The Thursday letters page compares Capcom’s successes to Xbox’s failures, as a reader thinks Bungie should’ve made Destiny 3 instead of Marathon. Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions.
Hardware Upgrade
Just saw a thing saying that sales of the PS5 Pro are up, because people are upgrading to buy GTA 6 this autumn. They’re going either straight from PlayStation 4 or upgrading from the PlayStation 5. That’s not very surprising, and makes plenty of sense, but as a standard PlayStation 5 owner I do wonder how well GTA 6 is going to run. We’ve all seen the trailer a hundred times (or is that just me?) and those graphics are out of the world. They’re also far beyond anything I’ve ever seen on PlayStation 5, so the idea that they look that good and they run at 60fps seems impossible. I’m not suggesting Rockstar is lying about anything, but I do have serious worries about performance, to the point where I’m thinking of getting a PS5 Pro too. The problem is we’ll never find out what the situation is until days after the game’s out and I know I’ll never be able to wait that long. Sony must be rubbing their hands in glee, especially as no one’s going to be crazy enough to buy an Xbox Series X, given what’s happening at the moment.
A Feast of Crows
I really feel for all the people working at Microsoft developers right now. I’m not clear whether they know what’s going to happen to them yet or when we might get an official announcement, but I hope this doesn’t drag on too long. I also hope that all those people you were egging on the Activision Blizzard buyout are now eating crow. Although this is far worse than anyone could have imagined, the basics are exactly what more sensible people were warning about. Not only has Xbox destroyed itself but it’ll be lucky not to take the whole Western games industry with them. Frankly, I’ll be glad if Microsoft just sell up and leave the business, their influence is purely negative now.
GC: Although talks are ongoing with upper management at the various studios it’s not clear when there might be any kind of official announcement. There’s been some suggestion it might be Friday, but Microsoft’s financial year doesn’t end until June 30.
Busy Period
Never mind the rigours of the World Cup. My concern is for the stamina, well being and mental fortitude of Jenkins, Beckworth, Gillett, Orr, Boxer, and Jessop to manage the tsunami of titles dropping weekly or twice a week, from September 3 to October 29 that need reviewing. It’s always a busy window for game releases but i can’t remember one with as many potentially bit hitters as this. Hope you’ve got your training camp, drinks breaks, and media obligations sorted out. I believe in you guys, but don’t envy you. As Optimus Prime would say, ‘Rollout GC!’
Educated Guess
I was wondering, how do you pick the games that you review? Even a casual look at the PlayStation online store, for instance, reveals a plethora of mainstream and indie titles. How do you decide what to spend your valuable reviewing time on? I’m guessing that time is a major factor when it comes to review choices. Unless you have an army of reviewers you can’t play everything. It’s easy to understand why you review high profile releases such as 007 First Light and Resident Evil, because coverage of AAA titles is an obvious draw for web traffic, but how do you decide which less well known releases deserve a page on the site? I’m guessing that by doing what you do you’ve developed an instinct to detect and avoid low quality shovelware and novelty games. I’m just interested to know exactly how you differentiate.
GC: Every day we get sent dozens of press releases for different indie games, so between that, previews, and general word of mouth we’re generally aware of most interesting games before they launch. But not only is it impossible to review everything but a lot of reviews would be of no interest to most people, so we just have to take a chance on what’s going to be worth spending time on.
Year of the Remake
Some interesting discussions about Zelda: Ocarina Of Time and I’m not really sure where I stand. Ordinarily I’m not keen on companies doing too many remakes but Nintendo generally doesn’t and few games deserve one like Ocarina Of Time does. But then again, it is unfortunately going to come out the same year as another N64 remake, with Star Fox, which is taking two spots away from what could’ve been new games. I get that it’s a coincidence, and a remake of Star Fox 64 is probably the best way to restart interest in the series, but it’s still not a good look. The best way out of the problem would be to promise plenty for next year that is brand new, but for whatever reason Nintendo is being extra secretive at the moment. We know about Pokémon Winds and Waves but if they’d only announce the new 3D Mario I feel there’d be much less unease amongst fans. Just a name or teaser the length of Ocarina Of Time would be fine.
