Games Inbox: Has the new Mass Effect been cancelled?


Games Inbox: Has the new Mass Effect been cancelled?
A new Mass Effect is a long time coming (EA)

The Monday letters page discusses how to handle a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, as one reader thinks Sony should copy Nintendo’s approach to making movies.

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

No show
I’ve seen some new rumours about the Mass Effect TV show at Amazon, which I’d completely forgotten was a thing. Apparently, they want to change the script so that it’s easier to get into for non-gamers. I can’t help thinking that’s probably a bad thing for authenticity, which is not a direction you would’ve expected after Fallout proved how important it was.

I’m not really that interested in the show though, as I can’t imagine it’d ever do the games justice, given what kind of budget it’d have to have. But it’s sad that we’re hearing more about the show than we are the new game.

I know EA said last year that it hasn’t been cancelled but I’m not sure I believe them. Is this not cancelled, like Beyond Good And Evil 2 isn’t cancelled? All I’m asking for is a sign of life and I’m not seeing anything, including any leaks about it being shown this summer. If It’s not, then I think I’ll just give up hoping for it. And then I’ll probably play through the trilogy remaster one last time…
Zeiss

Remaking expectations
Nice Reader’s Feature at the weekend, about what to do with a Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake. I’m still not convinced it’s going to happen and if it does my guess would be it ends up as basically an upgraded version of the 3DS remaster.

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The idea of a Capcom style full-on remake sounds ideal, but I just can’t imagine Nintendo paying for that or even wanting it. It doesn’t seem their style at all. If that is what they go for though I will be very impressed, as it’s something I couldn’t imagine them doing in any other generation.

I just hope that, whatever it turns out to be, they don’t sand off all the interesting stuff. Like the reader said, the weirdness and unexpected horror moments were a bit part of the appeal and would be sorely missed if taken out.
Godgem

Peace offering
I’m not sure what to think about the rumours of a new Uncharted game. First of all, I’m shocked that Sony has been so slow to even announce one, given they did have that movie (which I assume is never getting a sequel now). I get that Naughty Dog didn’t want to make it, but do I believe that they would change their mind?

Ordinarily no, but we’re in difficult times at the moment and I can’t imagine that cancelling The Last Of Us Online was something Sony was all that happy about. They allowed Naughty Dog to do it but Naughty Dog agreeing to make a new Uncharted as a way to make amends makes sense in theory. Whether that’s what’s going on, I guess we’ll have to wait and see but they can’t let the franchise die off.
Olliephant

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Unofficial price
The PS5 Pro is nine hundred and ninety-nine pounds on Amazon.

I’m struggling to see how the PlayStation 6 launches for less money. I started gaming in the mid-70s, first with Pong and then Atari VCS. I obviously still like my games.

But after paying for the hotel, a grand is good enough spending money for a pretty tidy weekend in Amsterdam. No way I could justify that to myself for a console.

How much of this do you reckon is Sony trying to recoup some of what it lost on that live service stuff they crashed out on?
Tom Twice

GC: That’s just a third party seller, not Amazon themselves, who seem to have run out of stock. Sony sees no additional money if a console is sold above the RRP, that’s the retailer’s business.

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Blade of nostalgia
I will never understand why Microsoft got rid of the Xbox 360 dashboard and blades. They’re the only iconic thing the Xbox has ever had, in terms of interface, and they’ve got steadily worse with every change.

I realise that’s a very Microsoft thing to do, especially in terms of Windows, but I’m not surprised to see people trying to recreate it. I think they brought it back for the 25th anniversary a while back too? I don’t know to be honest, I haven’t owned an Xbox in a long time and nothing they do has made me want to reconsider that.
Kosco

Parts and labour
As a commenter correctly pointed out with my weekend feature, the law of supply and demand relates to price, which I should’ve qualified at the start. The central issue, though, is with long term investment and the lack of flexibility to adapt to changes in the economy. While small price fluctuations can occur in the short term, as an effect of demand, the price at which a console sells for largely reflects production costs, specifically the cost of labour.

You get a sense of why labour costs are decisive whenever completing games such as GTA, Resident Evil or The Legend Of Zelda and the seemingly endless roll call of credits. Or, when to cut costs, there are mass layoffs.

The price at which the PlayStation 6 does eventually sell at when launched will not be determined by what consumers are willing to pay but mainly through labour costs over the duration of the cycle, from inception through to production and everything in-between. The fallacy in the law of supply and demand is that price is determined by whether a product is desirable and what relatedly people are prepared to pay, not the labour costs which determine the commodity’s value (hence why AAA titles tend to sell at a higher price than those made by small independent studios).

This is also why, even if there’s little demand for it, having already committed considerable amounts of capital, the PlayStation 6 will likely be launched in the next year or two to pay for all that labour and ideally profit from it. Sony could of course cancel it, as they did with The Last Of Us Online. They could, of course, exit the industry altogether.
Ciara

That old joke
Picked up a PS5 Pro before the price hike. Stuck it by the sofa as it didn’t quite fit in the TV cabinet.

Looks nice, very artistic.
Simundo

Air humidifier that looks like a PS5 Pro
A true work of art (Simundo)

Hollywood synergy
I think the Super Mario Galaxy Movie was fine; my two kids certainly enjoyed. The post-credit reveal was a surprise though; I wonder if it’s hinting that the third movie will be a homage to Super Mario Land? As far as I understand we didn’t learn who exactly was trying to kidnap Rosalina in the first place so that could be a continuing plot point.

