The Thursday Inbox is unimpressed by Peter Molyneux’s NFT plans, as one reader discusses the best Returnal weapon combos.
PLEASE NOTE: As we get our own Christmas and New Year content ready for the end of the year, please consider sending in your own festive Reader’s Feature to run over the Christmas break. It can be on any subject but if there’s something you’ve been meaning to write in about, but never got around to, now would be a good time for it.
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No assurances
So, that news about Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 patents was just bizarre. Not the abilities themselves, which sound cool, but the fact that Nintendo thinks it can patent falling out of the sky? And apparently has?! I mean, they wouldn’t be on that site if they hadn’t been granted, surely?
Legal unpleasantness aside, the thing I ended up wondering is whether the game really is going to make it out next year. It wasn’t at The Game Awards, which lots of people thought it would be (in fact nothing Nintendo was, which was quite worrying), and we’ve had no update since June and no attempt to try and assure us that 2022 is still a go.
I’m dubious, and I’m even more dubious about Metroid Prime 4 being out next year. Surely we’re at a stage that they could’ve managed some sort of pre-rendered logo trailer, like most of The Game Awards games? We didn’t get even that and that makes me think it’s 2023 at the earliest.
Nofleck
Nintendo always collect
I’m currently playing Far Cry 6 and today, I had the cheek to jump of a building, essentially falling through the air, and headshot-ing an FND guard on the way down. Clearly ripping of a patent for a game that hasn’t come out yet.
Will Nintendo be coming after me?
What a load of old tripe.
Razzledazzle
GC: We’re pretty sure you now owe Nintendo £1,000,000.
The early bird catches the worm
Read the Peter Molyneux NFT article with great interest. Hard to believe somebody actually paid £670,000 for what is basically a piece of imaginary tat. As far as I can see it there is nothing really new in the wealth generation ideas behind NFTs because the aim is to create a market which is completely artificial, then dress it up to make it appeal to peoples’ more venal side. In effect a Ponzi scheme, basically initial investors expenses are paid many times over by later investors.
This would be brilliant if the supply of new investors was infinite, hey everybody makes money. However, in reality the supply of new investors dries up and later holders of the supposed asset cannot find a buyer and the market collapses and they lose lots of money.
To be honest I have no problem with people who know the risks and still choose to invest losing their shirts as that is a risk they take, but they are generally not the people who get hurt. However, the likes of Ubisoft introducing the concept into mainstream gaming is totally reprehensible as they are basically preying on the naïve and gullible.
In conclusion, I would like to heartily endorse Metro’s total opposition to the whole NFT concept in gaming.
John A
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Year in stats
I checked my Nintendo Year in Review via the website, and nothing surprising stands out. My most played game ended up being Rocket League, thanks to the first few months when I ‘discovered’ it was free to play and became utterly obsessed.
It does beg the question: why does the Switch interface only show such vague stats when clearly everything is being logged, including whether you’re playing docked or in handheld mode?
ttfp saylow (gamertag)
Now playing: hunting for an Xbox Series X
Finish the fight
I quite enjoyed the new GamesMaster TV show and I hope there is more to come. There has been some quite interesting gaming programmes of late, with the likes of Playing with Power and Console Wars. It’s nice to see TV networks treating the medium with respect as a lot of people have more than just a half-hearted interest in it.
It’s a bit old now, but if you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend The King of Kong. Which is based more on a couple of gamers themselves and their efforts to remain top of the Donkey Kong high score league table.
What I would really like to see though is a third pillar to the successful Netflix series The Toys That Made Us and The Films That Made Us. No prizes for guessing what they could call it but games like Pac-Man, Street Fighter 2, and Final Fantasy 7 would make interesting viewing.
So come on Inbox Magic, do your thing.
freeway 77
One mode to rule them all
So, like many I thought that the graphics in The Matrix Awakens Unreal 5 demo were stunning and no doubt talented developers will maximise the engine’s performance the more they get to grips with it, possibly negating my concerns, but I actually hope we don’t get games with that level of graphical detail because… it’s too much for the hardware to render at 60fps.
