Games Inbox: PlayStation 6 and the next generation in 2028

The Tuesday letters page is pleased to know Nintendo don’t follow trends, as one reader dreams of a Sega ‘90s arcade collection.

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It’s that time again
I see the Xbox vs. FTC lawsuit still hasn’t got a winner or loser yet, which is a bit anticlimactic. I think I can speak for many why I say I wish the whole thing with Activision Blizzard would just come to an end and I don’t particularly care who wins.

Mind you, there has been a lot of interesting/funny stuff that’s come out of it, although I’m surprised that Microsoft talking about the next generation happening in 2028 doesn’t seem to have got much of a reaction. Perhaps it’s just because it’s that far away, but it’s not really that long in gaming terms. Assuming the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Series Z are going to be out in the winter, that means we’re going to start getting official hints of them in 2027 and certainly rumours in 2026, if not before.

We’re halfway towards 2024 already so, really, it’s not that long. I imagine everyone will think as I do, that this generation feels like it’s barely begun, but I’m assuming Microsoft doesn’t want to be caught lying about something in a law court, that they didn’t even have to bring up in the first place, so I’m going to assume it’s true.

Time sure does fly and it looks like we’ll be knee deep in hardware speculation and rumours again very soon. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the PS5 Pro!
Waut

Nintendo bubble
Some very interesting comments from Nintendo regarding the future of Zelda and the way they work. Some of the most revealing things they’ve ever said really, although admittedly that’s not saying much. I’d say it was very obvious in the work that they don’t really look at what other people are doing and are much more interested in doing something new than almost any company out there.

I’m sure they must’ve jumped on some bandwagons during their time but no examples come to mind. They certainly didn’t try to make any battle royales, or get into NFTs, or online passes or whatever. Heck, they’ve only recently started charging for online and still have relatively little DLC for their games and usually no microtransactions.

So I think it’s well worth them staying in their bubble. Sure, they might end up behind on things like online and graphics but I’d much rather they spending their time chasing their own ideas rather than somebody else’s.
Gantree

Filling the gaps
I’ve never been a big Sega fan, so quite uneducated on their impact on many areas of gaming. But where Sega were absolute titans in my personal gaming timeline was the arcade in the ‘90s, with Daytona USA the total embodiment of the bombastic, visceral thrill of arcade gaming. I’d love some love for that era in individual releases or collections of Sega-AM2’s ‘90s output on modern consoles.

I have the great Switch version of Virtua Racing. I also have the superb Xbox 360 version of Daytona USA on my Xbox Series X, which I’m grateful for, as it’s now been delisted on the store and is unavailable. I wanted to buy the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 version of After Burner Climax the other day (not released in the ‘90s but ‘90s in spirit) but that’s a digital only game that’s now delisted. It does seem to have had an iOS and Android release though. Sega Rally, Scud Race, and OutRun 2 (the Xbox versions being added to back compatibility would be great) I’d like to see the most.

I know Sega-AM2’s output is far more extensive than racing games but they’re the ones I enjoyed the most. Almost as much as Daytona music composer Takenobu Mitsuyoshi signing his own masterpieces.
Simundo

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Dark all day
Reading the email on Monday from Chevy Malibu, about his procrastination with Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, I’m in the same boat.

I’ve done two temples, at first I didn’t want to bother with the depths but after needing to visit to get the Ultrahand I’ve barely seen daylight in two weeks; not done that since my student years. I’ve ventured upstairs rarely, apart from surfacing for some much-needed food, I’d imagine Link looks a bit pale now.

I’ve lit around two-thirds of the light roots and working on the final third. Just to add I’ve done most of it on foot with little Green Goblin assistance. At least my pockets are full of bombs, puffshrooms, and last, but certainly not least, a load of muddle buds. I’ll be in good shape once I return to sunlight.
James Monnelly

Authentic wackiness
Apparently I’m wrong, but I always assumed Final Fantasy was a bigger deal than Assassin’s Creed and things like the Lego games, but I guess I’m wrong, according to these new sales figures. If Final Fantasy 16 hasn’t managed to increase the appeal though I would go in the other direction and stop trying to look like Game of Thrones and other Western influences and instead lean into the weird Japanese stuff.

