The Friday letters page discusses Sony’s terrible Thursday and Hideo Kojima betrayal, as readers get fed up of GTA 6 controller and Zelda console scalpers.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

A bad day
So in one day Sony announces it’s pulled out of a deal with Hideo Kojima and the reviews for its new Wolverine game were considerably less than you’d expect for a major first party game. It seems Sony can do no right lately and it’s all because of their arrogance and greed.

They’ve been in a downwards spiral ever since the start of the generation, or at least the start of their obsession with live service games, which has gained them absolutely nothing and lost them so much in terms of quality first party games.

They are so lucky that Xbox has lost the plot even more, and yet even then they’re getting outmanoeuvred by Microsoft. I’m sure whatever Physint is it probably won’t be a massive hit, but what were Sony expecting when they made the deal? We all know what Hideo Kojima is like and how he’s getting even more self-indulgent with age, so Sony definitely should’ve known that.

Now they just look like idiots and villains, and I’ve got to the point where I just don’t want to support them anymore. I’ve not got a choice up to a point, especially with GTA 6 coming up, but otherwise, and inspired by the great week Nintendo has had, I think I’m going to get a Switch 2 and start moving my third party purchases over to that.

Expert, exclusive gaming analysis

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.

You won’t get all the games, I realise that, but I’m increasingly impressed by the quality of the ports. And I’d much rather give my money to Nintendo, who don’t seem to actively hate their customers and developers, than I would Sony. As far as I’m concerned, the entire PlayStation brand is tarnished and all for no reason or benefit to Sony.
Zeiss

They do it to themselves, they do
PlayStation’s metaphorical feet must look like Swiss cheese by this point, after all these self-inflicted bullet wounds, the latest being pulling funding for Hideo Kojima’s new game, which has subsequently been snapped up by Xbox. Such a fall from grace for a company that I’d have said at one point were close to Nintendo’s self-sustaining levels in terms of variety and quality of their first party output.

One move to the USA later and listening to the wrong voices within the company and we’ve got just another rubbish American publisher on our hands, cancelling games, shuttering studios and still pursuing the fallacy of infinite growth. I can imagine Hermen Hulst saying, ‘This time next year Hideaki, we’ll be billionaires.’ Except there’s probably not a valuable property hiding in their stable, so they’ll just remain fools forever.
Magnumstache

Swings and roundabouts
I guess the previews made it seem inevitable, but the Wolverine reviews are not what Sony needs right now, especially hot on the heels of the Hideo Kojima blowout. If anything, I think GC liked it more than some other sites, which is unusual, but then they always enjoy character action games, I notice. Although they didn’t like the Spider-Man games as much as most, so I guess it evens out.

Personally, I’ve no interest in superheroes and have never particularly liked any of Insomniac’s stuff, so it’s no big deal to me. It’s interesting to see the fallout though, because if this cost $300 million as well, like the Spider-Man games, then Insomniac could find themselves on the sharp end of more layoffs.

It’s a cutthroat business in gaming right now and I honestly don’t know why developers put up with it. I guess Insomniac are really hoping that Wolverine’s popularity as a character will get them through, but I suspect the Marvel curse is going to claim another victim.
Kimble

Email your comments to: [email protected]

Backdoor link
Spent a while trying to pre order a white GTA 6 DualSense, but they were scalped within an inch of their life within minutes. Even appearing on eBay for £100+ before the pre-orders were live.

Thankfully managed to bag a black edition from the Sony website, thanks to a link on reddit which took me straight to the controller. Which seemed to be hidden well, and unexpectedly not in plain sight on the web page!
RamboSi (PSN ID)

GC: We think the black one looks better anyway.

Scalper’s paradise
I tried to get onto the Nintendo Store last night and was put in a 45 minute queue. When finally getting into it I found all the new Zelda stuff was already out of stock. The new Zelda arrivals have gone crazy it seems, but I can see clearly now that the scalpers have been at it once again, as I’ve spotted the new Zelda themed Pro Controller on eBay for up to £150 already.

It seems that even with the one per customer purchasing on Nintendo’s site it still isn’t stopping these people buying them up to inflate prices for fans.

