The Tuesday letters page argues that gaming is still great value for money, as one reader thinks Bethesda should stick to making TV shows.

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

Trust issues
Last gen I would’ve taken it for granted that Sony know what they’re doing, as a general of thumb and definitely when it comes to something like not charging too much for the PlayStation 6. But at the moment… I just don’t have the level of faith in them anymore.

Apart from anything, the PS5 Pro, and its recent price rise, shows that they’ve gone off the deep end when it comes to prices. Now, the PS5 Pro is supposed to be a high-end machine (even though I’m not sure that’s a particularly good idea) but would that stop them from trying to charge as much as they can for the PlayStation 6? I’m not so sure.

The PlayStation 6 may not be more expensive than a PS5 Pro but that’s about all I’d be willing to bet on. The whole world of console gaming has got too expensive but if there’s one company that’s going to dial that back I wouldn’t bet on it being Sony, especially since they’re doing so well at the moment and obviously feel unstoppable.
Franky

Strange decision
Like the other reader said, it’s strange to see so many detailed Nintendo leaks, but given the sources you can’t really argue against it at the moment. I’m also all for a new Star Fox game but it seems another strange priority, in a string of strange priorities for the Switch 2.

Why is there Star Fox and Pikmin confirmed for the new Mario movie but not Metroid or F-Zero? They’re both much older sci-fi franchises for Nintendo and technically Metroid has crossed over with Mario before in Super Mario RPG! And by the time the movie would’ve been planned, they would’ve had no idea Metroid Prime 4 would be a flop, so it’s a real puzzler.

It could just be a surprise but at this point I think there’d be more people that would recognise Samus Aran rather than Fox McCloud, maybe even Pikmin too. Not for the first time I hope Nintendo know what they’re doing, because despite what some people think, they’re not always right.
Cordon
PS: Maybe the reason Nintendo hasn’t announce a new Animal Crossing is because they knew Pokémon Pokopia was covering similar ground. Although they can’t have know it’d review quite as well as it did.

Hidden talents
Just seen the latest figures for how well the Fallout TV show has done in its second season and I have wonder if I’m the only one that doesn’t get it? The show is fine, I’m not saying it’s bad, but to me it doesn’t stand out in any particular way. I’ve watched all the episodes and didn’t regret the time I spent on them but, then again, if I had never seen it I would feel I was ever missing out.

It just seems such a weird thing to be so popular. But then I suppose being middle of the road and inoffensive is probably the secret to success for most things. So… well done Bethesda, I guess?

The fact that they still haven’t managed to release so much as a remaster since the first season blew up is kind of hilarious though. They’re so slow and out of touch it’s kind of funny. I really think that Bethesda might be a lot better at making TV shows than they are games. They’re definitely a lot quicker at it.
Lamar

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Lively comments
Not complaining but genuinely interested as to the reasons why the site doesn’t have a comments section for articles.

I assume revenue is generated by advertising, so impressions, hovers, CTR?

I read this article and was tickled by how intentionally provocative it was. My guess was you published it because it was prime material to generate engagement. When I scrolled down and saw no comment section, I was at a loss. Perhaps posted because it made you all laugh?

Would you not get so much more traffic by letting readers respond and then refreshing the page, looking for replies?
Nick Jacobs

GC: All our articles have comments sections, including that one. If you can’t see them it’s probably because you’re using an adblocker or similar plug-in. Please don’t do that.

Limited preview
I saw a few different websites/journos had a preview with Saros last week. Was hoping you did too and I’ve been waiting for an article on it from you. Was that the case or are you due a preview before it’s out in a month’s time?
Lizardpudlian

GC: We’re afraid not. Sony does very little in the way of press nowadays and there were only two or three UK sites that got to see Saros. That didn’t include us, Eurogamer, or many others. It’s still one of our most anticipated games of the year though.

Helpful progress
In response to John’s query yesterday about exploration in Minishoot’ Adventures, the next dungeon should be marked on the overworld map (even if you haven’t collected the specific map fragment for that area). Fairly early on, you can rescue a character who returns to your home base and will mark all the places of interest on collected map fragments. There’s another character in your home base – again accessible reasonably early on – who sells a compass that shows on the map when a location has been fully completed.

With those, it should be a little more straightforward to pick up the game after a break and identify where you’ve been and where you’re supposed to go next.

Navigation can be confusing, but you earn an upgrade around the mid-game that makes traversing the map much easier (there’s also an item you can obtain that grants fast travel back to your base). The biggest thing I felt was missing was dungeon maps, particularly when going back to find all the collectables. But none of the dungeons is so sprawling that it becomes anything more than a minor gripe.

I hope you reach a point where the upgrades let you enjoy the game a bit more, because there’s a lot to like!
Needlemouse91

Helpful character
There is some help for John in Minishoot’ Adventures. There’s a ship/robot/guy (whatever your species is) that you can find who takes up residence in the hub village.

