The Tuesday Inbox is still struggling to come to terms with the Xbox Series X name, as one reader rates the best bird-based video games.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: As usual, GameCentral will only have a minimal service over Christmas and the New Year, although we will be running various end of the year (and decade) features and a preview of 2020. We always like to include Reader’s Features as well though, so if you’ve been meaning to write one but haven’t now would be a great time to send one in for us to use this month.

Infinite potential
Silly name aside I think Microsoft will probably be pretty pleased with the unveiling of the Xbox Series X. Not fitting under the TV is clearly going to be a problem but generally I think the fact that the console actually looks cool, instead of boring, is a positive. And that Hellblade 2 trailer did look really good. But nobody’s going to buy a new console for Hellblade, so the problem comes back to games.

Microsoft showed off three in the Xbox Series X intro: a generic football game, racing game, and Halo. Not the most inspiring line-up, especially as presumably the football one is just FIFA, which obviously isn’t an exclusive. So we’re back down to Microsoft’s major exclusives being Halo, Gears Of War, Forza, and maybe Fable.

Gears and Forza are okay but we’ve seen a lot of them the last few years and it really hasn’t moved the needle for Xbox. Fable we don’t even know for sure they’re making, which leaves Halo Infinite as the game to sell the Xbox Series X. Let’s just say it has a lot of work to do. I used to count myself as a fan and even I can’t really remember what happened in Halo 5, so the game has got to reboot the story and find a new way to mix up the gameplay. That does sound like what they’re doing but it’s a hugely important thing for them to get right and if they don’t then the whole console is looking a lot wobblier.

Still being current gen is a bit weird too, but maybe they can do some kind of beta on that and get people excited about it that way? I assume Microsoft will have thought about this, but then I’d also think they would’ve given the console a sensible name, so who knows.
Rascom

Cable tidy
I completely missed the Xbox Series X reveal last week, through a combination of it being announced in the middle of the night here, having a stupid bland name that I barely took notice of the morning after, and everything being overshadowed by the general election. So I’ve probably missed something clarifying this, but it can work on its side, right?

Because the few pictures I’ve seen all having it upright like a desktop PC (or a digital home assistant, I guess is the look they’re going for), which is clearly the default position given the logo alignment. But at 31cm tall, there’s no way that’s fitting in most people’s TV units. Are they just expecting us to stand them behind the TV, nestled in the mass of dusty cables that are absolutely going to get tidied up one day, I swear?
Martin Smith

GC: It can work on its side, yes. There are pictures of it that way round here.

Best bird
Nice Reader’s Feature about essential animal simulators.

The obvious question now is what’s GC’s favourite poultry game? Untitled Goose Game, the Unfinished Swan or… er, Hatoful Boyfriend? Wait, do chocobos count? And I suppose there’s also the ‘chicken’ that started it all, Duck Hunt.

Have I thought about this too much?
Owen Pile

GC: Probably not enough, as you’ve forgotten Banjo-Kazooie at least. But Untitled Goose Game is still our favourite.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

A rose would smell as sweet
Reading about the recent reveals/trailers that have people talking over the last few days, and to be honest I’m quite surprised at just how miffed people are with the name reveal for Project Scarlett.

I mean, okay it’s not the best, most catchy name in the world – I didn’t ever suspect it would be – but does that really matter too much? Shortening to XSX or Series X isn’t so bad is it? To be honest I was never that impressed with the name Xbox to begin with, which despite being linked to Microsoft’s tech at the time (so I’m told?) apparently wasn’t even liked by Microsoft themselves, but chosen during testing!

When the Xbox One’s name was revealed I was, for a few seconds, mildly puzzled about why it was labelled with One* when it was the third Xbox, but after that I wasn’t really that bothered and bought one regardless (before later in the gen switching to PlayStation 4, but that was more to do with the gaming than the name!).

In terms of the other reveals, it’s nice to get some initial views of the games coming to the next generation. Hellblade 2 looked really good, although the first is still on my (rather long) to-play list. Godfall looks intriguing too and seeing The Wolf Among Us 2 is coming was really great news. Altho’, despite being someone who always wished for a Fast & Furious game, I felt that trailer looked a bit dated, like it was from the last generation, rather than coming towards the end of the current one.

May be my last write-in before Christmas, so best wishes to all at GC and to all readers!
NL
PS: The point the recent Reader’s Feature made about it being ‘always in the first AV port’ on your TV is interesting, as I’d not heard that one. I read somewhere it was supposed to be like a ‘one’ entertainment system reference, but either way, I stopped being that curious about it quickly enough.

GC: We don’t think anyone thinks it’s that important, but it is an amusingly bad choice. And yes, the name Xbox is derived from the DirectX API. As for Xbox One, Microsoft had two or three different explanations for the name, of which the AV port was one and yours another.

Different answers
I have just read the article about the drift issue with the Joy-Cons.

Recently I tried to get help on returning Joy-Cons after it developed drift to Argos and they provided me a copy of an internal email they received saying Argos are not allowed to repair any of them from August and everyone must be referred to Nintendo who will refused a repair and charge £20-£40 per Joy-Con ( I was unable to get the same quote from any of their staff).

I think this is further proof Nintendo know about this issue but they are just trying to avoid having to fix potentially thousands of units in Europe.
Alex Laud

GC: We’re not sure what article you’re referring to as we haven’t had anything on this for a while, but we’ve definitely had readers writing in saying that Nintendo fixed them for nothing – have you asked them?

Next gen indie
I’m not drawing any conclusions in regard to hardware capabilities from the two ‘in-engine’ demos on offer for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at the rather tiresome Game Awards.

I think if anything though Microsoft would be wise to push the boat out to ensure they have the slightly more powerful machine and be the multi-platform machine of choice. Along with Game Pass it would help reach parity with Sony, who for me still have many more aces.

I’m really looking forward to the new hardware though. If the rumoured specs are right, they will be a beefy upgrade and should produce amazing games.

One area of concern is that indie gaming on consoles will be marginalised in a push to promote whose machine can trace the most rays. I hope not as ever since I played Braid on Xbox 360 indie has enthralled and entertained in equal measure and is vital in keeping gaming interesting for me.
Simundo

GC: There’s no reason indie developers should be left behind next gen more than any other. If nothing else Microsoft will want their help to fill out Game Pass.

Falling into trouble
Just wondering if anyone else is having a few issues with the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order game? I have enemies falling through the world and enemies popping in after I enter a room. Also, there’s mid-level loading which I haven’t seen in a while. Is it because I didn’t use the disc and downloaded the game instead?

Separate issue. PUBG on the Xbox seems to be really slow at loading the map. A few times I’m not even getting into a game during the drop phase. Anyone else having that issue?
Bobwallett

GC: Fallen Order was pretty buggy, but we can’t say we had any of those specific problems (the worst was being catapulted onto the top of a mountain, not falling through the world). But that was on a PS4 Pro.

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

Console XS
Admittedly, I didn’t watch the game awards, so have no context for how the name of the Xbox Series X, was announced, which ultimately may just be as straight forward as that, i.e. that’s what it’s called.

However, I have a theory.

I don’t think the console is actually called the Xbox Series X but rather the X in the title is the moniker for what will be a series of Xboxes, all within the Xbox X brand. With me so far?

Using this hypothesis, the current Xbox One X will, in effect, become the entry level console in the Xbox X series. To add weight to my theory, I note GC reported that Microsoft announced that the upcoming Halo infinite will debut on the new next generation Xbox as well as the Xbox One X but with no mention of the Xbox One S. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

As I postulated in a letter to the Inbox early this year; I opined that with the arrival of the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, the traditional console upgrade cycle was dead and iterative console releases were likely going to be the way forward. I believe we could now be seeing this come to pass.

