Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – could it outdo Breath Of The Wild? (pic: Nintendo)

The Monday letters page debates how much Metroid Prime Remastered should cost, as one reader defends Bethesda Game Studios.

To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Unknown unknowns
So we’ve all seen the Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom trailer by now and unfortunately it doesn’t really tell us much that we didn’t already know. It could well be the last one before launch and if it is I agree with the reader who said that this must mean Nintendo has secrets about it that it’s trying to keep. I’d love if one of these was that you get to play as Zelda but I don’t see anything so far that’s hinted at that. I also don’t know why Nintendo would want to keep it secret, rather than advertise it as a selling point.

Metal Gear Solid 2 was kept a secret but I think a lot of people would’ve bene upset if they knew they were playing as Raiden 90% of the time. I don’t think many would be upset to find you get to play as Zelda, as it’s clear from the trailer that Link is in it a lot as well.

There’s not much to go on but so far I see little evidence of any Majora’s Mask style twist on the last game, in terms of taking the basic ingredients and making something completely different with it. If Tears Of The Kingdom is basically just more of Breath Of The Wild, either a little bit better or a little bit worse, can it really be said to be the best Zelda ever?

What, in fact, will it need to be considered better than Breath Of The Wild? If they just take out weapon degradation will that be enough for most people? It won’t be for me, I have to say, but at this stage I really don’t know what to expect from the game or its critical reception.
Oddel

Market value
Interesting Nintendo Direct the other day, the whole thing had a bit of a ‘clearing the decks’ air about it when it comes to the release schedule. With Pikmin 4 coming in the summer it seems like we might expect a Switch 2 reveal soon after that, even with a 2024 release.

Not sure what the rush is dropping Metroid Prime now (especially with the cartridge not out for a month) but more than happy to see it. Even more happy Nintendo didn’t do a Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and try and charge full price for it. £35 for a 20-year-old game still feels expensive but hey it’s Nintendo, innit? It’s what they do, on cartridge it’ll hold its value pretty well.

You’d think it would have made more sense to park Metroid till Christmas and do a Mario Galaxy 1+2 HD port to line up with the new movie… again, Nintendo innit. Anyway, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom looks good as expected, it’s seems like just more of the same for sure but that’s no bad thing since the last one is a ‘best ever’ contender.

Was surprised not to see many third party ports from Western developers, a couple of Japanese developed titles was about it. Seems to suggest that if a Switch 2 is nearing a reveal publishers have migrated development resources to the new console, especially if they were PlayStation 4 or Xbox One titles. Like when Batman: Arkham City and Mass Effect 3 dropped on the Wii U at launch. I still think there’s an untapped market for Xbox 360 generation titles on the original Switch but, hey, too late now.

Outside a specific Zelda Direct don’t expect any more news now till the summer from Nintendo, so wait and see I guess.
Marc

GC: It’s a remaster that has had a considerable amount of work put into it; how much do you think it should cost?

Triple Bee
Just off the back of the overrated studios Reader’s Feature I wanted to write in and defend a few of them, particularly Bethesda, a studio who have provided me with a disgraceful amount of enjoyment over the years. To accuse their games of being janky and riddled with bad graphics is at once blindingly obvious and totally missing the point of what their games do. Which, in my view, is create worlds that are vibrant and engaging that we want to live in.

I nearly wrote in recently after replaying Fallout 3 and New Vegas for the umpteenth to say I really wish triple AAA studios wouldn’t worry about making everything photorealistic and just concentrate on creating worlds and mechanics. I’d honestly be happy with games like Fallout 3 with slightly better graphics and specs. For me, Nintendo totally have the right idea about these things. If we all agreed that they don’t have to do this, then the games might not take so long to make! Here’s hoping for a triple-BBB gaming world.
Chris

GC: You want to live in the world of Fallout?

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Finding you station
Train World Sim 3 isn’t a game I would’ve usually bought but I fancied something a bit different and your review was pretty positive so I thought I would give it a go.

I have to say I am really enjoying it. I am doing the Southeastern stuff at the moment, as I know all of the stations involved so it is pretty good parking up trains at stations I get on and off at and they are exactly the same as in real-life (shame the real Southeastern are rubbish). I am going to start on the other lines in the game soon, but I am shocked at how much I am liking it – glad I read your review!
Simon

Blow by blow account
I don’t know if this is going to become one of those Inbox debates that rumbles on for a week or so, but I’m on the side of blow (mostly) when it comes to transferring petrol from a deserted car to a container.

Although I haven’t done it myself, I think the idea is you put two tubes into the petrol tank, ideally one bigger tube sitting down in the petrol and a thinner tube sitting down there but not all the way in. Create an airtight seal at the filler cap bit. Then you blow like a five-year-old trying to put the birthday candles out and petrol should effuse out of the tank.

Having said that, I have seen the odd person suck the tube also, but that might just be to encourage the petrol to come up the big pipe, then get back to blowing on the other like a ‘good ‘un.’