It’ll update your map for you and indicate places where there’s still something to nab and put ticks on caves and whatnot that you’ve rinsed clean. I’ve been using this to grab additional upgrades to make life easier for myself. I think I’m in the final dungeon now and around 60% completion, so I could probably stand to go treasure hunting for a bit before finishing.
EuclidianBoxes

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Entertainment per pound
Managed to snag a second-hand PS5 Pro disc edition for £480 just a few days before the price increase was announced. Considering I brought my PS5 Slim disc edition over a year ago for £300 I reckon if I sell it I’ll probably get more than I paid. I also managed to sell a few graphics cards a few years back. I got about 50% more than I paid when they rocketed.

All in all, it’s been a cheap decade of gaming for me compared to when I was a kid buying N64s, Saturns, and the like. I think people forget that there is always resale value in anything you buy – physical anyway – and while I’m glad I’m in a position where I can afford to splurge now and again. and I haven’t been hit by the recent increases. it’s always worth remembering that for the entertainment I get out of my gaming, compared to buying a coffee or going out for a day it’s relatively cheap per hour.

I bought Resident Evil the other day for £58, played around 36 hours and then sold for £40, that’s less than 50p an hour for that experience. Obviously, prices going up years after the generation is crazy and I’m not saying there is anything good about that, but with a little bit of savvy shopping I honestly think gaming is pretty cheap nowadays.
P B

Inbox also-rans
Just beat Resident Evil Requiem and I have to agree that the last couple of hours are definitely the worst. The final boss is terrible and makes no sense, and neither does why Grace is important – especially as it seems to contradict what happened at the beginning of the movie. Great game but it feels like Capcom were force to rush the ending for some reason.
Golem

Never mind a new 3D Mario, why have we still not got a follow-up to Sonic Frontiers? Even if you didn’t love it, I thought it was universally acknowledged as the best 3D game? I would’ve expect a quick sequel not a long wait like this.
Leestonair

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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 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: Is there really going to be a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will there be a Super Smash Bros. movie?

MORE: Games Inbox: What is the best 2D Mario platformer?

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.

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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
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: Should Capcom remake Resident Evil 6?

MORE: Games Inbox: When will the next big Super Mario game be announced?

MORE: Games Inbox: Will Project Helix be a successful comeback for Xbox?

The Friday letters page is relatively enthusiastic about Horizon Hunters Gathering, as one reader thinks Nintendo should ditch GameChat on Switch 2.

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

Poor Partner
So that Partner Showcase from Nintendo was awful, as we all thought. Although it was actually quite a bit worse than I was expecting, to be honest. There was no real surprises for anything big, Elden Ring and The Duskbloods weren’t there, and the mic drop at the end was Bethesda.

I don’t want to get into fanboy territory but if there is one developer whose success I have never understood it’s Bethesda. OK, Skyrim was innovative back when it came out but stuff like The Witcher 3 did the same idea much better. More importantly, Bethesda has never made anything that good again.

Fallout 4 is significantly worse than 3 and I, along with most people, didn’t even bother with Starfield – which you’ll notice was not one of the three games they revealed. But what really gets me is how bad Bethesda is technically. Everyone’s been saying it about them for years and yet they never change.

And so what do we see in that new trailer? What looks like a terrible port of a game that should have no problem working on the Switch 2. If that’s what you’re showing off I hate to think what the rest of the game looks like.
Torrence
PS: The only saving grace was two different dinosaur games!

Welcome bomb
What a nice surprise the Nintendo Direct pulled today.

A Bomberman Collection? Heck, yes! Takes me back to when I was 10 years old playing Super Bomberman 2 single and multiplayer and destroying the CPUs.

Also, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in June, for Xbox and Switch 2? I will take that!
ShaunOMacY2J (gamertag)

Small screen gaming
Yikes, that Partner Showcase was weak sauce. I know we were told not to get ourselves hyped up but I really question what the point of it was. It’s not like the proper Nintendo Directs don’t have third party games, so why exactly did we need this bunch of third rate games and lazy-looking ports?

Fallout 4 looks like it runs terrible on Switch 2 and it’s going to be nearly 11 years old by the time it makes it, so I really find it impossible to get excited about it.

But what else was there to tempt anyone? Resident Evil Requiem looks like a pretty good port but there’s no way I’d buy it on Switch 2 instead of PlayStation 5. Third party games on a Nintendo format need to offer something special or be really well suited to portable play, but that didn’t seem to be the case for most of the games they showed.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on a handheld screen would be such a waste given how over-the-top and detailed the graphics are. Another Nintendo Direct and yet more disappointment.
Goldwing

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Evil deal
While most of what I was interested in from yesterday’s Direct was already known about, the release of the Pragmata demo was at least a welcome surprise.

Short but sweet as a demo, but it’s sold me on the game. Hopefully I get better at the hacking and combat at the same time, it’s a bit like rubbing your stomach and patting your head. But it already feels like it’ll be a good game.

