The morning Inbox is glad Sony has given up trash talking, as one reader fears games have become a negative influence on movies.
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Please note: We’re currently preparing for our annual Christmas break, from December 24 to January 5. During that period we’ll have lots of end of year features and 2014 previews but there will also be the opportunity to run more Reader’s Features than usual. So if you’ve got a topic you want to write about send us your submissions as soon as possible and we’ll use them either over Christmas or at the weekend as usual.
Home crowd
I don’t want to have too much of a go at Dynasty Warriors because I know some people like it but what are Nintendo thinking when they combine one of the most critically-acclaimed series in history with one of the least? Actually, let me rephrase that, I think I know what they’re doing: they’re only thinking of Japan again. Dynasty Warriors is big in Japan, the Wii U is not, so throw the two together and what do you get? Sales Nintendo obviously hopes, and with apparently no care at all as to what happens in the West.
On the one hand I admire this of them, but only if it leads to more quirky games for a Japanese audience, the sort of thing that made the DS so much fun. But there’s been a severe lack of that so far and without I just cannot see the point of only playing to a home audience. Worse than that making almost zero effort to make Western style games.
As has been pointed out anyone could’ve made Donkey Kong Country and yet Nintendo has wasted their one good Western developer on a game that’s got flop written all over it. I just don’t understand them sometimes.
Ishi
Year of the schoolboy error
Dynasty Warriors? Really?! What, you mean that really terrible game franchise that everyone hates because it’s completely mindless and repetitive? Yeah, good idea Nintendo. Good use of resources. Why bother make any new IP when you can just borrow just about the worst one going.
I can’t wait to read the end of the year review for 2013 because it’s going to consist of nothing but big companies kicking themselves in the unmentionables. Both Microsoft and Nintendo have done their best to destroy themselves this year and all the most silly, preventable ways imaginable.
Here’s some free advice Nintendo: announce some new games. Ideally brand new IP. It doesn’t matter if it won’t be out for a while, at least it’ll give us something to look forward. At least we’d know you were aware there’s a problem. I dread to think what’s next though, Zelda X Ninja Gaiden? (Actually that’s Tecmo Koei as well, better not given them any ideas.)
Badgerman
Burn out or fade away
With all this talk of Star Wars games at the moment the first thing I thought of when Disney said they were going to make a new movie every year is video games. I know movies have been taking a lot of influences from games for a while now, but did the yearly sequel really have to be one of them?
I really don’t understand the idea though, for games or films. If something’s really popular why run it into the ground so quickly? Surely you’d make more money from something that was popular for 10 or 20 years rather than something that burnout after five? Maybe I’m being naïve, I’m sure they’ve got graphs and charts that say otherwise but it’s depressing to think that pretty much anything you like nowadays you can guarantee is going to be flogged to death before its time.
I can just about see the need for multiplayer-focused games like FIFA and Call Of Duty, but anything else surely your mother was right and less is more?
Pinkie
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Everything is awful
I’d just like to add my two cents about tellies. It’s a truly shocking time for televisions. Edge lit screens are in vogue at the moment, which means people who actually care about picture quality and screen uniformity lose out while idiots who want a thin telescreen for consuming prolefeed are well catered for.
All Sony TVs are rubbish, Samsung are rubbish, and Panasonic aren’t making plasmas any more. Nobody is making full array LEDs any more and plasmas have poor input lag. Even OLEDs and 4K TVs have uniformity issues. I’m saving up to replace my horrendous Sony KDL 42W653 which I only bought four months ago but I have no idea what to replace it with as I’m not sure there are any full arrays for about a grand on the horizon.
College Know It All Libertarian
PS: Zelda meets Dynasty Warriors. The greatest video game series meets the worst. Who comes up with this stuff? I’m usually a pacifist but whoever gave this the green light should be force fed their own internal organs.
GC: Okay… we defended the guys talking about TVs the other day but that’s just beyond the pale in terms of elitism.
Respected rivals
Since I hate ‘trash talking’ amongst execs I just thought I’d put in a good word for Sony boss Shuhei Yoshida, who’s admitted that he owns two Wii Us and really likes the new Mario. I must say this attitude is a great relief compared to the usual name-calling and schoolboy antics, particularly from Microsoft.
