Games Inbox: The best guess for the Nintendo Switch 2 unveil date

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Make your bet
So… lay out your cards, GC. When do you think the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to be unveiled? They’re never going to do it on Halloween, so that’s October out the window. I know some rumours said October/early November, but I’m not sure any of these people know what they’re talking about.

Except, I also bet Nintendo keep changing their mind so maybe they are right, at the time they’re told, and then the plan changes. It’s just so impossible to guess. I agree with the reader who said it’s actually kind of fun trying to make sense of it all and not actually knowing something in gaming, rather than having it all being leaked six months beforehand.

It was particularly weird when someone that was supposed to be a bad source ended up getting something right, which undermines everything again. Not only can you not trust the supposedly reliable leakers but maybe you should trust the ones everyone says are no good!

I’ll almost be disappointed when the thing is actually unveiled, unless they show off a bunch of games at the same time. In which case I’ll be over the moon.
Costrom

GC: We know no more than you, but common sense has always pointed towards a January or February unveil. The launch is harder to predict but we’re tending towards autumn now, rather than the first half of the year. But we absolutely would not put money on either prediction.

Hardcore Ops
I completely understand what people are complaining about when they talk about Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 having no casual players. People say it must be a problem with the matchmaking but everything else seems to work fine about it. It just seems that suddenly everyone’s a Call Of Duty expert and I am finding it very hard to get anywhere or have much fun.

I can’t explain it but either every ex-COD player in the world suddenly decided to come back for this one or there’s something about the maps that makes them easily exploited by pro players. But even as I type that, that doesn’t sound very convincing.

I have enjoyed the campaign but usually I beat that and then get into the multiplayer for a few months, but it’s just chewing me up and spitting me up every time. Sweaty lobbies, indeed.
Gornack

A poor workman blames his tools
Going by Hermen Hulst’s email, announcing the closure of those studios, anyone holding out hope that Sony will go back to focusing on single-player narrative games is going to be disappointed.

He clearly said live service is still a key focus for growth, along with probably the most blunt statement that they’re creating games for platforms beyond PlayStation. Sounded a bit like him saying the plan is good but the studios are to blame for it going wrong.

My guess is from here they’re going to focus on bringing existing IP to other platforms and maybe Lego Horizon Adventures is the start of that. Also, I’d guess the next live service game they announce will be based on an existing single-player games that people already know.
Tim

GC: We wouldn’t take anything a gaming exec says at face value, especially when they’re primarily trying to reassure investors.

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Change of style
As someone who has remained so very on the fence about the upcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard I have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised by GC’s 9/10 review. Hearing that it could be BioWare back to something like their best is music to my ears, with most of their franchises ranking in my favourite ever gaming worlds, including that of Dragon Age.

There was a bit of pause for me however, seeing the other review sources I tend to lean towards going down the exact opposite route of opinion on The Veilguard. I’ll still play it (currently working through Inquisition now, after re-doing the first two games via Game Pass), but one thing I can’t shake, and that has come up in numerous other reviews, is the art style.

It seems so different to that of previous games, so much so that some have compared it to a Pixar movie. I didn’t see it especially mentioned in GC’s review, so I’m wondering if it’s just something different that you kind of get used to in playing the game?

Dragon Age games are no stranger to being different each time, so it wouldn’t be unusual for this game’s art direction to be the decision of evolution this time around. I just hope it isn’t a sign that The Veilguard has lost touch with the dark and serious story that’s been caried by past Dragon Age games.
NL

GC: It’s not nearly as cartoonish in practice as some seem to be making out (and everyone’s hair looks fabulous) but we’ll admit it’s an unusual choice, especially as the storytelling is still as you’d expect. The Metacritic score is 84, with nothing less than a 60 and no suggestion, as far as we can see, that the art style is a major complaint.

Forever old
Regarding the revival of Speedball, I do think it’s a shame that overhead, vertically scrolling sports games have completely disappeared. There probably are some indie ones, but I don’t think I remember ever seeing one.

