The Wednesday letters page thinks the concept of Xbox handhelds may already be dead, as one reader looks forward to a Nintendo Direct in March.

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

Value for money
It always makes me laugh when fans complain about pricing because you can always guarantee that they will pay whatever the publisher charges, because if they care enough to complain it means they already like the game and they’re going to do anything that’s needed to get it.

I’m not at all surprised that Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are bestsellers before they’re even out. A vocal minority might have complained about the prices, and the general unfairness of it all, but for most people if you like a thing, especially a game that’s going to give you dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of pleasure the upper limit of what you’ll pay is very high.

That’s why I think Rockstar are going to push for a higher price for GTA 6, because they know people will pay. And not only are they right but I don’t even know if it’s not worth the extra money, considering how long GTA 5 lasted. The latest rumour, which I realise might not have been true, was £90 and I admit I’d pay that.

For over a decade of gameplay and the best graphics ever made? Plus a no doubt amazing open world and who knows what else that they haven’t revealed yet? I’d probably go as far as £150 without blinking. I’d probably not buy another game for months, but then I probably won’t be playing another one for that long anyway.
Flashman

Minimum effort
I have to agree, that was truly a weird way to announce Wolverine’s release date. We’ve been guessing what it’ll be for months now and they reveal it with one low effort tweet? They didn’t even bother to make any new artwork for it or anything.

I’ll be there to buy the game, day one, but please, Sony, can we not have a bit of showmanship here? A boring blog post (which we didn’t even get this time) and an overproduced video every six months is just not lighting my fire.

GC is right when it talks about the excitement of E3 being something we all miss, especially you see something like this being the absolute opposite.
Focus

Downhill run
As much as I’m looking forward to the new Resident Evil, I’m curious what happens if Silent Hill Townfall is good as well. If it is, that will be a three game streak that Capcom themselves would be proud of. And if the Silent Hill 1 remake is good as well, which I imagine it will be, Silent Hill could end up with one of the best runs in modern game. Which is weird for a series that has a pretty low ceiling for how popular it can be.

As a fan I couldn’t be happier but I’m curious as to whether it’s profitable for them. They’re good-looking games and don’t seem cheap, even though I’m sure they’re not the most expensive games either. But if they’re able to continue with this level of success I’ll be over the moon, especially because of what that implies about other mid-budget games in general.
Rhino

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Pointed mystery
I’ve been playing Psychonauts 2 recently on my gaming PC, which is really good (and also funny) and I have worked out how you earn Xbox reward points for playing a PC game for more than 15 minutes a day. With Psychonauts 2 you go into the options on the PC version and sign into your Xbox account and save the details.

When you play Psychonauts 2 for more than 15 minutes a day you get the reward points and also when you unlock an achievement on PC in Steam you also unlock an achievement on the Xbox. Because I had already played some of the game on my Xbox before I played the PC version I got nine achievements unlocked on my PC as soon as I logged into my Xbox account on the options of the PC game.

Psychonauts 2 is a Microsoft game so whether to get the reward points you have to use a Microsoft game on PC and then log into your Xbox account, like I did with Psychonauts 2, perhaps for you to get the points. Mystery solved!
Andrew J.

Rest in peace
Apologises to anyone that liked the game but I really don’t think Prototype is worth bringing back. It was kind of popular because its main character was a complete edgelord and open world games were still fairly new at that point, but it was never great even then. And if the sequel flopped… well, if people didn’t like it then I can’t see why they’d suddenly be turned onto it now.

I know nostalgia is a hell of a drug but is it really that strong for things that weren’t even that good? Surely they have to be positive memories for you to care, not just the fact that you recognise something. The game’s nearly two decades old, just let it rest.
Poindexter

Ex-handhold box
Crazy to see Xbox falling apart like this, but I can’t pretend it’s a surprise in any way. They’ve been a dead man walking for years now and Phil Spencer should’ve gone at least five years ago. I read today that the creator of the original Xbox thinks that the new boss has been put in charge to wind things down and find an excuse to give it up but I’m not sure I believe that.

