Games Inbox: What if Xbox start the new generation of consoles early, PS5 Pro apathy, and Elden Ring DLC

What if the next gen was sooner than you think? (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

The Monday letters page agrees that Microsoft and Sony have not had a good year, as one reader tries to imagine a current gen OutRun.

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PLEASE NOTE: We are currently preparing content to run over the Christmas and New Year break and, as usual, we’d like this to include Reader’s Features. So, if you’ve had an idea for a feature, that you’ve never got around to writing, then sending it in now would be the perfect time. In can be on any subject, but anything taking a long-term view of recent trends or games would be particularly apt.

Getting ahead
Looking back at Microsoft’s leaked information from their Activision Blizzard court case, they were talking about having a next gen console in 2028. They then said this was old information but what if that’s because they’re actually planning to kickstart the new generation sooner rather than later? I have heard whispers of that already and it kind of makes sense.

The Xbox Series X/S clearly isn’t setting the world on fire, so rather than coming up with an equivalent to the PS5 Pro next year, what if they started a whole new generation that was much more powerful? All Xbox stuff is backwards compatible, so it wouldn’t really inconvenience anyone else, it would just add more options and put Microsoft clearly ahead of Sony in terms of power.

I don’t feel that Xbox will want to give up making hardware, as some suggest, but they will know that just doing nothing is not an option right now. They’ll have to do something and I think a new generation makes sense. They could coincide it with the Switch 2 and then pretend it’s Sony that’s behind, I can see that appealing to Microsoft.
Gadfly

Least worst
I think it’s hard argue with Tom Meadows’s feature that Microsoft and Sony have both been pretty much at their worst this year. I don’t know about being full out incompetent but considering they’ve got a combined 50+ years of experience in the games industry they really do seem to be bumbling about like amateurs this year.

There are differences though and I think it’s Xbox that has come off slightly better this year, at least from outside looking in. Their E3 style showcase was good and they have put out a number of games, even if none of them are barnstormers. The problem is their hype never matches up to the reality and now we find out their sales are going down instead of improving.

For Sony though they’ve put out one game and that’s it. No announcements, a terrible showcase, and now nothing to look forward to next year or to even know when they’ll have another event. It’s complete bizarre. I don’t think I want Google or Apple taking over but then Google were even worse when they gave it a go. Maybe it’s just a case of being the least incompetent company, not the best?
Ishi

Expanded life
That Elden Ring DLC leak seems pretty legit, right? I mean, that is a real controller, that I can’t imagine being a fake, which means it is coming out in February. Or maybe it was supposed to and it got delayed at the last minute and that’s why it wasn’t at The Game Awards?

Personally, I say take as long as you like. Given how long games take to make now I feel like large DLC expansions are going to be increasingly important in the future. A sequel to Elden Ring is going to be at least five years away at this point and considering how little graphics are improving at this point, I think it’s much better to just expand a game that already exists than take all that time making a new one from scratch.

I don’t know if that’s the exact plan behind what From is doing but I do feel it’s something that more and more companies will be looking at. Between that and Sony style half-sequels who needs a full one?
Olsen

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Out of time
Hola. I’m having somewhat of splendid spine-tingling session with my gaming right now, with World Of Horror, Dead Island 2, and Alan Wake 2.

I’m smitten with the endearing old school text adventure gameplay and aesthetics, and macabre situations you find yourself in World Of Horror. The incredible attention to detail in the zombie damage system, wicked sense of humour and slick, fun combat in Dead Island 2. And the brooding, Twin Peaks-esque idiosyncratic, cinematic ambitions of Alan Wake 2.

So, in my morbid curiosity I came across this indie horror adventure that came out earlier in the year, so I was wondering if perhaps you could cover it in your end of year indie review catch-up? Keep up the tremendous work!
Galvanized Gamer

GC: We’re afraid it’s too late for that now, there’s no time to play and review it in what’s left of the week.

