The Friday letters page considers whether Steam Machine will take over Xbox’s role in the games industry, as one reader is unexcited by the idea of Far Cry 7.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Console life
This Steam Machine business is all very interesting but as someone that has always been a console gamer I’m not sure I’ve ever really understood the appeal of Half-Life 3. I’ve never played either of the first two and I’m not even certain they’ve been on any of the consoles I’ve owned.

I know they’re big with PC games but if you’re trying to make a killer app, I feel it should be something that more people have actually heard of. I think the 20th anniversary was recently, so I would have thought that would be a good time for a remake on consoles, but we go nothing. Maybe because they were already thinking of trying to get everyone over to Steam Machine.

I do understand that Half-Life 2 was very influential at the time and that it ended on a cliffhanger (now retconned by a VR game I also can’t play) and there’s generally a lot of interest around it because it’s been so long with a sequel, but without having any attachment to the series I just can’t get that excited about it.

Half-Life 3 being special seems to be built mostly on nostalgia and the fact that it’s a meme that everyone’s been waiting that long for it. I’m going to need more than that to think about buying a new console/PC to play it.
Ponsie

Nature abhors a vacuum
It is funny to see that almost immediately as Xbox goes third party we have a new challenger to take their place, and one that has a much more reliable history in gaming. I’ve never owned a gaming PC but if Steam can take the place of Xbox in terms of being the American-made console, that’s very PC friendly, then I am absolutely fine with that.

We’ll still have Xbox games but won’t have to put up with all the bad management and anti-consumer decisions. Not that I know much about Steam but considering how long they’ve been going I assume they wouldn’t have lasted this long if they were completely terrible.

I do think they need Half-Life 3 or some kind of game to draw attention though, and that’s what it sounds like the rumours are suggestion. Despite Xbox’s attempts to discredit them, exclusives, or at least first party games, are the kind of games people get most excited about, so I’m all ears as far as the Steam Machine goes.
Winston

Not far enough
It seems forever ago that Far Cry 6 came out. Apparently it was 2021, so four years, which must be the longest the series has gone without a sequel since it got big. I don’t know why Ubisoft would be so interested in turning it into a multiplayer game, because it seems to me such a single-player experience, but I assume it has something to do with them wanting a live service hit, again.

The problem with the series, as I see it, is that it became too formulaic. All the games work in the same basic way and the only thing that changed was the setting and the characters. Except they ran out of different settings a while back and none of the characters have been memorable since number 3.

I would say the best thing to do was set it on the Moon or something, but they did that a couple of times with spin-offs and I don’t think they were very big hits, so I guess it’s Alaska next… I mean, that doesn’t excite me at all, and I doubt it does anyone else. Sometimes a game just doesn’t need seven sequels and a bunch of spin-offs.
Plaino

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Not a guarantee
I wasn’t expecting that announcement from Steam, it came out of the blue for me. I think they look OK but perhaps are aimed at PC users who don’t want to migrate to consoles and so meets them halfway, I guess.

And cue the predictable letters saying Xbox’s next gen plans are scuppered by this. Well, I can almost guarantee the next Xbox, assuming it does arrive, will blow the Steam Machine out of the water spec-wise and sell much more. But what do I know, after all Xbox is finished, so we are told, but we shall see.
Stephen

Steam powered
I don’t think they will be a massive success, but the new Steam hardware has got me more excited than anything Sony or Microsoft has done the past decade.

I’ve had no interest in PlayStation 5 or PlayStation VR2, and my Xbox Series X has been nothing more than a YouTube device the past four years. I bought a Steam Deck for my son last year and it’s a lovely piece of kit. I personally am most excited for the Steam Frame VR.
Mark Matthews

Three possibilities
So Sony either has a secret game they think is going to be bigger than anything so far on the PlayStation 5, or some exec I’ve never heard of thinks people don’t know what GTA 6 is. I do love how even when Sony does speak none of it makes any sense.

I guess the other option is that he’s talking about something we do know about, like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and he’s vastly overselling how big it’s going to be, but let’s be optimistic and imagine he is talking about some big secret game.

There are definitely plenty of Sony studios that have done little or nothing this gen, like Bluepoint Games and Sony Bend, but they’re not necessarily Sony’s best developers. You’d think if it was some groundbreaking game it was going to be from Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studio, and we don’t know what Santa Monica is doing so maybe they are working on something that’s not God Of War.

It’s impossible to guess, I realise, but I just hope it’s something new and interesting. You’re right in saying that gaming has been too predictable in recent years and I would definitely like to see that end with a massive new PlayStation annoucement.

But yeah, he’s probably just talking about GTA 6.
Bosco

Now or never
Glad to hear that the PlayStation 5 will be getting a price cut for Black Friday but I’m still not sure I’m going to jump in. I’ve waited this long without one and there’s already talk about the PlayStation 6, so I’m not sure there’s much point.

Ironically, the thing that’s making me lean towards getting one is that the PlayStation 6 probably will be even less different, so there’s even less sense in waiting for that. I also expect it to be stupidly expensive too, so I dunno… maybe I’ll get a PlayStation 5 this month.
Jedd

Final Dispatch
I don’t know if you intend to review Dispatch with all of the episodes out, but I can fully recommend anyone who enjoys the original Telltale series games to at least give it a try.

Fantastic performances, especially from Aaron Paul who I think is very underrated as a voice actor, from his time in Bojack Horseman. Great storytelling, with a genuinely funny script and choices that affect the events of the game, and a gameplay loop that I think has the legs for a standalone mode if they wanted to flesh it out into its own thing.

And the first two episodes can be done in under two hours, so those on PC can play knowing they’ll have the refund option if it’s not their thing.

I also think there’s a further conversation about episodic games to be hand in there. A few friends and I had been speculating all week how it would conclude, and I think there’s more value to that than many give credit for. But maybe I’ll save that for a weekend piece.

Keep up the good work, GC.
Spudley

GC: We were indeed waiting for all the episodes to be out, so we should have a full review next week.

Inbox also-rans
V-Racer Hoverbike may be the worst name for a game that sounds quite interesting. Graphics look good too, I think I’ll give it a go.
Dondon

So there’s going to be two Horizon multiplayer games? I really do not see that series as being that popular. Although I guess it was pretty clever how they managed to make robot dinosaurs be so boring.
Melty

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The small print
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