The Xbox One X is already a powerful machine with a proven track record of delivering either a 4K experience – albeit at 30fps – or a 1080p one with some extra graphical flourishes. So why go to the effort of developing a new entry level console when you already have one that could be used for this purpose and is already sitting under televisions in people’s homes? From Microsoft’s perspective they don’t alienate some of their existing customer base and get to keep them within the Xbox brand and ecosystem, allowing customers to chose to upgrade to the more powerful X series console when they feel the time is right.

So; if the Xbox One X is the entry level in the new series of Xbox Series X consoles what will the true next gen console in the X series actually be called? Xbox Two X, Xbox Pro X, Xbox Infinite X? I’ve no idea but I’m anticipating a further announcement will come. Just remember; you read it here first.

Xbox 5 would have been much simpler though!
Heinz57

GC: You’re overcomplicating things even more than Microsoft. Besides, surely the Xbox Series S would be the entry level machine? We mentioned Halo Infinite on Xbox One X merely to illustrate the similarity in the names, all Xbox One games run on all consoles – whether they’re S or X.

Inbox also-rans
Will you be reviewing the Disney Classic Games: Aladdin And The Lion King? Although I understand it’s a busy time of year for you at GameCentral. Your work all year had been great. A very informative and interesting
read, and I wish you all the best for a Happy Christmas!
Steve Derricourt

GC: Thanks. We did plan to review them but for some reason review copies didn’t go out until two weeks after release, and now it’s two months old.

Since it’s bound to be acronym-ed I have to ask, are Microsoft Red Dwarf fans? XSX sounds like a move Cat would play in Scrabble.
Joseph Dowland

Postal 2 is free on GOG for the next two days at the time of writing this message (Monday evening). It’s a bit too violent for me so won’t be getting it but here’s the link.
Andrew J.

So, when is the deadline for those of us who wish to send in features for consideration over the Christmas break? Asking… for a friend.
DMR

GC: The very latest would be early Friday, since that’s our last day in the office till January. We haven’t had very many yet, so if we suddenly get half a dozen on Friday afternoon know that you will be literally stopping us from getting home to our families at Christmas.

This week’s Hot Topic
With the PlayStation 1 celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, the subject for this weekend’s Inbox asks you about your fondest memories of Sony’s first console.

Did you own a PS1 when it first came out and why did you choose it over the alternatives? What was the first game you played on it and what did you think of it? Do you remember the marketing and general buzz over the new console and how did that affect your view of it?

What do you think of the PS1 looking back on it now? Which are you favourite games for it and how well do you think they stand up today?

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

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.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, 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: Xbox Series X vs. PS5, Hellblade 2 vs. Godfall, and Ghost Of Tsushima PS5 remaster

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As expected, a reference to Nemesis has been added to Resident Evil 2 in order to promote Resident Evil 3 – but in the demo, not the main game.

In order to promote the release of the Resident Evil 3 remake next April, Capcom has re-released the original Resident Evil 2 demo and they’ve added a little something extra to it.

You don’t actually get to see Nemesis – the powered-up Tyrant, similar to Mr. X, who stalks you through the entire game – but you do get to hear him growling his catchphrase ‘S.T.A.R.S.’

The Special Tactics and Rescue Service is the same unit Jill, Chris, and the rest of the protagonists from Resident Evil 1 are a part of and Nemesis is tasked with killing them all.

The demo has also been changed so that there are no longer any time limits and you get to play it more than once (the demo was originally labelled ‘1-Shot’, now it’s just ‘R.P.D. Demo’).

Nemesis cannot be heard in the full game, but there is a new letter from Jill that’s appeared, linking the two games together, and a new achievement named Chasing Jill.

If patches had been a thing back in 1999, you can guarantee this would’ve happened with the original Resident Evil 2 and 3 as well – which also came out only a year after each other and have stories that run concurrently.

The Resident Evil 3 remake is due for release on 3 April next year on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

It’ll probably have its own demo too, although so far Capcom hasn’t mentioned anything about that.

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The biggest Pokémon community for competitive matches has banned Sword and Shield’s major new feature after a fan vote.

Just when you thought the controversy over Pokémon Sword and Shield was over, its most important new feature has been banned from competitive play by fan organisation Smogon.

Dynamaxing is the ability for pokémon to grow to giant size and gain unique abilities and moves for a short period of time. It’s the signature new addition for Sword and Shield, but it also completely unbalances the combat.

‘The reasoning behind the Dynamax ban involves the increase in power, the impact of the secondary effects each type’s move has, the defensive merit gained through doubling the HP of any Dynamax user, and the element of unpredictability that comes alongside being able to Dynamax with any Pokemon at any point of the game’, reads a post on the Smogon forums.

Although The Pokémon Company now runs its own official tournaments, the Smogon community has been running its own since before the games even had online options – so it’s a big deal in fan circles.

The statement isn’t an angry one though and never tries to attack dynamaxing or Game Freak, instead it lays out the reason for the ban and how it came about – including a vote by members that was 87% in favour of the ban.

There are still ways to use dynamaxing in Smogon competitions, as explained by the new rules, but it does mean for most of them Sword and Shield’s main new feature is being ignored.

Although the odd thing is dynamaxing isn’t really that prominent in the single-player game either, and really only pops up during gym leader battles and optional four-player raids in the open world Wild Area.

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Just to ensure there’s maximum confusion over the name, Microsoft has confirmed that their new console is back to being called Xbox.

Microsoft has attempted to clarify exactly what their next generation console is called and the answer is both simpler and more complicated than initially assumed.

A new console was announced last Friday at The Game Awards with the name Xbox Series X. There was no real explanation of what that meant but, as we theorised at the time, it’s only one particular model and the whole next gen line of consoles is called just ‘Xbox’.

‘The name we’re carrying forward to the next generation is simply Xbox,’ Microsoft told Business Insider, ‘And at The Game Awards you saw that name come to life through the Xbox Series X’.

‘Similar to what fans have seen with previous generations, the name ‘Xbox Series X’ allows room for additional consoles in the future, added Microsoft.

Multiple models of next gen Xbox have been rumoured for years, with tech specs leaking out earlier in the month.

It’s assumed that one of the new models will be called the Xbox Series S, which means the more expensive next gen Xbox will be out first – with the cheaper version following later.

That’s the opposite way to how things worked this generation, but it does make more sense as it’s usually only dedicated gamers that buy a console as soon as it comes out.

Microsoft hasn’t actually confirmed how powerful the Xbox Series X is in comparison to any other model though, or how much it will cost, so technically that’s just speculation.

Despite all the jokes, none of this is likely to be that confusing once Microsoft stop selling the Xbox One (which they’re certain to do very quickly) but it does make looking back at the history of the brand interesting, as the four consoles so far are now called Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox.

But then Microsoft has often talked about breaking down the barriers between generations and, with the rise of streaming, this coming generation may be the last one in the traditional sense. And from there on out everything will be Xbox forever.

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MORE: Xbox Series X is bigger than you think (in terms of size and popularity)

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MORE: Xbox Series X parodies have begun as Internet reacts to next gen Xbox

Pornhub’s end of year review has revealed that Overwatch and Fortnite are its biggest gaming-related searches, alongside… Pokémon and Minecraft?!

For some reason Pornhub always offers surprisingly detailed statistics about their traffic, with a whole separate section dedicated to what people are searching for in terms of video game characters.

Despite being a declining force in gaming as a whole – leading to the sequel announcement last month – Overwatch saw an increase of 8% in searches this year, helping it regain the number one spot.

Since it has a wide range of memorable characters who are easy to cosplay as, Overwatch’s popularity is not surprising. But despite having few named characters, Fortnite still managed to come in at number two. Although, mirroring its slow fall in popularity in the real world, it saw searches decrease by 17% on Pornhub this year.

After that you start to get into things you’d rather not think about, with Pokémon being the third most searched term, rising by 21%, and Minecraft seeing its searches inflate by 34%.

