The morning Inbox wonders who Disney will give the Marvel licence to next, as a reader looks for rivals on Trials Evolution.
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Please note: we are currently accepting votes for the 2013 Readers’ Top 20 (you can see the 2012 chart here). To take part simply email us a list of your three favourite video games that were released last year, in the UK. Voting ends on Friday, January 31.
Romantic story
Hello and welcome to 2014, the year in which more and more software publishers will likely start to view gamers’ wallets as a perpetually dripping tap. I hope everyone had a peaceful Christmas and new years.
Anyway, I’d like to point out the recent interview Fumito Ueda gave to Edge magazine which, owing to the usual NDAs, was scant on specifics, but certainly left me in no doubt that it’s a question of ‘when’, and not ‘if’, The Last Guardian will be coming out (probably on PlayStation 4 only). I haven’t stopped looking forward to it, but I do feel sorry for the individuals who put the work in only to have eight years come and go with nothing to show for it. It’s a sickening state of affairs.
One other thing that was clear from the interview was that once the game is released there will be a tell-all interview from Mr Ueda about what really happened. His own work has long since been completed so I’m guessing it’s a Sony problem with regard to resource allocation for a technically arduous project, Bear in mind, this speculation stems from my own tendency to romanticise creatives and thumb my nose at corporate types. The reality might be different.
At any rate, the story of its making could be almost as interesting as the finished product itself.
Tingle’s Therapist
Something new
I’d just like to say a big thank you to ken26041970 for giving away those Steam codes; He and GC were kind enough to give me one which I requested in order to give to my friend who has just started to get into PC gaming and I thought it’d be nice for him to have a good starting game. I’m not sure which game I ended up with as I didn’t mind which one was available but again thank you to ken26041970 for your generosity and kindness.
I’ve been getting a little bored with the type of games I’m playing; action and shooter games mainly so I decided to try something new and decided to pick up XCOM: Enemy Unknown due to all the praise its received from GC and tons of readers. I initially played the demo that was released ages ago and really didn’t enjoy it as it took place during the tutorial and felt like constant hand-holding which I hated.
Getting past that part in the full game though has opened up the game so much more and it now stands as one of my favourite games of all time. The sheer depth and complexity has blown me away and the intricacy to the combat is truly amazing. I’ve never played strategy games before but XCOM has completely changed my view on them and I’m so glad it released on consoles, it could actually convince publishers to release more games like it.
I’m finding it very difficult though but I think that’s a good thing as I’m learning to make the tough choices and the necessary sacrifices to end the alien menace. For example, in my latest mission my five-man squad made up of my best soldiers were brought to the brink of death by three Mutons who I miraculously managed to kill then my whole squad was subsequently assimilated by three Chrysalids. This is the most nerve-shredding and highly addictive fun I’ve had in years.
moham-24 (PSN ID)
Gambling addiction
I’m getting very worried by the shift towards games optimised towards microtransactions. The latest being the next gen Hitman being cancelled in favour of a iOS and Android version which will almost certainly be terrible and where you’ll end up having to pay a tenner every time you want to garrotte an enemy.
Cynical I know, but it seems to be going that way. My question is this though, are microtransactions really that much more profitable than a decent selling normal console game? It seems to me there’s only a handful of companies that have made huge money through them (King and Rovio are two big examples) but there must be thousands of companies that have made nothing.
Twinsen
GC: That’s almost certainly true but unfortunately blindly betting on being the 1 out of 10 that actually makes a profit is how the games industry has always worked. In that sense microtransactions have changed nothing.
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
Nemesis needed
On the subject of new year bargains, I picked up Trials Evolution and Origin Of Pain downloadable content for about £4 combined in the Xbox Live Christmas offers. Having enjoyed the original for a bit before it got monotonous I’m finding Evolution a lot more interesting and varied but unfortunately the only person on my friend list who has it seems to have given up at the end of the medium tracks.
