How bad have things got? (pic: Sony)
The Thursday letters page is not sure 2023 counts as the best year ever for games, as one reader looks forward to Capcom’s next new title.
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There and back again
The more I hear about the problems going on within Sony the more I worry that the whole PlayStation division is in turmoil. We know the silence isn’t right, but my theory is that what happened is that Jim Ryan told everyone to switch to making live service games, then someone realised that was a bad idea, and now they’re switching back. But that is going to take time and means basically a year or more of development time completely wasted, right in the middle of the generation.
You can say that it doesn’t affect Sony much because the PlayStation 5 is still selling like crazy anyway but it’s a ridiculous mistake to make and makes PlayStation look like amateur hour. If Microsoft was in a better position right now, they’d be able to wipe the floor with them.
I have a PlayStation 5 so I don’t really want that to happen. but I am not impressed by what is going on right now. I don’t really care who is responsible for this crisis but I want to see it over ASAP and a lot of new announcement to show that all this madness is over.
Cobra Khan
Familiar names
It’s definitely been a good year for video games but I’m sure it feels like the best ever or anything similar to it, for me at least. My problem is that despite all the good games I don’t feel we’ve actually seen anything that’s new. Not only are all the best games sequels but they don’t really do anything different to their predecessors, they just do them better.
Now, that’s better than the alternative, obviously, but I think back to the best years of the 16-bit era, and early PlayStation 1 and 2 and everything, good or bad, is something new or unexpected. I realise that’s easier to do when technology is new but for 2023 to be considered the best ever, or even the best of the last 20 years, I would’ve liked to see a lot more new names in the list of best titles.
Brazil
It is what it is
I have read with interest the general sense of negativity around the PlayStation Portal but I must say I am intrigued by it. It is certainly not a definite purchase for me, but I love the versatility of the Switch and the ability to do something similar with my PlayStation 5 games does appeal.
I will be taking a keen interest in the feedback it receives on release to weigh up a purchase for sure. In that regard, do you expect to have a review of it at GC?
Pigfish2 (PSN ID and NNID)
GC: We’re not sure if Sony will send them out for review. They’re a pretty straightforward piece of hardware and it’s really only the price people have an issue with, not the device itself.
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Spider-Man two-player
Regarding Spider-Man 2, I haven’t played it and probably won’t be for a long time. However, I think it would have been a great idea to include split screen two-player co-op. Where the screen diverges into two split-screens when either Peter or Miles moves away into a different area, with the screens converging into one screen when both players are in the same area.
This would have been a great addition as well as online co-op. Personally I prefer local co-op options over online but both are of interest to me.
Sheel
GC: We agree. Although it adds a little to the variety of moves there’s not actually much point, from a gameplay perspective, for Miles being in the game and he’s definitely the junior partner in terms of the story.
Reference quality
Does anyone know how you know which are the music levels on Sackboy: A Big Adventure? I completed the game a while ago but I wanted to show a friend the music levels with the Pulse headset, as they have not played on that before and I thought it would be good to show them those levels of what the PlayStation 5 and Pulse headset can do.
Andrew J.
PS: Hogs Of War Lardcore needs your help to reach its £150,000 goal. Currently it is at almost £40,000 on Kickstarter with 15 days to go (Wednesday evening). I’ve upped my pledge to £60 so I am in the
credits!
Obvious choices
Nice to hear that Capcom is investing the money it’s been making recently back into Resident Evil 9. I can’t wait to see what the biggest budget Resi ever looks like, assuming it’s not just going to be a bloated mess like Resident Evil 6. Although I’m pretty sure they’ve learnt that lesson.
Capcom has always been one of my favourite publishers and I’m very happy to see them doing well at the moment, even though I feel Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a bit of a distraction and I’d rather see them either announce a new IP or an unexpected revival.
As good as their last couple of years have been they’ve all been very safe and obvious choices – which is fine, they need the money and we all love their classic franchises, but with a new Monster Hunter clearly being next on their slate it seems like it’s going to be a long time till we see anything unexpected.
At the very least I’d like to see more of that not-Onimusha game (I forget it’s name) but I don’t think it’s been mentioned again since the Xbox showcase.
Linguini
GC: That was Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess and no, there’s been no update on it since the summer.
First time discount
If you open a Very Pay buy now pay later account they give you 20% off the first order, up to a max discount of £100.
It’s open to existing and new Very customers. Must pay by by now pay later and use code WELCOME. Then pay it off a couple of days after receiving it, to be charged zero interest.
With delivery my 528 GB Meta Quest 3 cost £523.99. At the moment they have delivery available for November 11.
Can’t buy consoles with this offer and there are other items you can’t buy.
Golden
More: Trending
Across the Pond
So it seems like the Alan Wake 2 Metacritic score has settled at 89, with not that many 10/10 scores but an awful lot of 9/10s. However, I note that the two websites I trust most, GC and Eurogamer, both gave it 6/10, with only a very few other sites giving it the same or lower.
We don’t know what Edge will give it yet, as it’s a magazine and will be a while, but once again we see the same, usually British, sites giving the lower scores and everyone else just piling on with the same score (even as they often point out the same flaws).
What is it about British sites that seems to give them the confidence to give lower scores to even big name games? I think it’s probably two things, the first being the legacy of British games magazines, which is much stronger than US ones which used to be pretty terrible, from what I read, and never gave bad scores to anything.
The other, I can only assume, is whoever the American sites have to deal with in order to get review copies, which are presumably different to those in the UK and other countries.
Whatever the reasons are I know that I am more trusting than ever of these British sites and, in a funny kind of way, almost proud of them.
Zeo
Inbox also-rans
The brilliant XCOM 2 Collection, including the War Of The Chosen DLC is now £5.99 on the Switch eShop. I bought it a few years ago and it runs surprisingly well on the modestly powered Switch. Criminally cheap.
Chevy Malibu (PSN ID)
GC: There are performance issues but at that price, you’re right. That’s giving it away.
Just a quick heads up to anyone who bought an Xbox Series X/S with Game Pass when it was first released. If you go onto the rewards page while searching through Bing, they are giving away 500 points to mark the third year anniversary.
freeway 77
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Danse, who asks what franchise or genre have you changed your opinion on over time?
Not every game or concept can grab you straight away, but are there any that grew on you over time? Similarly, is there any that you used to enjoy but have now grown tired of?
What caused the change and did it happen suddenly, with just one game or experience, or gradually over the time, following multiple sequels and similar games? Is there anything in the future that you think could change your mind again?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
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MORE : Games Inbox: Unreliable video game reviews, Spider-Man 2 love, and Alan Wake 2 survival horror
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The Thursday letters page is not sure 2023 counts as the best year ever for games, as one reader looks forward to Capcom’s next new title.