Games Inbox: Do video game exclusives still matter?
The Tuesday letters page thinks PlayStation made a mistake relocating to the US, as one reader is surprised by how little Sonic the Hedgehog sells.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Lost exclusives
I do wonder if we are making more of a big deal of exclusives than actually necessary.
The weekend feature said 'It's all pretty bleak and depressing really. Good games will continue to be made – this year has been great so far – but not by Sony, or at least not more than once a year or so.'
When you are initially choosing between formats, exclusives are pretty important, and particularly as launch titles near the start of a generation. However, once console sales slow and users have made their choice, how much does it matter who makes the games, as long as they are good?
I can see the logic that says it matters long term to the platform manufacturers, but you could almost argue that more multi-platform games are better for the actual game players and game developers?
Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID)
GC: Sony games are very distinctive and nobody else makes anything quite like them. That's doubly true for Nintendo.
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
Blue shelled
Mario Kart World is definitely not as good as Mario Kart 8.
The worst part of Mario Kart World is when you get swamped by the field and can't get out of the hole that is being constantly hit by shells or fireballs or boomerangs or whatever else the AI has up its sleeve. So upping that field to 24 is, in my opinion, not good.
The next worst part is one that this game has introduced me to: dull tracks with never-ending, impossibly wide straights. The best way to beat the rubber band AI in Mario Kart is being better round the corners, which this game has absolutely minimised in favour of long stretches of nothing.
Apart from the first race of each cup, which is on a proper track, most other races feel like a complete gamble, where you're just hoping for a well-timed blue shell against the AI two corners before the end, or a triple/super mushroom to boost yourself back into contention.
This entry, for me, is a bit of a swing and a miss. Or a turn and a spin in race car terms.
StellarFlux
Souls I like
I am nearly at the end of the magnificent The First Berserker: Khazan. For anyone not familiar with it, it's an awesome Soulslike/Sekiro hybrid. I really dig the fighting, the enemies, and all of the customisation available. I also quite like the relatively linear level design – it's like a gauntlet to each of the bosses.
It is up there with the most difficult games I've played and honestly much harder than Elden Ring/Shadow Of The Erdtree (which I found pretty easy with the right build and with the available summons).
There's also a lot of ongoing support from the devs – including a new patch coming soon, which will offer the ability to save loadouts (this is going to be super useful).
Overall, I would highly recommend, even if the story is quite generic and the central hub area is really average (it is functional but feels a bit bland).
Anyone else enjoyed it like me?
Tom
GC: We thought it was pretty good too.
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Between two stools
Nice review of Death Stranding 2 but I can't help but be disappointed that it seems so similar to the first one, except with the main gameplay apparently dumbed down by the use of vehicles. I don't know exactly how this work, because I haven't played it yet, but the balance and difficulty of walking through the terrain was the whole point of the first game.
I also don't like the idea of just shooting BTs, which seems to turn them into ordinary video game monsters. It sounds like the original will remain the best in my eyes and while I can see the desire to try and turn the game into something that's more straight-up 'fun' who exactly is that going to appeal to? It'll upset existing fans and new ones will be put off by the reputation of the first.
Much better to have just created a whole new game, I think, and I think Death Stranding 2's sales will suffer as a result.
Manny
Skynet's revenge
Does anyone else feel like the AI in Mario Kart World is a bit broken? I've managed to get gold in all the cups in Grand Prix mode but am struggling with Knockout Tour. I've still manged to get a couple of first place finishes but it's very tricky. It seems like the computer-controlled players are stupidly fast when you get to the last four and unless you've attained an unassailable lead going into that last section of the race it's near impossible. And if you're second or third you can forget about it, there's no catching up.
