Are Take-Two the next acquisition target? (pic: Rockstar Games)
The Thursday letters page has an explanation for the lack of hype in recent game reveals, as another reader hopes for more Ridge Racer.
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Better buy
I’ve been reading more and more about these rumours of Sony buying Take-Two Interactive, who own Rockstar Games, as a response to if Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard. Could that really happen though? It would be a massive purchase for Sony and they’d immediately have to promise not to make a GTA an exclusive, given all their arguments against Microsoft, so I’m not sure I really see the point – since it wouldn’t change anything from a customer’s point of view.
I must admit though, I didn’t realise how relatively small Take-Two is as a company. I guess they don’t do much else other than Rockstar’s stuff but those NBA 2K games seem to be pretty big at least. However, that does raise the question of why didn’t Microsoft buy them instead of Activision Blizzard? They’re both big but GTA is bigger than Call Of Duty and, I’d say, has more guaranteed longevity.
Microsoft say they want Activision primarily for their mobile stuff but Take-Two own Zynga, so they seem a better buy on every level. Even though I’m a PlayStation owner I don’t want it to happen though, just as I hope Activision Blizzard don’t get bought. I don’t want every game to be owned by the same two or three companies, it’s so obvious that’s not a good idea I’m not surprised that these monopoly investigators are against it all.
Rolsh
GC: Take-Two only bought Zynga after Microsoft made its bid for Activision Blizzard.
The long game
I have to echo the question of if Call Of Duty is going to be multiformat for 10 years and never have any exclusive DLC just what is the point in Microsoft buying them. The only reason I can see is that they want Call Of Duty on Game Press but I’m not convinced that’s going to make as much difference as they think. And in any case they can’t put it on at first because of the marketing deal with Sony.
Obviously Activision Blizzard is a company that makes money, so they’re an asset in that sense. But if that’s all Microsoft wants there are a million other software and hardware companies they could buy that wouldn’t be nearly as expensive or come with so many strings attached.
I’m afraid I don’t understand why Microsoft is so keen on doing and why Sony is so desperate to stop them. If I were them I’d be glad Microsoft was wasting all its time and energy on something that probably won’t pay off, if at all, for another 10 years.
Caplan
Video evidence
After reading more and more user reviews of PlayStation VR2 and watching videos of evidence, it seems that the device suffers from a bad effect called mura. It is like a very fine stocking over the lenses that does not move when you do.
Multitudes of people all over the internet are complaining about it yet not a single professional reviewer has mentioned it.
Did you notice this, GC?
JDB
GC: That’s the gauze or screen door effect (we assume, we’ve never heard the term mura before) that was very obvious on the original PlayStation VR. It’s all but invisible on the new headset though, as we mentioned in our review.
A new challenger
RE: ‘Fighting Change’. OK, you have a point about the gameplay being reminiscent of Street Fighter 2, but the game was such a huge leap/shift in visuals, style, and presentation.
Compare Street Fighter 3 to Street Fighter 4. They look worlds apart from each other. I still remember the reveal for Street Fighter 4 and thinking there’s no way they could have done this in the previous generation. I picked the game up on day one and was blown away.
I didn’t get that at all with Street Fighter 5 – it looked like the same game with slightly more detailed graphics, so it’s no wonder the game was a flop – why upgrade when you can carry on with the game you already have (don’t get me started on the bare bones game modes, but that’s straying off my point).
I’m getting the same feelings with Street Fighter 6. It will be interesting to see how well it does.
Rangersingh (PSN ID)
GC: There was 11 years between Street Fighter 3 and 4, that’s an eternity in games – especially in the 90s. Also, Street Fighter 5 is the best-selling entry and there’s nothing to suggest that Street Fighter 6 will be bare bones, especially given the extensive single-player mode.
Bug type
I just felt like writing in to say that I am thoroughly enjoying Pokémon Violet – I have encountered some bugs, but my experience has been nowhere near as bad as others have reported.
I also want to praise the game for accurately representing the very real world challenge of accidentally stepping on a small animal when you retreat from a fight.
I do, however, dislike the fact that the Global Trade System is gone, and that to now trade you have to be extremely lucky, or have friends that play the game. Also, you have to have an online subscription. I am lacking in all three of those areas, unfortunately.
Joseph Dowland
GC: We agree, in terms of performance we had very few problems with it. There were far worse games at launch than that last year.
Minimum effort
RE Gazza, it’s not just that putting more effort behind promotions and announcements is too expensive: it’s about the payoff as well. If you get as much of a result from a simple tweet as you do from a booth at a trade expo, or a highly produced announcement trailer, there’s little point in doing anything more than the tweet. Businesses that deal with the public have generally known about the power and efficiency of social media for years.
I’m a big fan of From and Elden Ring and learning that the DLC is coming is the thing that interests me, not the specifics of some PR fanfare. I do expect a trailer to come, and I’ll be glad to watch it, but people act as though promo work is about making them happy. It’s really about bringing their attention to something that might make them happy, and the more the industry recognises the focus should be on the actual products and services (and not the ‘showmanship’) to drive that interest and excitement, the better.
God knows hype in gaming is monetised enough as it is, and I can see why if those so fully on board with that are happy to label anyone who isn’t as a fool.
Panda
Gen X-II
So does this mean there’ll be an other major Pokémon game next year? At the rate they’re going it seems inevitable they’ll have another remake or, most probably, another Pokémon Legends game. I do agree this is getting a bit crazy and while I have enjoyed Scarlet you can’t pretend it wouldn’t have benefited from another year of work.
It was only three years between Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet so does that mean we’re looking at Generation X by 2025? I know that’s a couple of years off but it seems very soon to me.
Onibee
Collect X of Y
Well, I am a couple of hours into Hogwarts Legacy at the moment and I have to admit to being slightly disappointed so far.
The start is fabulous, and your character is immediately put in a predictably perilous situation to kick things off, but there is quite the comedown after that as you settle in to the more mundane tasks of choosing wands, attending charms classes and introducing yourself to fellow students.
The first tinge of disappointment though, was the first little side activity I came across, where a character had lost some books and asked me to retrieve them. Cue a 10 minute waste of time, quite literally fetching some floating books from a library for some precious XP.
These activities are fine every now and again. But I fear the side content may not be worth exploring at all if that’s the level of the very first activity. What are other people’s experiences here, is there any side content worth exploring?
I tend to find the start of role-playing games of this type fairly circumspect (The Witcher 3 I am looking at you) as it slowly teaches you it’s systems and way of playing, so I am sure it will pick up in excitement, particularly if there is more on the level of the introductory mission.
So my hopes are still high as I travel to Hogsmeade and back, particularly as Hogwarts has been so beautifully recreated it almost begs to be explored… I just hope the content will be worth the exploration.
Henshin Agogo
Inbox also-rans
I too miss arcade racing games and long for a new Ridge Racer. Why don’t more racing games have low flying helicopters whizzing inches overhead? I hope one is in the works for Switch or PlayStation, as long as it’s nothing like the dreadful PS Vita or 3DS games.
Ed
I was just going to say that Nintendo is the last publisher around that seems to enjoy the ‘showmanship’ of a good reveal and then they go an release Splatoon 3 DLC without telling anyone. What is going on lately?
Gordo
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MORE : Games Inbox: Too many Pokémon games, GTA 6 in the news, and Ridge Racer on Switch
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The Thursday letters page has an explanation for the lack of hype in recent game reveals, as another reader hopes for more Ridge Racer.