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Metro
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Games Inbox: Will there ever be a new Mass Effect game?
The Tuesday letters page worries that younger people are no longer interested in console games, as one reader looks forward to MachineGames' Quake reboot. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ BioWare Effect Considering how badly Dragon Age: The Veilguard did I'm honestly surprised that EA has not shut down BioWare yet. They're obviously dead meat if Mass Effect 4 isn't a hit but will they even make it that far? We've still not seen any gameplay or got any hint about when there'll be a reveal or, god forbid, a release date. I can't believe that a series that seemed so strong in the Xbox 360 era has fallen this far, to the point where younger gamers probably aren't even going to know what it is. Mass Effect 2 is hands down one of the best games of that generation, as far as I'm concerned, but it's all been downhill since then, especially with Andromeda. I really hope that BioWare pull it out of the bag and I pity them for the pressure they must be under. The worse thing is I have a feeling EA are only going along with it all in order to get the TV deal with Amazon. Could this be the first example of a game series being saved by its TV show? I guess you could argue Fallout but that was at least always going to get made, just not necessarily this quick. Igor Old man's game I don't want to come across as an old man but I'm not surprised to find out that the average age of console gamers is so old. In my experience, kids and teenagers just aren't that interested in traditional games. All they play is mobile games (because they're free) and PC games (because they're easy to pirate). From their perspective, there's no reason to get an expensive console to play mostly the same games. It's the same with movies, where younger people just aren't that interested and see going to the cinema as old-fashioned. Whether there'll get more into both things as they get older I don't think anyone can say but assuming that most young people will like video games and movies by default just isn't possible anymore and I suspect it's only going to get worse. 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. That explains why publishers are obsessed with live service games, although abandoning the people they know will spend money in an attempt to snag new ones that currently don't seems a flawed concept to me. Taniss All or nothing There's been a lot of talk recently about EA's status as the last big independent publisher but I have got a really bad feeling about Battlefield 6. They seem to be putting everything they've got into it but what guarantee have they got that it's going to be any better than Battlefield 2042? They were all in on that when it started and look how quickly that fell apart. Not putting all your eggs in one basket is such a basic piece of advice but between this and EA Sports FC, EA just doesn't seem to care. Battlefield is never going to be as a big as they want, they whiffed that chance a decade ago. At this rate we're never going to get Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Limpton Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Machine formula Seems like MachineGames have been talking about rebooting Quake for so long now, but I would love to see it happen. I'm curious to see if it will have the same set-up as all their other games though, where there's lots of little open world areas where you wander around and speak to people and get side quests. They've been doing that since the days of Chronicles Of Riddick and while I've always loved their stuff, it feels like they're still no very well known, not even after Indiana Jones And The Great Circle. Quake has never been the same between any of its sequels, so it's totally possible for them to mould it into something of their own. I'd love to see it but then again, the thought of a Wolfenstein 3 in a post-Trump world makes me very interested to see how far Microsoft would let them go. Gonch Amiga power Happy birthday to the Amiga on Wednesday! I had an A600 and A1200 in the early nineties, up until 2001. I've just been watching an Amiga documentary Blu-ray and it mentions about RoboCop 3 on the Amiga and the fact that the RoboCop films used the Amiga to create the computer graphics when you saw from RoboCop's point of view in the films! I didn't know that. The Amiga was also used to create the TV series Babylon 5. Andrew J. Big screen gaming Finally got around to picking up a decent OLED TV, as Richer Sounds had a good deal on the 2024 model Samsung 55″ S90D. The picture quality and screen size make for a pretty breathtaking visual experience but I do wonder if I'll adjust to gaming on a large screen while sitting on a couch. I started gaming on small screens sat at a desk and have ever since. Playing SNES, with Blood Sugar Sex Magik playing on the tape deck, connected to a 14″ CRT TV on an elaborate black ash cabinet/storage/desk area my dad built in the room I shared with my two brothers. I can feel the urge already to move the consoles back to the 1080p 27″ monitor I've been gaming on for the last seven years. I find myself feel more connected to a game sitting upright and close to a screen. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to try some different sitting positions on the sofa, maybe push it closer to the screen when gaming. Simundo The second Mortal Kombat 2 Could Mortal Kombat 2 be just as silly and violent as the films should have always been? Let's hope so, going by the newest trailer. Only problem is although Karl Urban is great, he doesn't always have the best luck in films he's associated with. Fingers crossed it doesn't turn out awful like its namesake from the past. Bobwallett GC: What's wrong with Karl Urban's filmography? We'd say he's had more hits than misses. Scary reality Yep. I've endured the entirety of Madison on my PlayStation VR2 and I think it's unquestionably a top contender for the scariest game I've ever played. The jump scares are certainly efficacious in virtual reality and the pervasively foreboding and spine-chilling atmosphere immersed me further into the interactive nightmare. The sound design is also amazing at inducing frequent head swivelling to determine the origins of the disturbing noises! There's one bit where a dastardly audio cue will forewarn you of the