In better news, I fared better online and managed my first ever Knockout Tour victory the other day.
matc7884
World's slowest scramble
I think the most likely explanation for PlayStation's lack of activity this generation, rather than 'arrogance', is that they made a spectacular misstep with their live service plans and are still playing catch-up. It obviously helps the bottom line that they aren't being punished for their lack of first-party output, but I don't think they are treading water because they aren't being pushed by Xbox.
it's more likely that diverting pretty much all of their internal studios onto live service games (for at least a spell), plus the delayed hit from Covid, has left a gaping hole in their first party line-up that they're now scrambling to fill. So the reason they're not saying much is that… they don't have much to say.
Personally, while they might come good in the latter half of this generation, they've lost a lot of what made them a unique proposition in the gaming space. Consolidating the different business units (America, Europe, and Japan) and becoming more Westernised meant that some of their previous quirkiness was lost, while decimating their first party single-player output by pursuing (and failing at) live service has come at the expense of the prestige that they had as a developer of boundary-pushing games.
There's still loads to play on PlayStation 5, and I think the hardware is great (including how it looks, surprised it's so polarising!) but it does feel like a bit of a soggy explosive of a generation from PlayStation Studios so far.
Magnumstache
GC: We always said that centralising the PlayStation business in the US was a big mistake. It was one of the first things Jim Ryan did when he took over.
Where the money is
Seeing how little Sonic the Hedgehog games seem to sell I'm almost kind of shocked that Sega is still going as a business, especially before they bought Atlus (or rather their parent company bought Atlus and they were lumped together).
Sonic is the only game series I can think of where it makes more money selling T-shirts and lunchboxes than it does the games themselves. No wonder the games have been so bad for so long, I can't imagine that is much of a morale boost knowing you're less important and profitable than a colouring book.
Dench
Uncertain future
The PlayStation 5 generation being the most profitable generation makes for interesting musing.
The PlayStation 5 generation profit starts from 2020 and includes PlayStation 4 income. The lack of PlayStation 5 games taking advantage of the hardware has been a big complaint this gen. But having an extended cross gen period hasn't impacted negatively on income, console sales and profit at all. I expect the PlayStation 6 will have an even longer cross-gen period.
I think it said 50% of the PlayStation Store revenue is made up from a handful of titles, like FIFA, along with spending on microtransactions.
It's no wonder Sony want their own live service games, where they get 100% instead of 30% of that lucrative vein of revenue. That doesn't excuse though, the seemingly cavalier and incompetent manner they've pursued that.
Going multiformat by releasing on PC hasn't hurt them either, in console sales or profit. Former CEO Andrew House made the point that when budgets on a game get too high exclusivity becomes unsustainable. Some predicted a mass exodus to PC when Sony starting releasing on it. It hasn't happened.
In truth Sony's record profits come from traditional sources of revenue of services, game content, and third party. It's just those, now it seems, account for a bigger part of the pie than ever. The long-term effect on the first party single-player games I and the core fans want will not be fully known for a while.
If they don't return the same higher profit margins of game content, services, and live service while also being less important doing their original job, of making people buy consoles to make money from those other things, then you'll commit less resources to them.
I'm not hitting any panic buttons yet. But I've a few more lines on my forehead from the furrowed brow I get reading a lot of gaming developments these days. Inversely though I've got more excellent games than I can play in a lifetime, it seems. Who knows where it's all going to end up.
Simundo
GC: Very few of the Sony exclusives have been successful on PC, just Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade (primarily in Asia).
Inbox also-ransI have many very happy memories of playing Mario Kart 64. I know that's partly nostalgia speaking, but I refuse to accept that it is a bad game. It's not even the worst Mario Kart, that is surely Double Dash!!
Onibee
We should make a list of all the times Xbox has done a U-turn on things they've said before. Although I have to say, I never had an Xbox VR headset on my bingo card.
Walters More Trending
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
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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.
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You can also leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter.
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Metro
6 hours ago
- Metro
Games Inbox: Do video game exclusives still matter?
