The morning Inbox hears about a worrying statistic for Ouya owners, as one reader recalls the non-existent hype for Yoshi’s Island.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk.
Back to Skool
Although I’d definitely be up for a Red Dead Redemption sequel my favourite Rockstar game is Bully, and yet you hardly ever hear anyone talk about that. Was it not a big hit or something because I thought it was great.
It was funny and often cruel but unlike Grand Theft Auto most of its characters had a good heart and I found the story and open world a great change of setting from other games.
I do agree they kind of fudged what to do in lessons, but that’s one reason I’d like to see a sequel. One where you could chose to listen or mess around at the back flicking rulers and stuff. Of course I’d prefer it was set in a British comprehensive, but I realise that’s definitely asking too much.
Bill Bailey
GC: It did around 2.5 million worldwide, which is okay for a mid-budget game (although Bully was probably quite expensive) but peanuts compared to Rockstar’s other big games.
Oops, I did it again
I’m beginning to think that I’m stuck in some Sony fanboy’s vivid dream. Is Microsoft’s next announcement going to be that they’ve ditched Kinect? What about the U-turn after that? That they’ve gone third party? That they’ve decided to start developing for the PlayStation 4?
I mean it’s good that they’ve seen sense (although how they thought any of these policies were going to fly in the first place I don’t know) but I don’t know how anyone can ever trust them again. They’re basically making completely the opposite console from the one they intended now and are just making policies up on the fly.
This latest stuff about always intending to do indie games this way seems particularly pathetic when there are so many interviews on record saying the exact opposite. Just as bad is all the small print that’s missing, which basically implies that they haven’t decided how half of this stuff is going to work yet. Just a total mess. One mistake is one thing but how can such a big company keep tripping up with almost everything it says?
Badgerman
Surprise release
I was just thinking about GC mentioning that if Nintendo had their way then games would be released with no preview (fairly sure it was you guys), if my memory serves myself correctly SNES Yoshi’s Island came out in January 1996 with no preview or previous announcement whatsoever.
adams6legend
GC: That was a bit before our time, in terms of being journos, but we certainly don’t remember hearing about it until it actually came out. Which is always Nintendo’s preferred method, even though they’ve always grudgingly admitted that previews are a necessity.
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
Free downloads
So here’s a statistic I think people might find sad/funny. Apparently only 73% of Ouya owners have actually bought a game. I guess there’s always a bigger fish and as massive a failure as the PS Vita and Wii U have been at least they can take comfort in the fact that someone else is messing up even worse.
Apparently the problem is that everyone is just playing the free demos, which because there are so many games on the system (even if most are just straight Android rips) is a lot. It reminds me of that story the other week that said that demos actually made it less likely that someone would buy a game, because they felt they’d kind of already played it.
I have to say I liked playing demos, both as a way to weigh up a new purchase and as something to play out of curiosity. I guess if they’re having this kind of negative effect though we might soon see them phased out in the next gen.
Tom Meadows
That old magic
What a wonderful gaming experience Pikmin 3 is proving to be so far. After playing around two hours I am just thinking that you don’t need big guns, loud blasts, and 20 mates playing online just to enjoy gaming. Pikmin’s graphics, charm and puzzling is just right up my street. Even the water effects are good. It just goes to show that Nintendo still has the some of the old magic left.
Dark Anima X (gamertag/Nintendo ID)
Eternally doomed
Just in case other people didn’t realise but the Eternal Darkness guys have restarted the Kickstarter for Shadow Of The Eternals. I’m kinda conflicted about this because although I’d love to see a sequel to Eternal Darkness, official or otherwise, I’d never consider giving money to a Kickstarter.
I do feel sorry for the guys though as they don’t seem to have much luck, what with the last campaign failing because everyone hates Denis Dyack, and then that guy got done for having child porn. Actually now I come to think of it maybe they don’t deserve to succeed…
Anyway, I just wondered generally whether any GCers had given money to any Kickstarters and whether they were happy with the results? I can’t imagine anyone that did to Ouya is, and even the Double Fine adventure is starting to sound a bit dodgy now. I am interested to see how Shadowrun Returns turns out though, will GC be doing a review?
Purdy
GC: We should have one ready for early next week.
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Missing options
In Wednesday’s review of Stealth Inc.: A Clone In The Dark, the lack of a level-skipping feature is cited as a weakness. However in the Underbox someone who (allegedly) works for Curve Studios stated that it is in fact possible to skip ahead. Can you confirm which is the case please?
Craig
PS: Stealth B****rd was a better name.
GC: Following his description we can confirm that there is a level skip option on the level select screen, although it’s very small onscreen and you can only use it three times in a row. We never noticed it at the time but will update the review accordingly.
The big match
Greetings. As an amendment to yesterday’s email, the Fantasy Premier League GC head-to-head league did not continue from last year, so here is the code for the new GCer’s MOBA head-to-head league: 397866-127878. And just for luck, the code once again for the main league: 397866-102050.
Judging by the amount of entries already, I think this year will be by far the most heavily populated league so far, so expect the competition to be fierce!
TheNudgeMan (PSN ID)
Inbox also-rans
The Walking Dead season pass is on sale on PlayStation store for £7.99, or £7.19 if you’re signed up to PlayStation Plus. It would be rude not to, wouldn’t it!
Mr Anonymous
You’d think after all these years Dynasty Warriors fans would learn to accept that most people don’t like their games. I kind of like knowing I like something that nobody else seems to. Admittedly I’m thinking of Brussel sprouts when I say that, but you get the idea.
Hubert Jnr.
When Rare said they were revamping an old franchise was anyone else really hoping for Battletoads? I though everyone agreed Killer Instinct was always rubbish?
Brain T. Snail
If only this video was true! Dreamcast 2… coming 2014! On a lighter note The Cover Project is a great site for printing off custom case covers, next up is Game Boy Advance covers to fit DS cases.
DlSPOSABLE HERO (gamertag)/DlSPOSABLE_HERO7 (PSN ID)/DlSPOSABLE.HERO/(Nintendo ID)
This week’s Hot Topic
The topic for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader TheRunawayTrain, who asks what’s your most fondly remembered social gaming experience?
What multiplayer moment do you recall most fondly and was it competitive or co-operative, online or offline? Who were you playing with and were they casual gamers or more hardcore fans? Have you found it easy to repeat the experience or did it turn out to be more of a one-off? Did you know the people involved beforehand and was it hard to convince them to play?
Generally speaking how often do you player multiplayer compared to single-player and which do you prefer: competitive or co-op? Does it matter to you whether your opponent/ally is in the same room or do you think online multiplayer is just as good as offline?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. 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.
If you need quick access to the GameCentral channel page please use: www.metro.co.uk/games
