The Wednesday letters page thinks the Switch 2 may be stuck being a second console, as a reader asks when the next mainline Zelda will be released.
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Kids’ game
The Power Rangers trailer for Fortnite was very cool. Good enough that it made me think about playing the game again, which I haven’t done for what must be at least three years. That made me wonder what is the average age of a Fortnite player? Roblox is obviously just for kids, but Fortnite probably does have lots of adult players, or does it?
The only adult I know that plays it regularly, plays it with his son as a bonding kind of thing but I’d be curious to hear from any Inboxers and see if they play it. I’m not dissing the game, I always enjoyed it well enough, but I’m just not sure who it’s for anymore.
If you watched Power Rangers as a kid you’d be pushing 40 by now, which doesn’t strike me as the key Fortnite demographic. I know Power Rangers is still going today but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as popular now as it was back in the 90s.
There are lots of other adult franchises in the game but most of those skins were a few years ago, I think. So is Fortnite just for kids or is it really something that everyone plays from time to time? I really don’t know.
Whistler
Aidos, Amiga
I don’t think there’s ever going to be justice for Amiga games in terms of remasters, because it was only big in Europe and nobody’s going to put the money needed into making a new Alien Breed or Hunter. They’re just never going to make a return on the investment, even though some of the games are broad enough an idea that they should be of interest to plenty of people.
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We might not get Elite 3 or Mercenary 4, but a big sandbox sci-fi adventure should be an idea that appeals to plenty of people. The problem with that is Starfield tried that and by fact of being laughably bad (and far less ambitious than any of these old Amiga games) has soured anyone else from ever trying again. Or at least for a long while.
So instead we get cheapo sequels to James Pond by a developer you’ve never heard of and who probably won’t even finish the game. It’s a shame but there it is.
Robbie the Randbot
Direct talk
Very interesting that we’re getting another non-first party Nintendo Direct this week, this time for indie games. That’s probably going to mean at least one shadow drop and… probably no Silksong.
It’s interesting because Nintendo does see the need to promote its third party games (even if it didn’t do a good job of it) and indie titles at this time, just when we all thought they should show off their first party stuff. I think we will get that but like a reader said the other day, I think it’s going to be multiple game-specific ones. So one for Metroid Prime 4, Hyrule Warriors, Kirby Air Riders, and maybe Pokémon Legends.
Enough to make it seem like Nintendo’s got a lot to talk about, while preventing them from having to actually announce anything new.
Onibee
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Legendary wait
Just picked up the Switch 2 Edition of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild from CeX. It was a no-brainer what my next pick would be, after being gifted the Mario Kart World bundle. Of course it would be a title from my favourite franchise. I said previously that Final Fantasy is my favourite, when I mailed a list letter a few months ago. But I’ve just grown accustomed to the fact that it was Zelda that popped in my mind, when I received my Switch 2.
I’ve taken that back. Zelda is my ride or die. It’s just magical and, thankfully, it’s still an exclusive for Nintendo. I’ll also be buying Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom as soon as I can. Because who truly knows when the next Zelda game will be released? It may very well be a few years away and it will definitely be the first Zelda game that won’t be on the original Switch. Which I welcome with open arms.
But if we are getting a new title in the future can I just have my remaster or remake of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time before that and can we just please play as Zelda? Because last time I checked, she’s the name that carries this franchise. I think playing as a mute blonde warrior is quite outdated. But that’s just me. I still love you Link.
Shahzaib Sadiq
GC: There’s zero chance of a mainline Zelda game until at least 2028, probably later.
Safe pair of hands
I see Nightdive’s games are on sale at the moment on Steam. I’ve just picked up Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition for £1.79. I would have bought it full price a while ago but found out it was one of the weaker ports
Nightdive has done. I don’t mind trying it for £1.79 though.
Generally, all the games they have done have been to a very high standard. There was an article in Edge about them in the past year or so, where it said they were remote working before the term was popularised during Covid, with members of the Nightdive team being in different locations.
