Games Inbox: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Commodore Amiga
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Many happy returns
Just wanted to shout out the 40th anniversary of the Commodore Amiga. The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge put on an event at the weekend which was brilliant. There was a talk from David Pleasance, former Commodore UK managing director, who shed light on some of the (mis-)management goings on between Europe and the US in the 90s, and a panel featuring composer Andrew Barnabas.
Sensible Software legends Jon Hare and Stoo Cambridge, Worms creator Andy Davidson, and Revolution Software co-founder Tony Warriner were also there.
I have only kept one eye on the Amiga scene since having my A1200 in the 90s, but it really is incredible just what a thriving community it is. David Pleasance said it's bigger than it's ever been. This was borne out by attendance at the event, which was very busy.
Overall, it's great to see these communities alive and kicking and that the era of the bedroom coders and demo parties isn't quite dead yet. Thank you Centre for Computing History.
Owen Pile
Uncharted future
I've recently been playing the Uncharted collection of the first three games. Even though they are now regarded as old games, they really have been a pleasure to revisit.
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I'm maybe forlornly hoping that Naughty Dog will allow Nathan Drake to don his underarm holster for another action-packed adventure. Here's hoping.
Gaz69
GC: Naughty Dog are very unlikely to have anything to do with the series again but it's inevitable that Sony will have someone else take over. In fact, it's surprising it hasn't happened already, with recent rumours only pointing at a remake. If they're doing a second movie though that must surely increase the chances of an entirely new game.
Double Kong
RE: Onibee. Donkey Kong Bananza couldn't be done on previous generation Switch at all. Physics involved would be causing CPU meltdown in the original console. And, similarly, Cyberpunk 2077 just wouldn't be even a slight possibility either. It brought PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to their knees, not least because of their lack of SSD.
I'm sure we can expect more out the Switch 2 as people get more familiar with its hardware, but this isn't a case of cross generation gaming with Double Kong.
Kiran
GC: Nintendo has said the game was originally designed for the Switch 1. Although what it became probably couldn't run on Switch 1 it would've retained some of those original limitations, like the horrible dithering effect we hate so much.
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Etrian legacy
As big fans of Etrian Odyssey I wonder if you guys have seen/heard about Shujinkou? Very similar vibes yet it also attempts to teach players Japanese as well.
At first, I assumed, as it had this language gimmick, it wouldn't be a good game but reviews seem to be quite favourable, any thoughts?
Liam
GC: We have not heard of it before, but it looks very interesting. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. We see there's a Switch version due this autumn, so we'll try and review it then. Do remind us nearer the time, in case we forget.
Too little, too late
I dug out my old PlayStation 3 to play a few older games and have been playing Resistance 3. I remember the first two being average but 3 feels like a HD version of Half-Life, with inventive guns and great set-pieces. I'm not that far in but I'm really enjoying going through this again.
I'd love to see a Resistance 4 but Sony don't seem to make games anymore.
Simon
GC: Resistance 3 was by far the best of the three. Insomniac did apparently have some interest in making a fourth, but unfortunately their Marvel games are too successful now.
No problem
Would it be possible for companies to offer a pressed disc instead of just stopping the servers hosting said game? Obviously, it wouldn't work for online games but any single-player games about to end its digital life cycle. Ask for a fee and send out a disc but only a pressing fee or something as the consumer already paid for the game.
This would save games from becoming extinct if they're of a certain age and satisfy the people that like to keep their games.
Bobwallett
GC: Single-player games don't tend to have any servers to turn off, unless there's a specific title you're thinking of?
A hot summer
I'm enjoying My Friendly Neighborhood, as it's just been added to Game Pass but has also released on PlayStation 4 and 5, having released on PC two years ago now.
It's a Resident Evil style game with a novel setting. A once popular but now forgotten children's Saturday morning puppet show has suddenly started transmitting again and you're sent to shut it down.
Being a Resident Evil style game, the main pitfall is not knowing where to go or find items and using up all your ammo and health finding out.
So, I've adopted my usual tactic for these games of saving before a section, using up all my stuff to find a good route then reloading the save for a much smoother second run. Although the normal mode seems pretty generous with those things so far, so maybe no need to go into Resi mode.
