The morning Inbox is still worried that developers are taking too long to join the next gen, as one reader wonders what the next Lego game is.
Home-made zombies
Well, it’s getting to that time where it’s been more than three months without a new Resident Evil and you know what I’m actually really missing it. I know the sixth one was rubbish but I still can’t help but be interested in what Capcom are going to do next. The first question has got to be whether they get a Western dev to make it or do it themselves. I know they said they were going to do more stuff in-house but Resident Evil 6 was home-made and we know how that turned out.
What I’d like to see them do is employ some sort of indie developer, maybe the guys that did Outlast or the first Amnesia. The problem Japanese publishers have is not using Western companies but using rubbish ones. Imagine what these guys could do on a big budget, and with Capcom helping out with the graphics. They’d be pretty cheap too so I don’t see why this isn’t a win-win situation for everyone. I miss Resident Evil and I want it to be good again.
Bedlam
Holding back
I have no interest in Borderlands either way but I think it’s very easy that we’re four months into the year and only one major franchise (Batman) has gone next gen only. Assassin’s Creed has a next gen only game, but it also has a separate last gen one too. I’m willing to bet that this year’s Call Of Duty is going to be cross-generational and obvious FIFA will be and I’d imagine whatever EA’s shooter is this year. Is anyone else starting to get worried that publishers are being too conservative and not making the jump to the next gen?
I can understand making last gen versions as well, but last gen only? Do they want there to be a market crash? People are not going to buy new consoles until there are games on them, and sitting and waiting for someone else to make them is not the way to go.
I know it’s a slow process and I’m probably impatient but it really does seem to me like companies are dragging their feet more than usual, especially given last gen was longer than usual. What does GC think?
Pinky
GC: Games get announced all through the year nowadays, so it’s hard to say where things stand at the moment even in terms of Christmas releases. But if after E3 there are still not significant next gen announcements from every major publisher then we might begin to worry.
Out you go
I thought we were past this sort of thing, but I was just reading this story about The Crew and it says not only does the game need a permanent Internet connection to run but it’ll kick you back to the menu screen if yours konks out. Even worse it’ll do it even if you’re playing on your own because it’s some kind of semi-massively multiplayer online game.
I’m not that interested in the game or anything but I just have to ask why? Who does that benefit? I guess maybe it’s meant to be an anti-piracy DRM thing but I bet it’s just the developer couldn’t be bothered to design the game any other way. Who cares about people who’s Internet connection falls out occasionally? They’re clearly not hardcore.
Oh and apparently the game is riddled with microtransactions that give your car an unfair advantage. I get the feeling this game was meant to be a Xbox One exclusive before they did all the U-turns…
St1nger
Ghost story
I realise I’m a bit late to the party here but wowzers… Beyond: Two Souls really is terrible isn’t it? I mean hats off to the graphics, it’s absolutely the best-looking game on the PlayStation 3 but well… is it a game? You don’t do anything that requires any skill and the bits where you’re on a horse but you’re hemmed in by all those invisible walls was just an insult to real gaming.
But I could’ve given that a pass if the game made good on its promise of being all about the story but that’s the worst part! Such absolute nonsense! I played Heavy Rain and although it had its silly moments and would’ve worked much better as a TV movie at least it all made some kind of sense. But Beyond is just pure gibberish where nothing makes sense and nobody acts like a real person.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers but Willem Dafoe’s character is pure Saturday morning cartoon by the end. It’s such a shame because some bits, like when Ellen is a tramp, are done quite well but it’s not a game and it’s not a movie either. I’d ask how they got such good actors involved but well… I assume it was money.
Cranston
Non-stealth release
Given the bizarre efforts Microsoft and EA are going to in order to downplay Titanfall on the Xbox 360 did they not consider maybe… not releasing it? It’s not like they had to or anything, but if they think it’s so important that it doesn’t detract from the Xbox One version then why have it in the first place? As GC has pointed out before the next gen versions of multiformat games generally sell the most already anyway, so it doesn’t seem like they have anything to worry about. But acting suspiciously like this is just drawing attention to something they wanted to be low profile.
Icon
GC: Here’s a good one as well: there are no screenshots for Titanfall on Xbox 360 at all, and nor are there going to be. We don’t know what we’re going to use in our review.
Easy prediction
Given the strong response to Mario Kart 8 it’s got me wondering what Nintendo are going to do for E3. After all these months of bad news I’d pretty much assumed they were trying to wind the Wii U down as quickly as possible and make something else – whether it’s this quality of life business or not. But now I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to stick with the Wii U for at least another year or so and that means announcing major games at E3.
I probably said this same thing last year but I hope Nintendo realise that an E3 filled with just Smash Bros., X, and Zelda will not cut it. We already know about these games, even if we’ve seen nothing of them, and clearly they’ve not been enough to get people excited about the Wii U. What we need is something new and unpredictable. If everything Nintendo shows at E3 can be predicated six months before it happens then they’ve failed. In my opinion.
