Games Inbox: Are gamers too entitled about video games?

The Friday letters page tries to figure out Nintendo’s future plans for Mario Kart World, as one reader wishes Battlefield 6 didn’t have a story mode.

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Value for money
I had a good laugh at the story about the fan trying to get a refund after playing a game for 35,000 hours but I think there’s a serious point to be made here, in that it shows just how entitled most gamers are.

We’ve seen on these pages the total lack of empathy from some people, towards the developers that make their game, but there’s also this strange insistence that once you buy a game the publisher is honour bound to change it in any way you demand and make sure it works online for all eternity. There is absolutely no other product in the world that is treated this way, especially not at that price level.

I’m not defending publishers for stopping support of a game early but there’s got to be a sensible limit here. A video game is less than £100, often half that, and you’re looking for lifetime support and instant changes? If this guy paid £40 for a video game four years ago, and he’s put 35,000 hours into, I’d say he’s had his money’s worth.
Coolsbane

Split opinion
I just finished Split Fiction with my girlfriend and we really enjoyed it. That developer is really good at these co-op games and I’m now automatically interested in anything else they do. But is it just me but is the story and characters kind of bad? Making writers your main characters is always a danger, just ask Alan Wake, but these two weirdos seem to have invented the least original fantasy and sci-fi worlds imaginable.

The dialogue is also pretty bad. Not funny bad or anything, just really boring and obvious. Maybe it’s meant to be that way on purpose, so as to not put off casual gamers, but it’s so bland it really feels like a trick has been missed. Even the bad guy is terrible, and his plan is so obvious and also stupid. It Takes Two wasn’t really much better either, it was just the game that was good. I hope they do better for next time.
Firegon

Unwanted story
I get the negativity around Battlefield 6 but I am looking forward to the game and I think that it probably will be good, despite EA. I’m a bit worried about how they’re going to handle classes, but other than that I like what I’m hearing and seeing (given the amount of footage that has leaked).

The other reader was right that it’s not a complicated game, but you wouldn’t have thought that given how many times it’s been messed up over the years. The only thing that really worries me about this game is that they’re once again wasting time on a story campaign.

Stop it! They’ve never been good, nobody cares whether they exist or not, and you’re just wasting time and money on something that could be used for more important stuff. Other than that though, I’ll give it a chance.
Bosley

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Link to the photorealism
Personally, I’m optimistic about the live action Zelda movie. Not for the film itself but a realistic portrayal of Link, if received well, could pave the way for a realistic looking game. Don’t get me wrong I’ve loved the recent Zelda games, and The Wind Waker is one of my all-time favourite games ever, but Ocarina Of Time, at the time, just felt so groundbreaking. The game sure, but the graphics were for the time the best around.

I understand why Nintendo have gone the path they chose but I long for that Link from the Space World demo. And yes, I know we subsequently got that with Twilight Princess but it’s not aged well and wasn’t really cutting edge at the time.

Imagine a Zelda game that looks like the Demon’s Souls remake, looking up and a dragon flying over the volcano in that style. With a more story driven game, where the Zelda and Link interact like Ellie and Joel. The swordplay could be exactly the same and I’ll leave it to Nintendo to find that gameplay hook they do so well. Or at least an Ocarina Of Time remake will do, just give us one more realistic 4K Link, please.
Phil

No reason
I am actually glad to hear that people are not buying Mario Kart World separately on digital. If you want a physical copy then fine but I can’t see one single reason why you’d buy a Switch 2 and then, days or weeks later, buy Mario Kart digitally.

You’d have to either hate Mario Kart and then suddenly come round to it (after playing it on someone else’s Switch 2?) or… not know it was out and then act shocked when you find out?

To be honest, I’m surprised it was even the third most popular game on the eShop, because every single person that bought it really needs to think about their money saving skills.
Renton

It’s the children who are wrong
People are right to question exactly how much the PlayStation 6 is going to cost, if it’s both a portable and a home console. A PS5 Pro and a PlayStation Portal is already £900 and I don’t see any chance that the PlayStation 6 combo is going to be any cheaper.

I really don’t see how there’s that many people that’re going to be interested in throwing down that sort of money for a console whose graphics are barely going to look any better and probably won’t have many exclusives.

At the very least a Switch style hybrid approach seems a better idea, but none of the rumours seem to say that at all. Either I’m completely out of the loop or Sony are getting high on their own fumes.

I just cannot imagine any situation where they suddenly announce the PlayStation 6 and everyone goes crazy for it and starts pre-ordering. What games are they going to use to promote it? How are they going to do or look anything different to the PlayStation 5?

Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe Sony has a secret plan that’s definitely going to work but I don’t see it at all. To be honest I’m kind of worried about the future of gaming right now.
Mapes

Gonna take you for a ride
Bargain alert: Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection for PlayStation 4 is on sale for £23.80 (usual price £44.99) on Amazon for a limited time. The Switch version is on sale too but it is a digital code in a box.
Andrew J.
PS: The people who made the Rubber Keyed Wonder documentary about the Spectrum and the documentary about the PlayStation, called the PlayStation Revolution, are now making an expanded Blu-ray of the ZX Spectrum computer, covering various topics about the Spectrum including its games, the hardware design, and peripherals. It’s on sale for £25 plus postage for the next seven days.

Wider World
Everything tells me that Mario Kart World is definitely going to be treated like a live service game, that’s constantly updated with characters from upcoming games. I’d almost bet on it, except I can’t think of any reason why Nintendo hasn’t already told us about it.

It seems so obvious that something is going on with Donkey Kong, but it’s been out for a week now so why haven’t they announced it? Maybe it’ll be at the rumoured Nintendo Direct this month but why did it have to wait till then? I don’t get it.

But if it does happen, it could explain everything. It would explain all the missing characters that were in Mario Kart 8 (maybe we’re getting a new game with the Koopalings!) and it would be a way to slowly introduce characters from other franchises.

You could use Hyrule Warriors to add Zelda characters, Kirby Air Riders to add Kirby, and Metroid Prime 4 to add Samus, ideally with custom cars. I don’t know if they’d do that many at once, maybe they’d want to wait until mainline entries, but they could just add extra costumes and cars for that.

Whether they’d go as far as adding new areas of the map I don’t know but if they don’t I’m not sure how else bigger DLC is going to work. The ones on Mario Kart 8 did great, so they’re going to want to copy that, but are they going to start plugging in new areas on the map, like a jigsaw?

Or maybe this is all just too much of a good idea and they’re going to do nothing. With Nintendo you just never know.
Occo

Inbox also-rans
As usual with Nintendo I can’t tell if they’re being purposefully evil in cheaping out over the Switch 2 version of Mario Party or if they just didn’t see how it would come across. Either way I’m definitely not getting it, if it’s so half-assed.
Lurch

That Lego Game Boy is amazing. I imagine it’d be really easy to make it actually work too. The innards of a Game Boy must be something you could make a system on a chip for that’s the size of a pinhead nowadays. All you’d have to do is get the buttons working, which I bet you can do with Lego.
Qwark

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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.

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