At number five is new entry Apex Legend, which beat Fortnite for a while when it first came out but quickly fell back afterwards – which again matches how things went with the game itself.

To that point, it’s interesting how despite a 554% increase in interest Borderlands only managed to get to number nine in the charts, with Borderlands 3 also seeming to have a fairly short half-life given all the hype before its release.

In terms of individual characters, the most popular was Princess Zelda, followed by Lara Craft – even though neither has been in a new game for a while.

The most popular male character was Super Mario, at number four. Although since these are search terms, and Princess Peach doesn’t seem to have charted, we guess that probably includes everyone from the Mushroom Kingdom except Bowsette.

But that’s enough talking about what video games people search for on Pornhub for us… we think we’d rather just play the games.

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MORE: Overwatch 2 announced at BlizzCon 2019 – watch both trailers here

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Rebellion are planning to release all three original Zombie Army games on Switch, complete with four-player co-op mode.

Nintendo consoles have always been a natural home for co-op games, but the one Rebellion is planning to bring to Switch next year isn’t quite as family friendly as usual.

Zombie Army Trilogy doesn’t take itself too seriously though, with the compilation of the original three games in the series due to be released on Switch in the first half of 2020.

The means three separate story campaigns, Horde mode, and some Switch exclusive features including local wireless play, motion controls, and support for the Switch’s new friend invite system.

Nazi Zombie Army was released in 2013 as a PC-only spin-off from Sniper Elite V2 but became a surprise hit and spawned two sequels, which were then collected up into 2015’s Zombie Army Trilogy for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is also due out on those same formats on 4 February, but so far there’s been no indication of it coming to Switch.

Rebellion has been pretty good with their Switch support though, having brought both Sniper Elite 3 and Sniper Elite V2 Remastered to Nintendo’s console already.

They also still have a secret new Sniper Elite game to announce, presumed to be Sniper Elite 5, but that’s probably unlikely to be on Switch.

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Once thought lost to history, Westwood’s Blade Runner tie-in from 1997 has finally been re-released and it’s just £7 on GOG.com

The one retro PC re-release that nobody thought would happen has… happened. Not only was the critically-acclaimed Blade Runner graphical adventure caught up in a legal minefield but according to folklore its source code was lost several years ago.

As if that wasn’t problem enough the game’s unusual voxel-based graphics made it very difficult to run properly on modern PCs, but the fan community behind the ScummVM emulator have helped to get it up and running on modern operating systems.

How exactly they got round the other problems hasn’t been revealed yet but the game is available to buy right now for just £6.89 on GOG.com – a 10% discount thanks to the current winter sale going on.

Although the now defunct Westwood Studios are better known for Command & Conquer they also made The Legend of Kyrandia series of graphic adventures.

But while they were fairly standard LucasArts style point ‘n’ click games Blade Runner was a much more ambitious attempt to create a video game tie-in to the classic cyberpunk movie – which by that point was already 15 years old.

It features a separate story and protagonist to the movie but has similar themes and is set during the same time frame – so there’s lots of cameos and recognisable scenery.

Although it’s not based on the plot it’s the closest either of the Blade Runner films have come to an official tie-in.

There was an 8-bit computer game called Blade Runner but technically it was only based on the soundtrack, thanks to the film’s infamously convoluted rights issues.

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MORE: Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer dies aged 75 after short illness

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Already one of the best indie games of the year, the infamous Untitled Goose Game arrives to wreck its havoc on PS4 and Xbox One.

Sephiroth, Ganon, M. Bison, Albert Wesker… video games have their fair share of villains you love to hate – and sometimes love to play as – but none compares to the Goose with No Name. There’s no sympathetic backstory or conscience to be wrestled with in Untitled Goose Game, as you take control of a creature whose campaign of terror knows no mercy or limit. And it is glorious.

Having been released earlier in the year on Switch and PC, Untitled Goose Game has taken only a thankfully short period of time to arrive on the other consoles – boosted by what we would describe as the game’s unexpected success, if it hadn’t looked amazing from the very first trailer.

Your goal in Untitled Goose Game is simple: to annoy everyone. Set in a sleepy English village in the 80s, as you enter each new area you’re given a task list that includes trapping an innocent boy in a phone box, causing someone else to break a fancy vase, and making an old man fall over. There’s no reason to do any of these things, it’s just for the pure malicious fun of it. Which wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if you weren’t playing as a goose.

In gameplay terms Untitled Goose Game is surprisingly similar to the Hitman series, in that there’s a lot of stealth elements and the chances of success are greatly increased the more forward planning you do. From hiding in hedgerows to patiently watching the movement patterns of foolish humans, there are some very solid gameplay mechanics at the heart of the game.

Not only that but the way you solve the various problems is impressively open-ended, helped by a relatively realistic physics engine that is reliable enough that you can set up some quite complex traps (the goose’s beak proves remarkably dextrous at picking up and manipulating objects).

Even something as simple as stealing someone’s keys can be achieved numerous different ways, many of which we suspect the developer (Australian studio House House) never anticipated.

Untitled Goose Game isn’t perfect though, as it’s rather short and some of the objectives do get a bit samey before the end. But it’s appropriately priced and so full of charm and energy you could forgive it, and the goose, for anything. Well, we could. The villagers seem a lot more upset about it all, but then that’s the point.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL FULL REVIEW OF UNTITLED GOOSE GAME

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Price: £15.99
Publisher: Panic
Developer: House House
Release Date: 17th December 2019
Age Rating: 3

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The Wednesday Inbox remains unsure about the name of the next gen Xbox, as one reader is unimpressed by Stadia’s newest game.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: As usual, GameCentral will only have a minimal service over Christmas and the New Year, although we will be running various end of the year (and decade) features and a preview of 2020. We always like to include Reader’s Features as well though, so if you’ve been meaning to write one but haven’t now would be a great time to send one in for us to use this month.

Preparing to spend
Name problems aside, I think Microsoft had a pretty positive reveal for the, err… Xbox. As many have said, the demo for Hellblade 2 looked great. And that’s from a small team who usually only work with AA budgets. So there’s a good chance that more experienced studios could come up with something even more impressive.

Sony has basically closed ranks lately, with no big game show appearances or reveals, so they’re obviously super focused for the next gen now. Everything seems primed for all the final news dropping early next spring and then the next gen officially becomes the current gen.

The games are obviously the big question mark but personally the bigger issue is do I start saving up for one of the new consoles now, and hope to get one at Christmas, or do I wait and see? I always like to get one new gen console at launch, but increasingly that feels like being unpaid QA nowadays. But assuming either is going to cost £400+ it’s a big purchase.

I’m also not too keen on the idea that Microsoft is going to only be selling their more expensive console first and the cheaper one later. I hope Sony don’t take the same approach, because if they don’t that could make my choice of which to get right there.
MikeMore

Technical disqualification
A merry Christmas to all of the GC team and all its readers and a Happy New Year to everyone!

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone, it only seems five minutes ago when you was reviewing the remake of Capcom’s excellent Resident Evil 2 back in January and I wrote my very first letter of this year to you asking whether it would be included in this year’s yearly Top 20 GC charts and you replied no, because it was a remake.
JAH

GC: If it helps, we’ve given it an honorary mention.

In the running
A good few months ago I emailed in asking about guides for Bloodborne as I was about to give it a third attempt (previous best was reaching Rom).

I can now proudly say… I’ve finished it! All the regular game beaten, including all optional bosses (although not the Chalice Dungeons or DLC). The tension and satisfaction from beating the final two bosses was unparalleled – I can’t think of another game that’s given me such moments of stress and elation. Best. Game. Ever? Maybe….

My reward… the Dark Souls trilogy!
Elmunto

GC: Maybe, it’s certainly in our Top 10 games of the decade list. As you’ll see over Christmas.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

Start of it all
Greetings and Merry Christmas to all the staff at Metro Gaming. Thanks for covering what has been another fantastic year for video games!