Long John
Infinite Lego
This whole Lego business is getting pretty out of hand. The film was great, the toys are obviously great, but the games are just the exact same thing every single time. And now a Hobbit game is coming out just two months later (because of the DVD release I suppose). The worse thing is this leaves open for another new game at Christmas. When are companies going to learn that just because you like a thing it doesn’t mean you have an infinite capacity for enjoying it.
And what’s the next one going to be anyway? To my knowledge they don’t have any other new big licences so it’s either going to be Lego Batman 3 or a new Star Wars game (unlikely just before the new films). I’d like to think it was going to be a Lego City Undercover sequel for all formats, but I fear Lego has been burned by the failure of the Wii U.
There I am saying I’d like another game though, so I guess Warner Bros. and whoever do know what they’re doing. But like I said even my appetite isn’t never ending and I’m starting to feel like I’ve had enough. But maybe just one wafer thin sequel more…
Colin Seers
Given the bizarre efforts Microsoft and EA are going to in order to downplay Titanfall on the Xbox 360 did they not consider maybe… not releasing it? It’s not like they had to or anything, but if they think it’s so important that it doesn’t detract from the Xbox One version then why have it in the first place? As GC has pointed out before the next gen versions of multiformat games generally sell the most already anyway, so it doesn’t seem like they have anything to worry about. But acting suspiciously like this is just drawing attention to something they wanted to be low profile.
Icon
GC: Here’s a good one as well: there are no screenshots for Titanfall on Xbox 360 at all, and nor are there going to be. We don’t know what we’re going to use in our review.
Easy prediction
Given the strong response to Mario Kart 8 it’s got me wondering what Nintendo are going to do for E3. After all these months of bad news I’d pretty much assumed they were trying to wind the Wii U down as quickly as possible and make something else – whether it’s this quality of life business or not. But now I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to stick with the Wii U for at least another year or so and that means announcing major games at E3.
I probably said this same thing last year but I hope Nintendo realise that an E3 filled with just Smash Bros., X, and Zelda will not cut it. We already know about these games, even if we’ve seen nothing of them, and clearly they’ve not been enough to get people excited about the Wii U. What we need is something new and unpredictable. If everything Nintendo shows at E3 can be predicated six months before it happens then they’ve failed. In my opinion.
Long John
Infinite Lego
This whole Lego business is getting pretty out of hand. The film was great, the toys are obviously great, but the games are just the exact same thing every single time. And now a Hobbit game is coming out just two months later (because of the DVD release I suppose). The worse thing is this leaves open for another new game at Christmas. When are companies going to learn that just because you like a thing it doesn’t mean you have an infinite capacity for enjoying it.
And what’s the next one going to be anyway? To my knowledge they don’t have any other new big licences so it’s either going to be Lego Batman 3 or a new Star Wars game (unlikely just before the new films). I’d like to think it was going to be a Lego City Undercover sequel for all formats, but I fear Lego has been burned by the failure of the Wii U.
There I am saying I’d like another game though, so I guess Warner Bros. and whoever do know what they’re doing. But like I said even my appetite isn’t never ending and I’m starting to feel like I’ve had enough. But maybe just one wafer thin sequel more…
Colin Seers
60 or bust
A few GC readers have written in about how good the new Mario Kart looks running at 60 frames per second. The gameplay videos do look great but it’s likely the video watched was not 60fps. Virtually all video on the Internet is 30fps, including most streaming services like YouTube and Vimeo.
Twitch and UStream do offer live broadcast video at 60fps and some specialist gaming websites provide high bitrate 60fps gameplay downloads, Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry comes to mind. The file sizes involved can be pretty big; here Digital Foundry have about fifteen minutes of video of Battlefield 4 which comes to two gigabytes.
John Ryan
PS: It looks like Microsoft’s ‘Power of the Cloud’ wasn’t just a load of hot air, and comes to more than simply providing dedicated servers. It looks pretty early on and I wonder if this will come to market or become another interesting prototype that disappears, like Microsoft IllumiRoom and Project Milo for Kinect.
GC: 60fps is a thing you feel, in the fluidity and responsiveness of the controls, more than you see. But we take your point.
Inbox also-rans
That sturdy little sprite would be Mr Rick Dangerous. Whether or not I get the Fez code I want to thank Opt1mus76 for considering those that don’t have internet access at key times of the day!
Meestah Bull
GC: Lucky for you, you did win it.
People are still playing GTA Online? I mean it was fun and all at the time, but aren’t they a bit bored of the wonky driving and auto-aiming gunplay?
Crabbles
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Iceman, who asks what game did you initially hate but end up loving?
What’s the most extreme turnaround you’ve ever had for a video game? Was it a game you were dubious about at the preview stage or one you disliked in the first few hours but then went on to really enjoy? What period of time was there between the two opinions and was there any specific moment or feature that changed your mind?
Is there anything you regret about your earlier attitude and do you blame it on bad marketing, inaccurate previews, or just you getting the wrong end of the stick? Did you just think it wasn’t the sort of game for you, only to later find out the opposite?
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