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Why do big companies make dumb decisions? (pic: Sony)The Wednesday Inbox asks about the connection between Nier and Drakengard, as one reader calls for a new Bushido Blade.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Expect nothingThis Sony U-turn over the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita online stores reminds me strangely of the whole European Super League disaster. You assume people that have worked their way up to become top execs, in charge of billion dollar companies, must know what they’re doing and then you get an example that shows no, they don’t really. Especially not when pure greed blinds them to the obvious.
I don’t know whether Sony will learn from this. More likely they’ll just sulk a bit and hope it doesn’t get brought up again but as many have said they just sleepwalked into this for no reason. I’m going to guess their profits don’t rest on keeping the servers for the PlayStation 3 running so why on earth would you take them down now, just as Microsoft is selling everyone one how good their backwards compatibility is?
This also reflects on the idea that companies have always got some masterplan or secret revelation going on behind the scenes, and then they never do. They’re just bumbling along like the rest of us and what you see is what you get. That’s why I have great difficultly imagining that Nintendo has some massive store of new games they’re waiting to reveal to the world. They’ll have like two, tops, and maybe a remaster. We really shouldn’t expect so much form games companies given the way they act most of the time.Krondike
Fashionable destructionI’m guessing we’ll start to hear about Battlefield 6 pretty soon but I really hope that they go hard in on the destructible scenery. When I first got into the series with Bad Company that was always the most impressive part but over the years it seem to have been made less and less of a priority. I don’t know why, because Call Of Duty doesn’t have it so EA don’t think it’s important?
Destructible scenery in general seems to have fallen weirdly out of fashion recently, despite being pretty big in the Xbox 360 era. I’m guessing it’s because last gen games were pushing the hardware to look as good as they did and there wasn’t any horsepower left for it? You’d think at least one game would give it a go but I can’t think of any where it was really a main selling point.
I hope to see if the new generation has more bandwidth for this sort of thing. I’d much more care about that than 4K or some other buzzword that you can barely notice the difference one.Luminant
Secret connectionReally looking forward to seeing the Nier Replicant remaster this month as I absolutely love Automata and have never played the original, having not owned a PlayStation 3 at the time (and we all know about Sony and backwards compatibility).
It really has become my favourite role-playing game of all time and, for my money, well above any possible rival in that genre for the poignancy of its script and characters – and just how funny and subversive it is. Yoko Taro is a genius and I feel almost embarrassed I’ve never heard of him before now.
Naturally, I’m also interested in playing Drakengard, since I understand the two series are connected, but that’s a lot older and doesn’t seem to have reviewed particularly well even at the time. I’d still give it a go though and very much hope that there’s a new Nier going to be announced soon.Deckhard
GC: Drakengard would need a full remake but it could work. The connection to Nier is extremely tenuous though – it’s basically just via an alternate joke ending that most people will never have seen. Although technically it is the explanation for the pandemic that underpins Nier Replicant’s story.
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Super-efficient badassI know there’s a lot of Tomb Raider fans on here so just thought you might be interested in this new statute. It’s stupidly expensive, and I wouldn’t even dream of buying it myself, but it looks really nice and I like the look of Lara here, in her old school get up but still looking modern and realistic.
This is the look I’m hoping they’ll go for in the new game, including the idea of fighting dinosaurs. I’ve had enough of her moping about and being all gritty and realistic, I want her quipping the bad guys before she shoots them and just generally being a super-efficient badass – like she used to be.
Being realistic in terms of graphics and physics is fine but when you’re dealing with ancient tombs the size of a small tomb and supernatural monsters I really don’t see the point in trying to pretend any of it has a sensible explanation. Just go with the flow and have fun.Damon
Last chance to buy?With the announcement that Sony was closing the old digital stores, I rushed out (went to eBay) and bought the Vibrant Blue PSP 3000 in mint condition, which I’d been meaning to do for a while. I then digitally bought some of the main titles I wanted to play, which are exceedingly more expensive physically.
