The morning Inbox tries to unravel the meaning behind Death Stranding’s new trailer, as one reader names Zelda the most likeable character ever.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
PLEASE NOTE: We’re currently putting together our Christmas and New Year content, which as usual will include a number of Reader’s Features. So to make sure we have enough please send your submissions to us as early as you can. The subject can be anything games-related you like, but if you’ve been meaning to write a feature recently and haven’t got round to it now would be a great time.
Endless adventure
Really good showing for Sony at the PlayStation Experience on Saturday, didn’t expect it to have that many new games. But like many I’m in two minds about The Last Of Us. Game endings don’t get much better than the original and despite what Naughty Dog are going to say about exploring the characters and world we all know they’re just doing it because it’ll be successful.
Sometimes I wish games could just end, but like Master Chief, Chris Redfield, and, yes, Nathan Drake these characters are already heading towards a life of endless adventure. Which sounds good in theory but too much of a good thing and all that….
Personally I liked the idea of a prequel better, with completely different characters. That at least would’ve allowed it to be a bit different, especially if society hadn’t completely broken down at that point.
And it’s about ‘hate’ apparently. Really? Maybe they could make it about vengeance as well, and then it could really be like 99% of all other video games. Oh, wait… they did.
I’m sure it’ll be a great game, and at this point they have to sell it as something angry and unpleasant to appeal to the mainstream (especially as the lead is a girl) but I hope Naughty Dog are aiming higher than that.
Onibee
Quite the show
I quite enjoyed the PlayStation Experience, there were many good little moments throughout, but for me Naughty Dog really stole the show with announcements at the beginning and closing of the conference. Sony really seem to understand how to do a conference: they make the games do the talking with gameplay and trailers and keep the dead air to a minimum.
NieR: Automata and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy are looking great, and the Death Stranding trailer was predictably weird and ambiguous, but the trailer for The Last Of Us Part II absolutely stole the show for me.
I am surprised the follow-up is a direct sequel; I thought The Last of Us had a perfect ending that tied things up nicely. I always hoped any follow-up would actually be a prequel that focused on a new protagonist from somewhere else in the world and that it would have been set only a few years after the outbreak. That being said, I am excited to discover what has happened to Ellie and Joel over the last few years and what exactly the Fireflies have done to elicit Ellie’s wrath.
iLike Fat Ladys (gamertag)
GC: Sony’s conferences used to be terrible for going on for ever, but they’ve got much better at that in the last couple of years. Plus, they always do the best montages.
AAA demo
Just had my first taste of a AAA game in VR…
I was one of the lucky bunch that managed to get my hands on a PlayStation VR and PS4 Pro both bought at launch times.
Until now I have enjoyed a lot of VR experiences but nothing that seemed full like a game, they were just tech demos or fun simple pick up ‘n’ __play style (kind of like games for smartphones).
Today Capcom and Sony teamed up to make probably the best gaming experience I’ve had in my 30 years of gaming.
Resident Evil 7: Beginning Hour shows how well we have progressed in the gaming world. For the first time in my life I actually felt immersed in another place. Virtual reality was taking over my reality.
I had played the demo before and already I was impressed, but when VR is added the house changes into stereoscopic 3D (3D audio too) and with perfect head tracking I was now able to look around objects that were always flat. It felt like going from playing 2D Mario to Mario 3D N64… but way better (and darker).
Forget IMAX 3D, when you add head tracking to 3D combined with some of the best in-game graphics ever, you are ready for a whole new personal experience.
I will not spoil anything but from the first minute of the demo when I just turned… walked towards the fireplace and actually looked under the chimney (I really had to move my body forwards and tilt my head under and then look up)… this was simply amazing.
Kitchen was/is a cool moment, but when you’re set free from that chair in VR, you very quickly realise that this is the future. The way online multiplayer is added to almost every game to increase sales, the game devs will all be exploring ways of adding VR elements to every game.
Once I finished the demo in VR I thought I’d load up Dark Souls III, (patched really nicely works smooth and fast on the PS4 Pro) It felt weird. Dark souls III kinda felt like it was in VR.
I have switched to cinema mode on my PlayStation VR many times and played many PSN games, this was the first time I loaded up a proper AAA game on disc.