What got Nightdive started as a studio was that one of the developers wanted to play System Shock 2 on a modern computer and found they were not able to, so they decided to do it themselves, along with other co-workers and getting it working on modern computers.
Andrew J.
PS: I see the Nintendo Survey for people’s views of physical and digital games on the Switch has been closed for some reason.
GC: There’re rumours Nightdive are currently working on a System Shock 2 remake and/or a Quake 3 remaster.
Happy to the max
Picked up a Mad Max download for a bargain £2.99 in the last Xbox sale. I’m a big fan of the films, especially the first two. I was hoping for a car game, a bit like the excellent Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. It has elements of it but it’s actually a bigger beast. Its a third person open world sandbox of the wastelands from the second film.
It has Batman: Arkham Asylum style fighting plus loads of car combat. You can steal raiders cars and collect them at your base GTA style. There are races, camps to raid and violent storms that come out of nowhere. You can upgrade your main car with battering rams and more powerful nitro boosts. And best of all the harpoon, which you can pull cars over with, pull gates off their hinges or snipers out of their towers. Or just pull the whole tower down. You have to scavenge to survive and ammo is scarce. Have to say you can shoot the enemy cars’ fuel tanks or tyres or the enemy themselves.
I’ve always thought they should make a movie between the first and second films, with Max as a cop battling the madness before and after the nuclear war. It could even be the plot for a sequel to this game. Inbox magic make it so.
Johnny Alpha SD
Currently playing: Star Wars Outlaws, Halo Infinite, and looking forward to Battlefield 6 beta.
The Battlefield approach
I think comparing sales of Battlefield 4 and Call Of Duty: Ghosts pretty much sums it up. That was as close as EA ever got to beating Activision and it wasn’t really close at all.
I find it very odd that they’re putting so much money and effort into Battlefield 6. Not that it doesn’t look good, but they have two decades of proof that casual gamers aren’t interested in a complicated military shooter where you constantly get killed by someone you never saw and are always too late to get any of the vehicles.
I really don’t know why they didn’t make a new game that was kind of similar, especially in terms of destruction, but more approachable for ordinary people.
Gonzo
Companion console
There’s not much more to be said about the Nintendo Direct but do agree with a recent letter that suggested it should have been pulled, as its mere existence has somehow made getting a Switch 2 less appealing. I wanted to pick up the third parties situation on Switch 2, generally.
The Switch is a great machine but, much like the Wii, it ended up being everyone’s ‘second console’ for Nintendo games and the odd indie. Larger third party releases were barely able to break even on a console that had sold 150 million units. The worry is that Nintendo are setting the console up to fail with third parties again.
We’ve already had those alarming stories of sales figures from the launch line-up. After this initial wave of publisher optimism in a new format the hard reality of poor unit sales could force a rethink in support, maybe making it even worse than the original Switch in the end, given how much more expensive to develop and likely port PlayStation 4 and 5 era games are.
Already, if you look at gaming comment sections around Switch 2 the majority say the system ‘is for Nintendo games’ and they aren’t bothered if third party games run poorly or turn up at all. They have a PC or PlayStation too, so why pay £70 for a worse version of Elden Ring?
Can Nintendo turn that perception around? Or do they even care if they’re selling a boat load of Mario Karts? Once the launch period settles down, I don’t see any reason to expect third parties to flock to Switch 2, as its place in the market will be the same as the original Switch. What reason is there to suggest we will see bigger sales from these type of titles second time around?
Marc
Inbox also-rans
Great interview with The 8-Bit Big Band guy, GC. I have never heard of the group before but some of those songs are fire, especially OutRun and F-Zero.
Tommo
GC: Thanks.
Really excited to see what’s next after Baldur’s Gate 3, but also exactly how much money Larian will be able to get to make their next game. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen such a small company get a boost like this before. Closest comparison might be CD Projekt.
Chris
GC: Larian are not small, they had 470 employees as of last year. That’s bigger than many first party studios.
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