The evening Inbox debates whether Egyptian or Norse gods are the best, as one reader admits they dont want to play Shenmue again.
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So now that Bethesda has quietly reversed their ridiculous review policy, how is that going to work for Fallout 76? My understanding is that its a multiplayer-only game, so I dont see anyway that reviews can be done beforehand even though Bethesda now allow it.
I have a bad feeling about the game in general, I have to see. The whole thing has the whiff of a spin-off rather than a game started from scratch and it sound like theyre just reusing old ideas and assets rather than starting from scratch with something new. Which is especially needed considering how bad their graphics are.
You look at the release schedules and something has got to give here, and Bethesda has proven again and again that gamers are happy to put their games at the bottom of their to by list if theres other stuff out at the same time. I dont even think its got anything to do with single-player necessarily, as much as they just arent the sort of straightforward action games you expect at Christmas. Myself, I think its going to be another flop.
Dent
PS: Will you be seeing the game at Gamescom, GC? Do you know how the reviews will work?
GC: Bethesda arent making appointments for it at Gamescom and wed assume a review wouldnt be possible until after release.
Reveal timetable
Personally, I cant see the PlayStation 5 being out for next year. There has just been build-up for it at all and I think casual gamers in particular would be very confused about it coming out so early as there doesnt seem to be any reason for it at all. We know the reason of course – that sales are starting to dip – but its hardly at a crisis point.
I think itll be pretty easy to tell whats going on once PSX is over in December. If theres not any kind of substantial hint there then I think you can rule out a 2019 launch. If they dont hint at it in public this year that means theyve got to do that next year and reveal it, all before E3 in early June. And thats not even taking into consideration these components they need being rare.
I guess Microsoft are in a similar situation but they never have their own annoucement events so I dont know when youd get the first clue from them. Would they announce it at The Game Awards? Just out of the blue? I agree with a letter a while back that said they should start their own Nintendo Direct equivalents.
Jacks
Strange gods
I think they probably made the right choice going with Norse gods instead of Egyptian with God Of War. The impression I get from Assassins Creed is that the Egyptian gods were a lot more abstract and weird than the Greek and Nordic ones, who are basically just ordinary people with superpowers. It might have been a bit of a leap to straight to Egypt, so maybe just turn up the weird as you go along.
What will they do after Egypt? Im sure theres lots of other mythologies they can raid but Im not sure any of them are as well known or politically easy to use. Like, no ones getting upset if they make Thor a bad guy but I dont think theyd want to do that with Aboriginal gods, or whatever.
I seem to remember them talking about making four or five new games so maybe two each on Norway and Egypt then the last one in the modern day? I assume Kratos is meant to be immortal so Id like to see him finish his story in the present time.
Custard
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New for old
I see that Microsoft is officially turning off all support for Forza Horizon 2, effectively killing the game. For those of you that get your Forzas mixed up its only four years old and was a cross-generational game, so it was on Xbox One.
Sony are worse for this, I know, but it is always worrying to me to see a company basically switch off a game and say you cant play it anymore. Not exactly something they can do with my copy of Gran Turismo on PS1.
I particularly dont like it because it seems inevitable this had something to do with the release of Forza Horizon 4, as they try and push out one game in favour of another.
Venn
In with the new
I was wondering how you would handle the review of the Shenmue remasters, because I know some people are convinced theyre the best games ever, but theyre really not. I played them and enjoyed them at the time but they were also really boring and I had a lot of time on my hands.
It does make you wonder what games really count as classics, because even the ones that had a really big impact arent always fun to play again years later.
Im glad that Shenmue sort of is but I dont think Id want to play them again. Im sure there are people that replay them, but to me theyre definitely an example of play them once to get the feeling of what they are and then never go back.
Pharma
Nightmare fuel
I had a terrible nightmare the other night. I was in an old house or cabin, lots of red and green lighting, possibly some children in trouble. There were a few other adults, I think one was a cop, and suddenly hes a zombie with an axe, and its kicking off and… I woke up.
Now, I remember reading a thing on GameCentral where someone said they would never play something like the most recent Resident Evil using VR. I think I just dreamt that experience. So basically GameCentral is responsible for giving me nightmares. I hope youre proud of yourselves.
Spooky Dreamer (SpookyDreamBoo – gamertag)
PS: RE: Dan Hs advice to my Xbox playing woes, thank you so much. In a world of bad press regarding gamers, its so nice to come to a supportive friendly place like GameCentral where help rather than trolling is the norm. I looked into Xbox streaming via your link, but my sister hogs the bandwidth for streaming TV while shes at home, so its a no go. And of course playing elsewhere means I wouldnt be able to bathe in the glory of the zillion inch TV. Got in a good session Sunday, little Westie dog only bit my toes once. Maybe he wanted a go on the gamepad.
GC: Quite proud.
Old number
I recently tried to find out about games which had been number one in the sales charts in the UK and found it even more difficult to get information than I expected. Even though GFK Chart-Track has been running the charts since 1996 (and others existed before that), they only have information from 2003 onwards on their website. I tried contacting them but got no response.
Does anyone know of any source for older charts and info?
deleteaa (PSN ID)
GC: Were you asking a specific question or asking them to send you years worth of data? Companies have to pay to get that info, but if it was just one or two simple queries it might be worth trying again and seeing if theyll help.
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Lost mojo
Recently, Ive been having problems recharging my DualShock 4 controller. Which may sound like some geeky innuendo, but I assure you that its not.
I first noticed that after charging it with that ludicrously tiny USB cord that comes out of the box, the controller wasnt charging after a period of time being connected to the main console. In fact, it had lost more power. The controller and cord would need to be wiggled around in order for it to register as charging.
I got myself a longer cord from my local games store as I had been meaning to for ages, but still the same problem. Then I realise, like a massive idiot, that my mobile phone charger does the job reliably 100% of the time.
But how could this be? As you may tell, I am not even remotely qualified to be an electrician – I still think that its all lightning magic – but I dont think its the fault of the controller. Either the USB port on the main console is loose or, and bear with me here, the main console isnt generating enough power to charge the controller!
Because I do have an external hard drive plugged into the other USB port and I dont really want to switch them around in case the connection fails when I need to save. That could be bad. Im sure all the tiny lightning imps that live inside will all die or something.
DMR
Inbox also-rans
You say in your Shenmue review that this was the game that invented the quick time event, but didnt the Dragons Lair series of arcade games do it first? As essentially they were one long set of QTEs?
TheTruthSoul (PSN ID)
GC: It was a similar concept but crucially Dragons Lair didnt tell you what buttons to press, you just had to guess.
Im a big Smash Bros. fan, was wondering what the general GC stance was on the series?
Anon
GC: Were fans, wed say. Heres our review of the last one.
This weeks Hot Topic
With Gamescom happening this week, almost every video game that will be out for Christmas has been announced and shown to the public. So the question for this weekends Inbox is which ones are you intending to get?
With the possible exception of some, probably minor, Nintendo Switch titles youre probably already very familiar with all the major releases this autumn, so which ones have impressed you the most? Are there any youve already pre-ordered and what others are you interested in? Which are you waiting for the reviews on and which have you already discounted?
How closely do you monitor new games as they edge towards release and do you try to know as much as possible before release or as little as you can?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
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