Just to be clear I wouldn’t not play a game because it ‘only’ ran at 30fps (I’m currently playing Persona 5 Royal for example) but for those that involve twitch gameplay, like first person shooters or fast paced action games, I’d be at least a little dissuaded.
I’m reminded of the Inbox letter a couple of weeks ago from Simundo who suggested, possibly with tongue firmly in cheek, that he would wait for the PS5 Pro as that will be the point when you no longer have to make the choice between performance mode (aka 60fps with very good graphics) and quality mode (aka 30fps with phenomenal graphics).
That’s one possibility, that the current quality and performance modes would be one and the same, but I consider the greater possibility to be that the developers would then use the PS5 Pro’s increased power to create even greater graphics which you can access provided you drop down to the 30fps offered by the new super-duper quality mode and the whole merry go round begins again.
When I’m king of the world my first decree will be to ban quality modes, that all developers have to work to a 60fps standard and that they squeeze out as much graphical goodness from that standard. After all you can’t miss graphical flourishes you’ve never seen.
Meestah Bull
GC: You have our sword, but we fear you’re right about performance mode never going away.
Early presents
As Commodore Fan said the other day, on Epic Games Store from 4pm on Thursday, 16th December the free game is rumoured to be Shenmue 3. Also, GOG intend to do a giveaway on December 23rd, 27th, and January 3rd.
They did a giveaway on December 13 and that was Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun which I wrote in about earlier in the week. Hope GameCentral and all of it’s readers have a good Christmas and New Year.
Andrew J.
Weapon of choice
Returnal’s epilogue is starting to irk me ever so slightly. You mean to tell me I have to fight that sucker thrice in order to attain illumination in Selene’s harrowing existential quandary?!
Good thing the gameplay is fabulous and super addictive otherwise I would’ve felt inclined to move on by now after 60 or so hours of play time!
Can’t get over how fun, thunderous, and rewarding the gunplay in Returnal is. Certainly the tightest, most robust shooting mechanics I’ve experienced in a third person shooter since Vanquish and Binary Domain.
The balancing in the weapon roster also feels impeccable, with nary an armament rendered obsolete in the long run. I’m currently trying to ‘git gud’ with the Coilspine and hope to obliterate some bosses with the humble Sidearm – albeit with some tasty traits.
Quick question, GC if you’ll indulge me for a second: what are your favourite weapons and weapon loadouts in the game? I myself am quite partial to the Electropylon + Plyon Web, Hollowseeker + Waves + Potal Beam/Turret, Dreadbound + Enlarging Shards, and Thermogenic Launcher + Full Auto.
As for the Alt Fire choices, I would say Horizontal/Vertical Barrage, Trackerswarm, Doombringer, and Tendrilpod are my best picks.
Galvanized Gamer
GC: We really like the Hollowseeker, but it doesn’t do enough damage, so it’s got to be the Dreadbound.
Inbox also-rans
In response to the guy asking if the Switch OLED is worth buying because of its lack of upcoming releases, I would say of course it is. If you’re only just jumping on the Switch bandwagon after it’s been out for not far off five years. You obviously have a rich back catalogue still to play. Get yourself a Switch and look backwards, not forwards.
Paul
I can’t remember if GC covered this but there is a really interesting six-part documentary on YouTube (and other places like IMDB TV) titled, Power On: The Story of Xbox.
Chaosphere616 (gamertag)
This week’s Hot Topic
With The Game Awards being the last major reveal event of the year, the subject for this weekend’s Inbox asks what new game you’re most looking forward to… and what unannounced title you’re still hoping for.
What confirmed game are you most anticipating, regardless of when it’s due to be released, and why are you excited about it? What new game are you most hoping will be announced in the future (especially if it’s already rumoured), whether it’s a sequel, remake, or new game from a developer that hasn’t released anything in a while?
How excited do you get about games that are still months or years away and do you prefer to know about a game as soon as possible or only when there’s a lot to show?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
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