The Friday Inbox worries that the PlayStation Showcase had too many remasters, as one reader advocates cloning Insomniac Games.
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C-list heroes
I’ve seen some people complain that ever since the PlayStation Showcase there’s now too many Marvel games being made but I really don’t see how. We’ve had Spider-Man and Avengers which was a flop. Then there’s Guardians Of The Galaxy and this year, Midnight Suns next year, Spider-Man 2 in 2023, and Wolverine 2024 at best.
At most that’s one a year and probably not even that, I’d hardly call it overkill. Especially when there’s plenty of characters I’d like to get a shot as well. The one I’m least looking forward to is Wolverine, because I don’t think he’s really got a particularly unusual powerset for a video game. Basically every video game character has a healing factor and beyond that he’s just got knives on his hand, that’s it. Oh and a good sense of smell, I guess.
Ant-Man or Doctor Strange would make much better game characters, because they’re more unique and have lots of different abilities, but they’re not as big of a name so I can’t see them ever really happen. Not unless Sony, or whoever starts doing with games what the movies did, by making even C-listers a big deal. I hope so, but I think it’ll be a while till we get there. At least Midnight Suns has some more obscure characters.
Xane
Last minute change
I do agree it’s a shame that Sony won’t have another PlayStation 5 exclusive until 2023, as pointed out in the Reader’s Feature. We might have something, we don’t know everything that’s been announced, but I don’t see a big budget game suddenly popping out of nowhere in the next 12 months or so. Especially as that Last Of Us multiplayer game is almost certainly cross-gen, given it’s using the original as its foundation.
What’s odd is that they changed their mind on the issue so late in the day and I’m not really sure why. It’s got to be partly to do with shortages, but as the reader points out that can’t be the whole story – not if it’s outpacing sales of the PlayStation 4, which wasn’t treated like this.
I think the other half of the story is that Sony were reacting to what Microsoft were doing, only Microsoft actually went the other way. Hopefully it won’t matter but I have to say those God Of War Ragnarök graphics didn’t look like quite the step up I was hoping for.
St1nger
Pre-rendered preview
Really enjoyed the PlayStation Showcase and I thought it did pretty well in terms of showing real gameplay versus CGI trailers. I don’t have any problem with CGI though and don’t really understand why some people complain about it.
Sure, we’d all rather see the real game in action but the reason they’re showing CGI is because the game isn’t ready yet. So it’s that or nothing. Now, there is an argument to be made that maybe games shouldn’t be shown off so early but frankly I like knowing as soon as possible, and clearly it’s something that works for Sony.
Sometimes I think a lot of complaints levelled at video games don’t really consider what the alternative is. Especially in this case where the alternative is nothing at all.
84Colbat
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Bayonetta Pro
PlatinumGames implying that Bayonetta 3 is ready to show but Nintendo is stopping them is a bit of an odd one, I wonder what the reason is? I remember an early rumour that the game was designed with Switch Pro in mind so I wonder if that’s actually true and from Platinum’s point of view it’s ready to show, but Nintendo don’t want to say anything this year until the OLED is out and Christmas is over?
That makes logical sense, which is probably a guarantee that it’s not why Nintendo is doing it. But I can’t think of a better theory. I can understand Metroid Prime 4 as that got started from scratch but you really would’ve thought there’d be something to show of Bayonetta by now.
AceDog
Secret reasons
I was discussing the news that Gran Turismo 7 seems to be online only with a friend and he offered an explanation for it that is not something I would’ve ever thought of, so I thought I’d share it.
He suggested that it was because of the deal Sony has with FIA and that you needed to be online to ensure you weren’t cheating or using any kind of mod, since the online championships for the game are supposed to be official FIA things and using their rules.
That doesn’t explain any other game that does this but I thought that it was interesting that there may actually be a reason after all. It’s still going to suck when Sony pulls the servers in five years time though.
Gannet
Marvellous showcase
Overall I think Sony had a good line-up of games in their show (if a series of back-to-back trailer can be defined as a show). However, I don’t think it’s one of their greatest.
Maybe I’m getting more woke in my old age but whoever directed the Project Eve trailer seemed obsessed with her shiny bottom. When people campaign for more female protagonists, I don’t think this is what they mean.
Leaving CGI derrières aside, the line-up became quite dominated by remasters and Marvel. With Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, Alan Wake, GTA 5, and two Uncharted games it seemed excessive. Marvel then because the most visible logo, not helped by the fact God Of War is based on the same myths as a Thor film, so we end up with a bunch of names familiar from Marvel and even the title of the game shares a name with the last Thor film.
To be clear these games all looked good and I like Marvel, just where are the original stories from Sony?
Tim
Monster maker
Totally agree with the Reader’s Feature about The Last Of Us Part 2. I will never understand fans who act as if Ellie is somehow in the right, completely ignoring how much she’s changed from the first game.
It’s fine if you don’t like the change in direction but ignoring that and pretending she’s still the same little girl as before and it’s Abbie that’s 100% evil is crazy and completely ignores everything the game is trying to do. And yes, I also agree Naughty Dog are too sympathetic towards Ellie and don’t quite realise the monster they created.
Boff
Cloning Insomniac
Completely agree with the Reader’s Feature saying that Insomniac were a steal for Sony. You don’t even have to like their games to see how true that is, given the speed and quality of what they’ve put out lately. I don’t know how they’ve done it but if they keep this up they’re going to end up as Sony’s most important developer, given how long it takes Naughty Dog to do anything (they were the only disappointment at the showcase, by not showing The Last Of Us multiplayer).
Every time I see the $7.5 billion number for Bethesda I just can’t believe it’s real, it makes no sense to me on any level. And as the reader pointed out, Insomniac are going to end up making more games than them over the next year.
What Sony need to do now is work out how Insomniac does it and try to replicate it. I predict we’ll see a lot of Insomniac satellite studios being set up over the next few years and that’s the real answer to keeping up with the increasing price of making games. Don’t pay over the odds for a studio that already exists but create one with a specific purpose under the supervision of another one that’s already succeeded.
If they can bottle what Insomniac does and make more then they will be doing very well.
Olly
Inbox also-rans
This is going to be a bit weird but I want to identify a game. It was shown off in this year’s E3 and it might be Neo: The World Ends With You. It was very anime. But there was a shot with four or five characters on a tandem bike. Was that Neo or something else?
DMR
GC: That was World’s End Club.
The Reader’s Feature about Uncharted on PlayStation 5 was excellent and I totally agree, but it was Sideshow Bob who walked into rakes in The Simpsons, not Krusty.
ANON
GC: An unforgiveable error.
Thought you guys might like this for Psychonauts 2!
Birdmanrob (PSN ID)
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Ishi, who asks what video game franchise do you feel is the most consistent?
A lot of famous franchises have celebrated their 25th or 30th anniversaries recently and are still pumping out new games but which do you feel has been the most consistent across its long history? Have any reached a point where you’ll now buy them on name recognition alone or are you still cautious about each new entry?
What do you attribute the franchises’ consistency to and do you feel it’s kept up well with modern trends? If not, what new directions would you like to see from it in the future?
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The small print
New 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.
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MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: Favourite Trophy or Achievement
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MORE : Games Inbox: PlayStation showcase new games, God Of War Ragnarök story, and Uncharted 5
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