Power off before removing card
My Valve Steam Deck is 13 months old. I bought it with a £1,200 refund from Google Stadia. Only after 13 months of daily use it’s got a bit manky around the buttons and seams, as all devices that spend a lot of time in the hands do – you know mice, controllers, all of the manual mankiness.

So I decided to open up my beloved Deck (did I mention this is the best gaming device I’ve ever encountered? Better than PSP or Game Boy Advance) while forgetting to remove the MicroSD card. Shock horror snapped and irrecoverable data! Two thirds of my storage gone from 52 games installed, down to 18.
That includes my game save for Death Stranding Director’s Cut, which was accidentally given away by Epic Games last Christmas Day, which I hear is gonna be made into a movie (wasn’t it already a movie with brief periods of interaction?).

So, my holiday will be spent redownloading to SD card only the stuff I’m gonna use while the never-ending clearing of my library backlog continues.
Julian

Two bad options
After reading that Xbox is selling next to nothing I wonder if they regretting buying the Starfield developer for $7.5 billion, which let’s be honest, if it was just so Starfield wouldn’t be a PlayStation 5 exclusive it’s turned around and bit them back. And even though they dropped $69 billion on Activation and know that all of their games will be going on Game Pass everyone is still buying PlayStation 5 instead of Xbox.

I’ve always said Xbox would be far better as a game-only company. I know that Sony would have the market but you just think games could be made for one console (and PC) and ever so often turn up on Nintendo consoles. They wouldn’t have to spend billions on console development and they can put all their time on making the best games they can. But if I’m honest I don’t know why everyone is for PlayStation 5. Yes, they have exclusives but at £70 a pop all you can do is moan about price.
David

GC: It’s selling next to nothing in Continental Europe, it’s doing fine in the US.

Physical reforging
For any Broken Sword fans, Revolution, the developer, is looking to see if there is enough interest to make a physical version of the remake of the first game, Broken Sword: Reforged for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch.

All you have to do is register your interest at Kickstarter. I’ve already registered mine. I will probably go for a PlayStation 5 physical version, if there is enough interest to do a physical version.
Andrew J.
Currently playing: Manic Mechanics (Switch)

More: Trending

Pro point
With regards to looking forward to the PS5 Pro, I personally cannot see the point. The PS4 Pro made some sense. It was a PlayStation 4 with 4K graphics. They should have called it the PS4K.

What is the point of the PS5 Pro? The rumours may make the console sound ridiculously powerful, but does that matter? The PlayStation 5 has not even been pushed to the limits yet.

A PS5 Pro could offer GTA 6 in 8K, but 8K is just a marketing ploy. Unless you’re sitting within touching distance of a 50” screen, human eyes cannot tell the difference between 4K and 8K. At that distance, you’ll reduce your peripheral vision, meaning you’ll be playing games while constantly shaking your head from side-to-side.

Also, why would developers want to design another version of their games anyway? The PS5 Pro will only be for a niche market, while developers are getting rid of staff, not hiring.

It will only be a niche market as Sony will have to price the console at £650 minimum to differentiate it. This could cause a headache of Sony when it comes to pricing the PlayStation 6 in the future.

I am praying that PlayStation listen and do not release the Pro. It is not needed by developers, there is no massive shift change in third party peripherals, and the price point could harm their brand.

Based on the amount of tech released by PlayStation this year, I fully expect the PS5 Pro to be on shelves in the next 12 months.
Colin Kelso

GC: We agree with all of that, including your release estimate.

Inbox also-rans
Four years working on The Last Of Us Online and they just cancel it? Why do I get the feeling a lot of talented staff are going to be leaving Naughty Dog all of a sudden. Time for Microsoft to take advantage?
Culp

I wonder how Sega are going to bring back something like OutRun or After Burner? Those games are super simplistic and the OutRun sequels only barely had enough substance back in the 2000s. Here’s hoping Sega has a good idea for what they’re doing.
Lumpton

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The small print
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The Monday letters page agrees that Microsoft and Sony have not had a good year, as one reader tries to imagine a current gen OutRun.