Games Inbox: When will the PS5 get a price cut?

It’s not getting cheaper (Sony)

The Wednesday letters page doesn’t think console wars will ever end, as one reader looks forward to Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email [email protected]

Hardcore hardware
Seeing Capcom just come out and say the PlayStation 5 is too expensive is a pretty wow moment for me. We all know everything to do with gaming has got too expensive, particularly the high-end stuff, but to have one of the biggest publishers come out and admit it, and say the Switch 2 is better because it’s cheaper, seem like a bit of a truth grenade.

It’s especially wild as we get these rumours about the next gen Xbox being ultra expensive, because Microsoft has already lost the casual crowd. What I’m afraid of is that Sony has too. The PlayStation 5 has sold fine but there doesn’t seem any way it’s going to outsell the PlayStation 2, which means the best-selling console ever has been uncontested for basically 25 years.

We all groan when a company keeps going on about a lack of growth, but in terms of console sales you can see what a problem is. But it makes me wonder what a company like Capcom thinks the solution is. Because I bet it’s not just the Switch 2.

Seems to me, if I was a publisher, I’d want the hardware to be as cheap as possible, enough that the only costs gamers are worried about is the games itself. That to me screams streaming and I think we’re going to see a big push for it in the next five years. That’s why these new consoles are so stupidly expensive, because they’re being set up as something only for hardcore gamers.

That’s why I don’t think we’ll ever see a major price cut for the PlayStation 5. Its price has already gone up this year already and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Never mind about the console wars, the era of affordable consoles is over.
Winston

Pick a side
I don’t think most people take console wars as seriously as it’s made out. Most people only want one main console and whether it’s tied to exclusives or not, you’ve got to pick a side for Xbox or PlayStation. Nothing’s going to stop that automatic rivalry, whether the same games are on the consoles or not.

Personally, I don’t like Microsoft as a company and I don’t like the Xbox UI, so that’s enough for me to stick with PlayStation. I’d probably switch (no pun intended) for the right exclusive but Xbox has never had one I cared that much about and now it never will.

I supposed the console wars could end because nobody cares about Xbox anymore, but I’m not sure that’s what’s meant to be going on anymore. People like to fight and they’ll use any excuse.
Firmus

Per ardua ad astra
I’ve been playing a bit of No Man’s Sky later and I hate to say, but even after all the updates I still don’t really like it. It’s an amazing achievement for such a small team but there’s just nothing ‘fun’ about it. The combat, the exploration, the spaceship piloting… I don’t really enjoy doing any of it.

It’s not that it’s broken or horrible, it just feels like a game made by programmers who are super talented in terms of graphics and everything, but have no real idea how to make a game. I’m going to assume that’s pretty much exactly what the problem is, but it’s a shame.

But between this and Starfield it’s not been a good time for space games and I don’t know of anything on the horizon that can turn things around.
Tacle

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XCOM Fantasy
Nice interview for Final Fantasy Tactics, GC. That was always one of my favourite PS1 games and I’ve owned multiple versions over the years. This one doesn’t sound like it’s going to add much other than voice-acting but considering how much dialogue there is, that is a draw and I’ll triple (quadruple?) dip just to support this sort of thing.

It’s interesting that the director was a big fan of XCOM, as you don’t normally hear Japanese developers talking about Western games and that one in particular feels very… not Japanese.

I would love to see Square Enix do their own take on it though. A fantasy version of XCOM sounds right up my street and while I suppose you could say that was kind of Midnight Suns, I loved that game as well so that’s not going to put me off. Plus, this time people might actually buy the game.
KIltner

Weaponised cheese
Just read that the new Resident Evil movie (by the director of Weapons!) is going to be set during Resident Evil 2 and 3 but with the tone of Resident Evil 4. I’m not sure what that means exactly but my interpretation is that it’ll be fairly cheesy and funny, rather than super serious. That’s exactly the opposite of what I’d expect, given who’s involved, but I’ll take it.