On the subject of the PS1, I remember getting one to share with my younger brother for Christmas of the release year and my first memory of the console was that now infamous boot-up music and the brilliantly designed PlayStation logo. Our PS1 came bundled with Rayman and Doom, the latter clearly bought by my dad who was big into PC gaming around this era and absolutely not for two children under 10 (although we absolutely loved playing it).

Compared to my first console, a Sega Mega Drive, the PS1 was a huge leap in performance. The graphics, sounds and controller were so far ahead of anything I’d ever experienced and it really cemented gaming as my number one hobby from then on. I don’t remember much of the marketing around the PS1, only that I was one of few in my school who got one for Christmas that year as I’m pretty sure they were quite expensive.

My longest lasting and fondest memories of the PS1 will always be Metal Gear Solid. It was unlike anything I’d ever played at the time and I remember talking to my friends in school about the Psycho Mantis boss battle and plugging the controller into the player two port to beat him. Without the internet at the time, where would we have been without playground rumours, cheats, and tips!

Sony and the PlayStation revolutionised gaming and have continue to do so over the past 25 years and as I’ve got older it’s been fantastic to see how normalised gaming has become. What used to be a hobby reserved for computer nerds and geeks is now as big, if not bigger, than traditional entertainment like movies and TV.

I can’t wait to see what the next generation brings!
Pete A

GC: The PS1 was £299 when it first came out, which is a lot if you take into account inflation.

Hacking Mario
I’m sure many GC readers would’ve heard of the AVGN character of Cinemassacre from YouTube fame, created by James Rolfe. If any readers are interested in game hacks, or more specifically Super Mario Maker, I implore them to view this video from a great content creator, probably my favourite.

The video will speak for itself, and I’m sure you’ll find yourself laughing along with these guys as they try to complete fiendishly difficult levels with some very fun and inventive stipulations. It’s a fun watch.
Bad Edit

Occam’s razor
I was actually going to write in with a similar theory about the Xbox Series X. I assume they’ve still got a lot of Xbox One X consoles to shift. I also predict Microsoft will simply shift the needle. Making the Xbox One X the entry level console. And whatever the new console is the upgrade.

Games will then become X exclusive to consoles in the X series. With older games available through backwards compatibility. Then three years later we will get an upgraded console essentially creating the market the SteamBox wanted to achieve so many years ago.

Sony are talking about similar ecosystems now and the Xbox upgrade system seems to be perfectly lined up with this. Xbox Console Pass or consoles as a service. However, you want to put it Heinz57 was on to something.
Anon

GC: Xbox Series X is a different generation, games made for it aren’t going to work on the Xbox One. There isn’t a complicated explanation for any of this, Microsoft just aren’t very good at making up names.

The new Microsoft
So let me get this right. A couple of days after announcing its brand new console, Microsoft has had to issue a statement clarifying what it’s actually called? You couldn’t make this stuff up.

You’re right, it won’t matter in the long run, but it does show how even the biggest company can make such basic errors, even when it’s absolutely vital they put on a good reveal. The way they’re doing things still seem unnecessarily confusing though. At the very least just call it The New Xbox, like Apple do.
Zebra

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

Guessing game
I’m getting close to filling my pokédex on Pokémon Shield, and have been butting my head against one frustrating change. In Pokémon Sun and Moon, you were able to put Pokémon up for trade with a specific requirement, or search for people who were trading the one you wanted. Sword and Shield on the other hand removes all communication beyond letting you pick a pokémon to show the other player and allowing you to accept or reject. This turns trading into a rather tedious game of, ‘guess why I keep rejecting your trades;.

Most players don’t read the wikis for the game, so they don’t know which handful of monsters people will be looking for, and don’t pick up on clues like how you’re showing them a bunch of Shield exclusives or pokémon that only evolve after a trade. Even when you match with someone more knowledgeable it turns into a case of, ‘No, not that one… or that one… you showed me that one already… Yes! That one!… why did you reject it? Umm… do you want this one instead? No, I’ve got that, show me the one you offered before…’

Fortunately, I figured out a trick to get my message across. I renamed all my Shield exclusives to some variant of ‘SEND [POKÉMON I WANT]’. Not everyone will bother reading the name, but if they do they know what they need to do to get me to agree and so there is far less random guesswork.
TGN Professor

GC: It is an unnecessary restrictive system and it’s frustrating how Pokémon online features seem to expand and contract at random with every sequel.

Inbox also-rans
So Borderlands 3 came out on Stadia this week and apparently it’s based on an old build, so none of that automatic update stuff they were promising. Microsoft might not be good at names but Google are so bad at this video games lark it’s getting embrassing.
Cthlhu2

After they were basically no-shows at The Game Awards I was really hoping Nintendo would announce a surprise Nintendo Direct before Christmas. But I guess it’s not happening now?
Petes

GC: It seems unlikely.

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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.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, 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 Infinite on Xbox Series X, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order bugs, and Joy-Con drift

MORE: Games Inbox: Xbox Series X vs. PS5, Hellblade 2 vs. Godfall, and Ghost Of Tsushima PS5 remaster

MORE: Games Inbox: Xbox Series X first reaction, Nintendo at The Game Awards 2019, and Resident Evil 3 cheese

Sony has announced a new peripheral for the PS4’s DualShock 4, that adds an extra set of buttons that plug into the back of the controller.

It was always a surprise that Sony never tried to create an equivalent to the Xbox Elite controller, considering how well regarded it is (and how expensive and no doubt profitable).

But then they’ve always been very resistant to changing the design of the DualShock in any significant manner, clearly seeing it as an iconic part of the PlayStation set-up – even though the whole thing could really do with a complete redesign.

Well, now it’s got one. Sort of. With the surprise announcement of the DualShock 4 Back Button Attachment, which adds two extra buttons of your choice to the controller.

The idea is similar to the removable paddles on the back of the Xbox Elite controller, except Microsoft’s joypad has up to four of those.

Sat between the two new buttons is an OLED screen that shows you what the buttons currently do, since they can be mapped to any other button or trigger you like.

The attachment plugs into the bottom of the controller and also has its own 3.5mm connector. Since it is an add-on it’s a bit bulky, but it seems at least vaguely ergonomic.

It also seems like the sort of thing that might be added to the DualShock 5 as standard, except there’s been no hint of that looking at the patents.

There isn’t a UK price yet but it’s down as €29.99 at the moment, which is about £25. It’ll be released on 14 February next year.

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The rarest video game console ever made is going on sale in February, and it’s predicted to become the most expensive video game item ever.

Remember that ultra rare Nintendo PlayStation prototype that some guy found in a box of ‘junk’? He’s putting it up for auction, after he turned down an offer of $1.2 million (£1m) for it.

Towards the end of the SNES era, Sony was helping Nintendo work on a CD-ROM add-on but when that deal fell through, they decided to go it alone and create their own PlayStation.

But before that happened around 200 prototypes of the Nintendo PlayStation were made, with the one owned by Terry Diebold surfacing recently as the only one known to be in private hands.

Dieblod was looking to sell it even then, but now it’s officially going up for sale next year via Heritage Auctions. 27 February to be precise, in case you want to start saving up.

According to Diebold, the offer of $1.2 million came from someone in Norway, but he turned it down in favour of an auction. So clearly he’s looking for substantially more than that.

‘I can’t keep losing money,’ he told Kotaku. ‘I’ve put a lot of work into this by travelling with it and we have made nothing on it. Every trip that we… have taken with it has cost us money out of pocket.’

There doesn’t seem to be any question of whether the console is the real thing, as Diebold and his son have been touring it around fan events in the US for a while now, where it can be seen to run both SNES cartridges and CD-ROMs.