When execs act with respect like that when they do come out and say things like ‘we spend more on original IP’, as Sony recently did, it makes me much more willing to listen to them and think they’re not just trying to win some war of words.
Nobody should be in charge of these companies who isn’t a gamer and no true gamer would dismiss a game because of what company made it. I’m glad Yoshida understands that at least.
Astrolad
Long break
It is weird how the games industry basically switches off as soon as it hits December and won’t turn on again until February. I wish I got that sort of time off. I don’t understand why this time though? The last couple of years we’ve had a pretty busy January and February and surely no more than ever, with the new consoles out, we need games to come out quickly to justify the new machines.
I’ve got a nasty feeling we’re not going to see any major new PlayStation 4 games out until almost the autumn now (and no I don’t count inFamous 3) and that’s not good. Especially with Titanfall out in March, although to be honest that’s about all there is of interest for the Xbox One as well.
One day publishers will learn that gamers don’t hibernate, but clearly not this year. Or next.
Pashton
Currently playing: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (7/10), FIFA 14 (8/10)
So it’s come to this
So that’s it, I no longer own a copy of Battlefield 4. I never would’ve believed I’ve given it up so quickly considering how much I was looking forwards to it but I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough with the crashes and the lost saves and I’ve had enough with EA’s evilness and DICE’s lies.
I just don’t know what’s going on in gaming any more. Games never work when you buy them, microtransactions are destroying any sense of skill or progress, Nintendo has gone to pot, Microsoft has a death wish. What on earth is going on?
I paid £50 for Battlefield 4 and would’ve been happy to pay even more on downloadable content but now I don’t have the game and I’m seriously considering whether to sell my PlayStation 4 next as well. How could things have gone so wrong? Still, err.. Merry Christmas though. At least I can still rely on GC.
Paulie
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Knowing what you’re getting
I know it makes me sound like a crazy but I’m one of those guys that was playing the DayZ alpha, even though I knew it would be filled with bugs and probably be really annoying. But you know what, they told me that going in so I don’t mind. (Yes, that was a dig at EA and SimCity/Battlefield).
It’s a fascinating experience to see a game at this early stage, almost as if you can see the developer chipping away and making it in the background. I’m not sure I’d necessarily recommend it to anyone to play as there really aren’t that many zombies around at the minute but this is your big chance to suggest features for the final version, so I figure it’s definitely worth it for that at least.
If only EA had called Battlefield 4 an alpha maybe they could’ve escaped all the bad press that way?
Potentate
Inbox also-rans
Game of the Year. Simple… BioShock Infinite… that’s it for 2013. Merry Christmas to the best gamers found anywhere in the world, right here.
The_Tomahawk_Kid (PSN ID)/@Tomahawk_Kid (Twitter)
If you paid £120 for Virtua Racing at launch you were ripped off. It most definitely cost £70. A bargain…
Cold Waste (gamertag)
I bought Battlefield 4 from Tesco ‘cos it had got the first expansion pack included… now the codes don’t work! EA games are a bunch of opportunist thieves. I’ll not be buying any more games from them after this fiasco.
gogetumbabs
Hello all! I remember hearing that Age Of Empires was being ported for iOS And android. I heard this news in August, with a release date targeted towards the end of the year. I’ve heard nothing about this since so I’m wondering if you guys have heard anything?
Gareth Mallon
GC: We haven’t heard anything on it since the summer we’re afraid. We suspect Microsoft may have cooled on the idea of bringing its PC franchises to smartphones.
This week’s Hot Topic
Since this will be the last Hot Topic of the year we want to know what you think of the last 12 months in video games.
Feel free to mention your favourite games, but since we’ll be doing an official reader’s top 20 in January we’re more interested in your general thoughts on 2013. Has it been a good year for gaming and what do you think have been the most important trends, both positive and negative?
What have been the biggest news stories and what new game announcements have excited you the most? Have you played games more or less this year than in 2012? And what are your most vivid gaming memories of 2013?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
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