But with this, Wheel World, Grounded 2 early access, and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers also on Game Pass this week, along with Donkey Kong Bananza on Switch and the System Shock 2 Remaster, it's a good month for games in my book.
Simundo
Sensible decisionI think Donkey Kong Bananza would have been the better launch title on the Switch 2. It can be played as a single-player game. Mario Kart World is a racing game which is best enjoyed when racing with others. What do you think? Which would you have preferred as the launch title?
Henry
GC: There was only a month between them, so it hardly seems to matter. But Mario Kart is by far the biggest franchise and will inevitably sell more copies – and consoles – than any other game that's likely to appear on the Switch 2.
PlayStation questions
I completely agree with the Reader's Feature arguing that the PlayStation 6 should be less powerful than the current generation but, let's face it, that's never going to happen. No one's doing anything about the higher cost of making games and nobody has ever gone backwards in a generation, not even Nintendo (the Wii was still a little more powerful than the GameCube).
Sony is going to make the PlayStation 6 more powerful than the current gen and they're going to market it and push it exactly the same way they always have, with absolutely no acknowledgement of how much has changed. That's my prediction anyway. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I don't think so when it comes to the power question.
No one wants it to be less powerful. It'd be great if it was a huge step forward in graphics but how is anybody going to have the time and money to make games for that kind of console? Unless you want everything to take 10 years or to be AI slop there just isn't another option.
The only thing we can hope for at this point is that Sony reverses its approach this gen and starts putting out multiple games again. I'd want to see a whole bunch of interesting, high quality single-player games at launch or otherwise I just don't think I'll bite.
If the PlayStation 6 ends up being super powerful, very expensive, and with very few exclusives – most of which are live service games – I think PlayStation may be over for me.
Taylor Moon
Inbox also-ransI wish video games would make it more obvious when they're saving. I get that it's supposed to be more immersive but I really miss the reassurance of a manual save in a lot of games.
Blink
I see Ubisoft are trying to blame the failure of Star Wars Outlaws on Star Wars not being popular anymore. I guess that explains why Battlefront 2 has suddenly become so big on Steam, after everyone came off the Andor buzz from Disney+.
Draven More Trending
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New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers' letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
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Games Inbox: Why has the Nintendo Switch 2 been so successful?
The Thursday letters page tries to predict what might be in the next Nintendo Direct, as one reader thinks EA should've made a new franchise instead of Battlefield 6. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ Beyond the games Really is incredible how well the Switch 2 has done, smashing all records for sales in the US and Japan. And all with what I would call quite a weak line-up of games. Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza have reviewed well but they've not blown the doors off, and I doubt either are going to be getting any serious game of the year nominations. That's fine, some consoles don't get games of that quality in their whole lifetime, but that means there's got to be other reasons for it selling so well, beyond the games. I think it's a mixture of the idea of the Switch – the hybrid console – being just such a great concept, as proven by the Switch 1, and that Nintendo has earned such trust from the last console and its games. I do feel their lack of announcements so far is already playing a bit loose with that trust but so far there doesn't seem to be any sign of them being punished for it. People are buying the Switch 2 not just for what it can do now but for what they believe it'll do in the future, based on the Switch 1. And I think as long as Nintendo don't start resting on their laurels that's fine. Looking forward to the next Nintendo Direct. Onibee Home made Thanks very much for the Amiga top 20. I can think of a few games I would've added but not many I would've taken out, which is probably a good sign. Although I admit I've never heard of or played Warhead, Exile, or Starglider 2 before. The thing that stuck out to me was how almost all of the games were British, which I didn't really think of at the time. But now I realise that most of the games I was playing in my youth were either British or British companies porting over Japanese-made arcade games. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. I actually must've played relatively few American games in those days, which is wild when you think of the industry today, where almost everything is American and there are basically no British games at all. We can't turn the clocks back but clearly something has been lost and I agree that it's a nice treat nowadays to play something that hasn't been made in either the US or Japan. I don't know if we're going to get a flood of French games now, because of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but I'd much prefer that than another game where I have to save New York City. Columbo The penultimate ninja I recently invested into System 3's Last Ninja collection Kickstarter. I have hoped for an updated/new Last Ninja game for decades. While this collection is a way to keep the purchaser as a custodian of the game of sorts, I do think the inclusion of The Last Ninja 4 demo is proof that the game could be given a new lease of life. As Mark Cale has said, it takes a lot of time, effort, and not least money to make a game these days, so perhaps some rich individual/company might give the game a chance to be played by today's younger gamers and see what a fantastic experience it is. GHH69 GC: Oh, they've also got IK+ in there too. Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Slowly does it I have a feeling we're all going to be disappointed by the next Nintendo Direct. They have got far too much stuff that nobody cares about to talk about at the moment, that I don't think they're going to have time for anything else. We might get some new Mario Kart World content, but we know nothing about Hyrule Warriors and Kirby Air Rider at the moment, or Metroid Prime 4. Even if they split that off and give it its own Direct, I think next year's games are just not what they're bothered about at the moment. Maybe we'll get a mic drop teaser at the end, maybe, but I think that's much more likely in the autumn or at The Game Awards. From Nintendo's perspective everything has worked out perfectly with the Switch 2, I don't think they're in any hurry to move things forward. Grant Boomer extrusion I've got to say, that Fallout 1 remake you mentioned looks really amazing. I'm not familiar with the Doom engine it's made with, but it seems to have the perfect balance between old school and modern, and I'm very keen to see more games made with it. So-called boomer shooters have become quite popular in recent years, but they always seem kind of forced to me. But I really like this approach, of remaking an isometric game in the style of an old school first person game. It makes me want to see other games like Planescape: Torment and maybe even the original Diablo games? It would be cool, I think. Beniz Rainbow 12 I've bought and been playing recently Ready or Not, a cracking game that's just come out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox. It's a mission-based game where you have to storm a building/office/home and take out the bad guys. It can get played single-player with bots or online with friends or randoms. I guess it's a mixture of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six games and Rainbow Six Siege. It's a very tense game, knowing one wrong move can lead to death and a mission restart. The AI is impressive, especially the enemies who move around the maps very effectively and cause some unpleasant surprises. At £45 I thought this was money well spent – replay is high, as each time the enemies start in different places. All in all, highly recommend. Keep up the good work. Manic miner 100 (gamertag) GC: Thanks. Secret ending Surely there's going to be a Metroid Prime 4 Nintendo Switch 2 hardware bundle by Christmas as well? Which is going to make at least four different official ones. I would warn everyone though that the cheap Mario Kart World one is not going to be around forever. Nintendo hasn't said when it will stop but they have said it won't last past this year. I pointed this out to a friend who was weighing up whether to get one or not and I said to him it's not a good idea to wait until autumn because that deal could just disappear overnight. Lumpy Giving up If Battlefield 6 is as big a hit as EA wants I will be shocked. They've got four separate developers making this?! For a franchise that's always been an also-ran and where the last one sunk without trace within a matter of days? Are we sure this isn't a tax write-off or something? The big problem with the lack of new IP today is that companies would much rather flog a dead horse than just come up with something relatively similar, that has more freedom to try new things. We all know what a Battlefield game is and I'm sure that after the failure of the last one they'll try and paint the new one as being back to its roots or some such tagline. But why not just make something new that doesn't have all that baggage? What are the main elements of Battlefield? 64+ player battles, lots of vehicles, and destruction. There's really nothing beyond that, with no consistent setting, no unique game modes, and definitely no ongoing storyline. Surely it'd be far better to make something new in the same area then spend half your time defending yourself from rabid fans and the other half telling non-Battlefield fans that they shouldn't be scared because it's called Battlefield 6 and yet is actually the 13th sequel. Maybe I'm being naïve, but I think there comes a time where a name becomes more of a hinderance than a help, especially with a franchise that never quite made it to the big time. Lostem Inbox also-ransWhat I don't get with these next gen portable rumours is how much is it all going to cost? If you've got a PlayStation 6 home console and the portable, isn't that going to be the best part of £1,000. And then they turn round in a couple of years and try and push the PS6 Pro? No thank. Grondite I loved the Amiga. I would say Superfrog was my favourite game but then I played it again recently and it was awful. Nostalgia can be a hell of a kick to the head sometimes. The Bishop More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@ The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers' letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader's Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter. MORE: Games Inbox: Will there ever be a new Mass Effect game? MORE: Games Inbox: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Commodore Amiga MORE: Games Inbox: What is the next big game for Nintendo Switch 2?
