Wednesday’s letter page encourages itself to be close Nintendo Switch 2 is open, as one of the readers wants EA not to give up on Dead Space.
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Super Astro Bot
I finished Astro Bot at the weekend and I have to agree that it is the best Sony has put out in years, although there is not much competition for that in terms of volume at the moment. I will say that the GC review is very accurate, especially in pointing out that many things are not the same as Super Mario and that the actual platforming is quite simple compared to Nintendo games.
That said, I would still say it is clearly better than Super Mario Sunshine and in fact it is kind of similar given the way Astro’s rocket boots. It’s also better than Super Mario 64, but that doesn’t count because of its age. I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the two Galaxy games but I’m someone who didn’t really like Odyssey so I’d say they’re pretty close.
For such a strange little franchise, where this is the first ‘proper’ game, I would say that there is a pretty amazing achievement. It’s definitely better than other 3D platformers I’ve played, including Ratchet & Clank and Jak And Daxter. Although it might prove that the Japanese devs are better at this.
Cranston
Charm strikes
I’m interested to know what Nintendo said to the developers when they asked for a meeting this week. The man had a photo with a sign, so it must be there. So what do they do? Getting a Switch 2 console? Being told about it for the first time? Asked if the game could be in the reveal trailer? It can be anything.
It’s tempting to say they’ll only go on them if they have something to pick up, but the guess would be that Nintendo is schmoozing them; This charm strikes to show people the final model and get them on board.
As others have said, I have a hard time imagining Nintendo caring about something like the PS5 Pro, but I think they want to make a big impression, show third-party support, and mean talk to a lot. from various companies – many of whom would not be as good at keeping secrets as he was.
Onibee
After and the future king
I’m always amazed at EA’s steadfastness in never giving up on Battlefield or Need For Speed. I will say that this franchise is past its sell by date, and the last few sequels have all been flops, but it’s constantly getting second chances even though EA likes to forget other stuff for no apparent reason.
The Dead Space remake got great reviews and sold okay but it won’t get any other games that anyone can recognize. Why not get unlimited opportunities too? Since none of the entries could sell much, I would guess. I think EA’s logic is that if you are once massive then don’t give up, because it can become massive again.
Gunfrey
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The dream game
Can I just point out that, if it wasn’t going to be at the Tokyo Game Show, Half-Life 3 would have failed to materialize for another year. And although there are some rumors that are very optimistic at this time.
Sometimes I feel like I should dream of another game, especially the strange decision to follow Half-Life 2 with some episodic games that they gave up in the middle. Imagine if they stopped making Star Wars movies after The Empire Strikes Back, or felt Infinity War was enough and didn’t bother Endgame.
Valve will never be the weirdest company in the gaming industry.
Dyan
GC: Maybe at The Game Awards in December (it won’t).
The paradox of time
I finished the glorious Astro Bot (plus platinum) there and last night tucked into the adorable The Plucky Squire. I have to say that everything is really rather wonderful and Zelda-like. There’s a lot to admire here and, like Astro, it looks like a lot of love and craftsmanship went into it.
For all the bad news and bad action this year, these last two games remind me why I love playing video games. Definitely recommended for anyone willing to give it a shot.
Wonk
GC: When do you play, exactly? Plucky Squire was not released until Tuesday, when you sent this email. anyway, we are not very happy.
A new era of heroes
Over the years, Capcom and Marvel’s fighting games have been loved by many. But they have been stuck with the rights issue of who owns what. X-Men, Avengers, others? (Is it Shuma-Gorath?).
This is the first time everything is available in one package. And they have a very vocal group of fans.
Individual reviews, there is no point in taking up a lot of time, whether you know it or not.
- X-Men: Children Of The Atom, the first in the series. Total game changer when it comes out, massive over-the-top graphics and move-set.
- Marvel Super Heroes. Repeated updates with different characters and still good.
- X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, the first of the Vs. the game and the start of awesome-ness. It has quite a random selection of characters.
- Marvel Vs. Street Fighter, compare X-Men to Marvel Super Heroes to update the same with different characters.
- Marvel Vs Capcom, this one is insane. Bringing new characters into the mix.
The absolute gold cup of the pack is Marvel Vs, Capcom 2. I played the original version on Dreamcast and have been in love with it ever since. The game is a compendium with all the existing characters (except Norimaru, he’s cool but useless).
All of these games have been available at one point or another on other consoles. And having them all in one place is an absolute dream for fans of one-on-one fighting.
The score I gave without talking about the additional content. And it doesn’t even touch on the perfect arcade port of the Punisher, which is a very good side-scrolling Final Fight game (it just had a pretty poor Mega drive conversion in the ’90s).
From a review point of view this game is solid. And if you have ever played one of them will have a maximum mark for you. Anyone who likes one-on-one fighters should buy it.
Score: 10/10
Disclaimer, there is absolutely no physical Switch version for Europe.
Mr (there’s a ‘new’ Si often breaking up, so not sure if he’ll call me!)
GC: Zero? Shuma-Gorath is Dr Strange’s villain and is essentially a Lovecraftian god. Why Capcom chose him for a fighting game is a mystery, especially since Dr. Strange wasn’t in the original game. By the way, we plan to review Marvel Vs. Capcom Battle Collection: Arcade Classics, but we were a little behind schedule last week.
Merry Christmas
I know Xbox isn’t having the best of times, but I can say I’m very excited about the slate of games coming this Christmas. I love Starfield so the upcoming Space Shattered has me eagerly looking forward to catching up with the ship and crew again.
After that, all on Game Pass, we have Black Ops 6, the first Call Of Duty I’ll be playing since the OG Modern Warfare 3, so I’m sure it’ll be special. STALKER 2 in November, the previews of which have looked great and then top it all off with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle in December.
Impatient.
DarKerR (gamertag)
The future of Nintendo
Like a thought experiment, what do you think the entire gaming industry where Nintendo is the market leader will look like? Arguably they are already the leader in terms of console sales but what if they have all, or at least, third party games, all running reasonably, if not perfectly. Will anything bother the PlayStation or Xbox again?
They hardly bother with Xbox these days, so we know the answer. But Sony has spent two years undermining the main reason people buy PlayStation consoles, by stopping making single-player games. Or rather the second reason. The main reason everyone buys it is because they have all the third party games. If Nintendo does it too, with its own top… it might be unstoppable.
There are two main issues that I can see, the first is that I don’t know how a portable console can handle a high end game like GTA 6. So aside from the streaming factor, I don’t think the Switch 2 can play it. entire.
The second problem is that certain types of people will not accept Nintendo consoles as their main format, because they are ‘only for children’.
Even so, I can only see the Switch 2 being more successful than the original, assuming Nintendo doesn’t act stupid about the price. The question is whether you want Nintendo to be in charge. They may act nice and gentle at times but they are just as money-crazy and greedy as anyone else, if not more so.
Keta
Inbox well-rans
Lizardpudlian, have you never heard of CeX? They do trade-ins for cash, bank transfer or store credit. They often give higher prices than GAME anyway. Give it a week after launch and you’ll see PS5 Pros in stock at CeX. I suspect they must have got the new console in stock.
Mr
The UFO 50 game sounds very interesting but I’m struggling to understand why they won’t release the game separately, or in weekly DLC or something. Any sign comes to cheer.
flute maker
GC: A console version has been hinted at but not announced.
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