I think Dark Souls III could easily be made into a VR game with a patch for head-tracking controls, stereoscopic 3D, and a few other tweaks and this game could easily end up out of stock, just like those pesky Move controllers (picked it up NEW today from Tesco for bargain £17).
I can see the PlayStation VR easily going for over £1k this Xmas (GAME are already charging £680 with PlayStation VR Worlds, £160 for two Move controllers, £70 for the camera… ridiculous).
VR is here and it can only get better… within the next 5-10 years we probably will get, lighter headsets, higher res, wireless, and more.
Gaming evolved.
S. Anwar
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
Naming comb-over
Well there you go. A new Marvel Vs. Capcom game gets announced after all. It’s not Marvel 4 but it’s still unbelievable considering the politics that ended the franchise previously. Looks like it may be a reboot of Marvel Vs. Capcom 1 with the 2v2 mechanic, which is no bad thing.
But the fact that Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 will be available on PSN (not yet at time of writing this) is a big surprise. And I am delighted. Let’s hope it comes with a balance patch!
So, is this a victory for the infamous Inbox magic GC? Is this the start of a new glorious relationship between the two respective companies involved?
Kenny R
GC: You’re probably overthinking the fact that it hasn’t got a 4 at the end of its name. Most franchises start to get embarrassed about their age round about the third or fourth sequel. Oh, and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is live now, for £19.99.
Cookie cutter
Following the recent discussion about trailers and the handful we got at the Game Awards, I think it’s a testament to the lack of creativity in the field that so many have to end with a protagonist or antagonist attacking the camera before the screen flashes to black and the game’s logo emerges.
I know it’s only marketing and it might sound petty and stupid but it has now become such an unbearable cliché that I get a bit annoyed whenever I see a trailer ending that way. It just suggests games publishers – or at least marketing executives – think we all want to see the exact same thing all the time and anything other than that won’t be appealing.
For me, it’s worse than the superhero landing shot or the kid creepily singing nursery rhymes in horrors. Anyway, I counted four (and very nearly five if Mass Effect: Andromeda qualified alongside Prey, The Walking Dead, Dauntless, and Bulletstorm).
Apart from that, the music in the Shovel Knight trailer was amazing.
Panda
GC: We agree entirely, video game marketing is still mostly awful. Also, you forgot piano-only versions of theme tunes and blue and orange posters for movies. Both of which have started to creep into gaming too.
Consumer right
Thank you to the readers with helpful suggestions about how to get around needing to give payment details to Microsoft to access Xbox 360 games through an Xbox One console or the Xbox site. I’ll probably go with adding and deleting my details but the prepaid cards sound good too.
I’m sure some may feel I’m being overly cautious or even paranoid but it isn’t hacking that’s my main issue. My Pay{al/credit/debit card details are held on a few sites like ShopTo and Amazon. NatWest, who I have my credit/debit card with seem to be very on the ball. My card details have been stolen in the past and before I was even aware NatWest contacted me regarding irregular activity. They took me at my word, over the phone, I hadn’t made the transactions and the money was refunded along with a new card received in two days.
It’s Microsoft themselves I don’t want to deal with. Adding your details seems like an unnecessary step Microsoft could easily remove, but also a couple of friends have had money taken from their card for Xbox Gold even though auto renewals have been turned off. Both times Microsoft have been difficult when getting the money refunded. Rightly or wrongly I associate Microsoft with poor customer service.
It’s for similar reasons I don’t shop at GAME. One thing GAME are good for are console deals and up to my PlayStation 4 I had bought all my consoles from them. The PlayStation 4 was the first console I had a problem with. After a day it wouldn’t read the disk. I took it back to the store where it worked fine, I shrugged my shoulders and took it back home where it also worked fine. A day later it wouldn’t read the disk again, I waited it out for another day and clearly the unit had an intermittent disk error where it read the disk around 50% of the time.
Took it back to the store and told them the issue, they set it up, it worked fine and said if they could see no fault there was nothing they could do, even though I’d said the fault was intermittent. I had a phone pushed on me with their technical department on the other end who said I’d have to prove the fault by recording it happening. I took the unit home, recorded the fault after returning from another trip to the store because they had forgot to repack the power lead. With the evidence in hand I received a replacement unit after the manager had quizzed me about how well ventilated the area where the PlayStation 4 resided was.
