Games Inbox: Are The Game Awards 2023 worth watching, GTA 6 30fps, and PS Store lawsuits

The Friday letters page asks if you can be too old to play a game like GTA 6, as one reader admits to never having played a GTA title at all.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: We are currently preparing content to run over the Christmas and New Year break and, as usual, we’d like this to include Reader’s Features. So, if you’ve had an idea for a feature, that you’ve never got around to writing, then sending it in now would be the perfect time. In can be on any subject, but anything taking a long-term view of recent trends or games would be particularly apt.

Mostly happy
I’ve got the day off on Friday, so I decided to stay up and watch The Game Awards and… I’m not too upset about it, but as usual it all seemed to go on for far too long. The problem is, is that it’s very clear nobody really cares about the awards, beyond maybe The Game Of The Year, as half of them they don’t even bother to give out or have a speech for (the way they gabbled through the boring esports one was hilarious).

The whole thing would’ve been half the length if they’d just concentrate on the big announcements and cut out all the chaff. But at the end of the day, I’m mostly happy. I’m cautiously optimistic about the Sega stuff and the Jurassic Park game, looking forward to Monster Hunter Wilds and Light No Fire, and bemused, as usual, as to why Hideo Kojima is fawned over the way he is.

In terms of general notes, I’d say that Sony had a bit more than I expected and Xbox quite a bit less. That Hellblade 2 reveal was pretty low-key and that was the only thing from a Microsoft-owned studio except Blade. I guess they’re more keen on using their own events in the future.

Anyway, I saw you guys were still up and writing so I thought I would send in an Inbox letter too.
Cranston

GC: We waited till this morning to do the Inbox, as we knew a few people would’ve stayed up.

A rare breed
With all the news in the last 24 hours focussing on GTA 6, I have a confession. I have never played a GTA game in my three decades of gaming.

With the trailer looking amazing I would like to right this wrong. So the question is: which one should I play and which version? I have an Xbox Series X but believe the ‘upgraded’ versions are not always better.
Drew5u75

GC: It may have been improved by updates but Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is not a good remaster. You’re best to just start off with GTA 5, especially as it can be bought very cheaply nowadays.

18 and up
I’ve been enjoying video games since the 1970s. I’m enjoying them as much today as I did then.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much things have changed in terms of graphics, sound, and technology. I still love reading about what’s coming next and I think I’ll always be a sucker for hype!

However I’m 51 now and by the time GTA 6 comes out (if it released as promised in 2025) I’ll be 53!

I’ve always loved the GTA games, since I first played GTA 3 on my PlayStation 2 way ,way back in 2001 but I do worry now that I’m getting too old to play games!

I’ll hopefully see GTA 6 and I’d personally love to see Red Dead Redemption 3 but it does concern me that time is not on my side anymore!

Am I too old?
LilleyJnr

GC: Why would you be too old? We’re not sure we understand the concern, it’s not like GTA games are typically very difficult.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

A young man’s game
Thought I would add my twopenn’orth to the GTA 6 letters. Reading ESS-DEE-95’s comments I felt a certain agreement, but view it through a different lens. I used to enjoy GTA but starting with 4 they just stopped clicking for me, with the low point being 5. This was due to Trevor, they wrote him so well that I ended up detesting that character (the torture scene). But I know some people loved him and there were probably characters as bad as him in previous games.

I put this down to the fact that people change, their likes change, but games exist in a vacuum and there will always be people who are at the age where they love that sort of character, so the game caters for that demographic I just moved out of it. Also, there are a lot of cultural references people outside the target audience might not get, which may hurt the impact of the game on those people. Hope that all makes sense.
Monty
PS: RE: open world Star Fox, we already got pretty close on the GameCube with Star Fox Adventures and that bombed when the series was still a thing. So I don’t see Nintendo going back there. Yes, it has a weird development starting as a different game entirely, but still it was a similar concept.

GC: Star Fox Adventures was a half (quarter?) assed Zelda clone, not the No Man’s Sky style exploration the other reader seemed to be imagining.

Not classy
The other week GC reported that Sony were facing a class action lawsuit in the British courts for overcharging consumers through their PlayStation online store. At the time I didn’t think much of it other than yet more ravings from entitled gamers. However, having recently purchased a PS5 Digital Edition (the one without the disk drive) I’ve come to realise they may just have a point.