Customer Loyalty
I completely agreed with the recent Reader’s Feature about Capcom being a model for how publishers should carry on. I know we shouldn’t put these companies on a pedestal, but when you see the likes of Microsoft bumbling around aimlessly, destroying everything they touch, including their own reputation, you’ve got to hand it to Capcom, who just sits there and gets on with the business of making good games – and are well rewarded for it. They don’t brag, their execs aren’t constantly giving interviews where they manage to say nothing of value, and they don’t make promises they can’t keep. Instead, they nurture their moneymakers, like Resident Evil; they bring back old franchises when they can; and they’re constantly taking a risk on IP. That’s made me want to take a risk on their games too, and I’m rarely disappointed. I get what the reader the other day was saying, about never buying games at full price, but while I wouldn’t criticise him for doing that I would say he then has no right to complain if a franchise or company he likes goes under, if he wasn’t willing to support them. You might say that’s not our problem, as customers, and it’s not. No one’s making you buy a game day one or even first-hand but if you don’t you’ve got to be prepared for the consequence of those actions. I’m not a charity and I don’t mindlessly buy every Capcom game, or anything from anyone else, but if I know a company has a long history of not letting its fans down then that’s something I bear in mind when spending my money.
Better Than Nothing
I really don’t understand why Bungie didn’t make Destiny 3 instead of Marathon. Nothing about Marathon ever looked good, or like something that could be a major hit, and I don’t understand how it’s got this far. If I remember, people were against Destiny 2 at the time because it was too soon and they didn’t want to start from scratch again but that seems a minor problem when the alternative is Bungie being gutted and not making any new games at all.
Buy One, Get 49 Free
Marhaba GC and the fellowship of savvy readers. UFO 50 has been an immensely impressive retro inspired compilation for me these past few months. Easily the most ambitious and ingenious indie game I’ve played since arguably Outer Wilds. The variety and consistency in quality across the 50, mostly completely disparate games, is an outstanding artistic achievement. No wonder this grand undertaking took the best part of a decade to come to fruition. Upon booting up the game for the first time, I was pretty overwhelmed with the wealth of choice on display and what to play first. Being the type that is easily chronos triggered, I started right at the beginning with the very first in the game’s internal timeline of releases, the brutal, seemingly inscrutable, captivating minimalism of 8-bit Zelda and Dark Souls-a-like, Barbuta. But that moment when you first initiate UFO 50 and lay eyes on the massive selection of games felt almost tantamount to entering a big sweet shop as a child and being mesmerised by the sheer dizzying array of enticing, succulent goods on offer. UFO feels like the pick ‘n’ mix sweets of the gaming world, and it’s just magical. So many flavours, so much texture, lots of fun to be had exploring the gamut of sensory delights. It’s not every day that I await a limited run physical edition of an indie game to release to support the developers, but with UF0 50 I just felt it was incumbent on me to purchase the Olivia Newton John version. The Switch physical edition didn’t disappoint, with a lovely poster advertisement of the pseudo console (LX III) that hosts the multitude of games and some other cool stuff. I also appreciated all the little details in the fictional history of each game’s development and how they tie into the meta, alternate 8-bit universe UF0 50 so delicately weaves, making me feel all tingly and nostalgic inside. All very convincing stuff for gamers of a certain vintage. Here are a few personal favourites of mine: a clever and challenging take on Metroidvania with a gravity shifting mechanic at its core (Vainger), a breezy but challenging and inventive racing shoot ’em-up (Seaside Drive), and a brilliantly off-kilter and deceptively deep house party management simulator (House Party). Then there’s the quirky and strategically nuanced cowboy train heist game with a focus on stealth gameplay (Rail Heist), a charming platform adventure where you can shrink down in size to access a hidden miniaturised world and microscopic wonders in a bedroom you’re trying to escape (Max And Mini), and a fun platformer with a ricocheting football as the main mode of attack (Kick Club). I’ve been playing UFO 50 since March and at this rate of discovering more and more gems in the library of exquisitely curated games, I’ll be playing this game(s) well into the year and beyond!
Inbox Also-Rans
So what happens when Control Resonant is a flop, just like all other Remedy games? They should team-up with PlatinumGames because they’re both developers I love, who have been around for ages, and yet have never had a single major hit.
I put Game Pass down as the main reason for Xbox’s failure. It was a gamble, perhaps the biggest gamble ever in gaming, and it just didn’t work. I don’t know whether to pity or blame Phil Spencer now that we see what it’s all led to.
