The Tuesday Inbox looks forward to Firaxis’ rumoured Marvel vampire game, as one reader calls Guilty Gear Strive the best fighter ever.
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Remaking GTA
Interesting news about Take-Two and their remakes. Three is a lot but I’m not really sure what they will be. My best guess would be a GTA game, Bioshock 1, and… maybe Red Dead Redemption 1? Although that last one seems pretty unlikely to me, given it wouldn’t look much different to the sequel. So maybe two GTA games?
That, of course, brings the question of which GTA? I know GTA 3 is the obvious choice, since it’s the start of the modern era of the franchise but I really don’t think it would work as a remake. Once you improve the graphics it’s just going to end up looking like a better GTA 4. Add in the fact that GTA 3’s protagonist doesn’t talk and I just think it’s just too old and too similar too other, better games.
No, my choice would be Vice City. We haven’t been back to Vice City since the prequel on the PSP so it would seem a lot fresher. Plus, that 80s soundtrack is never going to get old and yet it’d seem a bit lame to do a new game that was still stuck in the 80s, so a remake is a good excuse to give it a go again.
If there is a second remake, then I think the obvious choice is the first game. There’s almost no point playing the first two anymore and I’m not sure if you can really make the top-down gameplay work anymore. It’d be cool to see them try though, with modern graphics. That’s my take, I guess we’ll see what happens.
Byron
Star bugs
There’s so many games that have been delayed over the last few months but one I completely forgot was even a thing until yesterday is Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. I was really looking forward to that one, as the previous ones have been great to veg out to and play with my kids. It also seemed like it was trying to do something a bit different with the formula, which I guess is why it’s probably taking a while.
I wonder whether the series’ infamous amount of bugs is causing it to take a long time too? We haven’t really had a big test of what happens when a game launches full of bugs since Cyberpunk 2077 but it’s kind of hard to tell whether that’s through luck or judgement on the part of companies, given how few new games are coming out nowadays.
Some of those old Lego games were just riddled with minor bugs and I’d like to think that wouldn’t fly today, even if they never quite ruined the games. We’ll see, I guess, if and when it comes up but if it’s being kept back to make sure it’s 100% then that’s fine with me.
Korbie
GC: It currently has no release date information at all, not even a year. We agree it seems like it’s been in development forever, but it was actually only announced in 2019 – which given COVID isn’t that long ago.
Pain in the neck
Interesting rumour about Firaxis’ Marvel game. Whether it’s a strategy game or not the idea of doing a game that’s focused on the supernatural seems like a good idea. The movies didn’t really acknowledge magic until Doctor Strange, I think, so they’ve not had much of that stuff in them so far and I for one would welcome vampires and werewolves and all the other crazy stuff Marvel has had over the years.
If they throw Dracula in there as well, as the big bad that would get bonus points for me. I’ve never liked Dormammu and would much rather see Vlad or Mephisto or someone that hasn’t been in the movies yet. There’s a lot to you could go for and actually, thinking about it, it’s hard to imagine the MCU getting into a massive vampire war storyline so maybe games are the best place to do it instead. Look forward to finding out at Gamescom. I hope the rumours aren’t wrong after all this!
Cranston
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Fighter’s choice
Mortal Kombat will always be a bottom drawer fighter to me. It’s success is based purely on its graphics and violence (graphical violence, you might say) and I find it still, after all these years, to be a very shallow and gimmicky fighter. I think it’s meant to be the way it is, it’s not a mistake, but it’s never been something I’ve enjoyed and I think it’s lack of esports success underscores that.
Street Fighter is the king of fighters but I don’t think it’s necessarily the best, or at least Street Fighter 5 isn’t. I would say that Guilty Gear is the top franchise at the moment and while I haven’t played Strive as much as I would like it certainly seems like it could be the best of the series, which shows its still on the upswing.
Tekken is good to but for me it’s somewhere between Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter in terms of relying on gimmicks and samey gameplay. Samurai Shodown shouldn’t be ignore either, as it’s a better weapons-based game than Soulcalibur.