The console’s origins also check out, as it seems to have been thrown out with a bunch of other rubbish by an ex-Sony executive who didn’t realise the value of the prototype.

Exactly how much the console will go for is a mystery though, since one has never gone up for sale before.

Heritage Auctions has recently sold a lot of expensive NES games though, including sealed copies of The Legend Of Zelda for £15,000, a sealed Donkey Kong 3 for £33,000, and a copy of the original Mega Man for an eye-watering £57,000.

Although that still doesn’t beat the £89,000 for Stadium Events, recognised as one of the rarest NES games ever manufactured.

Even that’s chump changed compared to whatever the Nintendo PlayStation is going to go for though, which will likely end up the most expensive single piece of gaming hardware ever.

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The follow-up to last year’s classic mini C64 console is a full-size version with a proper keyboard and joystick – but is it worth upgrading?

This has been a good year for retro mini consoles. The Mega Drive Mini was just as good as its Nintendo counterparts and the news of the PC Engine Mini coming out next year was very exciting. And while it’s not quite the same thing, and much more expensive, the Capcom Home Arcade was a wonderfully uncompromising recreation of some classic 90s coin-ops.

Clearly these mini consoles are very popular, but the obvious problem is that companies are running out of classic ones to release. Rather than just give up, some are likely to go back and redo existing ones – the PlayStation Classic could certainly do with a second try – because that’s already been the approach with the various 8-bit computers that have been given a similar treatment.

There have been multiple ZX Spectrum devices already and this is the second Commodore 64 release in as many years. Nicknamed The C64 Maxi by fans, it’s very similar to last year’s The C64 Mini, but with two major differences: it’s not mini and it comes with a proper microswitched joystick. And it costs £109.99.

The C64 Mini was a pretty good attempt at replicating the classic mini console experience for an 8-bit computer, but it was let down by a terrible joystick that made many of the bundled games almost unplayable. The joystick included here still isn’t an actual Competition Pro, even though it’s trying to look like one, but it’s close enough and the microswitched controls are precise enough to cope with all the more difficult action games.

It also has four additional buttons for performing various meta functions and there’s some complex instructions in the online manual on how to reprogram the buttons. It’s also available separately for around £20, so if you have The C64 Mini and don’t feel like upgrading you can get one of the main benefits of the Maxi separately.

The other big draw is that instead of a little shrunken down computer with a fake keyboard the Maxi is an almost exact replica of the original 1982 design, complete with a fully functioning keyboard. That not only makes it easier to play some games (sadly the only text adventure is the obscure Planet Of Death) but also to program your own and make use of the Commodore 64’s original BASIC interface.

Alternatively, you can use the optional carousel style interface that allows you to get straight to the games, along with a small suite of options that includes CRT screen filters and the chance to switch the emulation between UK and US versions, and between the Commodore 64 and the older VIC 20 computer. This time round at least, designers Retro Games seem to have thought of everything in terms of hardware, but the software is still an issue.

As with the Mini, there are 64 games included with the device itself, but while they’re mostly the same there are some additions and subtractions. You can see the full list below, with the manuals available here, but most of the missing ones are from publisher Thalamus. We assume that means there was some kind of rights issues, which is a shame as it means key titles Armalyte and Creatures are no longer included. There’s also no Skool Daze anymore, which is a real shame.

The original line-up was never great but losing some of the few genuine classics it had is unfortunate. Other games have been added to replace them, including a number of Jeff Minter titles like Attack Of The Mutant Camels and Gridrunner on the VIC 20, but overall the selection is slightly worse than what was already a fairly random collection of mostly non-classic titles.

Although Galencia is interesting, in that it’s a brand new C64 game made recently and sold by Protovision – even if turns out to be a fairly uninspired Galaga clone.

Of course, one of the main appeals of The C64 Maxi is that you can play any game on it you like by loading other files from a USB stick. The documentation skates over the legality of using ROMs of commercial games though, even as the device supports all common emulation formats, including multi-disk games and cartridges.

From that perspective the Maxi is perfect because you’ve got the whole keyboard and a decent joystick just waiting to play any game you want. Given all that, the price really doesn’t seem so bad and if you assume they’ve done the best they can with the game selection this is as good as a re-released C64 could probably ever be.

However, unlike the Mega Drive Mini or Classic Mini Nintendo consoles the selection of games is nowhere near the best the format has to offer, with many of them barely worth playing more than once. Unlike the retro consoles, The C64 Maxi is not a ready-built time capsule of everything that was great about the original computer – but it could be if you’re willing to put in the effort to curate it yourself.

The hardware and emulation is solid and goes a long way to justifying the £109.99 asking price, it’s just that opening it on Christmas Day is inevitably going to be a disappointment unless you have a USB card full of games ready and waiting. Which you may well have, after reading this, and if so we wish you a very merry retro Christmas!

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The Thursday Inbox thinks the Nintendo PlayStation should be in a museum, as one reader compares Power Stone to Bleeding Edge.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: As usual, GameCentral will only have a minimal service over Christmas and the New Year, although we will be running various end of the year (and decade) features and a preview of 2020. We always like to include Reader’s Features as well though, so if you’ve been meaning to write one but haven’t now would be a great time to send one in for us to use this month.

Mega name
I don’t what’s funnier than the Xbox Series X name – Microsoft’s panicked explanation or hardcore fans trying to defend the nonsense. But to just try and turn things around to something more positive I wondered what everyone thought was the best console name?

The obvious, if boring, choice is the PlayStation, since it’s clearly hugely successful, easy to remember, can easily be abbreviated, actually makes sense, and gets across what it is. By comparison Dreamcast is both great and awful because it doesn’t sound like a console, or anything in particular, but just something vaguely cool and interesting.

I also like the dumb simplicity of the GameCube, is if being a cube some means it’s good at playing games (would a GamePyramid be better or worse?). But for me the best has to be the good old Mega Drive. Sounds vaguely high tech but also cool and powerful, in a very 90s way. It’s also so much better than the awful American name of Genesis, which has no relevance to anything – much like the subsequent Saturn. But then, in so many ways, the Mega Drive was always Sega’s golden age.
Hammeriron

Spelling for hipsters
While Microsoft are doing their best to confuse us with their next console’s name, I had a think back to all the names of past and present consoles (well, the main two or three per generation).

It seems all of them use real English words, or a combination of them, such as PlayStation or Dreamcast. The only anomaly was Wii (and consequently Wii U), which was a completely made up word.

With the Xbox and PlayStation brands now seemingly set in stone, maybe the Switch successor will be the second made up console name (If it becomes Switch U, heads will roll).
ttfp saylow (gamertag)
Now playing: Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2

GC: Wii and Wii U weren’t new words as such, they were just existing words spelt wrong (We and We You), as seems to be the current fashion in marketing.

Stone cold classic
I was reminded of fond memories when I read about the Power Stone trademark news story you ran. What an absolute blast that game was as a kid, four players absolutely clobbering each other and I remember the stages were fairly interactive and deadly! I do hope there is a new version at some point, however I did come across a game called Bleeding Edge to pre-download on Game Pass which seemed to have a similar vibe so fingers crossed its good on release.

Speaking of Game Pass I have to say I’m very impressed with the amount of games I’ve now played that I probably wouldn’t have and almost… almost feel guilty for the low price I’ve paid, with various offers and discounts.

I think I could be tempted to go with Microsoft for the next generation. Silly names aside, my favourite acronym being Sexbox so far. But the offer to pay monthly plus a year’s Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass on top is very appealing.
Bigmac Kenna (gamertag)

GC: If it was four players it must’ve been Power Stone 2, which we also loved. We suppose Bleeding Edge is relatively similar, we were quite impressed when we had a go at E3.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

Moment in history
I don’t know what’s wilder about that Nintendo PlayStation going for more than $1 million – the fact that I guessed it would be at least that or the fact that people are willing to pay that much money for a lump of plastic. And yet a part of me can see its historical importance and definitely thinks it should be persevered.

