The Tuesday letters page wants to know about the best games on Netflix, as one reader wonders how Dragon Age: The Veilguard will influence Mass Effect 4.
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The high cost of switching
There seems a good chance the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to be unveiled this week, so let’s ask the most important question. Not about the hardware or the software but the one thing that can make or break a sale: the price.
The original Switch launched at £279.99 but I think it’s obvious this will be more, thanks to inflation and increased power. The OLED Model started at £309.99, so my estimate is that the Switch 2 will be a bit more expensive, but I would imagine Nintendo tries to keep it below £350.
There’s an outside chance it could be £400 but considering the Xbox Series S is around £250 now I can’t see them making it that much more expensive. But it’s Nintendo, so it’s hard to say and if they have a major launch game – or maybe even a pack-in – then it becomes tricky. £400 plus a free copy of Mario Kart 9 sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Curious to know what the maximum is other readers would pay. I’d go up to £350 without a game but anything beyond that I’d have to have a longer think about.
Tacle
Improved chances
That Nintendo Switch reveal date rumour sounds about as believable as we’ve ever had, from a reliable insider, so I’m going to guess there’s a good chance it’ll finally be revealed this Thursday.
I think we’d all do well to take the advice that we shouldn’t expect too much from the reveal, especially in terms of games, but I take that as meaning one of two things. The first is that there’s a lot to say about the hardware, that isn’t obvious from the leaks, so they need to get that out of the way first. Which would be a relief for those worried it seems too similar to the original.
The other is that the leaker is wrong (he did say he might be) and there will be a lot of games shown, which is what the leaks from retailer websites and the like suggest. I think it’s going to be worth the wait either way. There’s so much anticipation bottled up that anything is going to be a disappointment but at the same time, I think most of our questions will be answered soon.
Echoban
Start to finish
For the last few years I’ve been thinking how, if I was a 00s baby rather then an 80s baby, just think how good it would be in the gaming world. And then Shawn Layden and an Xmas readers feature came out saying that what consoles can do is nearly at the end and it’s true. I’m now glad I’m an 80s baby, seeing the Sega Master System come out then the amazing Nintendo 64 being realised and then the mighty PlayStation 1 coming to market.
Being an 80s baby was the best time to be born for a gamer. All them games that’ve come out and been forgotten, the small jumps in graphics becoming better over every new hardware release, and now a 00s baby has got no leaps to look forward to and it is a shame. They have missed 30+ years of games, including the first GTA. What a perfect time to be born; the 80s, what a great decade to be born in.
David
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Broken for all
I was wondering if you, or any readers have any information on this. I’m an avid Call Of Duty player (for my sins) but mainly play Free for All. For around top months now, Free for All on Black Ops 6 is completely broken. You get a win for finishing in the top three usually, but I’ve had wins for coming last and losses so many times for coming first. It’s not based on assists or KD ratio either, it basically seems completely random.
It is ruining my stats and my enjoyment of the game. I appreciate bugs can happen but such a game breaking bug, on such a big game, existing for this amount of time seems very rare.
Also, I’ve tried the usual, googling the issue and tweeting them, but it all seems very quiet considering it’s such a big fault. Is there a way of finding out when this will be fixed?
Lee
GC: It’s the first we’ve heard of it but perhaps a reader can comment. Have you tried the Activision X support channel?
Netflix and chill
I’m after a little advice from either your good selves or a helpful reader.
I’ve never really looked at the gaming section on Netflix before but upon looking recently I saw it had a number of games available that are on my to play list. These include things such as Hades, Storyteller, Immortality, the Golden Idol series, etc. none of which I realised were readily available to me.
I was just curious as to how these play over the streaming service. Do others regularly use Netflix for gaming and if so are there any issues? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
DuckOfDeath82 (PSN ID)
GC: We often mention Netflix on our monthly mobile round-up. The games usually work very well and as you’ve pointed out there’s a lot of really good ones. We’d also add Into The Breach to your list.
Dragon effect
One of the games I hope to see something of this year is the new Mass Effect, but like many I worry what kind of impact Dragon Age: The Veilguard will have on it. The new Dragon Age doesn’t seem to have been that big a hit and EA are not the sort of company to hand out too many second chances.
Apart from BioWare taking another step closer to death’s door I wonder what specific changes the game will force on Mass Effect. They’ve already said that it definitely won’t have a cartoony art style, but I wonder if they’ll try and rejig it to have more open world elements, if it didn’t already, and multiplayer too.
That would make it the opposite of The Veilguard (man, that’s such a bad name) in terms of gameplay and I can see them trying to make it all grimdark and serious too, since The Veilguard was trying to be funny a lot of the time (the only part of it I didn’t like really, not because I wanted it grimdark but because it wasn’t funny).
Unfortunately, the worst thing to come from this is simply that it’ll probably have its budget cut. But here’s hoping it turns out okay, because BioWare desperately needs a win. I don’t think there’s going to be a third chance.
Boltbun
Undead Destiny
So Destiny 2 is basically dead now, right? The last expansion was a whiff, the amount of new content has been cut down drastically and Bungie itself seems like it’s slow-walking towards the guillotine. Not only is Ubisoft unlikely to make it to the end of the year but I doubt Bungie does either.
It’ll be a death by a thousand cuts, but I expect the annoucement that Bungie no longer exists, even though many staff still work at Sony, to be made either this year or next. I don’t know what happens to the Destiny name after that but I don’t see Sony, or anyone else, putting up the massive amount of money needed to make Destiny 3.
Focus
Commitment issues
I notice the one game that hasn’t come up in conversation about multiformat Xbox games is the reboot of Fable. I realise this is technically covered by Phil Spencer’s ‘no red lines’ comment but it does seem that while even Halo and Gears Of War is being rumoured as coming to PlayStation 5 there’s been no rumours of Fable.
This suggests to me that there are still some people within Microsoft that are holding onto the idea of having exclusives, at least for a period of time, and by association presumably can’t bring themselves to admit that Xbox as a hardware format is dying.
I imagine that means that Fable will be released only on Xbox this year (If it makes it out on time) and then PlayStation 5 in 2026, just like they’re doing with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle. But that’s already been proven a mistake, in my opinion. That game would’ve had a lot more impact if it’d come out on all formats at the same time, but instead it made no impact at all.
Fable might do better, because in terms of games it’s comparatively better known, but I doubt by much. If Microsoft are going to be a third party publisher they need to go all in, not hold back their best games. They’re not going to make any money on Hellblade 2 no matter what formats it comes out, but they should do on Fable and Indiana Jones.
Ashton Marley
Inbox also-rans
As the Xbox Rewards Program has now changed significantly, ChickenPossible aka Rewards Hunter has put an end to his YouTube videos for guides on how best to collect rewards points. I personally think the Rewards Program will be come to a point where it won’t be worth doing anymore.
woz 007 (gamertag)
I mostly buy physical games. I hope Nintendo keep the Switch 2 game boxes the same size as Switch game boxes. I wonder what colour they will go for to differentiate.
Ed
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