Spider-Man 2 – what if it’s all there is? (pic: Sony)
The Thursday letters page wonders if Nintendo is avoiding cross-gen games with the Switch 2, as a reader asks for Xbox game recommendations.
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Your showcase is in another castle
So, all the waiting for a State of Play, or one of Sony’s awful blog posts, got me thinking, what if there’s never any new PlayStation 5 game announcements? They didn’t have an E3 equivalent last year and by the second half of the year only really promoted God Of War, which had already been announced at that point. Well, Spider-Man 2 has now been locked in and will be out at the same time this year, so… what if that’s it?
A few years ago that would’ve seemed absurd but the way things are going I think there’s a real possibility. There’s probably a good chance that The Last Of Us multiplayer game will come out this year too (and be a microtransaction filled free-to-play game) but I’m not sure we can really count on there being anything else major out this year.
Even something like Returnal, which had a fairly quick marketing turnaround, was announced in June and released the next April. Is there really likely to be anything announced in the next few months and released this winter, let alone this summer?
It’s not even like it’s just a Sony thing. Would you bet on anything other than Starfield and Redfall coming out this year from Microsoft? Maybe one other thing (probably Forza Motorsport), as they have got a lot of games announced, but I think it’s far from guaranteed.
I’d loved to be proved wrong but I don’t it’s been made obvious yet just how much the games industry has changed since the start of the pandemic.
Regulator
The human cost
I was going to write in and say that I have no sympathy for Ubisoft if they’re in trouble but then I realised I was being silly and while the execs deserve plenty of criticism for mindlessly following trends and commissioning so many similar games I’m sure that’s not what the majority of other employees wanted to do.
I just looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently Ubisoft employs 20,324 people. That is a lot of people. A lot of people to be made redundant as they make inevitable cuts in the next few months. A lot more people to be made redundant when Ubisoft gets bought out by some giant corporation that decides it doesn’t want all those different studios.
It’s a horrible thought so when it happens, if it happens, let’s avoid all the snarky comments about them deserving it for making too many Far Cry sequels.
Wagram
Nintendo’s big plan
I wonder… could going back and adding DLC to early Switch games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Odyssey be how Nintendo transitions to the Switch’s successor without having to release cross-gen games?
You get new ‘content’ (ugh) which adds to the experience and keeps you busy, while they basically have a moratorium on new major releases to try and remove a reason not to upgrade when the time comes.
FoximusPrime81 (gamertag/NN ID/Twitter)
GC: It does seem a possibility. Perhaps Mario Kart 8 was a test-run and has proven successful? But that enters the realm of trying to predict what Nintendo are thinking and that never ends well.
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Future discussion
Just watched the first episode of The Last Of Us, fair to say going off that first hour or so they have absolutely nailed it. Fantastic episode and roll on Monday. Bella Ramsey in particular seems great as Ellie.
Even more promisingly my wife really enjoyed it too, so I will finally be able to discuss in depth the ending with her and the various pros and cons of Joel and Ellie’s relationship, and in particular that decision at the end.
It’s a laugh a minute in my house honestly.
Henshin Agogo
10 wasted minutes
I’ve only watched the first 10 minutes of the show, but I really liked the start with John Hannah basically foreshadowing the apocalypse to come and it was done in an obvious nod to the Dawn of the Dead. Something I didn’t like was the casting of Joel’s daughter. She looked like she was in her late teens/early 20s, so any sympathy I might have had disappeared.
You guys (GC) have probably seen the whole series early. Is it beat for beat the games story or does it deviate at all? I already know how it ends in game. Can I save 8-12 hours and skip it?
Bobwallett
GC: We haven’t had time to watch it all yet.
Time warp
Everyone says that their perception of time got warped during the pandemic but I must still be having trouble because I could’ve sworn Resident Evil Village was a good three years ago now, but I just looked t up and it was May 2021. So my email about I hope we hear about Resident Evil 9 soon seems a bit redundant.
I don’t know why Village seems so long ago, it didn’t have a particularly long marketing campaign, as far as I remember, and I don’t think it was ever delayed. Maybe it was because it was a bit of a disappointment, to me at least, and it didn’t really leave much of an impression. I find that can happen quite a lot with games even when you’re looking forward to them, as you realise they’ve been and gone without ever making impact.
For all I know it’s just me, but either way I feel I am now really itching for some Resident Evil action and the remake of 4 looks like it’s going to hit the spot exactly. I don’t think there’s anything scheduled for after that though, so my question still stands: when will Resident Evil 9 be announced and will it be the next Resi or will there be something else before it?
Wilhelm
Tie-in merchandise, engage!
There are about 11 new Fire Emblem amiibo in stock on the UK Nintendo Store currently, at time of writing this email (Wednesday 3.10pm). An Underboxer pointed them out to me the other day but they weren’t in
stock then but, as I said, they are now!
If you’re a Fire Emblem fan and you haven’t got those ones that is very expensive!
Andrew J.
Free consoles
Can I use the Inbox to re-thank my friend, Leon, for gifting me his Xbox One, as he has a Xbox Series X?
It didn’t come with a control pad so I soon bought an official one. I dislike the reversal of the ‘A‘ and ‘B’ buttons, compared to what I’m used to on Switch.
I’m completely new to Xbox, being mostly Nintendo all my gaming life, so what games should I be looking out for, please?
I already have Fallout 4 (physical), Sleeping Dogs (free digital download), and Battlefield 1943 (a favourite in my PlayStation 3 days).
The only other game I’ll be getting that I had on PlayStation 3 will be GTA 5 but I only want it for the online mode.
I’ve also paid for a month’s Xbox Live Gold (so that I can play Battlefield 1943 online) but should I go for Game Pass Ultimate in the future?
LeighDappa
GC: Yes, the simple answer when you’re starting from scratch like this is to get Game Pass and you’ll have instant access to every Microsoft exclusive and more besides.
Inbox also-rans
That Nintendo set-up looked like it was created by Tony Stark! Super impressive, though I’d prefer grey for the controller sides as opposed to the garish colours – just to keep the missus happy. I’m assuming the guy involved engineered it himself?
Anon
I’m so impressed with that Nintendo set-up on Reddit, thanks for sharing the article but did you also notice the large Game Boy on the wall opposite the set-up? You can see it in the reflection of the TV! I hope we get another video showing that off!
Sam
GC: We did not notice that! Thanks though, we’ve added it to the story and given you the credit.
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Onibee, who asks what video game protagonist would you like to swap games with?
Pick any two games you like, regardless of whether they’re in similar genres or not, and swap the lead character. What would happen and do you think it would be fun?
Is this something you’ve thought of before and how important do you think the lead character is to a game? Are there any you’ve been put off from purely because of the protagonist and whose abilities have you most wished you had in another game?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
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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.
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The Thursday letters page wonders if Nintendo is avoiding cross-gen games with the Switch 2, as a reader asks for Xbox game recommendations.