The Tuesday letters page thinks PlayStation made a mistake relocating to the US, as one reader is surprised by how little Sonic the Hedgehog sells. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ Lost exclusives I do wonder if we are making more of a big deal of exclusives than actually necessary. The weekend feature said 'It's all pretty bleak and depressing really. Good games will continue to be made – this year has been great so far – but not by Sony, or at least not more than once a year or so.' When you are initially choosing between formats, exclusives are pretty important, and particularly as launch titles near the start of a generation. However, once console sales slow and users have made their choice, how much does it matter who makes the games, as long as they are good? I can see the logic that says it matters long term to the platform manufacturers, but you could almost argue that more multi-platform games are better for the actual game players and game developers? Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID) GC: Sony games are very distinctive and nobody else makes anything quite like them. That's doubly true for Nintendo. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Blue shelled Mario Kart World is definitely not as good as Mario Kart 8. The worst part of Mario Kart World is when you get swamped by the field and can't get out of the hole that is being constantly hit by shells or fireballs or boomerangs or whatever else the AI has up its sleeve. So upping that field to 24 is, in my opinion, not good. The next worst part is one that this game has introduced me to: dull tracks with never-ending, impossibly wide straights. The best way to beat the rubber band AI in Mario Kart is being better round the corners, which this game has absolutely minimised in favour of long stretches of nothing. Apart from the first race of each cup, which is on a proper track, most other races feel like a complete gamble, where you're just hoping for a well-timed blue shell against the AI two corners before the end, or a triple/super mushroom to boost yourself back into contention. This entry, for me, is a bit of a swing and a miss. Or a turn and a spin in race car terms. StellarFlux Souls I like I am nearly at the end of the magnificent The First Berserker: Khazan. For anyone not familiar with it, it's an awesome Soulslike/Sekiro hybrid. I really dig the fighting, the enemies, and all of the customisation available. I also quite like the relatively linear level design – it's like a gauntlet to each of the bosses. It is up there with the most difficult games I've played and honestly much harder than Elden Ring/Shadow Of The Erdtree (which I found pretty easy with the right build and with the available summons). There's also a lot of ongoing support from the devs – including a new patch coming soon, which will offer the ability to save loadouts (this is going to be super useful). Overall, I would highly recommend, even if the story is quite generic and the central hub area is really average (it is functional but feels a bit bland). Anyone else enjoyed it like me? Tom GC: We thought it was pretty good too. Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Between two stools Nice review of Death Stranding 2 but I can't help but be disappointed that it seems so similar to the first one, except with the main gameplay apparently dumbed down by the use of vehicles. I don't know exactly how this work, because I haven't played it yet, but the balance and difficulty of walking through the terrain was the whole point of the first game. I also don't like the idea of just shooting BTs, which seems to turn them into ordinary video game monsters. It sounds like the original will remain the best in my eyes and while I can see the desire to try and turn the game into something that's more straight-up 'fun' who exactly is that going to appeal to? It'll upset existing fans and new ones will be put off by the reputation of the first. Much better to have just created a whole new game, I think, and I think Death Stranding 2's sales will suffer as a result. Manny Skynet's revenge Does anyone else feel like the AI in Mario Kart World is a bit broken? I've managed to get gold in all the cups in Grand Prix mode but am struggling with Knockout Tour. I've still manged to get a couple of first place finishes but it's very tricky. It seems like the computer-controlled players are stupidly fast when you get to the last four and unless you've attained an unassailable lead going into that last section of the race it's near impossible. And if you're second or third you can forget about it, there's no catching up. In better news, I fared better online and managed my first ever Knockout Tour victory the other day. matc7884 World's slowest scramble I think the most likely explanation for PlayStation's lack of activity this generation, rather than 'arrogance', is that they made a spectacular misstep with their live service plans