Tech companies never usually need an excuse to drop a product, no matter how much money they’ve pumped into it, so I don’t see why they’d need to put on a performance about it.

My guess is that they want to use it to promote AI in some way, because that’s all Microsoft is about nowadays, and if that doesn’t work out then maybe they’ll decide to call it a day.

I think they will go ahead with the next gen PC idea, but I imagine the handheld Xbox idea is dead now. The Xbox ROG Ally was all Sarah Bond’s idea, apparently, and Phil Spencer was always the one talking up the idea of handhelds in general.

My prediction is they’ll ditch that idea, and downgrade and eventually shut down Game Pass. Then they’ll try and make the rest profitable but if that doesn’t work they’ll lose interest, and that’ll be it.

I’d bet the farm they never do exclusives again though, not when the main Microsoft dude hates them. He’s really the one in charge now and we already know he doesn’t care about games at all.
Onyx

Series Slim
So what do we think will be the first thing to be shut down at Xbox, following the new boss taking over? It’ll probably be a couple of studios, but I think Game Pass is probably not long for this world now. It was a gamble that didn’t pay off and it was all Phil Spencer’s big idea, and that’s just the sort of thing new bosses try to get rid of early on.

Perhaps the most important question though is what will her big new idea be? AI seems too obvious a guess so maybe a new model of console, like an Xbox Series X Slim, that isn’t as compromised as the Xbox Series S? A better naming system for their hardware would probably be a good idea too.
Gamph

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Still waiting
Very interesting article on Monolith Soft and why Nintendo isn’t pushing the graphics of the Switch 2. It’s crazy that all the best-looking games on the system are not anything to do with Nintendo. I’m very curious to see how Resident Evil Requiem turns out because I never would’ve imagined a game like that would’ve worked on the Switch 2, but everything I’ve heard says it works very well.

The problem is though, since I also own a PlayStation 5, there’s no way I’d buy that or probably any other third party game on the Switch 2, so it’s kind of a wasted effort. I get that some people will only have one console, but what I really want to see is how far Nintendo can push the console.

I agree whatever the first Switch 2-only game is will probably involve Monolith Soft but who can guess what that’d be? It’s probably too early for Zelda but would it still be open world or maybe even a new IP. We’ve been making guesses like this for years now and we never get anywhere.

I just hope we have a really good Nintendo Direct next month and the Switch 2 can catch up with itself, because at the moment it feels like it’s just treading water and all because of a lack of information and even a lack of any way to make an informed guess of what to expect next.
Gifford

Inbox also-rans
To Lumpy, who claimed to be a nerd in yesterday’s Inbox… evidently they’re not quite nerdy enough! Kitana was indeed in the first Mortal Kombat movie is 1995, played by Talisa Soto. She had a pretty key role!
Bingo Rose

Now that FireRed and LeafGreen have been released on the Switch eShop, I can now throw out my complete-in-box copies of said games.
LeeDappa

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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: Will Xbox start having exclusives again?

MORE: Games Inbox: Is Phil Spencer going good news for Xbox?

MORE: Games Inbox: Why did Sony shut down Bluepoint Games?

Pokémon bandits tunneled into a Los Angeles collectible shop and made off with nearly $200K in cards in a brazen burglary in Anaheim.

It happened in the early morning hours of Wednesday morning at DOWE Collectibles in the 1100 block of North Harbor Boulevard, the Anaheim Police Department told KTLA.

Investigators said suspects broke into one office and, using a sledgehammer, smashed through drywall and tunneled into the collectible card shop next door.

Security camera footage from CBSLA showed the suspects breaking into the shop through the wall before the masked thieves used sledgehammers to break display cases.

The burglars made their way through the shop, smashing cases and filling up giant black bags of $180,000 worth of the cards, police said.

The owner of the shop, Duy Pham, said when his phone alerted him to the break-in he could not believe what he was seeing.

