Is Xbox being treated unfairly? (pic: Microsoft)



The Wednesday letters page wishes there was a Star Wars graphic adventure, as a reader reveals John Wick 4 was not riffing on Hotline Miami.



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Corporate intrigue I know it’s not healthy to be defending giant corporations but I really do feel that Microsoft is being poorly treated by the media and many gamers. I find it hard to believe that anyone that follows this sort of industry news in detail cares all that much about Call Of Duty and so it really just comes down to console wars.



In a way I agree with the recent Reader’s Feature , not that Microsoft has been duped or outplayed by Sony, but in the fact that this doesn’t change the status quo at all really. It’s just Sony buying Bungie – which has changed nothing about Destiny 2 – but on a larger scale.



Obviously Microsoft are in this for themselves but they’re not doing anything that deserves them to be portrayed as some uncaring giant, stepping on everyone else. Sony has acted far more duplicitous in the past and during this whole affair, and while some of what Microsoft has said has been silly (the 150 million extra people playing Call Of Duty is a standout) I don’t think they’ve done anything to deserve them being painted as the villains.



It almost feels like a conspiracy at times, especially knowing that monopoly investigators do look at press coverage and are influenced by it. Morrigum



Guess the score So are we expecting Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom to sweep the boards with another round of 10/10s? I realise nobody can answer that, as I imagine review copies haven’t gone out yet, but I have to say that after the recent gameplay video I really have no further concerns about the game.



I hope they do some better bosses and have longer and more dungeons but it’s really only the bosses that is essential to improve on over the original. The scope of the game looks insane and Nintendo’s track record is so unimpeachable at this point I would be genuinely surprised if anyone other than trolls gave it less than 9/10. Tolly



One and done I’m not actually that surprised to see Microsoft above Sony in terms of monthly user active share. When you combine Sea Of Thieves, Forza, whoever’s still playing Halo, and of course Minecraft there’s a decent base of continual users. Whereas other than MLB and Gran Turismo, Sony is mainly single-playthrough experiences. Although Destiny players should be counted as Sony now.



EA being that much higher than everyone else did surprise me though. Admittedly there’s EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate to consider pushing the numbers up. There’s a giant difference in the two companies market caps though, which maybe highlights how important what Activision Blizzard does outside of Xbox and PlayStation really is. Tim



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Prime beverage I went into my local convenience store yesterday. They were selling Meteoid Prime for much lower than the official asking price.



I asked the gentleman behind the counter if it was the real thing and not some cheap knock-off?



He replied that he’d bought them from a reputable dealer and had no concerns over them being ‘knocked off’ as I had suggested.



I parted with my hard-earned cash and took it home. It was only when I arrived home and opened the lid to take the game out that I realised I had just bought an energy drink with a similar name .



Silly me for getting the two brands mixed up.



Do your homework people and don’t fall into the pitfall (oops maybe I shouldn’t use that word) I did. freeway 77



Asking a lot RE: Anon’s appraisal of PlayStation VR2, have you played Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village on it? Fair enough RE: the price point though, that is a stumbling block.



I hope Sony do find a way to trim the price down a bit. If anyone is on the fence at the moment RE: purchasing one then I wonder if a reduction might just help give it the nudge to get it into more homes.



I have zero buyer’s remorse on PlayStation VR2 and believe me I am the tightest person I know, when it comes to money. r-s-w



You Rebel SCUMM With the talk of Mandalorian video games and Survivor coming up soon I can’t help but think that the one thing we’ve never really got from Star Wars is a narrative based game. The films have a lot of action in them, sure, but a lot of the appeal centres around the characters and their interactions, which is something the games have rarely ever tried, let alone succeeded at.



Fallen Order is one of the closest but as good as its gameplay is the characters are very dull and the plot pretty incomprehensible. I feel it’s a great shame there was never a Star Wars graphic adventure back in the glory days of LucasArts and the genre as a whole. I remember rumours of such a thing, including the original cast returning, but obviously nothing ever happened.