When I think of Final Fantasy I think of fighting cactus men and demonic houses not boring, medieval grunts. It smacks a bit too much of being embarrassed by you source material, and that’s always a bad sign for superhero movies and I think probably anything that is trying to be grim and gritty instead of authentic.
Keith

The oldest gamer in town
Sadly my dad passed away on Sunday… he was 94 and had leukaemia, but he had a massive stroke and brain bleed early hours Sunday and at 8.20 am he passed away. He loved technology and started me off on gaming, getting me Pong. Then he got a ZX80 and then a ZX81; spending hours typing gaming code in, only for it not to work and a barrage of words I’ve never heard come out his mouth. He taught himself Basic, he was computing up till the last day. At 90 he had chemo for a year and was housebound, I gave him my spare Xbox.

Loved Star Wars ,probably watched a film of it every few days, so he played the Stars Wars games and others. He saw four great grandchildren come into world in his last four years. His great grandson thinking it was so cool his great grandpa had an Xbox; they would playfully fight over the controller, with my mum questioning who was the biggest kid – to which they would respond with a laughter that filled you with warmth.

So while I am absolutely broken by the loss, I know I got many more years than a lot of people do, so thanks dad… love.
TWO MACKS

GC: We’re sorry for your loss.

Funny faces
So I see all the faces in EA Sports FC 24 are rubbish looking, so there is some continuity with the FIFA series! But seriously, that’s a pretty underwhelming review trailer, or whatever it’s supposed to be. Ugly CGI and some box art where everyone looks like they’re from a PlayStation 3 game.

I’m sure it’ll be a hit anyway, because EA will pump so many marketing dollars into it. Or at least I assume that’s what they’re doing. If they get overconfident and don’t think they need to bother then they might find themselves in trouble.
Grant

Doesn’t count
Was going to write into the Hot Topic with a smart alec answer but a quick google check put paid to that. I was going to say that The Callisto Protocol was my favourite game by default. Shame it came out in 2022.

This then made me check and there’s not one 2023 release in my current library. I’ve got two of the main platforms but for whatever reason I haven’t bought a new game. It’s not game fatigue as I’m ploughing through Fallout 4 again and waiting patiently for the London and Miami mods and the New Vegas remake mod. I’ve also got back into Fallout 76, as I seem to do every time there’s a new update. Love to have them just roll it all into a single-player game, so I didn’t have to go and purchase the online aspect.

Starfield will get got this year, probably, but it will certainly be after a lot of patches and that’s if it doesn’t get delayed again.

I think if I had a Switch I would have bought the new Pikmin game, as they are the best real-time strategy games since Command & Conquer. I just can’t think of a game this year that I want on the devices I have, although GC put forward a good case for Dave The Diver.

As for a previous letter, to answer GC: No, I won’t buy broken games on PC, I was just pointing out that they were available on PC (eventually).
Bobwallett

GC: Maybe, eventually. For now it means they effectively aren’t available on PC – according to your logic.

Inbox also-rans
I forgot there was supposed to be a Star Wars strategy game coming via Respawn. I really hope it’s a successor to Empire At War, I loved that game.
Gabbo

So Call Of Duty got revealed to NFL players last year and NBA players this year… can’t wait for them to reveal it at Lord’s next!
Machman

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Marbon, who asks what is your favourite type of role-playing game?

With Final Fantasy 16 just out, and Starfield set to be one of the biggest games of the year, the role-playing genre is as popular as ever, but few people enjoy all the many different types. It’s not just a case of Western and Japanese style role-players, with many other sub-genres, including action role-players, tactical role-players, and variants like dungeon crawlers, roguelikes, and massively multiplayer online games.

Which do you enjoy the most and which particular game do you think is the best example of its type? Which sub-genre do you wish was more prevalent and how would you like to see it evolve in the future?

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The small print
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