I will have to look elsewhere now but I’ll keep looking in the hope that I can the Pro Controller for retail price. Pretty disappointed.
Nick The Greek

GC: Companies don’t do nearly enough to try and combat this, they just don’t seem to care as long as someone’s buying them.

Full circle
Looking forward to your review of Brazilian Drug Dealer Before 4: Demons From The Portal To Hell I Opened Are Still In The Favela And Now I Have To Save The Mamadas From Ronaldo. Candidate for the best title of a video game ever !?

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time looks incredible. Same game, albeit with a graphical overhaul? Looks like it, unless there are some extra areas in there that haven’t yet been revealed. Newbies who haven’t played any of the previous iterations are in for a real treat.

If 2026 turns out to be as good a year in gaming as 1998, and it looks like it might well be, then Ocarina Of Time will have had a release in each. 28 years; gone in a flash.
Paul C.

Lite praise
Was a little more impressed than most by the Nintendo Direct it seems. If all you have is a Switch 2 you’ll be lapping it up. Alas, I picked up a PlayStation 5 before the first price hike last year, so the idea of playing the Final Fantasy or Resident Evil ports at lower frame rates and graphical fidelities doesn’t appeal (despite the attraction of portable play for genres like Japanese role-players).

I find even the best ones, like Cyberpunk 2077, quite a big step down in a side-by-side. However, if you can’t directly compare these pretty good ports to any other format and don’t mind 30fps, you’ll be happy enough.

Nintendo’s own games, though, I’m still not convinced by. A mostly 1:1 Zelda: Ocarina Of Time? Hmmm, it kind of looked good even if it runs dangerously close to an AI upscaled art design than I’d like. I mean, it obviously isn’t that (before people get the pitchforks) but watching the presentation all I could think of is the old ‘Nintendo hire that man’ meme of YouTube videos where someone recreates Super Mario 64 in Unreal Engine.

Metroid Ravenous looked good but like a few of Nintendo’s titles on Switch 2, only looked a modest update on the old machine. As for Kirby… well ‘Not for me, Clive’. At least as Nintendo builds out its back catalogue of B-list franchises I can keep my wallet intact and hose through the PlayStation backlog. By the time a stone cold classic rolls out, a Switch 2 Lite may be here.
Marc

GC: You don’t sound very impressed. We think most people were generally more positive about it.

Successful hit
Nice to hear that the Switch 2 has finally got VRR. I don’t know what the delay was (does anyone ever understand Nintendo?) but after the two Directs this week it’s suddenly looking like a very appealing console.

If Zelda: Ocarina Of Time reviews well, which I’m sure it will, I may actually try and get one this Christmas. So I guess their marketing worked… on me at least.
Umbar

Growing on you
I found myself appalled, initially, by the opening Kokiri Forest area of the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time gameplay this week. It really did look to me like those soulless Unreal Engine fan remakes, overly detailed and lacking anything distinct in its look.

Like many, I adored Ocarina Of Time on its initial release (whilst never being able to get past the Water Temple – to such an extent, friends who had completed the game could not complete the Water Temple on my cartridge) and enjoyed the 3DS version (which allowed me to finally complete the game with its Water Temple visual guide improvements).

However, I think I came around to the new version when the Great Deku Tree was shown. I got used to the visuals and started appreciating its contrasting styles and fidelity. By the Hyrule Field reveal I was close to dropping €500 on a Switch 2. It looks glorious to me now and I look forward to the reviews.

Between this and Star Fox, I love these restorations of old games that also retaining the essence of the original.
FM

Inbox also-rans
You mentioned that companies don’t usually announce anything big near Christmas but would Nintendo keep a reveal back for The Game Awards in December? I was really looking forward to the idea of Luigi’s Mansion 4.
Kamen

GC: They’ve never used The Game Awards before for anything major before, but there’s a first time for everything.

I see Square Enix are completely ignoring everyone that said the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth open world was too much and full of bloat. I kind of respect that.
Lumpy

Email your comments to: [email protected]

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.

ArrowMORE: Games Inbox: Which was the best game in the Nintendo Direct?

ArrowMORE: Games Inbox: Did the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake live up to expectations?

ArrowMORE: Games Inbox: What will be in the Zelda Direct today?Games Inbox: What will be in the Zelda Direct today?

Comment now
Comments

Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google
Add as preferred source