I’m not sure what the modern equivalent would be, something along the lines of Life Is Strange or The Last Of Us? Ideally it would be something fairly unique as that used to be what Star Wars games were known for, not just ripping off other games and slapping the licence on it.



If they won’t do something big budget I’d much rather they give an indie developer the chance to make a story game in the universe, rather than just another first person shooter. Gazza



GC: Quantic Dream is working on a narrative based Star Wars game called Eclipse , presumably at least somewhat in the style of Heavy Rain et al. Given their previous games though we find that very hard to get excited about.



??? Profit RE: Anon and Microsoft/Game Pass. Your appraisal of Xbox’s Game Pass model is quite disingenuous (30 million subs x $10 = $3.6 billion per year). It’s not clear profit, it’s revenue.



There’s the cost of buying games in to put on the service, the infrastructure of the service, tax, etc., etc. Not to mention the loss of potential revenue from their own first party IP, had those games been released to store shelves at retail price tags, etc., etc. Anon







I threw a rock at him Seeing as my last letter got a lot of reaction in the Underbox, let me weave another tale from my time with Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. Very early on, even before the first divine beast, I found myself on the mysterious Eventide Island. Four heart containers only and not a lot of hope. On Eventide island you lose everything in your inventory, weapons, food, everything. There are rusty weapons and shields laid about on the beaches, but they’re obviously not much good.



So, anyway, making my way around the island I come up on an enemy camp on top of a hill/mountain, take them out, blow up some red barrels and discover a Hinox (a large Cyclops) laid in a field at the bottom of said hill and a conveniently placed boulder to shove into it. So the boulder clips it and the Hinox is now in a rage, comes storming up the mountain path and engages me in a fight. I have like two rusty bows and about three hearts.



It’s not looking good for me, somehow I managed to get it to slip off the mountainside and it stands on the ground, head and shoulders parallel to myself. It can’t attack, stomp or grab me, and so it proceeds to throw rocks at me, which are easy enough to dodge and so I proceed to throw them back at its eyeball, low and behold I defeat it… with rocks! Winning!



Now recalling these moments, I can see that each player is having their own experiences, creating memories unique to one’s self and like I said in the Underbox I put over 220 hours into it, did all the shrines and got his floppy hat and tunic combo.



It’s just all the other frustrating times, when you ran out of weapons or didn’t have the right weapon for the situation at hand, that stick in my mind and outweigh the handful of amazing situations I found myself in. Once I unlocked the Master Sword it became less of an issue but that wasn’t for some time, I think you need 13 hearts before you can unlock it. I love Zelda, always have, I just don’t love breakable weapons. big boy bent



GC: So you claim. You should really stop giving such good examples of why they’re great.



Inbox also-rans RE: Johnny Alpha SD response. The director and Keanu Reeves confirmed the scene was inspired by Hong Kong Massacre, not Hotline Miami. Although easy to think why many people think that! Either way, fantastic film and a lot of it feels like a type of live action video game (in the best way possible). Tom



To the reader who is interested in Lunark, you can get a physical version on pre-order of the game until Sunday 23rd April 2023 on PlayStation 4 and 5 or Switch, in standard versions or Deluxe Editions. I was going to get a PlayStation 5 standard version myself. Bear in mind that this is a pre-order and the game will be sent in four to six months, after they have finished producing the physical versions. Andrew J



This week’s Hot Topic The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gamgee, who asks what is your favourite non-violent video game?



Games where you don’t have to hurt or kill anyone are more common than they used to be but they’re still fairly rare, so which is your favourite? Any kind of violence counts, whether it’s cartoonish or gory, but what is your favourite game where everybody lives?



Is that what attracted you to the game or were you unconvinced it would be fun until you tried it? How much does the violence in a game influence what you play and what other kind of non-violent games would you like to see become more prominent?



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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.



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MORE : Games Inbox: PS5 Pro in 2023 concerns, Resident Evil 4 vs. 2, and the future of The Legend Of Zelda







MORE : Games Inbox: The Mandalorian video game, Resident Evil 4 love, and Final Fantasy 16 innovation







MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: Video game franchises you’ve played the most





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