and are still playing catch-up. It obviously helps the bottom line that they aren't being punished for their lack of first-party output, but I don't think they are treading water because they aren't being pushed by Xbox. it's more likely that diverting pretty much all of their internal studios onto live service games (for at least a spell), plus the delayed hit from Covid, has left a gaping hole in their first party line-up that they're now scrambling to fill. So the reason they're not saying much is that… they don't have much to say. Personally, while they might come good in the latter half of this generation, they've lost a lot of what made them a unique proposition in the gaming space. Consolidating the different business units (America, Europe, and Japan) and becoming more Westernised meant that some of their previous quirkiness was lost, while decimating their first party single-player output by pursuing (and failing at) live service has come at the expense of the prestige that they had as a developer of boundary-pushing games. There's still loads to play on PlayStation 5, and I think the hardware is great (including how it looks, surprised it's so polarising!) but it does feel like a bit of a soggy explosive of a generation from PlayStation Studios so far. Magnumstache GC: We always said that centralising the PlayStation business in the US was a big mistake. It was one of the first things Jim Ryan did when he took over. Where the money is Seeing how little Sonic the Hedgehog games seem to sell I'm almost kind of shocked that Sega is still going as a business, especially before they bought Atlus (or rather their parent company bought Atlus and they were lumped together). Sonic is the only game series I can think of where it makes more money selling T-shirts and lunchboxes than it does the games themselves. No wonder the games have been so bad for so long, I can't imagine that is much of a morale boost knowing you're less important and profitable than a colouring book. Dench Uncertain future The PlayStation 5 generation being the most profitable generation makes for interesting musing. The PlayStation 5 generation profit starts from 2020 and includes PlayStation 4 income. The lack of PlayStation 5 games taking advantage of the hardware has been a big complaint this gen. But having an extended cross gen period hasn't impacted negatively on income, console sales and profit at all. I expect the PlayStation 6 will have an even longer cross-gen period. I think it said 50% of the PlayStation Store revenue is made up from a handful of titles, like FIFA, along with spending on microtransactions. It's no wonder Sony want their own live service games, where they get 100% instead of 30% of that lucrative vein of revenue. That doesn't excuse though, the seemingly cavalier and incompetent manner they've pursued that. Going multiformat by releasing on PC hasn't hurt them either, in console sales or profit. Former CEO Andrew House made the point that when budgets on a game get too high exclusivity becomes unsustainable. Some predicted a mass exodus to PC when Sony starting releasing on it. It hasn't happened. In truth Sony's record profits come from traditional sources of revenue of services, game content, and third party. It's just those, now it seems, account for a bigger part of the pie than ever. The long-term effect on the first party single-player games I and the core fans want will not be fully known for a while. If they don't return the same higher profit margins of game content, services, and live service while also being less important doing their original job, of making people buy consoles to make money from those other things, then you'll commit less resources to them. I'm not hitting any panic buttons yet. But I've a few more lines on my forehead from the furrowed brow I get reading a lot of gaming developments these days. Inversely though I've got more excellent games than I can play in a lifetime, it seems. Who knows where it's all going to end up. Simundo GC: Very few of the Sony exclusives have been successful on PC, just Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade (primarily in Asia). Inbox also-ransI have many very happy memories of playing Mario Kart 64. I know that's partly nostalgia speaking, but I refuse to accept that it is a bad game. It's not even the worst Mario Kart, that is surely Double Dash!! Onibee We should make a list of all the times Xbox has done a U-turn on things they've said before. Although I have to say, I never had an Xbox VR headset on my bingo card. Walters More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@ 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. MORE: Games Inbox: Is Mario Kart World better than Mario Kart 8? MORE: Games Inbox: What is the hardest video of modern times? MORE: Games Inbox: Is the next gen Xbox a console or a PC?
BBC News
8 hours ago
- BBC News
Giant Michael Jackson statues popped up 30 years ago. Where have they gone?
