What is taking PlayStation so long? (pic: Sony)

The Tuesday letters page wonders why there are so few Zelda clones on Xbox and PlayStation, as one reader hopes Xbox doesn’t get into VR.

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Covid recovery
PlayStation not releasing enough games is one thing, but I wouldn’t feel so bad about it if they’d just explain why. You never see any interviews nowadays, so we never know what they’re thinking or planning. Do they have a ton that got delayed because of the pandemic or did new ones just not get started because of it? Why are other companies recovering from Covid now, but Sony is not?

How do you announce 12 live service games in three years and get through the first half of the first year without revealing what even one of them is? Or assuring existing fans that this is just going to be a sideline and that they’ll still continue to release proper single-player games as well. I mean they will, right? Right?!

It’s the wall of the silence that is so frustrating and even if they do have a big summer show planned are they going to clam up again once it’s over? I just don’t understand anything of what Sony is doing right now. From a literal business point of view, it seems to make no sense.
BBovril

Bizarro World
Very interesting article on Sony software sales being a lot worse than hardware and them actually getting in trouble with analysts, and presumably investors, for not releasing enough games. If I had money on Sony and I saw their current release schedule I’d be worried my money was going to waste too. Especially with all this live service nonsense.

Sony knows nobody wants it but they’re ploughing ahead anyway, because they think it’s a money-spinner. But it seems such a terrible risk. As GC points out, most live service games crash and burn in short order, it’s literally throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. This is the opposite of the sort of prestige gaming that Sony has become known for up until this point.

That means that the plan at the moment, as their hardware sales go through the roof, is to do the absolute opposite of what has going them to this point. Sony’s only problem at the moment is that it isn’t announcing or releasing new games. We know they’re on the way so just hurry that up and stop being silly.
Mickey

Milestone release
So I saw a leaked review, where the guy got the embargo time wrong, and he said Redfall was the worst game of the year. If that’s true, or even close to it, then Microsoft’s nightmare is never going to end. Bad sales, no Activision Blizzard, and now their most expensive developer so far is churning out duds. If Starfield turns out bad I really don’t know whether gaming fandom will be able to handle it.

You’ll have PlayStation fans going crazy with the trolling and Xbox fans getting hyper defensive, and we’ll never get any peace and quiet again.

I genuinely do feel that Xbox is at a turning point. If anything else goes really wrong, like Starfield, then I really can see Microsoft pulling the plug. Not immediately or drastically or anything but slowly losing interest, like Google, and just farming out their streaming tech or something. At this point Microsoft needs to prove that the world needs Xbox and they’re not doing that right now.
Dolan

GC: It’s not the worst game of the year, but it’s also not great. Here’s our review.

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Who to blame
I’m really enjoying Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, more so than I anticipated. I’m playing it on quality mode since there’s currently no VRR support. I’m fine with the 30fps, though I hope Respawn add a balanced mode at 40fps – similar to Hogwarts Legacy. I feel that’s a good compromise. The presentation and combat is a big step up from the previous game.

It’s a shame the PC port is riddled with problems. Lazy devs is the usual accusation but I can’t imagine any game creator intends to put out a sub-standard product. Gamers moan about Xbox Series S being supported, so I imagine having to support numerous configurations on PC is no easy task. Not that I’m excusing the game being broken for some PC players. It’s a concerning trend, so I hope the issues are addressed as a priority.

Maybe some kind of beta testing could be pushed out to players before launch? I would much rather a game was delayed than get a game at launch with a host of fixes in the works. Thanks to GC for highlighting some game-ending bugs. I will do my best not to get killed in the area GC specified.
Anon

GC: It’s never lazy developers; it’s almost always short-sighted and impatient publishers.

Unbeatable value
I do think people underestimate how good value Nintendo games are. Sure the graphics might be up their with the Xbox and PlayStation but I’m going to guess that Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is at least as big as the last one and with 20% off on pre-orders, for a game that’s only £59.99 in the first place is a great deal.

If it’s like Breath Of The Wild I’ll probably be playing this for most of the rest of the year and I can’t think of anything else I could spend £60 on and get that kind of value of money for. Video games are just great, aren’t they?
Cobalt41

Zelda substitute
Since I don’t have a Nintendo Switch I am starting to get a bit jelly about the idea of playing Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom but the nearest thing I can think of as a substitute is Elden Ring. I’ve already beaten it twice though and don’t really fancy a third try with the DLC. It’s a shame they won’t announce a date for that as I’m not even sure it’s coming out this year at this rate.

Even then it’s not that similar to Zelda and it’s surprising how few alternatives there really are. Genshin Impact and Immortals Fenyx Rising are kind of the closest but I can’t say I particularly like either. And then things like Ghost Of Tsushima and Horizon Forbidden West are just straight action role-players, without really being that similar to Zelda.

I don’t know why Sony has never tried to create an alternative but I’m especially surprised Microsoft never did. If they were sensible that’s what they’d turn the Fable remake into. Although who knows if the people who made Forza Horizon would really be up to that.
Lasdon

Fear Nintendo
So even Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom has leaked out early now? What is going on? Nintendo is going to hate this, more than any other company, and I imagine they’re going to crazy finding out who’s fault it is. In this instance I support them. I’m sick of dodging spoilers for two weeks before every new game release.

If I was selling physical copies the last thing I’d want to be doing is let copies leak out early because the retribution from publishers is going to be severe. Or at least that’s what I would’ve thought. I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t happened yet.
Moony

The favourite
So at the moment is Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom the obvious favourite to be the best game of the year? I really don’t see Final Fantasy 16 beating, even if it’s good, which means the only other two big hitters that we know of are Starfield and Spider-Man 2. Unless it’s radically different than the first one I really don’t see Spider-Man 2 being a contender but Starfield… theoretically it could be.

I know Bethesda have become a bit of a laughing stock for their bugs and jank, and bad dialogue, but they do make great open worlds and Starfield seems like a pretty interesting new IP and not really like anything else out there at the moment, even if some bit, like the lockpicking are straight out of Fallout and Skyrim.

But really, it’s going to be Zelda, isn’t it? Given the universally good previews I really can’t see it being anything else. I expect there’ll be a lot of grousing about performance issues but I really don’t see that making a difference in the court of public opinion. If Pokémon Scarlet and Violet can be massive successes despite all the bugs then Zelda certainly can with just a slightly iffy frame rate.
Courson

Inbox also-rans
Maybe Xbox was interested in making a VR headset when these patents were made but I can’t believe the PlayStation VR2 hasn’t put them off for good now. It’s just a complete waste of everyone’s time and money.
Scooter

I did not know Sega was American. The more you learn.
Pablo

GC: Also, Taito was founded by a Jewish Ukrainian fleeing war in Russia.

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Cabal, who asks how often do you buy a video game as soon as it comes out?

Do you always buy games you’re interested in day one or do you always wait until they’re cheaper or the bugs have been worked out? If you take it on a case-by-case basis what is it that influences your decision the most and do things like pre-orders bonuses make a difference?

Price is one obvious reason not to buy a game straight away, but what else puts you off and how have you made your recent decisions, including for upcoming games like Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom?

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The small print
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MORE : Games Inbox: Xbox beating the PS5 this generation, Call Of Duty on Switch 2, and GTA 4 love

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: Do you always play a video game to the end?

MORE : Games Inbox: Tears Of The Kingdom for BOTW haters, Nintendo Switch 2 hopes, and CMA accuracy

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The Tuesday letters page wonders why there are so few Zelda clones on Xbox and PlayStation, as one reader hopes Xbox doesn’t get into VR.