The Wednesday letters page has new theories for why Nintendo is being so secretive about Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, as readers are disgusted by corporate buyouts.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Rescue package
So this month is only going to get worse and worse for Xbox, huh? Its developers, it fans, and… I would say its execs but they never seem to lose out. How that Matt Booty is still there after all this I will never know, except he obviously knows how to play the corporate game, even if I doubt he’s ever played an actual video game in his life.
I don’t know what is going to be left of Xbox by the end of this month but it’s probably going to be shy several thousand developers and probably at least a couple of studios. I wouldn’t be surprised if they postponed Project Helix too, at which point the whole charade is over.
At this stage I don’t think it’s a question of whether Xbox can be saved but whether they deserve to be? They brought in online back in the Xbox 360 era, but what have they done for gaming since then? Brought it to its knees by buying up half the industry and then laying them all off.
It’s the people at the top I can’t stand any more. We might complain about Sony never explaining themselves but at least we only assume they’re all awful. Because they never stop talking we know for a fact everyone in charge of Xbox is.
Hammeriron
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.
The day today
That reader wasn’t wrong about it being a new disaster every day for Xbox at the moment. I don’t know if a developer as big as Rare is going to be shut down but all the smaller ones are toast, as far as I can see. A lot of the blame has to go on Microsoft for buying them in the first place, because I don’t know what they were ever expecting from a place like Double Fine, but killing them all off like this is just awful.
Hopefully they’ll be able to buy their freedom and go independent but I doubt they all will. For those that do make it, I can’t imagine they’d ever make a game for an Xbox system ever again. If there ever is a new one. Surely Project Helix must be scrapped by now? Who would ever buy that, especially if it’s going to cost over a grand.
Vision
No silver lining
I realise the pointlessness is why everyone hates it but did no one making that Fortnite AI video realise how it was going to come across and how pointless using AI was going to look in it? It seems like they saved themselves virtually no time, since they can’t trust the AI to do a good job and have to go back and check and change it afterwards. So there’s little to no time saved and you still have to employ the artist, because someone needs to be able to fix the mess the AI has made afterwards.
Oh, and as a bonus whenever anyone finds out you’ve been using AI everyone hates you and you get terrible PR. When people look back at this era, in the future, they’re going to assume we were all mad.
Cabbage
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
21 again
I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere so I thought I’d make the point here regarding on what we can expect from the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake.
When we see Link revealed he is in a foetal position and he even performs an unborn baby-like swish or kick.
Coupled with Nintendo’s wording that this is Ocarina Of Time reborn I think we should expect a completely new incarnation of a beloved classic.
The teaser trailer was basically the announcement that we are all ‘expecting’ and a very deliberate attempt to protect what deserves a dedicated reveal or birthday.
That’s my interpretation anyway.
Bad Edit
GC: Ocarina Of Time’s birthday is November 21, Zelda in general is February 21.
Rare answer
Can anyone answer the question why did Rare and Nintendo ever decide to part? Two studios that worked so well together and provided much needed non-Nintendo studio content for each generation.
What’s going on at Xbox is so depressing and it’s easy to think we’re witnessing the last days of Rare. Do you think there’s any chance Nintendo might step up again and get them back? I don’t even own a Switch 2 but I’d be so happy to see that happen.
Chris
GC: The reasons are still unclear after all these years, but it seems to have been a combination of several relatively mundane issues. The most obvious are that Rare’s output was dipping in quality and quantity, and they’d missed a lot of deadlines for various games, most notably Star Fox Adventures.
Nintendo was also moving away from using external Western studios in general, dropping Excitebike 64 maker Left Field around the same time. There’s also the fact that they simply don’t like buying studios and while they have done it occasionally, the chances they’d make a move for Rare if they became available is very low.
Corporate dealings
All this news about Xbox and their developers reminds of EA during the 90s and 2000s. Everyone knew what would happen the minute they bought a new developer: they’d be shut down within a couple of years and everything they made would never be seen again. Westwood Studios is the one that hurts me the most from that time and the only one that survived was BioWare and that’s by the skin of their teeth, because I feel they could go at any minute.
It’s the same with Xbox, another big ultra rich American corporation that couldn’t care less about gaming, just the short term boost they’ll get from buying a company that they have no idea how to manage. For years we’ve heard reports of bad management at Xbox and it never seems to change. It’s probably a Microsoft company culture thing, so the only chance these developers have is either breaking away or if Xbox is spun off into its own company.
I doubt Arkane or Double Fine can last long enough to benefit from that though and we’ll probably hear the confirmation this week or at least this month. I have a bad feeling it’s going to be even worse than we currently think.
Focus
Impulse purchase
I don’t get Microsoft or Sony for that matter. They spend all this money buying developers, spend silly money to do it, thinking they can do better. Then realise they have made a big mistake and close the company down.
This, in my view, is what’s wrong with gaming. Why don’t they just leave them alone to do their own thing. In my eyes, this is what’s bringing gaming to its knees. Xbox should forget next gen console and just go developer-only. They would make more money and have less risk of another flop console.
David
GC: You’re right, it is a terrible practise, which has brought ruin to so many studios in the last decade. Often the purchases seem to be made for no reason other than a mixture of boardroom bravado and dragon sickness.
Don’t miss Gaming news! Add us as a Preferred Source
As a loyal GameCentral reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for gaming stories. We have all the latest video games news, reviews, previews, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers.
Click the button below and tick Metro.co.uk to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search.
Secret reasons
Regarding the secretiveness around the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, I think it’s possibly the same reason their summer Direct was so Japan-focused.
The Switch 2 price rise has already kicked in over in Japan and that’s Nintendo’s healthiest market. It feels misguided at this stage to go so hard with a Japan focus, but it seems they might be trying to tightly control the timing and focus of their announcements and reveals to counter specific price rises per region.
Since the price hikes in the West are scheduled for September, and they really do need a proper reveal of Zelda by then, it does make sense that they want to counter the impact at that time. As I said right after the Direct, I’m not holding out much hope it’ll be a much better event but I expect they’ve been deliberately reserving at least some effort till then.
Assuming that’s right, though, if Ocarina Of Time turns out to be just a visual and presentational upgrade and maybe some quality of life adjustments, I don’t think it’s a good idea to give so little info and to encourage months of speculation only for it to be confirmed as essentially something that isn’t just already available on Nintendo Switch Online but has been reasonably accessible on all their consoles, except three handhelds, since 1998.
If it’s really the same game underneath, to position that as a late 2026 tentpole release would suggest they’re going for some low hanging fruit as a stalling tactic instead of having higher effort first party stuff ready in the short term. It would also be a missed opportunity to offer a really modern take on the classic, one that doesn’t rely on some of the more basic dungeon gameplay that I feel brought down the Link’s Awakening remake.
It’s interesting to think how well the announcement might have landed if none of us had a clue about it. If it’s more than a superficial remake and the leaks hadn’t happened, we might have been saying they absolutely nailed it. But as others have said, the leaks had been well documented for months and it really doesn’t feel like it should’ve been out of the question to pivot just a little and show or say a bit more.
Panda
GC: That makes perfect sense… which Nintendo rarely does.
Inbox also-rans
I was quite interested in those Commodore flip phones until I saw the price. The price rises for all electronics at the moment are just out of control.
Mags
Full props to that company making ‘synthetic DNA’. If they’re talking companies into buying their nonsense, then I take off my hat to them. I’d say Sega should know better but that seems pretty on brand for them.
Calzone
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
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.