Starfield – it’s been a good start to the week for Microsoft (Picture: Bethesda)
The Monday letters page is extremely impressed by the Xbox Games Showcase, as one reader asks if there’ll be a new Twisted Metal game.
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Good show
What a strong showing from Xbox in their not-E3 showcase. It stands in stark contrast to the lacklustre performances from Sony and Summer Game Fest.
It had a good variety of games, and colours which weren’t just splashes of blood in an identikit grimdark fantasy game. So, good looking new games and Starfield looking set to contain the universe in one game. I think the only downside was how many games were 2024 releases.
I can’t really see Ubisoft outshining this and it seems pretty unlikely Nintendo are going to suddenly announce a Direct for Tuesday, so it leaves Microsoft on top for this year’s game fest. Guess I’ll be keeping Game Pass for a little longer.
Euclidian Boxes
GC: There are rumours of a Nintendo Direct in July.
In contention
The Xbox showcase was something else and easily their best show in a long time. There were a few negatives, such as Hellblade 2 not showing any combat, no Indiana Jones, and the rumoured Gears Of War Collection not appearing. But that was about it. Fable looked great, in particular the humour. Hiring the comedic talents of Richard Ayoade is a genius move.
Then of course there was Starfield. Where do I start? I appreciate Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom has Game Of The Year sewn up in many people’s eyes. Forget GOTY, as far as I’m concerned Starfield could be game of the generation! I was completely blown away. Just like Skyrim before it, I can see myself playing that game for many years to come. The scope of the game is incredible.
Well done Xbox, for over-delivering in many respects. Not a perfect show, but easily a 9/10.
Anon
Weak link
Microsoft really would’ve been exposed as a incompetent company had they given a show worse than the PlayStation Showcase and the tedious Summer Games Fest. Thankfully, they pretty much nailed what makes a good showcase, with plenty of genuinely good games close to release and others that show great potential. The only in-house game that really disappointed was the frankly boring Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 trailer, which went to great lengths to show us how uninteresting everything was.
A bloated cut scene showing absolutely zero gameplay (unlike Starfield which might have showed a wee bit too much) it felt like a team desperate to show us facial animation and not how it relates to the actual game. Apart from that I was impressed by most of it. A few games were not ones I’d play but they didn’t look actively bad. Just not my cup of tea. Hopefully they’ve learnt from the Redfall disaster and have a healthy hands-on approach.
Congrats to the big evil Microsoft company. That was a show well done.
Wonk
PS: Even Phil looked slightly humble yet friendly and welcoming. Jim Ryan might need to take a look it.
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Nostalgia is a hell of a drug
I have bought every generation of PlayStation since it came out, but I have been underwhelmed by the last two generations of games that have come out. Sure, there has been some good games that have come out but it’s pretty much more of the same. When the PlayStation 3 was out it was exciting, with Far Cry 2 and the first Assassin’s Creed being released. Red Dead Redemption, Call Of Duty, and Battlefield were still fresh. Plus, we had moved on to HD graphics.
What I really miss though are the games that were released on the original PS1. There was such a diverse range of games and exciting ideas that we have lost, what I want is more new ideas. In hindsight I was happier playing these older titles with their 32-bit graphics than what I am today with all the 4K, ray-tracing, etc. Bring back innovate ideas like Shellshock, Disruptor, Defcon 5, and later on, with the PlayStation 3, Call Of Juarez.
These were all, in my opinion entertaining games to play and at the time not being mass copied by everyone else. Even to this day, there has never been anything made that was like Shellshock. For the sake of the games industry games publishers need to start being braver and more innovate or else other gamers like me will eventually lose all interest in what is being offered and stop playing altogether.
captainbloodsnot (PSN ID)
The expensive future of gaming
I must admit, when I saw what those glasses did on the Mario Kart ride at Universal Studios, with the augmented reality, I thought to myself, ‘That’s where Nintendo are going to take their next home product.’
Yet after seeing the price of those Apple Vision Pro headsets, that I understand use the same technology. I realised that was probably not going to happen for another 10 years or so.
Then this morning I was playing Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom before work; I like to play it on my dinner break at work too (yes, I am addicted). So I was trying to make sure my Switch was charged, I asked myself ‘What about the controllers? Do they need charging too? Or do they run off the console when attached in handheld mode?’
Then it dawned on me.
What if I could take the Switch out of its docking station and still be able to play the game on screen while I was still charging my Switch and its controllers up?
What if there was some central hub that beamed images from my pad to the TV?
I know I’ve just described the Wii U but what about this?
What if I could use the Switch screen pad to look around the room as it was creating augmented reality images around my TV?
