Is the PS5 Pro a must have or not? (Picture: Concept Creator)
The Tuesday letters page worries about Ubisoft’s all-digital future, as one reader praises Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom’s Depths.
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Pro tip
I completely understood the concerns of the Reader’s Feature at the weekend, worrying that Sony is going downhill and the PlayStation 5 seems to be going nowhere. I think I’m probably a little more optimistic than he is but it does worry me that the only rumours we seem to get are for hardware nobody needs and wants and still nothing about games.
Everyone assumes Sony has a bunch they haven’t announced yet – they must have, surely – but why haven’t they leaked, considering everything else has? It is worrisome and I think the point the Reader’s Feature made well is that it’s so inexplicable. I cannot imagine why Sony is doing this or what they think they’re gaining from it.
And then we have the PS5 Pro. Why? Surely they must know there is no demand for it. We have… three PlayStation 5 exclusives so far? What on Earth do we need a Pro for, what games is it going to boost the performance of? We need more games, not consoles.
In the last three years Sony has release the PlayStation 5, the PlayStation VR2, and this year the Project Q. Then next year apparently they have PS5 Pro. That’s getting on for two grand in three years, in the worst cost of living crisis in my lifespan.
This is madness and I don’t see anyone that already owns a PlayStation 5 buying a PS5 Pro. I know I won’t and not just because it’s too expensive but because it’s so pointless and such a needles cash grab. There is absolutely no need, especially if the main benefit is 8K.
Vagner
Double negative
I’m sure modders are happy about the Project Q running Android, but I can’t imagine anyone else cares about it. Paying £200 or more to run PlayStation 5 games remotely is not something I have any interest in and it seems such an unnecessary thing to focus on at the moment. I mean, I won’t be buying the PS5 Pro but I’ll be negative buying the Project Q. I don’t think I’d even use it if I got it for free.
The PS5 Pro might only be a (believable) rumour but the Project Q is out this year. Why? Who wants it and who can afford it? I’d be curious to hear from anyone in the Inbox who was excite about it.
Danson
Open Fantasy
I had to be so middle of the road but I’ve just finished Final Fantasy 16 and I think it was pretty good. Not my favourite in the series but nowhere near the worst. I thought the attempt to be more Western was mostly successful and if they hadn’t had quite such a thing for Game Of Thrones specifically I think it would’ve bene even better.
What struck me though is how Square Enix still won’t commit to a proper open world environment. They came really close with Final Fantasy 14 and all the games right back to the beginning but there’s still always lots of linear sections and the story is still stuck in stone every time. I think that’s kind of a Japanese thing, that maybe their fans insist, but to me it feels increasingly old-fashioned.
I think with their art style and graphics there’s no danger of it just becoming a Skyrim clone, or whatever, but they do seem very nervous of going that extra step. I think that would be much more groundbreaking compared to just whether the combat was turn-based or not.
Labbit
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Start from the beginning
So in anticipation of the upcoming Starfield, I recently purchased a Xbox Series X.
Having not owned an Xbox for quite some considerable time, I thought I’d have a look in the current sale for something to tide me over.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw Jade Empire at only a £3 purchase. I thought this will do brilliantly for the next couple of weeks, until Starfield. Anyway, enough chit chat, time to dish out some thousand cuts.
Johnny five stars
GC: An 18-year-old Xbox game sure is an introduction to the new generation of consoles.
Hidden Depths
At first I didn’t really like the Depths in Zelda: Hammerironbut I’ve just spent the whole weekend exploring and I barely came up for air once. The whole thing is just so weird and I can’t believe Nintendo has it some completely pitch black unless you do something to light it up yourself. Work your way between lightroots and using brightbloom seeds is so addictive and I love that there’s no hand-holding at all.
It’s proper exploration of the sort you never usually see in video games, not even in the overworld of Zelda. I’ve got about two-thirds explored now and seeing everything lit up bright so you can actually see everything is so satisfying. I think it finally beats Okami in terms of games that have you brightening up the landscape with your progress. It’s amazing and even more so because most of it is optional – you barely even need to go down there for the main story if you don’t want to.
Focus
Forgotten milestone
Sad to hear about the death of John Gibson of Psygnosis fame. I can’t pretend I recognised his name at first but once I read about him I realised I had seen him in games mags of the time. People won’t realise nowadays but his work on Microcosm, and Sony’s subsequent interest in it, was a major turning point for the games industry but because he’s not from the US or Japan his name is barely ever mentioned and only the stuffiest of history books will remember him.
I salute his work, especially as he also made Colony Wars, and hope that one day Sony will learn to pay proper homage to all of Psygnosis’ legacy. I’m sure there’s many of their games that could be rebooted for the modern day but Sony don’t even seem to try for WipEout nowadays. Although I guess between that and F-Zero I guess the big two just don’t think futuristic racer sell.
A new Colony Wars, G-Police, or Alundra have great potential as far as I’m concerned and yet I’m not sure Sony even remembers those games exist. Mind you, you could say the same for a lot of their franchises at the moment…
Hammeriron
Thumping expense
I was going to write into GameCentral about the game Thumper, to see if there was a free update from PlayStation 4 to 5? if you own the PlayStation 4 version, just fired up the PlayStation 5 and there is an upgrade option for £3.99 at the moment. So, with some credit left over, just got that.
When I do eventually get PlayStation VR2 it will be sat there waiting (had a lot of bills recently). I had been thinking about buying the physical version from Limited Run Games because I could always sell it if I decided I didn’t want it anymore.
I wish more PlayStation VR1 games had a free upgrade or a not-too-expensive upgrade option like Thumper, what with PlayStation VR1 games not being compatible with PlayStation VR2.
I’ve got a lot of PlayStation VR1 games in sales.
Andrew J.
More: Trending
You were warned
I thought that story about Ubisoft deleting profiles would be some kind of exaggeration but it’s actually way worse than I thought. I know it won’t change anyone’s mind, because who wants to get up to change a disc, but this absolutely should put everyone off digital downloads for life. This basically means that even if you bought a hundred games, all you have to do is not log in to your Ubisoft account for a year or two (I’m guessing, they don’t really say) and then all that is just taken away from you.
Their excuse for doing it is pathetic too, quoting EU rules when neither the UK or US are in it anymore. I really can’t see any reason Ubisoft are doing it, except for an ultra cynical attempt to force you to double dip.
Even I don’t think a publisher is that underhanded but whatever the reason is its terrible publicity and not something that any other publisher seems to do. I’d hope for a retraction in the next couple of days but for some reason I don’t think it’s coming. The dystopian future where we own nothing we buy is coming true and nobody seems to care.
Gadget
Inbox also-rans
I’m still hoping for Ash from Evil Dead in Mortal Kombat, he seems so much more obvious than all these other DLC characters they keep adding. I hope the reason he’s not in it isn’t really just because Bruce Campbell doesn’t want to do it.
Habbert
Is anyone else getting increasingly embarrassed of online ‘gamers’. So Diablo 4 deserves 1.9% because of one bad patch? These see people are so angry all the time it’s genuinely kind of creepy.
Ishi
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gannet, who asks what is the most excited you’ve ever been over an upcoming new release?
Although it’s the summer games drought at the moment, it won’t be long until this year’s big autumn games are upon us. But what’s the most you’ve ever anticipated a new video game and how did the dream compare to the reality?
Generally speaking, how invested do you get in pre-release hype and how do you feel about the suggestion that it can sometimes be more entertaining than the games themselves?
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.
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The Tuesday letters page worries about Ubisoft’s all-digital future, as one reader praises Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom’s Depths.Â