Getty Images In June 1995, a giant statue of Michael Jackson provided a surreal sight in the heart of London when it was floated on a barge down the River Thames. This 32ft (10m) pop colossus was just one of 10 that appeared around the world to promote the superstar's album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The fibreglass titans then followed Jackson on his global tour. Thirty years later - and 16 years after his death - the King of Pop continues to attract controversy, but some of the statues still stand defiantly in unexpected corners of the world. How the King of Pop became fibreglass Stephen Pyle Jackson's double album was a mix of his greatest hits alongside 15 new tracks including Earth Song, which would spend six weeks at the top of the UK chart. In America, sculptor Diana Walczak consulted with the pop star to create a clay sculpture that was digitally scanned for the album cover. Hertfordshire-based artist Stephen Pyle, who had built sets for worldwide productions of The Phantom of the Opera, was asked by a Sony employee called Robbie Williams (not that one) to make 10 huge statues based on this album cover. He hired sculptor Derek Howarth to craft the statue in polystyrene sections, which Mr Pyle used to make moulds and fibreglass casts. Everything was assembled in Chris and Liz Clark's workshop at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, where they were painted to look like stone. The team worked without access to Ms Walczak's prototype, which led to them looking slightly different. Mr Pyle says: "Making 10 statues in four months was quite the challenge, but thanks to Derek, Chris, Liz and the rest of my workshop team at the time, we became quite the efficient factory for Michael Jackson monoliths!" The fates of some of the statues is uncertain, and they may have been locked in storage or destroyed. But others have remained on show in some unlikely locations. A McDonald's in the Netherlands Peter Van Gelder For many years, a King of Pop monument towered over a McDonald's car park in the village of Best in the Netherlands. Restaurant owner Peter Van Gelder bought the statue from Sony at a 1996 charity gala for the Ronald McDonald Children's Fund. "The restaurant had just opened and didn't yet have the big yellow M," he says. "It was my intention to put it down as an eye-catcher." Jackson fans began flocking to the spot, taking photos and playing his music. Crowds became so frequent that Peter had to fence off the statue to stop people climbing on it. Each year on Jackson's birthday, and on the day he died, it became a shrine, with fans gathering to play music, hang pictures and leave flowers. Peter Van Gelder Things changed in 2019 after HBO's Leaving Neverland documentary levelled new allegations of child sexual abuse against Jackson. "In the Netherlands there was not such a strong reaction and my intention was to just leave the statue there," explained Peter. But he said pressure from the fast food chain's US headquarters led to its removal and storage in a "secret location". McDonald's tells the BBC: "In 2019, following the documentary, it was decided to remove the statue. "We felt and feel it is important for all guests to feel comfortable when visiting one of our restaurants." Peter hopes to donate the statue to a fan club, but due to its size a building permit is required. "Many have approached me but still no-one has been able to get a permit," he says. "The years have passed since his death and I've noticed that the interest in the statue is decreasing... So the Michael Jackson statue lies resting under a tarp in an insignificant shed." A nightclub in Austria Franz Josef Zika The courtyard of an abandoned club in a small town 18 miles (30km) west of Vienna is not the place you'd expect to find a towering effigy of the King of Pop. Owner Franz Josef Zika won the statue in 1998 at a radio charity auction in aid of the Red Cross, and spent 150,000 Austrian Schillings (£9,300). He recalls: "The big problem was when I went home and had to tell my uncle, who was the family boss, and he said, 'You're crazy!'" Visitors to The Baby'O in Judenau-Baumgarten may have been surprised to find Michael Jackson in the smoking area, but Franz saw it as a great way to promote his club. "There were also many bars next to the statue, so there was a party around Jackson," he says. Franz Josef Zika Last year the club was forced to close after a new residential building was built nearby. Now Franz wants to find somebody to open a small cafe or pizzeria at the venue, but needs to get rid of the pop monolith first. He said: "I've been trying to sell it for two years. I would be happy if I get €25,000 (£21,000) for it. "I've had some interest from Sweden and some in Hungary, but the problem is people don't have enough money." What if he can't find a buyer? "We don't know. Maybe I'll send it to Mars. Elon will do this for me!" he laughs. A Swiss fairground Marino Trotta For more than 50 years, an annual fairground event