Unbeknown to me, you can only buy digital PlayStation games from the PlayStation Store. This is in stark contrast to Xbox games, where you can buy them from a variety of different retailers, which naturally means you can shop around for the best deals due to the increased competition. If you are prepared to go a little off-piste you can even buy Xbox digital games from other geographical regions. I recently purchased Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for the bargain price of £3.98.

By restricting the sale of digital games Sony have created a monopoly for themselves and that is a serious no-no in competition law. So now, rather than dismissing the news of the impending lawsuit as having a snowballs chance in hell of succeeding I know find myself wondering how Sony have got away with this dodgy business practise for so long.
Heinz57

Adjusting reality
Happy days. Teardown had a PlayStation 5 patch tonight that added the option to invert the Y-Axis after it launched without it.

I tried to adapt to non-inverted but after a gaming lifetime of inverted controls couldn’t adjust, so have patiently awaited the patch.

My attempts to readjust to 30fps have been more successful. Alan Wake 2 was the first current gen game where I felt you lost too much detail, most noticeably the lighting, playing in a wonderfully, gloriously silky 60 fps performance mode.

We’re at a point now, as we exit the extended cross-gen period and get more current gen only games, that advanced graphics will require the more traditional 30fps of console gaming. If GTA VI manages a stable 30fps that looks like the trailer I’ll be impressed.

I have my fingers crossed Sony have a PS5 Pro planned, that will provide 60fps quality mode on games for the rest of the gen. Going PC is the other option, but I’d rather stick with console in truth.

PC gaming, with its pretty disgusting premium to achieve that 60 fps and stuttery ports, is a little off putting to be honest.
Simundo

No shocks
Just watched The Game Awards and it was a pretty good one I thought. No shocking announcement but lots of good looking stuff. I liked the look of the No Man’s Sky game, the Jurassic Park one, and the not-Interstellar game.

I wish Nintendo had had more there but they’re like Rockstar and don’t like to share the stage, so I’m not surprised GTA 6 wasn’t there either.
Hughie

Personal GOTY
I’ve never been a big fan of any award show or organisation that gets to declare one single game as the sole Game Of The Year, namely because in my eyes, the Game Of The Year is whatever you personally enjoyed the most as an individual.

These award ceremonies seem largely based on recent hype rather than any actual assessment of a game. Seeing Baldur’s Gate 3 lose awards for best narrative, best art direction, and best game direction to Alan Wake 2 but then win Game Of The Year creates a disconnect. If Alan Wake 2 is considered by the jury of The Game Awards to have the better story, game direction, and art direction, on what foundation is Baldur’s Gate 3 winning Game Of The Year on when all the other awards clearly point to Alan Wake 2 as the better game?

And if we go by popularity, then The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is Game Of The Year, seeing as it has sold 20 million copies in less than a year and only on one platform. It’s the number one best-selling game of 2023.

Personally, I thought Baldur’s Gate 3 was a very average computer role-player with some subpar writing that evoked the cringe dialogue of recent BioWare games. And having looked on Twitter afterwards, many people agreed that Alan Wake 2, Zelda, and Spider-Man 2 were clearly the better games.

Honestly, I think the concept of Game Of The Year should be removed from any award show. From The Game Awards itself, it seems entirely illogical because if we’re assessing a game on its whole complete package such as game design, art, music, story, and narrative (all of which Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t win), then according to The Game Awards’ own basis, Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t deserve to win Game Of The Year.
Paul

GC: That’s not how any of it works. It has nothing to do with commercial success and categories are considered individually, via a simple vote.

Inbox also-rans
Not the biggest The Game Awards announcement of the night but for me the most surprising was a Secret Of Mana game that seemed to have more than £10 budget. Nice!
Korey

10 years to make and Skull And Bones still looks terrible. I dread to think how much money has been wasted on that game over the years.
Winston

This week’s Hot Topic
By Tuesday afternoon the first GTA 6 teaser should be released – an initial look at the first new Grand Theft Auto game in over a decade. So, for this weekend’s Inbox we ask the obvious question: what did you think of it?

Was the trailer what you expected, and did it meet, exceed, or undershoot your expectations? How excited are you about the game now and what are you hopes and expectations for its features, story, gameplay, and open world? Do you think it will be as big or bigger than GTA 5 and do you intend to get it day one?

Do feel free to comment on the game in the weekday Inbox as well – perhaps leave your more considered thoughts for the Hot Topic, after you’ve had a couple of days to think things over – but either way please clearly indicate whether a letter is intended for the normal Inbox or the Hot Topic.

E-mail 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.

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