I mean, the move from 2D to 3D, cartridge to CD, was the most important moment in gaming history but this prototype is that moment frozen in time. I wouldn’t pay $1 million for it, but if it was in a museum I would visit it and take a look.

Oh, how different the world would’ve bene if that had gone into full production…
Blurg

Final trophy
In response to the enthusiastic reader who finally completed the utterly fabulous Bloodborne I implore you to delve into the Chalice Dungeons, the DLC, and best of all go all out for the Pthumerian Queen trophy. I will happily point toward getting the platinum trophy as my most rewarding gaming experience. Man, that goddamn defiled chalice really is where you have to boil your head in anger before finally singing heavenly as you test yourself against the epic one hit kill battles against the Watchdog and Amygdala.

I hated Watchdog with a passion and wanted to eat a 6ft cacti and spit it in his eyes. I then walked away for an hour, came back, swallowed my hatred for him and decided to precisely watch his movesets, knowing what ones were best to completely avoid and what ones had chances to sneak in closer. I then perfected the art of ‘in for two hits and back off’. When he finally died I sat for a while just beaming with joy, yet sad for old hotdog as he’d given me such an epic battle.

When you finally get down to the last few bosses (Abhorrent Beast is a definite standout) you’re fully locked in for the big showdown with the queen, and whilst she’s not as tough as what came before it’s still a glorious finale. When you hear that familiar ring, informing you that you’ve attained the final trophy, you sit basking in sheer joy as you thank the From team for giving the world such a glorious game.
Anon

Wipe away problem
So with all the chat about Joy-Cons and repairs; my set finally succumbed to the dreaded affliction. I couldn’t really be bothered sending them off, and live in Australia where I’m not sure if Nintendo care, so I googled and found something which has fixed the problem with minimal cost and fuss. I’m shocked there isn’t a wider awareness of this.

Maybe I just got lucky, but it’s such an easy fix perhaps worth a try for anyone. Basically, a clean with isopropyl alcohol. Sounds dangerous but is literally just the alcohol wipe a doctor surgery would use before giving you an injection.

Just wipe this around the controller nub and let it evaporate. Fixed mine immediately and obviously at owner’s own risk but it was so easy and could save a lot of people hassle. Certainly cheaper than replacement!
Jad

Single issue
For me, deciding on which console to go with next gen comes down to just one issue, backwards compatibility.

I own a PlayStation 4, having switched from Microsoft after the Xbox One launch debacle, and I still have a whole host of current gen games I haven’t got round to playing yet, plus a few I’d like to replay at some point. As a result I’ll be picking up the PlayStation 5 so that I can play current and next gen games on the one box.
drlowdon

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

Failure to connect
So I have completed God Of War through PlayStation Now and what a fantastic game. I won’t dwell on that fact, but all the praise thrown its way is fully deserved.

I used the free week’s trial of PS Now and then purchased a month – this was my first venture onto the service. Therefore, I’m not sure when Sony added the feature, but I could download God Of War and it seems that most (maybe all) PlayStation 4 games can be downloaded and played. When I was playing there was no slowdown or stability issues.

Once I completed God Of War, I thought I would go back to a PlayStation 3 game and started streaming Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time. Over the last week or so, there have been maybe five days where I have been forced to close the game due to connectivity issues, even though the game was still playable, but admittedly more pixelated.

I have never had this problem when online on the PlayStation 4 or when on Xbox Live and my broadband connection is both good and stable. Nothing else in my house that requires Wi-Fi had any issues, but I guess they used a lot less data. I hasten to add that you do not have the option to continue playing when the connection is considered weak and you have a 20 second countdown to save your game.

The strange thing is, I tried remote play with God Of War a couple of times on the iPad and the connection was flawless. It is also worth mentioning for those that don’t know this that Sony added an update to remote play in October where you can now use your DualShock controller with the iPad itself (a lifesaver when my wife is watching reality TV!)

In this digital future – well, present – we live in, I’m really hoping there will remain the options in years to come where I can download single-player games and play them that way, as having to quit one because of connectivity issues has been very frustrating.
NatorDom

Inbox also-rans
RE: The Xbox formerly known as Xbox Series X. Isn’t there some kind of form or something that we can make Microsoft fill out so we know what to call it? Or is this going to be like the opposite of the Inuit having several dozen words for snow?
Bodhi

Xbox > Xbox 360 > Xbox One > Xbox. Microsoft has done an… Xbox 360.
FoximusPrime (gamertag/NN ID/Twitter)

Saw that from Thursday 19th December 2019 Epic Games Store are apparently giving away 12 free games on PC each day, starting from today and finishing January 1st 2020.
Andrew J.

Why do Swordward and Shieldbert remind me of Jedward?!
big boy bent

GC: We thought exactly the same thing. Remember, Game Freak do have a British guy as one of their lead artists.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

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.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, 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: Buying a new console in 2020, Pokémon Sword/Shield online trading, and Resident Evil 2 GOTY

MORE: Games Inbox: Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order bugs, and Joy-Con drift

MORE: Games Inbox: Xbox Series X vs. PS5, Hellblade 2 vs. Godfall, and Ghost Of Tsushima PS5 remaster

This year’s Call Of Duty is the biggest for six years, as Activision celebrate the success of the battle pass and free DLC.

Modern Warfare is the most popular Call Of Duty of this console generation, according to Activision, with more hours played, hours per player, and average daily players than any other entry.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare has now made more than $1 billion, with over 500 million multiplayer hours logged and almost 300 million multiplayer matches.

This follows years of decline in sales and engagement, with the series reaching its nadir, in terms of fan support, with 2016’s Infinite Warfare.

Since Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and Black Ops 3 were all on both the current and previous generation consoles, it’s not entirely clear where Activision are drawing the line in terms of comparisons.

Although they do mention Modern Warfare is the most popular for six years, which seems to imply the most successful since 2014’s Advanced Warfare.

Being a reboot of the most popular entry in the franchise, which in turn saw a return to a modern day setting, Modern Warfare is the first entry to include crossplay and cross-progression support, as well as no season pass and DLC that’s free on all platforms (except for Survival mode on PlayStation 4).

Given the game’s success you can expect all that to remain the same for subsequent games, with the series abandoning loot boxes and instead making its money with battle passes.

‘We’re bringing our players together to play across all platforms and that continues today with a new wave of content coming to everyone for free,’ said Infinity Ward’s Patrick Kelly.

‘Starting today Vacant and Shipment are in full multiplayer rotation. Players can also jump into new Gunfight maps, play a new Special Ops mission and play fun new modes, starting with Cranked.’

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Xbox Game Pass has had a bunch of new games added just before Christmas, including Life Is Strange 2 and Pillars Of Eternity.

For anyone getting a new Xbox One console this Christmas Xbox Game Pass is a bit of a non-brainer, since it’s currently just £1 for three months, giving you access to over 100 games including every first party Microsoft title.

What it also grants you, as of this week, is The Witcher 3, Untitled Goose Game, Pillars Of Eternity, and the final episode of Life Is Strange 2. Which should keep you busy over the Christmas break.

Untitled Goose Game only came out this week but even though it’s not published by Microsoft it’s gone straight to Game Pass, so we do advise giving it a go as it’s one of the best indie games of the year.

The Witcher 3 needs no introduction at this point but if you haven’t ever played it now is the perfect time with the Netflix show coming up, although this is the standard version and does not include the two story expansions.

Life Is Strange 2 is also worth checking out, as even though it’s not quite as good as the previous two games it’s still one of the best narrative driven games of recent years.

Finally, Pillars Of Eternity is an old school computer role-playing game that works surprisingly well on a console, if you’ve never played that sort of thing before.

It’s also interesting as the sort of thing The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian were best known for before they got bought by Microsoft.