called Luna Park has taken place in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is among these blinking lights and brightly coloured rides that another Jackson statue can be found. It has been given slight refurbishment, with gold paint added to his faux military uniform. Organisers tell the BBC they bought it 2008 from a man who had purchased it from Sony years earlier. The statue has not been displayed for a few years, but they do not say why - however they stress it is not for sale. A miniature town in South Africa Heather Mason/ When Jackson brought his HIStory tour to South Africa, he had one of the 10 statues with him. Santarama Miniland, which opened in Johannesburg in the 1970s to showcase the country in miniature, is now abandoned. Attractions have been removed and the miniature train no longer runs, but a repainted MJ monolith still stands, visible in Google Earth satellite images. Blogger Heather Mason of visited the park in 2013. She recalls: "It was quite strange to see a giant blue Michael Jackson statue in the middle of Miniland, where the general theme is for things to be smaller than life, not larger than life. "But I certainly appreciated it! The MJ statue was the best photo op in the park." An Italian amusement park Europark Milano A fresh coat of paint and new pair of sunglasses have not made this fibreglass figure too unrecognisable. In June 2019, Europark Idroscalo Milano unveiled the "restored" statue after a Jackson-themed flash mob. An announcer told the gathered crowd: "This statue is dedicated to all of you, who keep on loving him through the years." The dramatic reveal came just months after the Leaving Neverland documentary. A park spokesperson tells the BBC the statue was purchased at the end of the tour but remained abandoned for many years before ending up in the park. They said the titan had its face covered for a while following allegations of child abuse because park owners at the time "did not want to show that MJ welcomed children at the park, so it was transformed almost into a robot". Despite the work to restore and repaint the statue, the park's owners have now put the refurbished statue up for sale. Michael Jackson Music Celebrities
Metro
10 hours ago
- Metro
Legendary Meet the Parents star wants 'a lot of money' to return for sequel
Barbra Streisand has shared her annoyance over not being paid as much as her male co-stars for her role in Meet the Fockers. The 83-year-old has commanded a huge career spanning decades thanks to her incredible voice as well as her talents in front of the screen, appearing in A Star Is Born, Funny Girl, Yentil and A Star is Born. In 2004, the Tell Him singer shared the screen with Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Blythe Danner in the Meet the Parents sequel, appearing as eccentric sex therapist Roz Focker. She reprised her role in the 2010 follow-up but, speaking in a new interview, she declared that she would have to be paid 'a lot of money' to return to the fold once more. When asked if we could see Roz in the upcoming movie alongside fellow musician Ariana Grande – who recently signed onto the project – the EGOT winner didn't mince her words. 'Oh my God. They'd have to pay me a lot of money because I didn't get paid what the other people got paid and so I'm p***ed off,' she told Variety. 'I was in the time when women were getting paid less than the men. The head of Universal was Ron Meyer at the time, and he actually sent me a bonus check. It was very sweet.' Barbra kept tight-lipped over how much she was paid for her scene-stealing stint as Roz, but teased that a string of other acting offers had come her way. 'I get a lot of offers, but they're funny offers,' she continued. 'Well, one was good. It was something that Peter Bogdanovich was going to do and Guillermo del Toro sent it to me, I think. 'It's a subject that I actually love, but I'm not going to tell you. I'm not ready to direct again. I think I've probably had it.' Meet the Parents was first released in October 2000, and followed Ben as Gaylord 'Greg' Focker, a nurse meeting his girlfriend's family for the very first time. His attempts to impress Jack and Dina Byrnes, played by Robert and Blythe respectively, didn't quite go as planned, leading to lie detectors and lost cats. More Trending The original was a huge hit and became the seventh highest-grossing film in 2000 after raking in more than $330million at the global box office, sparking two sequels. The 2004 follow-up focused on the Byrnes family meeting Greg's loved ones for the first time, with Dustin and Barbra joining in the chaos as the head of the Focker crew, while the third centered around the couple raising two young sons. Meet the Parents 4 is currently slated to be released on November 25, 2026. According to reports, it will see the extended family come together when Greg and Pam are introduced to their future daughter-in-law, who 'seems all wrong' for their son. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
