The Tuesday Letters web page wonders why gory video games are as common within the US as one reader hopes Star Wars video game news in April.
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I have to make them all
Until a few years ago, I would describe myself as a fully-fledged adult Pokemon fan. I bet other fans can guess why I don’t anymore and the answer is right in Monday’s Pokémon Day Direct: there are just too many games coming out too often. Two mainline games in one year is crazy, but instead of finally giving Game Freak a break, DLC is also coming out this fall.
I know The Pokémon Company isn’t quite the same as Nintendo, but you’d think they’d understand that shutting down these games so quickly will result in a loss of quality. Call Of Duty games get more time, money and people working on them than this – a lot more from what I can tell – which is just crazy considering how big Pokémon is.
It’s not even just the DLC, you had all those smartphone games and spin-offs, which are apparently in their third year, or whatever, and yet I’ve never heard of it. It’s just too much. Even with Scarlet and Violet, I wasn’t interested in giving it another go, not until Game Freak frees up some time and starts making these games feel special again.
role
Tear and tear
It’s always interesting to me when a game does much better in the US than and here and the two most obvious examples I know of, besides sports games, are Mortal Kombat and now Dead Space. Neither are very big here, but both seem huge in the US. The obvious connection? Both are hyper violent.
That in itself is interesting because I would argue that games in general have gotten less gory over the years, probably as publishers try to appeal to an ever wider audience. I wouldn’t even say it was a problem per se – as long as horror games can do what they want, I don’t think a game really needs to be that gory, and it can easily get a little creepy in action games.
In response to the reader recently about what Mortal Kombat can do next, my question is how much more violent it can get. It continues to raise the bar, so how bad can it get before NetherRealm thinks they’ve gone too far?
Reading
This may be the way
With The Mandalorian’s third season starting this week, I wonder if we’ll finally hear about Ubisoft’s Star Wars game, which was rumored to be related in some way. Once Star Wars Jedi: Survivor comes out in March, there won’t be any confirmed games with a release date, which is a bit of a shame.
Does GC know when an announcement is coming? Isn’t there usually a Star Wars con sometime in the spring? I’d say I’m only a mid-level Star Wars fan, but I really like the shows and the fact that there’s still no decent game based on Boba Fett or Mando is kind of crazy after all this time.
Cain
GC: Star Wars Celebration kicks off April 7 and is in London this year. We’re not sure why it’s not May as usual, but chances are there will be some game-related stuff.
And finally
With these GTA 6 rumors becoming more and more common, yet still not really saying anything significant, I think it’s likely we’ll see a first trailer this year. I don’t think Rockstar would have announced the game if it wasn’t relatively far along, so assuming it comes out in a year or two, the reveal is probably sometime in the fall.
It’s been so long since GTA 5 came out, I think some people have probably forgotten how huge that game was and how it will dominate the gaming and mainstream news for months to come. Of course, most mainstream stuff will probably be negative, but it’s clear that Rockstar is playing into this and using it for publicity.
It sure will be weird to see both GTA 5 and GTA 6 in the top 10 every week. Is there another game series with multiple entries that are selling well at the same time because I can’t think of any?
Focus
Franchise without end
I don’t even know what to say about Ubisoft having 11 Assassin’s Creed games in development at the same time, even if some of them are smaller or mobile or whatever. The games are fun, but I can’t believe there are a lot of people these days who care about the plot or the characters, so you don’t really buy the games because of the expanded universe, or whatever, but purely because they’re pretty open-ended . World Games.
That doesn’t really seem like a reason to start making endless VR games and multiplayer games and whatever. I know plenty of people who love the series, especially Valhalla, but I’ve never spoken to anyone who’s ever played the series in multiplayer. Maybe it was just other games being renamed, but I’d say not everything has to be Assassin’s Creed.
MasterGreen
Farewell to weapons
I won’t send the screenshot I took because it’s a Nintendo game I made it from. Readers can watch the very first Tears Of The Kingdom trailer on YouTube. The arm Gannon is holding, the green arm is the one Link is using. My theory is that Zelda is asking whoever’s arm it is to grant Link his power.
Only a theory. I’m probably wrong, but there’s only one arm holding Gannon and lo and behold, Link’s arm is the same. Looking at YouTube channels, other channels, for example GameXplain and others, have not noticed this. So I put it there. By the way, I have not seen the leaked photos. Why would I want that? I’m just going by what my beloved Nintendo gives us.
On the other hand, I finished Metroid Prime tonight. I also beat it on the GameCube. The first version was a lot more difficult. No option like this, easy mode. 93% completion, I thought that was ok, now that I’m 45 I don’t want the stress of playing like I used to. I have all the energy tanks, that will do me good. I have been reading you since 2001. Keep up the excellent work.
woz 007 (gamertag)/woz_007 (NN ID)
GC: Nintendo is not going to sue for a screenshot of an officially released trailer. As it stands, your theory sounds perfectly plausible to us.
Short story
A possible synthesis of the recent back and forth Reader’s Features: The Last Of Us video game is superior to the HBO TV series, but the game is a poor gaming experience nonetheless.
A heavy focus on cutscenes, intrusive QTEs, and clunky mechanics made the gameplay more like an interactive movie than a video game. Probably why it was turned into a TV series.
ESS-DEE-95 (PSN ID)
Switch to arcade
Following on RickAndRolla’s letter from Monday, about the lack of new racing games, I’ve always wondered why other racing games aren’t as productive as they are on Nintendo’s (home) consoles.
I suspect it’s due to the lack of technical power of Nintendo’s consoles compared to its rivals, but I also suspect that developers/publishers never bother because they’re taking on that system’s Mario Kart.
However, Mario Kart is not realistic and I would like to see more Need For Speed/Forza style games on Nintendo’s home consoles.
I do have Crusin’ Blast and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit for the Switch, but the former lacks depth and the latter is a game over 10 years old that I completed (and have – done since) on the PlayStation 3 at the time. the remaster).
GRID: Autosport is good, but it’s not arcadey enough and is more of a Gran Turismo style simulator. I enjoyed the two Gear.Club Unlimited games (made from former Test Drive Unlimited 2 staff) and the DLC of both games, but the controls aren’t great (like Test Drive Unlimited 2), but I got used to them and have completed them as well as Car Driving School Simulator. I had fun with it, but it’s just a port of a smartphone game with even less depth than Cruisin’ Blast!
Thank goodness I was gifted an Xbox One on which I can play Need For Speed: Rivals, Heat and the 2015 reboot and Forza Horizon 5 via Game Pass. The reboot is my favorite of the three Need For Speed games. I haven’t really started playing Forza Horizon 5 yet.
However, I would like a few more ports or scaled-down versions of the racing games I currently play on Xbox on Switch.
Leigh Dappa
GC: A few years ago, there were many rumors of a new Ridge Racer on Switch, but unfortunately it never materialized.
Inbox is also running
Just a quick note to say there is no Hot Topic in the Monday inbox. In the Nintendo Store, they currently have a Splatoon 3 Leisure Bag available for 500 Nintendo Points, plus £1.99 shipping.
Andrew J .
GC: We’re a little short on staff this week, especially on Fridays, so there won’t be a Hot Topic until next week.
Do you guys ever rate a game and like that game and really enjoy it but it has quite a few flaws or gameplay issues that you didn’t mind at all but that you think could be a problem for most potential players so even a game you love do you score low?
Middlemaster
GC: We’ll respond to that sort of thing in the review, but we can’t think of anything we’ve enjoyed playing the game that we thought no one else would.
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