I find it a little less engaging without a benchmark to aim for so could any readers willing to take the time please add me? I won’t be bothering the times of any advanced players any time soon as I consider it an achievement just to finish the hardest courses, but would appreciate something to aim for.
Another bargain was reduced Super Mario Bros. 3 (and thank you to the reader who mentioned this before Christmas). I downloaded the 3DS version and am having great fun, already much further along than I ever managed before. Yay for restore points (again). It seems a smoother and more vibrant coloured version than on the Wii but suffers from the same border down the left and clipping on the right of the screen. Can GC or any readers confirm if the Wii U version is any better?
ma3009 (gamertag)
GC: We’ve not played the Wii U version but Super Mario Bros. 3 always had vertical borders on the left and right.
Squad assist
RE: ar1speedboy. I’d recommend the Squads mode rather than the normal multiplayer in Call Of Duty: Ghosts. You can earn XP to upgrade your kit and you can play against bots at a difficulty of your choosing. It doesn’t have as many options as the normal multiplayer but personally I prefer it.
Also, Battlefield has been great over the Xmas hols but suddenly seems broken again for the last few days. I really do struggle to get into a game online at the moment.
Manic Miner 100 (gamertag)
Happy Christmas
I’ve been enjoying Wii U since Christmas Day, and I like the Miiverse interaction more than I expected. It’s nice being able to integrate with the Nintendo gaming community on both a passive and a more direct level if I choose.
I’m also having a great time with Super Mario 3D World and Earthbound. The latter seems like it must have been ahead of its time in its playful handling of role-playing game tropes.
DM
Faster race
RE: 4K consoles. Any AV receiver that can handle Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD can handle LPCM as LPCM has been an industry standard far longer than the other two. Nintendo were smart to stick with LPCM, there’s no licensing fee attached and everything with a HDMI input (that isn’t just a dumb switch) supports it.
As for 4K gaming, come join The PC Master race where 1080p@60Hz is the rule rather than the exception and where 4K gaming only needs the price of 4K monitors to fall enough to make it worth while.
butter_pat_head
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Licence revoked
I read over Xmas that Disney declined to renew any of their licensing agreements with publishers when they bought Marvel. Marvel Vs. Capcom, Deadpool, all the Beenox Spider-Man games, all the X-Men games etc. have recently been de-listed on digital stores. I believe Activision’s ability to make The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is due to a separate agreement with Sony, who own the licensing rights for Spider-Man’s movie-verse (sorry).
It’s a shame, a lot of people saw this coming though. Fingers crossed they are still interested in eventually licensing these iconic characters to companies who can make worthwhile video games of them.
Klone SGK (gamertag)
GC: We don’t think it’s been confirmed that’s what’s happened (Activision could’ve have voluntarily given the licences up), but that probably is accurate. There’s certainly no sign that Disney or Marvel are trying to set-up their own internal studio though.
Inbox also-rans
Do you know if there will be any more Advance Wars games coming out ever again? I love them and need a new hit this year. Make it so.
Alan Brown
GC: No one wants another one more than us. Apart from a few vague hints there’s nothing official, but Fire Emblem: Awakening did well so we imagine that chances are better now than for a while.
Just wanted to Thank David Jenkins for his amazing interview about Call Of Duty: Ghosts. Never change your ways, after reading that interview I also read the one about PlayStation 4 earlier last year. Excellent articles, you’ve earned another subscriber! I wish you success in your journalism career!
Nick
GC: Thank you very much.
This week’s Hot Topic
Now that Christmas is over and 2014 has begun the obvious question for the first Hot Topic of the year is what new game are you most looking forward to?
You can find our preview of the biggest name new releases here, but feel free to nominate any game you have a reasonable expectation will be released this year (but please don’t just make up sequels that haven’t been announced or are almost certainly not going to be out in 2014).
Also, make sure to let us know why you’re looking forwards to the game so much. Is it because it’s part of an existing franchise, because it’s by a reliable developer, or for some other reason? Do you think the game will be a critical and commercial hit, and does that sort of thing worry you?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
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