend’s Inbox we want to know what’s the best ever survival horror game and what upcoming title has the best chance of beating.
Big budget horror games are rare but there’s suddenly a lot of them on the way, including remakes of Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, and Silent Hill 2, as well as The Callisto Protocol, Alan Wake 2, all the other Silent Hill games – plus many others.
Are you excited about the new releases, and do you think this will usher in a new era of successful horror games or is it just a blimp? If you’re not interested in any of the new games, what is it about your personal favourite that you enjoy so much?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.
MORE : Games Inbox: Next gen graphics disappointment, the next Batman game, and Castlevania reboot
MORE : Games Inbox: Silent Hill 2 remake doubts, God Of War Egypt, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns previews
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The Tuesday letters page asks if social media has ruined gaming, as one reader asks for new sequels to Pilotwings and Wave Race.