The important thing is that the movie has been another big success and that is going to encourage Nintendo to do even more, obviously, and also incorporate the changes into the games. I doubt it’ll be long till the film’s big lore drop is mentioned in a game and I expect all the characters to start looking like their movie versions sooner or later.

But because everything is so close to the games anyway that’s really not a problem, especially if it means bringing back more forgotten characters like Wart or even, if I dare say, Fox McCloud.

Star Fox was dead as a dodo before the film came out and now suddenly everyone’s talking about it and actually looking forward to the prospect of a new game this year. That’s got to be an absolute win for Nintendo and exactly the sort of benefit they would’ve been hoping from for these films.

I agree a live action Zelda is a lot harder sell, especially as they’re not using a well-known director or actors (a classic case of Nintendo penny-pinching I’d imagine) but we’ll have to see. At the moment they’re two for two in terms of hits.

It makes you wonder why Sony has been so slow to do the same thing, although they already tried that with the Ratchet & Clank movie and that’s really the only thing they’ve got that’s family friendly. Xbox hasn’t even got that.
Lucre

Inbox also-rans
Just found out that Little Mac and his coach from Punch-Out!! are in Super Mario Galaxy Movie, in the montage sequence with Yoshi in the city. Samus Aran’s ship is confirmed to be in it too, just like GC said. The film might be lightweight but the cameos are a lot of fun, if you ask me.
Wotan

The problem with Pokémon Pokopia is it may be too good. I can’t believe how addictive it is and I’m already far more interested in DLC for it than I am Winds and Waves.
Derbel

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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.




The 10 greatest male video game heroes of all-time – Reader’s Feature


The 10 greatest male video game heroes of all-time – Reader’s Feature
Leon S. Kennedy – the king of dad jokes (Capcom)

A reader offers up his own personal list of the best male protagonists in gaming, from Super Mario to Resident Evil’s Leon S. Kennedy.

Video game characters are often discussed in terms of which is the best, most iconic, most memorable, and most favoured.

They range from characters who have appeared in only one title (Arthur Morgan) or legendary characters such as Samus Aran and Marcus Fenix, who have their own established franchises.

I’d like to take this time to list my own 10 favourite male gaming characters. I will list my favourite female characters in a future feature.

10. Mario

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    Super Mario

    The face of Nintendo itself. A plumber with a moustache and an unmatchable presence. Mario is without a shadow of a doubt the greatest and bravest plumber who ever lived and a bona fide legend of gaming.

    9. Jin Sakai

      Ghost Of Tsushima

      One title to his name and what a beautiful story it was. Trained as a samurai and a journey to becoming the first shinobi. To visit his grave in Ghost Of Yōtei and claim his mask as Atsu was truly a heartwarming moment.

      8. Nathan Drake

        Uncharted

        The character that I can relate to more than anyone on my list. I truly adore Nathan as a protagonist. Endless charisma and impeccable charm. A testament to the genius of Naughty Dog and a perfect series of performances by Nolan North. Nate is truly a special character.

        7. Cloud Strife

          Final Fantasy 7

          It will be 30 years since his debut in 2027 and his presence still remains legendary. With a giant sword and spiky hair, Cloud remains a fantastic character and it’ll be a boon to see the third title in the remake trilogy and the continuation of Cloud’s journey

          6. Ezio Auditore da Firenze

            Assassin’s Creed 2

            The man who remains untouched in Ubisoft’s long-running series. Charismatic, skilled and loyal to no end. Ezio will always remain the best of them all.

            5. Leon S. Kennedy

              Resident Evil

              Where’s everyone going? Bingo? How could I not include my favourite Resident Evil character on my list? The master of one-liners and a guy who always puts others ahead of himself. Leon is the definition of a role model. Ada is a lucky woman indeed.

              4. Master Chief

                Halo

                Prominently known as John 117. The single most badass soldier who ever lived and the face of the original generation of Xbox. Chief is the embodiment of a super warrior and it’ll be amazing to see his debut on PlayStation 5 this year.

                3. Solid Snake

                  Metal Gear

                  Kept you waiting, huh? The greatest stealth protagonist of all time. The perfect weapon and a marvel at going prone. Snake is certainly an example to follow and is the reason why we have stealth focused characters such as Sam Fisher, Ezio, and Corvo Attano. He truly began it all.

                  2. Link

                    The Legend Of Zelda

                    A hero without fail. A perfect knight in shining armour. Link is yet another Nintendo legend and if it wasn’t for his continuing heroics, Zelda would have been long dead. He’s truly a perfect fighter and more than deserving to be on my list.

                    1. Kratos

                      God Of War

                      The epitome of character development and personal growth. A warrior. A father. A champion. Kratos’s journey is one of exceptional writing and a truly memorable story. From a vengeful killer without equal and a revenge tale spanning an entire journey to a hardened father, raising Atreus through a harsh and brutal Norse world.

                      To see where he began from and where we left him it’s, in my opinion, the best written character ever in gaming and my personal favourite male character. I could have given Arthur Morgan that honour, but I’ve yet to play through Red Dead Redemption 2 and for now I’ll say that Kratos is my all-time guy in gaming.

                      I cannot wait for the next evolution of his story and that will be the remake trilogy. I can’t wait to return to Greece and take vengeance once more on the pantheon.

                      By reader Shahzaib Sadiq

                      God of War Ragnarok Kratos roaring while brandishing a spear and shield
                      Kratos is a changed man (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

                      The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

                      You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.

                      Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.


Games Inbox: Will Resident Evil Requiem be worth getting?


Games Inbox: Will Resident Evil Requiem be worth getting?
Resident Evil Requiem is out soon (Capcom)

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.

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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.