It’s obvious why they’ve disappeared it but the whole of Speedball was based on that fixed camera angle and the very simplistic controls. That feels really old fashioned to play now and yet to try and expand that with modern controls… I just don’t see it working.

I think the truth is some ideas are just of the time and should be appreciated and remembered but left to be. I certainly don’t think the legacy of Speedball 2 is improved by having half a dozen lame reboots that nobody has ever heard of.
Tacle

Try, try again
The fundamental development strategy behind live service games seems flawed to me, in particular the way PlayStation is doing it. For games associated with an existing IP (Horizon, The Last of Us) it’d make more sense to make a fun multiplayer prototype, bundle it with an existing game with the caveat that it’s in early access, and then gather user feedback to see if the idea has legs.

For new IP, go early access on Steam if there’s no mechanism through PSN. Then you’ve got something to iterate and build on, potentially leading to a profitable live service game.

I’m a product development engineer for a medical device company: we ask for feedback from users as often as we can to try to nail our devices before launch (with a typical product development cycle of around five years, including clinical trials). Early on, we strive to fail often to succeed sooner, as the popular mantra goes.

But games companies, particularly PlayStation, seem hellbent on putting their blinkers on and developing what they think is a groundbreaking, fully-formed product, then acting surprised when it launches and no one wants it. That’d kill us. It might kill PlayStation if they keep at it.

I’ve no faith that it’ll change under Herman Hulst, who apparently championed Concord and its developers internally and thought it was the future of PlayStation. That guy should probably be in the basement guarding a bee, but now he’s co-CEO. ‘Next time will be different’ they say…
Magnumstache
PS: On a positive note, I finished RoboCop: Rogue City and it was great fun. Currently £13.99 on CDKeys.

GC: That’s a great price for the game, we strongly recommend it to any fan of the film.

Wrong decade
I really enjoyed your list of classic horror games and can’t really argue with any of them.

Just wanted to give a shout out to Eternal Darkness which I hugely enjoyed at the time. Perhaps I’m remembering it with nostalgia glasses firmly on but just wondering if you even considered it for the list?
Chris

GC: Thanks. We’re going to try and experiment with some more retro-themed articles in the future, so if anyone has any requests or suggestions do let us know. Eternal Darkness was 2002 though, which is why it didn’t make the list.

Machine made
I wasn’t that interested in the upcoming Indiana Jones game until your latest preview. Now having read that, it looks like I’ll be purchasing a copy on release.

I didn’t realise it was being developed by MachineGames, that’s the deal breaker for me – the people responsible for the last few excellent Wolfenstein games. Now I know it’s by them I feel like I can’t let this one pass being a fan of the movies too.

I’ve always enjoyed the films, going against popular opinion, my least favourite is the one featuring Sean Connery, believe it or not. I even enjoyed the Crystal Skull movie. I’m yet to see the latest one but it’s available on the Disney channel so I’m going to give it a spin even though I’ve heard it’s lousy.

I don’t know how many Indiana Jones games there’s been over the years, I did play the Lego ones that I quite liked, but the one that stands out in my memory was the Atari one from the 80s that was found in most of the arcades I visited back in the day. You’d hear the theme tune playing and it would grab my attention. I remember whipping a few snakes and driving a mine cart and getting nowhere on it as a kid, but it still gives me fond memories.
Nick The Greek

GC: There’s been more than you might think but other than the Lego games it’s really only the two LucasArts adventures that were any good. They’re both on Steam for a fiver each.

Inbox also-rans
Kudos to Shaihzaid Sadiq for getting a games list in the Inbox, in spite of GC’s (understandable) aversion.
Tundrastrider

GC: We don’t mind lists as long as they come with some sort of description. It’s endless names of games, with no commentary, that we don’t use.

Interesting Horizon Hero Dawn Remastered review but I’m sorry, I still don’t get why Sony made it. Surely it’s going to be very difficult to break even on it, especially as there already is a PC version and they’re not going to be making much from the upgrade fee. I just don’t understand who wanted this.
Mick

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