What if I could look behind me quickly in Tears of the Kingdom to see why the battle music was trying to tell me I was in danger?
This is old technology now. The 3DS was doing it over a decade ago, so the production price isn’t as steep as the new Apple Vision Pro, plus you don’t have to strap it around your head.
It could breath new life into games like Mario Kart, Mario, Pikmin, and of course Zelda.
The new Metroid would be awesome with the extra immersion and, let’s face it, that title is going to be a crossover between the Switch and Nintendo’s next console.
In fact, it would be a great way to showcase the differences between the new consoles.
Anyway, as always, I get carried away with myself and my ideas once I go off on one with these letters, especially when it comes to Nintendo. I know not to expect them to throw money at a console in the hope it will sell units. I know they are realistic enough to try to make a profit on their consoles and while state of the art graphics are nice, they are not the be all and end all of gaming enjoyment.
I mentioned technology that is on the Wii U and the 3DS, which are both pretty much a decade or more old now and remember, just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s ready for the scrapheap.
Piece that together with a slightly more powerful Switch (and maybe a new gimmick controller) and you might just be looking at the next potential Nintendo console.
freeway 77
Eight good points
Here’s my thoughts on the Xbox showcase without writing an entire essay.
1. Much better opening than the others. No date on Fable doesn’t surprise me, I was shocked when they teased it was going to be there, given it’s a new team started mostly during the pandemic.
2. I definitely don’t have enough time to play Starfield.
3. Really good balance of teasers for beyond 2024 and stuff for next year.
4. Nice to see Xbox still partnering with third party studios, despite having a ton of their own.
5. There wasn’t much I found dull, and even the things I probably won’t play looked presented well. By the metric of how often I picked up my phone they were miles ahead of Sony in content.
6. They kept their words with no CGI and just in-game engine stuff, along with the labelling. I expect a lot of people would have wanted more gameplay though. I’m also a bit sceptical on how much was in-game on an Xbox vs. PC.
7. Game Pass has a lot of games.
8. Bethesda only showed three things! In some ways it’s quite good knowing that if you’re pleased with the showcase (as I was), that it only included games from about a quarter of Microsoft’s studios. So they should be able to repeat this each year from now on.
I was a bit worried we’d get another show where they show too much and then we spend years wondering what happened to them (like we still are with games notably missing from Sunday’s show).
Tim
Expected twist
Do we think the new Twisted Metal show will bring about a new Twisted Metal game? If it does could it be more like the World Tour version than the mess that came after? Saying that, I could be nostalgic for that game and the rest were fine. It’s just me that hates the rest.
When does the newsletter start? I’ve signed up but haven’t had any yet.
Bobwallett
GC: There are indeed rumours of a new Twisted Metal, although no real indication of what it will be like. The newsletter is released every Saturday (thanks for signing up and we encourage everyone else to do so as well, please).
Better late than never
I think Xbox might have just done their best showcase! I think some people will still complain because… well gamers, but considering the complaints about PlayStation’s showcase, I think they did very well – it was maybe a touch too long but hey hoo. A lot of good stuff shown, Fable was shown in-game and it looks absolutely stunning. That Forza Motorsport tech engine really is fantastic. Who’d have thought a racing game developer could make a fantasy world like that, and I think they’ve captured the Fable vibe well, but modernised it. Plus, Richard Ayoade as a geeky giant, yes please.
And the new InXile game was a really nice surprise, and I really liked the look of it, a role-playing game that messes with time, yep I’m on board. Hellblade 2 is still setting a standard for graphics, though I would have liked to of seen more combat, but I assume that’ll come when they do the Hellblade Direct closer to release. The only game I wasn’t keen on was Avowed, it didn’t really set my world on fire and looked, dare I say, last gen… but as with a lot of Obsidian games, it’ll probably be more substance over style.
But really, the jewel in the crown was Starfield. As someone that isn’t a big open world fan and the trailers up till this point I thought the game looked OK, I was blown away by that direct. The game looks phenomenal and I don’t say that much. I hope Bethesda haven’t been too ambitious, but what they showed oozed confidence and I am fully converted and want to play that game. So well done Xbox, it’s about bloody time!
Jay
Inbox also-rans
So Microsoft can do a good showcase. It took them long enough to figure it out but they’ve absolutely shamed Sony with that one.
Gobber
That PlayStation Showcase is looking even more pathetic now. What made me laugh is that the Xbox showcase didn’t even have a live service games, that I noticed!
Bonzo3
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The Monday letters page is extremely impressed by the Xbox Games Showcase, as one reader asks if there’ll be a new Twisted Metal game.