We shall just have to wait for the first sandbox survival game to incorporate this and we can all have a go.
r-s-w

GC: Every depiction we’ve seen is of them sucking the hose, usually coughing up a bit of petrol as it starts to flow through.

Effective roadmap
Just read the weekend Hot Topic about Mass Effect. I fully agree that it would need a massive budget, but it can only be a TV show, not movies.

It would be impossible to compress all of that content into even three movies of two hours long each. A good example of this is the atrocity that was the Far Cry 1 movie adaptation.

Every Mass Effect game should be a season.

Mass Effect 1 – Season 1
Mass Effect 2 – Season 2
Mass Effect 3 – Season 3

Of course, there are certain parts of each game, like DLC, that could be a longer TV special, and some are even better as movies.

Bring Down The Sky – TV special
Zaeed and Kasumi loyalty missions – movies
Firewalker – TV special
Overlord – movie
Lair Of The Shadow Broker – movie
Arrival – movie
Leviathan – movie
Omega – movie
Citadel – movie
Skyllian Blitz, First Contact War, Rachni War – movies

Of course, all of these are only possible AFTER Mass Effect Season 1 got the viewers invested in the whole story.

That’s pretty much it, there’s 1 last thing. When talking about Mass Effect, few things are more annoying than when somebody spells the main character’s name wrong. It’s Shepard, not Shepherd.
Gergő

In the dark
With Nintendo announcing Alone In The Dark coming to Switch it reminded me that there is supposed to be a new one being released on current gen.

I’d forgotten all about this. Not surprised though. After the reveal trailer I haven’t heard anything since about it. Hopefully will hear more about it soon and it hasn’t been cancelled.
Tony- -1975 (PSN ID)

GC: There hasn’t been a word about it since. It’s a remake though, rather than an entirely new game.

Money to burn
Would you know how much of the budget went on voice talent for Calisto Protocol? I’m guessing Josh Duhamel wasn’t cheap. Why the heck didn’t they use a proven game capture actor instead, for what I would assume to be a fraction of the cost? How well know is Duhamel anyways? Outside of the Transformer franchise and I think some romance movies. Would he be a name that would attract gamers to a game? I like the actor in Death Stranding, but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to play a postal delivery sim because he’s in it. In fact, I didn’t even get it when the game was free on Epic.

Are there any named actors that would make gamers buy game in general? I’m doubtful but these days who knows?

Anyway. If anyone has been keeping up with The Last Of Us TV show, is it diverging from the game or is it still on the same path? I know it’s not the same but I was so bored and disappointed by The Game of thrones follow up House of the Dragon I skipped ahead to the final episode to save myself eight hours. I hope I haven’t missed anything but bringing in the old theme doesn’t make your show worth sitting through.

On another note. Hoping the Fallout TV show is done well. There used to be a YouTube series that was pretty good, although severely lacking in budget, so fingers crossed. As for the God Of War TV series, who knows if it will get past a pilot episode? I’ve a feeling it will be too expensive, given the scale it needs to operate on, but as I’ve said in the past let the Spartacus guys have a go at it. No, not Kirk Douglas, etc, the Gods of the Arena bunch. The guy that played Spartacus, the replacement one, could maybe be Kratos or his mate.

Last thing. Why, when I click on view comments, does it brings me to the top five stories? Is this a cookie issue or something I need to look at in my end? I generally like to look at these to see the ‘notes’ people have for those of us that send stuff in.
Bobwallett

GC: We don’t know how much of the budget went on paying him but the game cost over $160 million to make, which is a lot for a new IP in a niche genre. As for the comments, it sounds more like maybe you haven’t let the whole page load in yet, it can take a while sometimes.

Inbox also-rans
Surely there’s no way that Hogwarts Legacy on the Switch will ever actually exist in a playable state?
Needlemouse

GC: It does seem unlikely, but it’s scheduled for July.

Just see the new Super Mario Bros. movie ad for during the Super Bowl and it is great. Could this movie actually be… good?
Danson

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was inspired by reader matc7884, who asks what you consider to be the best value for money in gaming?

It can simply be a good bargain you found in a sale but perhaps it’s a free-to-play game that you’ve spent dozens of hours with, or a paid-for title you’ve put even more time into?

What is your minimum requirement for good value for money, in terms of length and quality, and when have you been most let down by an otherwise good game? What’s the most surprised you’ve ever been at a game’s value and what do you think other games could learn from it?

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.

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: The next big video game TV adaptations

MORE : Games Inbox: Nintendo Switch 2 power, Metroid Prime Remastered graphics, and future GBA games

MORE : Games Inbox: PS Vita 2 instead of PSVR2, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom price, and Moss: Book 2 love

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The Monday letters page debates how much Metroid Prime Remastered should cost, as one reader defends Bethesda Game Studios.