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Borderlands 3 is preparing for the festive season with a new trailer, a sale, and some new footage from its first story expansion DLC.

The very final release of 2019 isn’t a game, but instead a DLC expansion for Borderlands 3, with Moxxi’s Heist Of The Handsome Jackpot due out today on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

It’s not particularly Christmassy, unless your family tradition is robbing casinos before tucking into the turkey, but Gearbox has provided a new 16-minute video showcasing what it’ll look like.

The DLC (we’re not typing that name out again) goes live at 5pm today, UK time, so there’s no way we’re going to have time to review it before the Christmas break.

But Borderlands’ DLC does tend to be pretty good and we’re sure Gearbox will be putting on a special effort for the first one.

If you don’t have the parent game though it’s currently on sale, for 35% off not only the standard version but also the deluxe and super deluxe editions. Even the Stadia version is included, even though, embarrassingly, it’s turned out to be two months behind the others.

The PlayStation 4 discount doesn’t start till tomorrow, Friday, 20 December but all the others are live now until 7 January (although only 2 January for Xbox One).

Alternatively, you might want to pick up the season pass separately, which includes all four planned DLC expansions and some exclusive skins, trinkets, and mods.

The season pass is included with the super deluxe edition but is £39.99 on its own.

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Split-screen mode is now a permanent feature for Fortnite, at least on certain consoles and if you know the trick to use it…

Couch co-op is always the best way to play any multiplayer game but it’s a feature with a complicated history on Fortnite, after being promised, taken down, and switched back on – leaving many confused as to whether it’s even an option at all.

It is, at the moment, but only on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, so you can’t currently play it on Nintendo Switch, PC, or mobile.

It’s not immediately obvious how to use it, but the process is fairly simple – although it only works with Squads and Duos mode.

How to play Fortnite split-screen

1. Switch on both your controllers before you start the game, so your console knows two people are logged in.
2. This will prompt the other player to either log into or create a new account for the console. Follow the prompts to do so, which will only take a second as you don’t need to have a PlayStation Network or Xbox Live Gold account.
3. Start Fortnite and make sure you can see the second player in the lobby, if not hold down the log-in button – you can see a prompt for it in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
4. That’s it. Start the game as usual and you’ll both be in the game.

There are some limitations though, as not only are you restricted to Squads and Duos mode but the split-screen has some black borders to the left or right and the game runs at only 30 frames per second.

That’s because the console is essentially having to run the game twice, so it’s being pushed to its limit and has to reduce the amount of work it does.

It works pretty well though, especially for a feature not many people know about yet.

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With the new movie out this week, GameCentral takes a final look at the most controversial Star Wars game ever made.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will go down in history as a flashpoint of this console generation. It’s the reason governments debate the ethics of loot boxes and the reason why many look at EA’s stewardship of the biggest entertainment licence in the world with disappointment.

It’s a shame, because, as we described in our 2018 re-review, the game has gone from strength to strength since its disastrous launch. And now, with The Rise of Skywalker hitting theatres, a fresh batch of content is being added to Battlefront 2, alongside a fresh new ‘Celebration Edition’ of the game. Which provides the final opportunity to assess the game and look back over a redemption arc that puts Darth Vader’s to shame.

The much-vaunted story campaign now seems somewhat superfluous, in the context of the whole package, but what sunk the game upon launch was its tone-deaf progression system built on loot boxes and pay to win. Thankfully, this was changed just before launch, but the randomised rewards remained – you just couldn’t buy blind packs with real cash.

This has since been tweaked again. Levelling up a class earns a skill point to be used only on that class. That means spending your time playing the way you want actually allows you to reinvest and double-down on the character class you choose. In the same way that the most bumbling Call Of Duty player can eventually earn their way to Prestige, Battlefront 2 allows players to improve their classes just by sticking with the game.

It’s unlikely even the most die-hard Star Wars fan would be returning to the game two years after release if there wasn’t something new to do, but thankfully Battlefront 2 has seen a steady stream of updates over the months and years. Fresh characters like General Grievous, Count Dooku, and Captain Phasma have been added, alongside new vehicles – although do we really need three versions of the Millennium Falcon?

Arguably the best addition is the Capital Supremacy mode from earlier this year. Limited to the Clone Wars era at present, teams of 20 players (flanked by bots) battle over command posts. Once you claim a majority, a percentage bar fills up, and once you reach 100% you can board the enemy’s capital ship to destroy it from within. It’s the closest EA has come to Battlefield 2142’s oft-forgotten Titan mode and is a lot fun. Plus, in 2020, the mode will grow to encompass Resistance and First Order battles.

Between being able to tear a capital ship out of the sky in Capital Supremacy, blow other ships to smithereens in Starfighter Assault, and the standard objective-based ground combat, Battlefront 2 now feels like a Star Wars toy box – and the new Rise Of Skywalker update only adds to that.

A new map arrives today, but already this week there’s been new appearances for Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren, while BB-8 is being added as a playable character in 2020. Elsewhere, two new characters are being added to the Resistance and First Order line-ups.

The First Order get a Jet Trooper that’s essentially a palette-swap of the previous Rocket Trooper, but they also get the Sith Trooper – the stylish crimson trooper seen on the cover of the Celebration Edition. This aggressive attacker is able to increase its speed and regenerate health upon each kill with the Combat Rush ability, making it the perfect unit for flanking objectives.

Meanwhile, the Resistance gets the Ovation Gunner and Caphex Spy. The former is a versatile, minigun-wielding unit capable of melting troops and vehicles with ease, while the latter is able to trick enemies with a decoy – one which pairs with an orbital strike when enemies are out in the open.

The game’s co-op mode is also getting a hefty update – namely access to maps from the latest trilogy. These bite-sized Horde mode-inspired maps still feel a little like training for the real multiplayer, but being able to jump into The Last Jedi’s Crait map alongside a group of friends, without having to worry about being slaughtered by a player that’s plenty of levels above you, is a welcome addition.

It’s not all good, though. If Battlefront 2’s limp gunplay didn’t hook you back in 2017, it’s still a problem today. Weapons lack the satisfying thud and feedback of something like sister-franchise Battlefield 5 (which we also recently re-reviewed here) and don’t seem to have the weight or power that’s evident in the films.

There’s also the way Heroes work. These powerful units look great, but pitting Darth Maul, Darth Vader, and Kylo Ren against Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, and Rey quickly descends into the equivalent of bashing action figures together, due to clunky controls and canned animations.

That said, the remainder of Battlefront 2 remains as incredibly faithful to the saga as ever. There’s clear reverence for every pore of the source material here, from Chewbacca’s fur (which still looks much better than any wookie does in this year’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order), to lesser known fan favourites like Dengar and Bossk. You could take a screenshot of almost any scene, remove the HUD, and be left with what could easily be mistaken for a movie still.

Battlefront 2 has taken its lumps, and the strangely weightless combat is still an issue, but if you’re a Star Wars fan that was put off at launch this is the time to put your trust in the Force and enjoy what has become a genuinely great game.

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £59.99
Publisher: EA
Developer: DICE, Criterion, and Motive
Release Date: 17th November 2017
Age Rating: 16

By Lloyd Coombes

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The Friday Inbox thinks Activision should give up yearly Call Of Duty sequels, as readers get ready for a very merry gaming Christmas.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: The main GameCentral team will be on their Christmas and new year holidays from after today, with normal service resuming on Monday, 6 January. In the meantime we’ll have plenty of features going up every day, including the GameCentral Top 20 of 2019 and a preview of 2020. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone!

Game time
So it’s special time of year when the food and drink is in ample supply and there’s a good chance you’ve got a new game or two (maybe even a console!) waiting for you to get stuck into – and the time to actually play it. The only problem is, of course, that all your least favourite members of the family are coming round to take you away from it.