However, with the U-turn from Sony this week, I can’t tell if digital PSP games are going away any time soon? The PSP store already directs you to the web store, which itself doesn’t offer PSP games anymore. So I’ve been buying them from the PlayStation 3 store (what if I didn’t own a PlayStation 3?). But the PlayStation 3 store is staying now, so… PSP games will stay too? Please help.RandyTandy
GC: Since our PSP is in storage we can’t check. We’ll try and ask Sony though.
Evil VRAfter the recent game playable demo for Resident Evil Village I’m very excited for it but I’m going to hold out in the hope of it coming to PlayStation VR 2. I think my top three games last gen would be Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Bloodborne, and Resident Evil 7 in VR. It was the second thing I played in VR after the X-wing demo and ranks as one of the best gaming experience I’ve had. Even so I’d want to play Resident Evil Village on better host hardware and a better headset, as PlayStation VR is feeling pretty creaky now.
I’ve gone Xbox Series X early doors this gen, for reasons I won’t bore people with. But I got it in mind I’ll pick up a PlayStation 5 when PlayStation VR 2 launches or maybe PS5 Pro if there’s one. It was good to hear Sony reverse their PlayStation 3/Vita store closing decision yesterday. But more encouraging for me was they also said they wanted to continue making new game worlds for PlayStation 4, 5, and next generation VR.
Just gives me the extra reassurance Sony will be putting out some first class VR stuff again this gen, can’t wait. Sony’s attitude to AAA single-player blockbusters and VR gaming I’m very much a fan of, so I take a lot of comfort to hear the PlayStation 5 is doing very well.Simundo
Flash of colourDoes anyone remember the game Bushido Blade on the original PlayStation? It’s one of the only games I can remember where fighting with swords was in any way realistic. You could basically be killed in one attack and instead of a little flash of colour there were proper big splurts of blood and lost limbs.
I’m making it sound better than it appears nowadays, given it is a PS1 game, but I’d love to see a new sequel or spiritual sequel. Things like Soulcalibur always do my head in when you get hit with a huge sword and all that happens is a few sparks and a tiny bit of health lost.Cropper
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Agree to disagreeRight, this is not the hill I want to die on but regarding best developer being no different than best director or musician…
I don’t think the comparison is very fair as musicians or film director are individuals bringing their vision to life, developers can sometimes run into thousands of people involved.
But more importantly I don’t think you can have a ‘best’ of any work of art, you can talk about your favourite, but how do you quantitively define ‘best’?
You can have a best tool. This tool does its job better than any other tool. But a piece of music, film or a video game?
I guess you could argue between games in the same genre, but you tell me which developer made the best open world game, Nintendo, Rockstar, or Mojang?
Anyway, that’s my twopence worth, why don’t you have a Hot Topic on who is the ‘best’ developer. I’ll clean your boots for a month if you can get 51% of respondents to agree.DarKerR (gamertag)
GC: Why would you want anyone to agree? It wouldn’t be any fun asking the question if they did.
Inbox also-ransAll the Bowsers involved with Nintendo at the moment are amusing, but none of them has a name as good as the guy who played Patron on Netflix’s Daredevil: DK Bowser.TGN Professor
Nice to hear that the Celeste developers have a new game on the go. Loved the original and sounds like they’ve got quite a bit more budget to work with on this new one.Sout
This week’s Hot TopicThe subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader 84Colbat, who asks what single-player game have you spent the most time on?
Whether it’s because of replaying the same game multiple times, rebuying it when it’s re-released on new formats, or simply playing the same save for a long while, what primarily single-player game have you spent the most time on over the years?
Is it unusual for you to spend so long with a single game and what do you feel is the minimum amount of time a full price single-player game should last to be value for money?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
The small printNew 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, 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 : Games Inbox: Paying full price for video games, Resident Evil Village cheese, and F-Zero GX HD
MORE : Games Inbox: The Elder Scrolls 6 release date estimate, Resident Evil 8 positivity, and F-Zero open world ideas
MORE : Weekend Hot Topic, part 2: What’s the last physical game you bought?
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