Like most, I’ve experienced excellent and terrible customer service and the jury is still out for me regarding Microsoft. Admittedly my view is primarily based on a few friend’s poor experiences so I’d genuinely be interested to hear others experiences, good or bad, when dealing with Microsoft or Sony and Nintendo.
Simundo Jones
GC: That customer service from GAME doesn’t sound that bad? They did replace it after receiving proof.
The charisma of Zelda
Personally, I agree with reader Simon about Zelda. I’m currently playing through Skyward Sword and am several hours in now, and I’m on the verge of giving up. It’s my first Zelda, so obviously I can’t judge the entire series, but this game is just so bland and boring. Everyone says that Zelda is imaginative, but I’ve yet so see a single drop of imagination in this game. The environments are all dull and have nothing of note to see or do except use the dowsing mechanic to search for Zelda, completing mind-numbingly dull fetch quests (with painfully slow platforming and wall climbing) along the way.
The motion controls are OK but not mind blowing, as everyone says they are. Combat would be more challenging and fun with traditional controls any day. Last and not least, the music is terrible. It has an amazing theme tune but the background music is just… bad.
That all being said, Zelda is probably the single most likeable character I’ve ever seen in a video game (probably not a very commonly shared opinion, but then neither is this entire message) and it’s my curiosity to see how the story develops that is keeping me slogging my way through what is otherwise a complete mess of game.
ar1speedboy
GC: Plenty of people don’t like Zelda in general, and Skyward Sword in particular has always had a mixed reputation. But Zelda as the most likeable character in video games?! That’s not one we’ve heard before.
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Guess the plot
I’m wanting to make some predictions about the stories of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, and Death Stranding.
First of all, let’s pretend that the story is actually thought out and coherent, and look at Zelda:
The Hyrule Historia shows how the timelines split due to the events of Ocarina Of Time – Link sends his consciousness back in time to when he was young. Since the going-forward through time was described as essentially keeping his body in suspended animation for seven years, I think this means that by going back in time, his adult body is essentially an empty husk.
I think in Breath Of The Wild we will __play as this husk (which is why the reports about the start of the game involve Link’s body being stored in some kind of sci-fi container before waking up).
This could fit with it being on the same timeline as The Wind Waker (which is why the King of Hyrule looks like the King of Red Lions, the ‘Calamity Ganon’ being the flooding of Hyrule by the gods, and why there doesn’t seem to be much civilisation within the game).
Death Stranding: the latest trailer featured propeller-based planes, with black trails, and then a tank with some strange lifeform stuck on it. As such I would guess there’s something to do with a lifeform (alien or man-made) that has started infecting the planet post World War 2 (but not contemporary) taking over technology, creating zombies, and maybe infecting the living (though maybe Mads Mikkleson is meant to be a fresher zombie?).
Willing to bet on these? Will you give me some good odds?
Joe Dowland
GC: No, but we’ll say those are pretty intelligent guesses. Although trying to figure out the meaning behind Hideo Kojima games is hard enough when you’ve played them, let alone just watched a trailer.
Inbox also-rans
I like how Sony always give a fair amount of time to indie games, even when they’ve got plenty of other stuff to show. For me Microsoft abandoning all the good work they did with Xbox Live Arcade is the worst thing they did with the Xbox One. And no amount of U-turns has ever really changed that.
Cotdone
Happy Christmas to GameCentral and all of its readers. Attached is a digital copy of the Warcraft: The Beginning film for anyone who would like it and sends in an inbox letter.
Andrew J.
GC: That’s very good of you. We’ve heard such mixed things about it we’ll give the code to the first person that agrees to write a Reader’s Feature about it.
This week’s Hot Topic
With Sony having just announced a whole range of new games at the recent PlayStation Experience event, this weekend’s Inbox asks the question what is your favourite exclusive Sony or Microsoft game?
What are your favourite games that were released only on a PlayStation or Xbox console (regardless of whether there was a PC version or not)? Any game from any console counts, but it can’t be multiformat. Why do you like the game so much and do you think it is typical of the console’s output?
How important are format exclusives to you nowadays and do they influence which console you buy? Do you think it’s important that console manufacturers continue to make their own games, and if so why? What do you think of how Sony and Microsoft are doing at the moment and which of their upcoming games are you most looking forward to?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.
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