“I clicked on the footage and saw guys coming through the hole,” Pham said. “My heart was pounding. I called 911 right away and rushed over here.”

The owner said the burglars didn’t bother with electronics and focused only on the collectable cards.

“They didn’t touch our computers or cameras,” Pham said. “They were here for the cards.”

KTLA’s video showed the damage in the wall and what the shop looked like after the break in. 

No arrests have been made, and police confirmed to KTLA that detectives are following up on leads in the case.

Police did not immediately return calls from The Post. This is only the latest example of thieves breaking into collectible stores for the specialty cards. 

In January, Merch-loving thieves stole a $300,000 set of Pokémon cards and other collectibles in two robberies in Los Angeles-including a brazen caught-on-camera heist using an electric saw, The Post reported.

The Anaheim shop owner said there’s been an increase in the value of the Pokémon cards and pointed out how some are worth thousands of dollars. 

“One card can be worth up to $10,000,” Pham told KTLA. “People see the money is there.”

He added, “We kind of expected something like this sooner or later. When you’re in this business, you feel like you have a target on your back.”

The Wednesday letters page looks forward to a Pokémon Gen X reveal this month, as one reader imagines a Half-Life x Portal crossover game.

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

Top of the list
I realise it’s pointless talking about any kind of most anticipated game this year, when GTA 6 is out in November, but there are honestly a bunch of games I’m looking forward to more. I’m sure GTA 6 will look good, but I can tell from the trailer that it’s going to be the same old, same old.

I don’t hate it, but I’d much rather play Saros, Marvel’s Wolverine, and even Fable has me more intrigued. But the game I’m most looking forward to this year is Resident Evil Requiem, which is handy as it’s out soon.

I don’t think there’s any question that it’ll be worth getting, given the unanimous good previews and Capcom seeming to be on top of their game. The marketing has been good, without giving too much away, and I like the idea of the two characters being very different. I just hope I don’t get spoiled on anything this week, because I see copies are already out in the wild.
Damon

Empty shelves
Although I agree with the reader who said that the PlayStation 6 being delayed till 2029 is overall a good thing I think he’s overlooking the fact that if there’s no RAM – or hard drives – that means no PlayStation 5s either. We could be looking at a bit of a gaming apocalypse, where there’s no new consoles to sell and they can only sell games to their existing base.

That’s not good for any company that wants their graphs to go up but it’s probably especially bad for Nintendo, who have only just launched a new console, so there aren’t that many Switch 2 owners in the world. It’d be an understatement to say that increasing the price doesn’t seem like a good idea in that situation.

But it’s difficult. It’s not actually the companies’ fault but I bet they want us to pay for the trouble anyway. They’ll be gutted to miss out on all the new business GTA 6 will bring too.
Hammeriron

Still unbeaten
While we’re talking about so many anniversaries this year there is another one, although compared to Zelda or Resident Evil I guess it’s not that big. But I was surprised and alarmed to find that Uncharted 4 is 10 years old in May. In my mind it’s a relatively new game but… I guess not.

It is really good though, even though I don’t really approve of the more grounded, non-supernatural approach. The bit around the middle, in Madagascar, is still absolutely peak action gaming and I’ve not seen anything since best it.

Worse thing is though I’ve barely seen anything even try. Only Uncharted (and the money Sony give them) can do things this well and I’m shocked there’s been no attempt to make a new game since or for anyone to outdo them. Maybe the new Tomb Raider can take the crown, but they’d have to be doing really well to get that good.
Grackle

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Slow-motion storytelling
Since it’s cheap, I might check out ChromaGun 2, as I’ve never heard of the series before. But I do miss Portal. People have been talking about Valve not making games anymore, and whether they might come back with Half-Life 3, but I’ve never heard any talk of a Portal 3. I think that’s the one that really suffered from everyone leaving, because you can recruit people that make first person shooters pretty easy but people that can write comedy of the quality of Portal aren’t exactly common.

