The Friday letters page is not optimistic about new Pokémon games on the Nintendo Switch 2, as one reader hopes for a Half-Life 3 reveal at the April Nintendo Direct.
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Twin rivals
One thing I’ve been thinking about with the Nintendo Switch 2 is how it’ll do going up against not just the PlayStation 5 but also the other next gen consoles. The Switch came out halfway through the PlayStation 4’s life and now the Switch 2 is coming out halfway through the PlayStation 5.
At the time it was thought impossible that the Switch could beat PlayStation 4, because of the head start and yet here we are where it’s sold over 30 million more. The Switch is already well ahead of the PlayStation 5 but does that mean the Switch 2 will beat it as well?
I think the Wii U tells us that it’s not a given but then again the interest at the moment for the Switch 2 is so strong that Nintendo has got to make a really big effort to fail. I wonder how Sony will feel about that and if they think the PlayStation 6 has any chance of breaking the current cycle.
Logan
Unwanted Legacy
I cannot believe what a shambles Warner Bros. seems to be with their games. They’ve just shut down one of their best studios and apparently they wanted to do it to another one as well? WB Games Montréal has made some good games, even Gotham Knights was better than a lot of people realise, but now they’re tied to a Game Of Thrones game? One that’s going to turn up 15 years too late and I cannot see being anything other than another disaster.
The fundamental problem, as far as I can see, is that Warner Bros. just doesn’t want to make video games. Not traditional single-player games; it just wants to have its own couple of Fortnites and can’t be bothered with anything else that only makes some money, but not all the money.
The way they speak it almost seems like they resent Hogwarts Legacy being a success. Like they’d rather it’d flopped so they can just give up on the idea of traditional games entirely.
Austin
Direct speculation
I don’t believe there’ll ever be a Half-Life 3 but if it was unveiled during a Nintendo Direct that would be absolutely wild. The fact that there’s a non-zero chance of it happening is crazy enough as it is.
I do feel there’s bound to be some kind of major third party annoucement, probably a couple, at the Direct though. Not only will Nintendo want it to prove the Switch 2 has that kind of support, but the publishers will know that everyone will be watching the Direct.
Seems to me a FromSoftware annoucement is very likely, beyond just an Elden Ring port. I also like the idea of a Castlevania reveal or maybe Resident Evil 9? Japanese publishers are especially likely to get on board and while it’s not healthy to expect too much I can’t help myself.
Cheezoid
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Unrelated story
I’m not very familiar with Silent Hill. My only experience of it are seeing the first film, playing a demo of Silent Hill 4: The Room, which I didn’t like, and the criminally unavailable P.T. Demo which I loved.
My question is, as it’s been so long since the original games were released and there must be loads of people who have never played them, then why the hell did they get Bloober Team to make Silent Hill 2? What about Silent Hill 1? Makes no sense to me.
It’s like watching a TV series or film series and skipping the first one! The remake might be fantastic but what’s the backstory? How did all start? It puts me off to an extent that I won’t play it. Maybe it’s just me…
Steve
GC: There is no story connection between Silent Hill 1 and 2, other than they’re nominally set in the same town (whose exact nature is never clearly explained). Since the second entry is by far the most popular it was the obvious place to start. There’s speculation that Bloober Team may remake Silent Hill 1 and/or 3, which do share some characters, but that is not confirmed.
Emulator machine
Very interested in the piece on the Steam Deck being similar in sales to the N-Gage.
Pretty sure I have an N-Gage somewhere from years ago. Sonic and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater were pretty good at the time.
In terms of handhelds, what is GC’s opinion on (typically used for) ’emulator’ consoles?
If I can name drop, a bit back I bought an Anbernic RG556. It has a 1080p OLED screen, runs Android (so has access to all the streaming services) and cost £140.
With Game Pass, it is a pretty awesome portable Xbox.
Si Zero
GC: We have very little interest in emulation.
Generational decline
Am I the only one that thought that Pokémon Legends: Z-A footage looked kind of fake? Either it’s for the Switch 2, which they didn’t say, or it’s some kind of pre-rendered mock-up running on a PC or something. I have absolutely zero faith that anything made by Game Freak will run like they showed, without tons of glitches and frame rate hiccups. Especially given how little time they’ve had since the last game.
If it is Switch 2 that’s fine, because I did like how the combat seemed to be working and I welcome the attempt to mix things up. Especially if the new mobile game is going to focus on turn-based combat and keep that going.
At the end of the day though it’s still a spin-off and I feel that the mainline games have reached a dead end. Technology has advanced too much for them to cling onto the old-fashioned formula and yet Game Freak don’t have the time and expertise to push things forward.
Their attempts to have a Zelda style open world have been embarrassing and unless they take five years making the next one, which they’re clearly not going to, I don’t see anything changing as much as it needs to.
Tim Rogers
2D blockbusters
That new Terminator 2 game looks amazing. I am 100% for them running that idea into the ground and doing every 80s and 90s action movie possible in the same style. Aliens, Predator, Jurassic Park, RoboCop… you name it, I would happily play it in 2D Contra-o-vision.
There’s a reasonable chance of at least one of those things happening too, as this is the same company behind the excellent 3D RoboCop game, so surely the obvious next step is a version of the movie and then Terminator Vs. RoboCop. Let the 90s cheese flow!
Tacle
Day of the Plumber
Since it was Pokémon Day on Thursday, and you mentioned all the other pop culture ‘days’, I wonder what’s going to happen on MAR10 Day? March 10.
Nintendo always acknowledge it but don’t often make any big annoucement, but I wonder if this year will be different? It’s obvious they’ve told everyone not to say anything until the Direct in April, considering not even the Pokémon Presents mentioned it, so then again I’m not sure.
I think a look at the Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel might be an exception though, since that’s not connected to the Switch 2. My guess is that it’s going to introduce Wario and Waluigi, which I’m all for, especially if Danny DeVito does the voice. I know the original wasn’t a great movie, but I still enjoyed it for the animation and how accurate it was to the games.
It’s interesting that it’s very hard to guess when we might see a new 3D Mario game, as while there are a few rumours of a new game we really don’t know and Nintendo certainly hasn’t given a hint. What they have hinted at though is Mario Kart and Metroid Prime 4, which are the obvious guesses for the launch games.
So does that mean 3D Mario will be later this year or next year? Maybe we won’t find out until MAR10 Day 2026.
Bonk
Inbox also-rans
Somebody mentioned F-Zero GX… that game is amazing and eyeball-meltingly fast. I have literally just brought a GameCube and a digital AV HDMI adapter just so I can play it on a modern TV. A sequel or even a port to Switch/Switch 2 would be very welcome!
Stewart
I think they’ll save Deadpool until people start getting tired of Marvel Rivals. He’s obviously going to be in it but, like the MCU, he’ll be used to give everything a boost when interest starts to flag.
Casper
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