If my non-subtle hints have been accurately targeted then I should be getting a Switch and a copy of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, which I have been hearing so much about and am looking forward to trying myself. How much time I’ll get to I don’t know but as far as I’m concerned that weekend between Christmas and New Year’s Day is going to be all about gaming!

A merry Christmas to everyone reading this, and a thank you to GC for their excellent articles all year, and for everyone that writes in to the Inbox and does their own Reader’s Feature – which I also look forward to reading over the break!
Zebra

Good start
Merry Christmas everyone! Assuming this goes out in Friday’s Inbox I guess that’s pretty much it for the year from GC, so I’d just like to thank the team for all their hard work and for all the readers that contribute to the Inbox and Reader’s Features. I always check Metro at work and at the weekend and enjoy it all.

I see the Internet is already a flood of reviews of the year, and decade, and I look forward to GC’s version but for me it was a fairly meh year. (Not personally, you understand, just in terms of games!). This autumn was particularly disappointing and I don’t think there’s anything I’ve enjoyed except Untitled Goose Game. Even The Outer Worlds never really grabbed me, and I now regret I don’t have it on disk so I can sell it.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Resident Evil 2, and Devil May Cry 5 were good (all Japanese, I notice, and two of them Capcom) but that seems a long time ago now. Next year looks more encouraging but I think the problem with this gen has been the lack of new franchises and too many sequels. The thought that that’s going to get even worse with the next gen worries me and could end up being the worst thing about it.
Coop

Yearly sequel
Crazy numbers for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare but I can’t say I resent it. I bought the game and although I’ve sold it now, because I got bored of the multiplayer, there’s no doubting it’s not a great package. The story campaign is really good and easily the best I’ve played since the original Modern Warfare games. Not that I’ve played every Call Of Duty since, but from what I hear this is definitely the best one since then.

I do wonder at what point they’re going to give up with the yearly releases though. They must realise that they could make a lot of money keeping each one going for longer, with microtransactions and such, and when they get a really popular one like this they’re cutting it off too soon by starting promoting the next one just a few months longer.

Mind you, what would happen to the three studios if that happened? Activision would probably shut them down without even blinking I guess. Not that I’m in charge of any of these decisions but I predict that at some point relatively soon the yearly sequels are going to stop being a thing.
Kimba

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

Official games
Nice review of the C64 mini… console computer thing. I didn’t even realise it was coming out but am tempted as I had a C64 as a kid and haven’t touched or seen any of the games since then. Even if it’s at least semi-legal though I have to admit I feel a bit odd about just taking ROMs off sites. Even if most of these companies are long gone and I’m not doing anyone out of money I still don’t like it. I much prefer things like the Mega Drive Mini where all the best games are on the system from the start and you don’t have to weed out all the bad games yourself, plus you know everything is legit.

I realise the C64 was never as big as the Mega Drive or SNES but I wish it had been done properly. It also makes it pretty obvious that the Amiga is never happening, or if it did it would be even worse. I’d love a mini version with things like Hunter and Flashback on it though. But I guess my only real chance is trying to work out where in the loft my real one is.
Josh

Free pass
I know it’s not news to anyone but Xbox Game Pass really is great. I had no idea The Witcher 3, Untitled Goose Game, and Life Is Strange 2 were coming but that in itself is my Christmas sorted. An all for free! And even I didn’t already have Game Pass it would only have cost me a pound!

Sony has got to match this kind of deal, pound for pound, next gen or that’s going to be the reason they lose. As a reader pointed out earlier that’s probably what’s going on with PS Now at the moment, but it needs to be more than just that and I’m curious to see if Sony will swallow their pride and copy Microsoft.
Gonch

Rolling along
Well, if we’re talking about Bloodborne, I’ll chip in to say that two months ago I would have thought something like ‘nice for the elite who have the skills to play it’. Not for someone like me, with wooden thumbs, who often dials games to easy peasy difficulty and gave up on Demon’s Souls after two hours.

Anyway, I borrowed it a month ago and it nearly suffered the same fate as Demon’s Souls. I kept losing my blood echoes and didn’t seem to be making much progress at all. I loved the horror atmosphere though, so decided to persevere, and to my surprise I’m completely hooked. I’ve not discovered any hidden gaming talent, the turning point was realising it wasn’t solely an action game, but has a huge role-playing element.

I’ve not finished it yet but am heading into the later stages and hoping that my cautious levelling and equipment upgrading will continue to compensate for my dodgy skills. I’m living proof that it’s a game that anyone can play with the right approach, just don’t be put off by the early stages. One of the best games I’ve played for sure.
‘Daley’ Thompson

Unanimous verdict
In reply to Hammeriron, regarding the best console name. I think we can ‘all’ agree that the best one is the Amstrad C464. As far as I’m concerned it’s not really a machine unless it has a bunch of nonsensical letters and numbers and a 10 minute load time to play games.

Kids these days don’t know how easy they have it!
Santa Chris

GC: We think you’re right in that everyone agrees on the quality of the Amstrad’s name.

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

Birthing pains
The end of the year is upon us and I shouldn’t say it but I’m just hoping things can get a move on and fast forward to March for Final Fantasy 7 Remake and then Cyberpunk 2077 afterwards. It’s a great line-up next year and it feels like this year has been dragging its feet by comparison.

I also find it much easier to get excited about new games than new consoles. We know nothing about any PlayStation 5 games and I didn’t like Halo or Hellblade so the Xbox Series X (or whatever it’s called) hasn’t moved the dial for me yet.

It also makes me remember when this gen started and there was almost two years of no interesting new games, on the new consoles again. I know that’s just how things work but I’m definitely glad that the first half of the year looks to be so good as I’m going to stock up then and use all the current gen games to get me through the birthing pains of the next gen.
The Bishop

Inbox also-rans
Into The Breach is the first game on the Epic Store 12 days of free games for Christmas. Happy Christmas and a happy new year to all of GameCentral and their readers.
Andrew J.

GC: Into The Breach is a fantastic game, we encourage everyone to try it. Especially as it doesn’t require a powerful PC.

Merry Christmas GC and everyone, see you next year! (Assuming Friday is your last day?)
Onibee

GC: It is. Thanks.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

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.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, 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.

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Christmas is being celebrated in the Old West as Rockstar add festive Showdown modes and decorations at your camp in Red Dead Online.

Just like most ongoing games, Red Dead Online has had a Christmas makeover. And despite Rockstar’s violent vision of the Wild West it’s all looking rather charming. Well, maybe not the deadly snowstorms..

Characters have been playing festive songs on saloon pianos for a while now, but Rockstar has engineered the weather to be more snowy for the next few weeks, guaranteeing a white Christmas.

This in turn will affect new versions of Showdown modes like Spoils of War, Up in Smoke, and Overrun – as well as exclusive Christmas editions of Gun Rush, Make it Count, and Last Stand on PlayStation 4. But they’ll all be gone by 6 January.

If you log on to the game anywhere between 23 to 25 December you’ll also get a seasonal gift chest, which can include anything from a Krampus double barrel shotgun to some minty plump birds.

Between 24 and 30 December you can also earn a pretty penny sending the Festive Feast Collection to Madam Nazar (a goose egg, cognac, and a thyme plump bird) and between 31 and 6 January the New Year Collection (Ace of Wands, Scotch whisky, and platinum pocket watch).

You can also still claim gifts for logging on or after 13 December. They’re not quite so Christmassy but check the Benefits section of the main menu anyway, to see what you got.

In terms of new year gifts, you can get a 1,000 XP reward for playing between 31 December and 6 January, with 25% off things like the medium delivery wagon and collector variant of the Lancaster repeater.

Finally, Twitch Prime members can get the collector’s bag and polished copper still upgrade for nothing simply by logging in and making sure their Prime account is connected to the Rockstar Social club, which you can do here.

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter

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