Games Inbox: Most trusted video game developer, Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode 1, and John Wick Hex

Interesting to see the questioning of Cyberpunk 2077 now more has been seen of the game and it’s getting closer to release. Naturally I am a little concerned but I think it comes down to just trusting CD Projek Red. After The Witcher 3, its DLC, and the way they supported it in general it would take a lot for me to put off their new game and I will certainly be giving them the benefit of the doubt, at least till it gets to reviews.

But I kind of feel that goes both ways with most games, especially those we saw at E3. Like, Avengers and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order both had questionable unveils but Fallen Order is by Respawn who I totally trust, especially after GC’s preview showing it was a 3D Metroidvania (why on Earth didn’t they mention that before?!). But Avengers is by the people who make those so-so modern Tomb Raiders, so while I’m not immediately put off it I’m not sold either.

Obviously Nintendo are always a sure bet, as are Ubisoft really. Their games might not all be classics but I trust them to include plenty of content and keep supporting them after launch. Bethesda is more of a grey area. I used to get all their stuff but recently I’ve learnt to be more wary and check which particularly developer is doing the game, but id Software and MachineGames are definitely trustworthy in my book.
Mike

An interesting quote here from the boss of PlatinumGames, where he says that he’s not that excited about the new consoles because they’re basically just a PC in a box, with no custom hardware. I know it’s been that way for a while now but I kind of agree with him.

I miss the days when consoles were considerably more powerful than a PC, for a couple of years at least, and it was them that were rushing to catch up. That hasn’t happened since the N64 era though and instead things go the other way – and it’s only not more noticeable because so few big budget PC exclusives get made nowadays.

A new console nowadays is just a mid-range PC with a nice controller and while that’s fine and all I wish it was more. Nintendo consoles are at least something different, but they’re never very powerful so that doesn’t really scratch my itch. I guess it doesn’t matter as streaming slowly takes over but I miss the deays when a console was a completely unique piece of hardware.
Knotagain

Following the list of most tweeted about E3 subjects I saw this list of the top 10 most pre-ordered games in the wake of the show. It’s from GameStop, which is mostly American, and I assume regular pre-orders are in there too because Super Mario Maker 2 and Crash Team Racing were barely mentioned at E3 but it’s still interesting stuff.

It seems the secret to Call Of Duty’s success wasn’t battle royale or even online multiplayer, it was shock value story campaigns and gratuitous violence against civilians, just like the good old days. Thankfully the more wholesome Pokémon was second, with the rest more or less as expected. Although I did find it funny that a remake of an old Game Boy game beat EA’s latest Star Wars game – I guess that trailer didn’t impress after all. Although Gears 5’s showing was even worse, in my opinion, so who knows how people are making these decisions.

Gonna be a busy Christmas and new year at this rate and always it’s going to be the losers that are just as interesting as the winners, as there’s clearly not room for everything to be a success.

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. Pokémon Sword/Shield
3. Final Fantasy VII Remake
4. Cyberpunk 2077
5. Borderlands 3
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
7. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
8. Gears 5
9. Super Mario Maker 2
10. Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

Gabbo

Just as another example of the kind of people that get upset at Tifa not having giant-sized breasts I see that the Total War forums are undergoing a similar problem. Previous ‘fans’ were upset there were female generals in Rome II and now they’re complaining because they were stopped from posting ‘sexy’ mods on the Total War subreddit. And by sexy I mean versions of the female characters wearing almost no clothing.

I’d like to think these people were just horny teenagers, but let’s face it they’re probably not. Considering how easy it is to get access to porn these days I just don’t understand stuff like this. Although even more confusing is the righteous anger from these people when others point out their being weird and creepy and should take it elsewhere.

Good on the Reddit mods for doing that though. People talk about having games taken seriously nowadays but in my opinion it’s stuff like this, and the general attitude of some fans, that’s keeping it back more than anything else.
Shogunath

Bit of a thought to benefit both.

Why not make the Switch able to do remote play from an Xbox on the same network? Could make owners of either buy the other one.

(Not used for a while) Inbox magic, can you make it happen?
Si

GC: If the Switch works with Project xCloud then it’d be essentially the same thing, and that’s something Microsoft is rumoured to be trying to convince Nintendo to allow.

Great preview of John Wick Hex, GC. A game I never even knew existed until now and never would’ve thought would be made to be honest, based on what it looks like and how it plays. Good on the film companies for not only trying something different though but actively encouraging it. Sounds like the one in question was more proactive about originality than most video game publishers.

There are so many movies and TV shows that would work as video games it’s been frustrating that they’ve been ignored all these years. So hopefully that will change. I see Fox, or whatever they’re called now Disney own them, seem to be making some good moves with Alien and the Predator game they announced, so hopefully others will follow in their footsteps.

I’d certainly be up for a Mission: Impossible movie, which seems like it would fit very well as a game. I don’t believe Tom Cruise has ever been in a video game before so that’d be a good angle all in itself. Although it’s funny that all the films that were being talked about are noted for their lack of CGI, and yet here we are talking about turning them into video games…
Austin

I was browsing through that John Wick Hex piece and suddenly my interest really peaked when you said if you reload a half full clip, you lose those bullets. It’s always been a little pet peeve of mine that you reload a gun having only used a quarter of the mag, yet still retain the bullets. I think I’m sold on that feature alone!

Do any other games have this feature? I’ve never come across it in 30 years of gaming.
Smokin_Monkey

GC: We feel there must be others, but none come to mind.

I don’t think it’s unfair to criticise Microsoft at this point. Most of the previous ‘criticism’ has been advice for getting them out of their current rut, all of which has been ignored. I’m not suggesting they should be taking business advice from random UK gamers but what we’ve been saying all these years is not new or outrageous and they must be aware of the problems and obvious solutions.

Maybe everything will suddenly come together next year but I’ve been thinking that this will be the one for years now when it comes to E3 and they’ve all been a wet fart. The problem is that Sony are sitting their out of sight and are in a vastly more comfortable position. They’ve got great first part developers, tons of upcoming games, they were number one this gen by miles, they’re well ahead in terms of VR, and they’ve done barely anything wrong all gen to upset gamers.

They also haven’t announced anything about the PlayStation 5 yet bar some vague specs and the promise of backwards compatibility. When they come out swinging I just don’t see Microsoft or Stadia being able to stand a chance. They won’t even have Nintendo running interference as the Switch is only a different time schedule now. I’m not saying this because I want it to happen but my prediction is that Sony, as long as they don’t do a PlayStation 3/Xbox One are going to storm it next gen.
Kent

Final Fantasy VII Remake looks great and all but why isn’t it subtitled Episode 1 or something? I have seen absolutely nothing in the marketing to indicate it’s only the first part of the story and if that continues to the final release it’s going to be very deceptive.
Ishi

Rebel Galaxy is free on PC on Epic Games Store from today.
Andrew J.

With E3 2019 having just finished the subject for this weekend’s Inbox asks what you thought was the best and worst announcements of the show.

What do you think was the best game or hardware (or service) reveal and why? And which was the worst? What gameplay footage impressed you the most and which games are you now looking forward to more – or less – than you were before E3?

Do you think E3 2019 was a vintage year and what were the best and worst aspects about it? Who do you think ‘won’ E3 and what was the best press conference? Please make sure to label your emails either for the weekday Inbox or Hot Topic, so we know which is which.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk