Is the choice getting more difficult? (pic: Metro.co.uk)



The Tuesday letters page doesn’t think Hollywood success will change Nintendo, as one reader fears the worst for the future of Halo.



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Changing opinions I’ve seen some people trying to play off the Activision Blizzard buyout as not really mattering and that it won’t really change anything in the end but I disagree. I have yet to buy a next gen console and I have been following it all with some interest. Both companies are acting like children but that doesn’t change the fact that PlayStation has clearly lost the argument and seems to have got itself in trouble with the American government .



Microsoft is soon going to own everything that Activision and Blizzard do and Sony’s only response is silence and the threat of tons of live service games no one wants. If their answer to Microsoft’s aggressiveness was to promise tons of what people love about them, in terms of single-player games, I might have gone with them, but they haven’t. They’ve basically done the opposite.



They might be bullies but I’m going with Microsoft and will buy an Xbox Series X later this year. The last thing I’ll wait for is the June showcases and unless they show a major improvement from Sony I’m going to continue with my new plan to buy an Xbox Series X instead of a PlayStation 5. Sentinel



Money to spare The success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie really is astounding and could have more impact on Nintendo’s finances and plans than the success of the Wii or Switch. And yet why is it I think it won’t really change them. I’m sure they’ll make more movie and toy deals and that sort of thing but I bet most of their games end up still looking kind of cheap and low budget. That’s not a dig at the graphics but things like Fire Emblem where the budget is obviously pretty low.



Like you say, it has come at a good time though, so hopefully it’ll at least stop them from penny pinching over the Switch 2. Although really, they’re always going to be limited by the price and while maybe they’ll give up having to turn a profit from the start I doubt they’ll be willing to loose to much.



I do like to think that the dream of a new F-Zero has got a little closer though. After all, what’s a few wasted millions to Nintendo now? Gaston



The new revolution The arrival of Photoshop and Wacom drawing tablets was as big as ‘AI’ art in its day. I’ve worked with Photoshop for 30 years and its tools revolutionised animation and art in incredible wats. Most traditional poster airbrush cover artists had to learn new skills, and fast.



Don’t believe the clickbait headlines. AI is simply another step, which can automate many processes. Like poor digital artists I believe AI will fill a hole for montage effects with little theme, soul or character.



A good example of how ‘real, human error filled art’ will always appeal is seen in the current boardgame market.



Digital art is now too prevalent in boardgame design, you can spot it a mile off – imagery that shares its look with indie mobile phone game design.



Hence why hand-painted works by Vincent Dutrait, Michael Menzel, and Dennis Lohausen are hugely anticipated and are chosen by the very best game designers – Reiner Knizia etc. (See Whale Riders and Legends Of Andor and Crown Of Emara for quick examples.) will sargent



GC: They’re not clickbait headlines, our one is a quote from someone that has lost their job because of AI. You can’t retrain yourself to be an AI that doesn’t expect to get paid for its work.



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Beware of the Nintendo Nintendo are like an old man in a rocking chair with a shotgun, sitting on the front porch and it never fails to surprise me how many people try to goad them on by walking across the said old man’s lawn.



It’s almost like these people are stupid. They must be aware of the repercussions by now. Yet they still continue to try their luck.



I remember when Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out on the Wii.



I had ordered my copy online and received it two days early.



Knowing that I shouldn’t be playing it, I was scared to death to see if I could play against any other players online for fear of being exiled from Nintendo’s online service just for the sake of 48 hours. So I took it offline and just played the single-player instead.



That company doesn’t mess about and whether you think they are harsh or not you have to give it to them, they are persistent when you cross them. freeway 77



GC: We want to feel sorry for these modders and fan game creators but what did they think would happen? Nintendo has a 100% record of being aggressively litigious and heavy-handed, it’s just not worth it.



Show of respect I have nearly unlocked the platinum trophy on Disgaea 6, which was a pretty arduous slog and really not worth the effort. This is also not the first time I have done this as I also have the Final Fantasy 13 platinum.



In both cases I really enjoyed earlier titles in the series (Disgaea 1 and 4 and Final Fantasy 9 and 12) which given when I played them/the hardware I played them on did not have trophy or achievement support. Then, through some weird stubbornness, I decided to, in some tangential way, mark my love for those earlier games by platinum-ing one of their far, far weaker sequels.



I was then wondering if anyone else had done this?



Therefore, I offer the potential Hot Topic titles (chose one or something similar):




What is the worst game you have completed and why?



What is your most regrettable platinum trophy (or 1000G) and what convinced you to persevere?



What is the dumbest reason you platinumed a game?




PazJohnMitch



Playing chicken Beat my first playthrough of Resident Evil 4 a few days ago. What an incredible experience! I’m not sure what we gained in the Saddler battle with that second phase. I couldn’t hit him with steel beams and stuff! I also preferred the idea of Saddler and Krauser being more mercenary and only doing what they do for power – now they’re true believers. I’m sure Capcom thinks that makes them scarier, it does not. It makes them bland.



