The Thursday letters page explores the modern Nintendo vs. Sega rivalry, as one reader wants an end to Resident Evil remakes.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Turn back the clock
With Resident Evil Requiem and Pokémon Pokopia both selling out in terms of physical copies I wonder if there might still be a way to reverse the trend towards digital only? There’s lots of stories about Gen Z going retro for physical media, like CDs and DVDs. I’ve never heard game mentioned but I would’ve thought the same logic applies there.

Part of the reason behind the trend (apart from being contrary) is that they’ve realised it’s actually fun to own things, to put them on shelves, and to know they can’t be taken away from you. None of that applies to digital games so my hope is that we will see the increase in digital sales begin to slow and hopefully reverse.

If vinyl can make a comeback – and I hear even audio tapes and VHS – then video games absolutely should. There’s so much more to be gained by owning the games you pay for.
The Bishop

Your sequel is in another decade
A Fallout 3 remaster is all well and good but it’s now over 10 years since the last mainline Fallout game and we have absolutely no idea when Fallout 5 is coming out. After The Elder Scrolls 6 could mean 2033 or later. By that time we may not need a video game to experience a post-apocalyptic wasteland!

If I was Microsoft I’d hand the whole franchise over to Obsidian, who made New Vegas. Bethesda has been sitting on the series for so long and they’ve done absolutely nothing with it. They’ve had all the time and money needed to get more people in and work on two games at once but that doesn’t even seem to have been a thought.

I think it’s because Todd Howard wants to do everything himself but, I’ll be honest, him not working on the next Fallout 5 would be better news than it coming out tomorrow.
Focus

Super Pokopia Odyssey
I see Pokémon Pokopia has sold over 2.2 million copies in four days, which puts it ahead of the pace set by Super Mario Odyssey… which went on to sell over 30 million. Very happy to see, not just because it’s a great game but because it’s a bit of a risk that’s been rewarded.

You can slap the Pokémon name on anything and it’ll sell something at least, but they obviously put a lot of care into this one, more it seems to me than the mainline games. We all know GC hates the Dynasty Warriors games, so they get the bonus of Omega Force being taken off that while they’re busy with Pokopia.

Looking forward to playing it some more and it already looks like there’s lots of plans for post-launch support.
Zeiss

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Brief rivalry
It is always funny to compare Nintendo’s fortunes to Sega’s. They’ve been partners now for much longer than they were ever rivals but there’s no way Sega is in the same league as Nintendo now, if they ever were.

I think the reason Nintendo is reaping the benefits of good reviews, but Sega isn’t, is that Sega’s brands are just too old and tarnished. After all these years, nobody expects a Sonic game to be good and Shinobi may be a good game but nobody remembers or cares about the franchise.

On the other hand, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a weird game, with a weird name and concept, that looks basically like a PlayStation 2 game. I played it and loved it but frankly I’m surprised it did as well as it did.

Sega left it far too late to revive their Mega Drive era games and now the majority of gamers don’t even know what they are. While with Nintendo it’s the opposite and Pokémon is a household name that only boosts the sales of an already good game.
Onibee

Console first
Is Microsoft’s proposed combination of PC and console likely to shift Sony’s policy of putting console exclusive games on the PC, or is that something that had already shifted?

As an aside have just completed and really enjoyed Death Howl. Excellent game – thanks for highlighting it.
Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID)

GC: We’ll probably never know for sure, because Sony hasn’t commented publicly on any of its policies for years. The most recent suggestion is that Sony is more worried about Valve’s Steam Machine than they are Project Helix.

Quiet for now
The build-up to a new console launch is always tiring in terms of all the nonsense companies talk. I can’t wait for the tech demos that don’t look anything like any of the games that ever get made. Anyone remember the one for the PlayStation 5, with the Tomb Raider looking woman and the promise that SSDs would change the way games are designed (spoiler: they didn’t)?

As usual, Microsoft just cannot shut up and let its product do its talking. They’re still going on as if they’re a big deal and it’s just getting sad. They could’ve just been the next EA and that would’ve been plenty important for them, but now we’ve got to endure Xbox One Part 3.

It should be humiliating for them that Sony don’t care what they think, they’re only worried about Steam Machine, even though it flopped once and there’s no guarantee that Valve can make it a hit at all.

And yet still Sony apparently think there’s a better chance of that happening than Xbox messing up their plans. And yet despite all that I think going for a premium price PC is actually a good idea for Microsoft. It’s not the same thing as PlayStation and it sounds like it’s going to be more expensive/more powerful than Steam Machine.

At least that’s a clear point of difference, so they may have some luck with it, even if it is for a niche audience. But for pity’s sake just stop with the hype until you’ve got something to show, by which I mean a games line-up, a price, and a release date.
Jakey

Monster anticipation
Are you planning on reviewing Monster Hunter Stories 3? I very much enjoyed the last two and the third looks like a development on an already very enjoyable series.

I have the game pre-ordered and whilst I don’t always agree with your reviews I am curious about your take on this spin-off series.
BristolPete

GC: Yes, we’ll have a review this week.

Keep the plates spinning
Nice to see Resident Evil Requiem doing so well and looking forward to playing it. I’m cheap these days and with a sizeable backlog anyway, can wait for the sales. Still haven’t finished Resident Evil 4 remake yet.

As a fan of the series, though, I’m surprised Capcom and gamers (looking at the GC letters page) are so unimaginative with where they could take these now beloved characters and the absurd zombie conspiracy story they’ve cooked up over the years. Online all you hear is talk of the next remake or DLC. However, with such a rich tapestry to draw on, they could easily churn out new spin-offs and semi-sequels for a while yet.

I mean, why tie yourself down to remaking older entries at all? With the modern RE Engine perfected, just reuse assets from the previous modern games to do side entries with new stories and more regularity. Send Jill Valentine off to Latin America to battle an outbreak and meet a new bunch of scientist weirdos for an all-new direct sequel to Resident Evil 3.

Give Leon and Chris a new game taking down dodgy virus labs in made up ex-Soviet states now they’re special forces bros., etc. Maybe call it Resident Evil Revelations 3. I guess you’d risk it becoming the video game version of those supposedly bad CGI movies nobody watches… but Capcom are on such a roll I’d trust them to get the job done for a few games, before it got stale.

They don’t need to go through the mill of making Resident Evil 5 or 6 work in the modern age, just forget them.
Marc

GC: Resident Evil spin-offs have a very mixed history, whereas almost all the remakes have been great; so it’s not hard to see why fans might prefer one over the other. That said, we’d love to see Revelations 3 happen.

Inbox also-rans
A new game by he creator of Wordle? I wish you hadn’t told me that, as now I will be doing my best to pretend I didn’t know, so I don’t waste my entire morning on it.
Aslan

I wonder why February has become such a big month for new releases. I guess it’s because it’s still dark out in the evening, but so is almost all of March. Seems odd to go from busy to almost nothing.
John Parsnip

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The small print
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