Capcom are really going through a golden period. The new Resi looks good too, the triple pack of 7, 8 and 9 on Switch is just £82 at Argos, which is tempting, even for Game-Key cards.

I do wish Elden Ring had been in the Direct though.
Euclidian Boxes

GC: That is a very good price for the Resi trilogy.

Forgotten birthday
We are getting very close to that Zelda 40th anniversary and Nintendo still hasn’t said a thing, except for some concerts. Are they really going to ignore such a big number, even as they make a fuss about Pokémon turning 30?

You’d think they’ have a game lined up to go along with it, probably a remaster or remake, but I don’t see how they’ve got time to release it now. Even if they shadow-dropped it. Considering how multiple leakers knew about the Partner Showcase, and were accurate about it, I don’t see how we get a surprise Nintendo Direct in the next two weeks.

I’d love if it did happen but at the moment I’m not even confident Nintendo will mention anything to do with Zelda this year. Since when did Link become the unloved loser who can’t get anyone to go to his birthday party?
Paulie

Wasted time
As achingly trend chasing as it all looked, I surprisingly found myself quite fluffed by the Horizon Hunters Gathering reveal, it looked very polished and fun.

But live service games’ moment-to-moment gameplay often is very good, it’s that they are designed to drag on forever that’s the problem; for the well documented reason of being forever games and all the monetisation models around them, I genuinely feel I need to boycott live service games.

Jan-Bart Van Beek’s assurance at the start of the video, that Guerrilla bloody love making single-player games, and will continue to make them, didn’t convince me one bit. If it’s a hit they’ll divert more time and resources to it.

At the start of the gen, and the talk of Sony having 500 or so live service games in development, I convinced myself that it was additional to single-player. But we learnt that wasn’t the case and nearly all of their traditionally single-player studios were significantly tied up with the live service push. With the $3.6 billion purchase of Bungie as well, Sony committed massive resources to it all.

So no live service games for me, or Nintendo Directs from now on. Time better spent elsewhere.
Simundo

Honest addition
Interesting to see Valve admit that the RAM problems have caused them to change their Steam Machine plans, at least a little bit. I think that’s the first time a company has actually admitted it, because usually they just say it won’t even when they turnaround and do a price raise straight after.

Maybe Valve would be a good addition to the console world if they’re actually going to… tell the truth and engaged with people? They’re not saying much at the moment, because the thing hasn’t been properly unveiled yet, but I’m hoping they can bring some straight talking to the industry… as well as Half-Life 3.
Gantz

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Always in motion is the future
The steady stream of news about the Switch 2’s fortunes is kinda interesting, it seems like it’s destined to get locked in a debate over whether it is a success or not for a while to come. I think both things can be true, it’s the fastest-selling console ever and taking Japan by storm, but also underperforming in the West and third party games sales are floundering. 18 million consoles sold is great but if everyone is just replaying Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom at 60fps, as Ubisoft weep into their Star Wars Outlaws sales, that isn’t the gaming saviour we were hoping for.

I did suspect performance in the UK might not be in line with the blockbuster figures elsewhere, the Black Friday deals (admittedly modest) ended up running right up until the end of January and the console wasn’t ever sold out over that time.

In Japan, it’s worth remembering that the machine is essentially being subsidised due to the currency problems with the yen. They have a much cheaper, locked Japanese language version that’s unavailable in other territories. Suggesting in the West, at least, Nintendo really need to bring that price down significantly somehow. Maybe ditch GameChat? I recently saw figures it was being used by less than 4% of console owners.

The latest Partner Direct lent into Japanese developed titles and franchises (outside the Bethesda reveals) in a strategy that seems to double down on the console’s trajectory so far. If Western publishers can’t turn a profit on it and so ditch support, it won’t be good for anyone at a time when we need games to be as widely available as possible. If the market fractures everything will be even worse.
Marc

GC: GameChat Is unlikely to have cost very much in either R&D or manufacturing. That’s probably why it exists. Nintendo actually did better, proportionally, in the UK than most other countries, over Christmas. Whereas it did unexpectedly poorly in France, which is usually it’s biggest market in Europe. Everything is very much in flux at the moment.

Inbox also-rans
So if the PlayStation 5 is selling roughly the same as the PlayStation 4 that means it’s going to come out at about 117 million sales, right? So somewhere around the fifth best-selling console of all time, above the Wii and PS1. That seems a pretty good achievement to me.
PhantomZ

So glad to see that Rave Racer is getting a proper console. I was always sore it never got a proper home version, as it was my favourite in the arcades. Can’t wait to play it again.
Johno

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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 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: What will a post-GTA 6 video games industry be like?

MORE: Games Inbox: When will GTA 6 Trailer 3 be released?

MORE: Games Inbox: Are you sad to see the end of GAME stores?