Mick
The future of portable
That story about the portable PlayStation 2 made me wish that there was any hope would make another portable. They won’t because even today the PS Vita is great and it didn’t sell at all, but it’s a shame that neither they or Microsoft tried to copy the Switch hybrid design concept.
Valve did, surprisingly, but for Microsoft and Sony it seems to be all about having the maximum power, which the endless, never-ending debates about tech specs proves is all for nothing because nobody can even tell the difference any more.
It won’t matter in a few years when streaming is as good as a local machine but at that point I’ll definitely see myself playing on a Switch style device than I would just having it on a TV. The convenience and relative privacy of a Switch is a godsend for me and I think it’s only going to become more popular in the future.
Gorf
Thinking the unthinkable
Is there a possibility that the problems at Blizzard could actually cause the downfall of the company? Numbers were well down for World Of Warcraft and Overwatch even before this (or the pandemic) and I’ve lost count of how many fan revolts there’ve been over Diablo at this point. Support for StarCraft ended ages ago and not even Hearthstone doesn’t seem as popular as it used to be.
They used to be one of the biggest and most respected developers but it goes to show you that you can never tell what’s going on under the surface. That and that it only takes one big event to destroy decades of work and goodwill. I’m not saying it’s likely but I don’t think it’s impossible and that seems wild to me.
The question is would that cause other companies to change or just get better at sweeping it under the carpet? Most developers are something like 80% and you don’t change that ratio in a hurry whatever you do. Like most things these companies must have seen these problems coming but they chose to do nothing about it until it was too late. I can live without Overwatch 2 but can Blizzard survive without the full support of its fans?
Pinky
VR heaven
RE: Meestah Bull. I have often thought about a Child Of Eden remake as well but as a VR game. Rez is amazing in VR and a remake of Child Of Eden in a similar style would be fantastic. Can I call upon Inbox Magic for this please?
Superiordom (Oculus ID)
GC: You have our axe.
Burst the bubble
$2 million for a copy of one of the most common video games of all time? I don’t care if it’s in mint condition, that is just insanity. This whole thing of investors buying and selling games because they think they’re worth something is so disgusting. How many hospital beds could you get for $2 million? Never mind that, how many famous paintings could you buy for that same money?
Don’t get me wrong, games are just as valid a work of art as paintings or sculpture but there’s only one Mona Lisa, or whatever, that’s why it costs so much. You can buy Super Mario Bros. for £3.49 and it’s the exact same game and experience as the copy that cost $2 million. Or if you want to be super authentic go to any car boot sale and pick up a copy for a couple of quid.
I’m not surprised the same company egging this on is also into NFT, which are even stupider, but the only comfort I can take is that this sounds exactly like the investor bubble for comic books in the 90s. That did, err… almost destroy the comic book industry but since we’re only talking about retro games here hopefully the only thing that will happen is that they’ll go back to being super cheap.
Caspian
Inbox also-rans
Freebie alert! Syndicate Plus, Syndicate Wars, and Ultima Underworld 1 + 2 are free on GOG until 3rd September.
Andrew J.
I’d say that Modern Warfare 3 was more than just a notch below the first two. That was the point at which Call Of Duty stopped being the market leader for me. It’s not a terrible game but it was definitely the start of the decline, as far as I’m concerned.
Electricpawn
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Grackle, who asks what’s your favourite console and video game combo?
By that he means what pairing of game and console do you have the most fondness for? It can be a Nintendo console and a Zelda or Mario, an Xbox and Halo, a Sony console and God Of War – or any other combination you can think of. Which game do you think suits its console so well it seems wrong to play on anything else and if your choice is a third party game why do you feel it matches well with your chosen console and not another?
Please note that due to staff holidays we’ll be running a skeleton crew on Friday, so if you can get your responses (and Reader’s Features) in by Thursday we’d appreciate it.
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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
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