I always imagined there’d be a crossover game where Gordon Freeman meets Chell, which I think they were building up to at one point, but I really don’t know if they’d do that now. Even Half-Life: Alyx was six years ago now, so they’re not exactly rushing this, but I don’t have any faith it’s going to happen.

You need a bunch of games to build up to it and at this rate they’ll have just about got the prologue done when Gabe (and me) dies of old age.
Hake

Pre-existing prequel
As much as I’m looking forward to Resident Evil Requiem this month, I was secretly hoping that Capcom would re-release Resident Evil Outbreak in some way, to help promote it and to show who Alyssa Ashcroft is, because I’m sure many people do not know.

I always wanted to play the game online, but it didn’t have that feature when it was released in Europe, so I never got the chance. (I know the sequel had online but I didn’t have a PlayStation 2 by that point.) Maybe it was rubbish but that’s not what I hear and it always sounded a lot more interesting than the other multiplayer Resident Evil games Capcom has done.
Scooter

Generational interest
I hope that Gen X of Pokémon does get announced this month. By which I mean I hope they reveal some games that are actually worthy of the legacy and look like some actual money has been put into them. People are trying to guess what Nintendo will make their big Christmas game, but I think it’ll be Pokémon Wind and Waves, or whatever it’s actually called.

I feel nowadays that Pokémon games just come and go without as much fanfare as they used to, partly because there’s so many of them nowadays and only the uber fans can keep up with it all. It all seems kind of sectioned off from all the other Nintendo first party games, which is why I think Z-A didn’t really make much of an impression last year.

The 30th anniversary is going to put a lot of eyes onto it this year, so this is moment to go all out and make something more than an easy cash-in. It feels like that’s what Pokémon has been for so long now and it’s a shame because I have very fond memories of playing it as a kid and now my kid is the right age to give it a go. But they know the toys and the cartoon but not really the games.

I don’t like to push thing on them, and I’m actually interested to see what they pick up on and what they’re aware of and not. I’ll see if they’re interested in the Pokémon Presents when it gets announced and what they think of whatever’s in that.
Belsh

Twin Snakes
Never mind delisting PlayStation 3 games as soon as a new release is announced, I didn’t realise the new Metal Gear Solid Collection wasn’t remasters. So it’s just a straight port of Metal Gear Solid 4? That is disappointing, to say the least.

With this and the Rainbow Six Siege crossover Konami are clearly building up to doing more with Snake and co. but I can’t imagine it going well. For better and worse there was just too much of Hideo Kojima in those games and trying to copying him, or not making it weird like he would, both seem like a bad idea.
Iceman

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Smash Street Fighter
With all the success Nintendo have had with their Super Smash Bros. games, why haven’t Capcom done something similar with the Street Fighter games?

It would still play as a traditional Street Fighter game (1v1 on a 2D plane) but have all fighters with all their individual fighter colours, outfits, all variations of their stages, music, backgrounds, bonus stages, fighting styles, and so on and would surely be amazeballs!

Maybe in order to not overwhelm the player with all that content, these could be either unlocked through gameplay or (the most-likely route of) DLC.

I have been re-playing the Switch version of Street Fighter 30th Anniversary recently and thought it’d be great if all these games could merge into one.

The PS1 version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 remains my favourite Street Fighter game to this day, which sadly isn’t in this compilation.

I’m not sure if to include the Marvel or other non-Capcom characters for fear of the licensing.
LeeDappa

GC: We’re not really sure what you’re after, you mean just more guest characters? Between them, Street Fighter 5 and 6 have featured fighters from games including Final Fight, Rival Schools, and SNK’s Fatal Fury. We’re sure there’ll be more over time.

Inbox also-rans
I’m still trying to get over the idea of paying £12.1 million for a Pokémon card. What would you even do with it? I’ve seen the card and more than half of it’s Japanese writing, which I’m will to bet Logan Paul can’t read.
Badgerman

Just beat Donkey Kong Bananza. That was an excellent final boss fight and last couple of levels! The game had some ups and downs but overall, really liked it.
Pinky

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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: When will the PS6 be out?

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