It’s a shame Leon isn’t the lead though, because I’d love to see him done properly in a film, floppy hair and all. It’s such a weird project for that director though. Especially now, because I don’t think he’s really done anything that comedic. But if he manages to get the tone of something like Evil Dead 2 I will be very happy.
Jager

Cheese it
In response to Nick The Greek asking for advice in Metroid Prime Remastered, there are a couple of things I can suggest.

If I remember rightly, some of the rooms have space pirates that are only capable of melee attacks (where they hang from the ceiling, waiting for you to get close) so you could just check the map to get the exact position of the door you need to get through and run for it. If you do need to take on any enemies I would lock on and use charged shots of the Wave Beam as, like missiles, these will home in but have the added benefit of stunning enemies for a few seconds, which prevents them from shooting.

Also, and this is a bit cheesy, there are one or two rooms where you can just open the door, take a quick shot and move back a little so the door remains open, but you can still take shots. The pirates will run towards you but can’t get though, so this should protect you from some damage if you move to the side.

Similarly, in the room where you first picked up Super Missile, look down and lock on to the pirates on the floor but keep the platform you are standing on between them and you. Charge up Wave Beam shots and jump up just before firing, so that the shot can home in on the pirates at the bottom but you don’t expose yourself to their shots for too long.

Hopefully this is all understandable and don’t feel pathetic for experiencing problems. Many of the people saying it’s easy are those who already have experience of the game, so they know what they are doing and likely don’t remember their first playthrough. There were definitely a few times where I found things tough during my first time – especially the Omega Pirate fight. Good luck!
Robbie

Which Rayman?
I really hope that the new Rayman is like Origins and Legends. Those games were great and, to be honest, the earlier ones were not. Everyone keeps saying that Ubisoft is doing a remake but it’s not obvious to me what it’s a remake of.

How do you remake a 2D sprite game, if it’s the first one? And who’s going to care about a remake of Rayman 2 or 3, if it’s those? It could be a remake of Origins or Legends, but what do you do with them? Ubisoft themselves have hinted at it happening, so I guess there’s something going on, but they’ve got to prove to me it’s worth getting excited about.
Keith

Arkham Bricks
A bit late in bringing Gamescom thoughts to the Inbox, but my game of the show has to be Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight.

I haven’t been a fan of previous Lego games – I found The Skywalker Saga to be too simple and repetitive – so didn’t think much of this new Lego Batman game when I saw the initial announcement.

After reading previews and seeing gameplay, I’m now eagerly anticipating its release next year. Its gameplay looks much closer aligned to the Arkham trilogy than I was expecting, which is a big bonus, and I like its silly humour and plethora of Easter eggs and outfits.

My only concern is how well it might run on Switch 2. There’s been a lot of talk recently about how well third party ports/versions of current gen games will run on the Switch 2 but I haven’t seen many examples so far. Cyberpunk 2077 sounds like it’s achieved the impossible on the system but then Star Wars: Outlaws and Elden Ring raise serious doubts about its capability (although neither game are actually out on Switch 2 yet, so we have to wait and see I guess).

I traded in my PlayStation 5 to get a Switch 2 because Sony haven’t released any games I’ve enjoyed for the past couple years, so the Switch 2 is my only console. I’m hoping Lego Batman’s performance on Switch 2 will be closer in quality to Cyberpunk 2077’s but I’ll keep an eye on its reviews next year. GC – did you go hands-on with the game on Switch 2, by any chance?
Hubert

GC: No, it was running on a PC. Unfortunately, at this point, third party performance on Switch 2 seems to be something of a lottery, since Final Fantasy 7 Remake actually runs very well. By the way, we’ve still got lots of Gamescom content to come, including two embargoes today.

Inbox also-rans
With all the games Sega has said it’s bringing back I’m a bit upset that I don’t think they’ve ever even mentioned Skies Of Arcadia. Still my favourite game of theirs and yet even a remaster seems out of reach at the moment.
Badgerman

I would just like to point out that it’s been years now and we still haven’t seen anything of the new Tomb Raider. No rumours, nothing. Poor old Lara, I remember when she was famous.
Sting

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