That said, Salazar came out with some interesting stuff during the fight with him. But where did the second guard go? Did I miss that? It was strange that you could actually escape the Verdugo now, though. I also find the furore surrounding Ada a classic case of misplaced criticism. She’s barely in it! The best actress alive can’t do anything with an underwhelming script! Never mind. As much as I wanted to get straight into a New Game+, I’ve had Bayonetta 3 on the pile for a few weeks, so thought I should go through that first.



I’ll leave by saying that early on I was trying to coax a chicken to lay a little egg for me by brushing up against her a few times. That didn’t work so I shot her. Yes, shameful. Didn’t even get an egg! So, I killed her for nothing! Then I see the cows and impressively huge pigs in the area after the village siege. I made sure not to hurt them.



It’s like the Bob Marley song, isn’t it? ‘I shot the chicken! But I didn’t kill no cow or pig!’ DMR



Lost innovation I say this as a neutral observer, that has owned both Xbox and PlayStation consoles in my time but I don’t see anyway back for Halo. It’s so long since it was top of the tree and I imagine younger games don’t even realise it’s meant to be a big deal anymore.



Like many an innovator they eventually get overtaken by those using them as inspiration and if they don’t keep innovating they become irrelevant. Halo is quite a specific concept too, it’s not a particularly malleable idea, and since they messed up the story a long time ago, I’m not sure it really has much of an appeal any more. Plendor



Old complaint I’m a little bit amazed that here we are in space year 2023 and people are still complaining about graphics. I really thought we’d moved beyond this by now. Obviously no-one is going to look at Tears Of The Kingdom and think it’s running on a PS5, but…what does that matter? I’d rather have a new Nintendo game with more ideas and inventiveness than almost anything else out there than realistic but boring game #574.



I know this is a point that rears its head every few years, but we really are reaching a point where realistic graphics just don’t matter that much. They’re certainly the least interesting part of a game, especially when the power exists in consoles now to create an eye-catching art style that will stick in the memory far longer.



There will always be games that aim for photorealism, and I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t enjoy spending time gazing at the vistas in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Uncharted 4, but they’re the games that are going to look most dated in another 5, 10, 20 years’ time as technology moves on. Whereas something like Zelda: The Wind Waker still looks great now – it took advantage of what was possible on the hardware in a way that was eye-catching and unique.



We’re reaching a point of diminishing returns too, where there seemed to be a lot of people moaning about both early PlayStation 5 and early PlayStation 4 games not being much of a leap over what we’d been getting before, although I realise that’s at least in part due to devs getting used to a new system, plus being hampered by having to make cross-gen games for a couple of years.



The one thing I do agree with from the Reader’s Feature this weekend is that greater power could also be used for more than just graphics, it could go towards the physics engine or AI, which is definitely true, apart from the fact that it just never really seems to actually happen. We’ve been hearing for years that the increased power of the newest generations could be used to make more realistic, human-like enemies, but when we get there, all that upgraded processing power has been devoted to ray-tracing, sub-surface scattering, 4K and 60fps… Oh, whoops, there’s nothing left! Maybe next gen! The problem being, of course, that physics engines don’t look good in screenshots and AI is difficult to portray in a launch trailer.



When it comes to Tears Of The Kingdom, and Nintendo’s stance on consoles in general, maybe it’s that I’m just not that interested in comparing what they make to what else is out there. I’m interested in what they can put out, and how much fun it is to play. I realise I’m lucky in having a PlayStation 4 too, and will pick up a PlayStation 5 eventually, but even on there I find that the big blockbusters really have to do more to impress me than just look good, and I’m increasingly drawn to the smaller, weirder games that try something different.



I know that some people will put a lot more weight into how something looks, but that just seems like a bit of a shame, if it prevents them from seeing what else is there. Sparky the Yak



Inbox also-rans It shows how far Rovio have fallen when Sega is the one that buys them . I haven’t thought about Angry Birds for years. And now that I have, I don’t really want to go back to it. I guess the nostalgia hasn’t kicked in yet. Testron



I don’t want Naughty Dog to do The Last Of Us Part 3 either but it seems obvious that they well. A lot of these developers only have one or two games left in them before they start thinking of retirement, assuming a game takes five or more years to make, and it seems such a waste to spend all that time on the same franchise. Hopper







This week’s Hot Topic The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Roland, who asks if you could reboot any series what would it be?



What franchise are you currently unhappy with and what would you do to fix it? It could be a soft reboot, which keeps the the same continuity but focuses on new characters and gameplay or a hard reboot that doesn’t necessarily keep anything from the previous games.



What are your main issues with the franchise at the moment and why is an ordinary sequel unlikely to fix them? Do you think the reboot could’ve been avoided if changes were made earlier or do all series need them from time to time?



E-mail your comments to: [email protected]



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 via email or our Submit Stuff page , which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.



You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter .





MORE : Games Inbox: Halo as a dead franchise, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom discount, and Smash Bros.: The Movie







MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: What animated video game movie should be next?







MORE : Games Inbox: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom trailer reaction, Final Fantasy 16 showcase, and Disgaea RPG





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