arrival of something truly horrendous, and even after several encounters of the worst kind with the evil entity, the sounds still managed to me feel weak at the knees. I also love how obtuse, elaborate, and stimulating the puzzle design is here. Like a fun maths-based one in the attic involving hidden figures and family portraits that had me pulling out a pen and paper to solve, because the way it's presented was so strange and wonderful. Two more sophisticated puzzles revolving around a clock room and one based in a mausoleum had the old grey matter sizzling. There are so many standout moments in the game that have lingered in my mind, like a parasitic organism that feeds on my primal fears. How a seemingly innocuous, omnipresent statue could elicit such anxiety in me is impressive. I really feel like games like Madison, and the superb Visage, do the legacy of cancelled Silent Hill project, P.T., proud with their dreamlike logic-based systems and incredibly unsettling haunted house settings. But protagonist Luca's prominent use of a magical camera to clear puzzles and capture some ghastly sights kind of evokes the Project Zero series too. The biggest compliment I could pay Argentinian developer Bloodious Game's debut is that every time I think about Madison's many blood-curdling moments, the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. Truly a hallmark of a great horror. Horror aficionados rejoice! Between Luto, Blooper Team's new IP, Cronos, Silent Hill f, Tormented Souls 2, and then Resident Evil Requiem in February 2026 – plus I'm sure some obscure indie horrors that I've yet to learn about – the genre of tentative treads and swelling dread has once more ingested the potent healing properties of the green and red herb formula, and it is in rude health indeed! Galvanized Gamer PS: Do you intend on reviewing another upcoming P.T. inspired horror, Luto, later this month? It looks very promising and I really enjoyed the creepy ghost story vibes in the demo. GC: Perhaps, it certainly does seem very much influenced by P.T. Inbox also-rans I really hope Nintendo goes big budget with the next Fire Emblem. For me, Engage was almost unplayable because it was obviously so cheap. It feels like they're taking advantage of fans and not really making any effort. Boysie If the new Ghost Recon is a first person shooter or a live service game then Ubisoft will have learned nothing. It'll be a pretty good indicator, actually, of whether there's any chance for them in the future, or if they're just never going to change. Lambo 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: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Commodore Amiga MORE: Games Inbox: What is the next big game for Nintendo Switch 2? MORE: Games Inbox: How would you improve Mario Kart World?
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sony wouldn't have "delivered the power" of the PS2 without "the specter of the Dreamcast," says former Sega and Microsoft exec: "Every incumbent needs a challenger to punch them in the face"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's no secret that Sega's beloved Dreamcast console paved the way for some of the best retro games of all time, but that's not all it did – it also set the stage for console behemoths like the iconic PlayStation 2 from Sony. Speaking in a recent interview with The Game Business, Peter Moore, former Sega president and Xbox executive at Microsoft, explains as much. First describing how "the Dreamcast passed the baton to the Xbox 360, which, with Microsoft's resources, was able to take the Sega Dreamcast and build upon it," Moore goes on to say that the 1998 console from Sega laid the groundwork for another system, too – the PlayStation 2. When asked about the looming threat of the PlayStation 2 over the Dreamcast, a threat that other consoles like the original Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube would go on to face, Moore openly admits that it was "not going to be able to survive against the juggernaut that was the PlayStation 2" – but that doesn't mean it didn't help usher in the new device from Sony or an era of online gaming that hadn't yet been touched before the Dreamcast. "Every incumbent needs a challenger to punch them in the face, right? And you know, from the perspective of what Sega was, it was keeping PlayStation honest – they would not have delivered the power of the PlayStation 2 without the specter of the Dreamcast," details the former company lead. "They needed to step up their game."It seems Sega's console, while not as long-lived as the PlayStation 2, was the push Sony needed to succeed. Online gaming has changed quite a bit since the late 90s and early 2000s, of course, but Sega and its influence on the industry remain timeless – as Moore puts it, the Dreamcast was a true "trailblazer" thanks to its capacity to support online you a fan of the 1998 console yourself? Here are some of the best Sega Dreamcast games ever to explore.
Scottish Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
EA is shutting down hugely popular racing game after 13 years with fans saying it ‘breaks my heart'
Two fan-favourite achievements will vanish forever — unless you act fast LAST LAP EA is shutting down hugely popular racing game after 13 years with fans saying it 'breaks my heart' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) EA is shutting down a hugely popular racing game after 13 years, leaving longtime fans heartbroken. Rivals, part of the iconic Need for Speed franchise, will have its servers shut down in October 2025 — meaning some online features and achievements will soon be lost forever. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 The shutdown of Need for Speed Rivals is a reminder that online features, no matter how beloved, don't last forever Credit: Microsoft / Xbox The game's servers will be shut down in October 2025, meaning some features and achievements will soon be out of reach for good. Gamers in the UK and around the world have until 7 October 2025 to enjoy Need for Speed Rivals online. The shutdown will end access to multiplayer features and discontinue two Xbox achievements — Friendly Race and Buddy Bust — which both require online play with friends. Currently, only the Xbox One version has been listed for shutdown, but it's highly likely the Xbox 360 version will follow suit. EA hasn't confirmed it officially, but given past closures, the odds aren't good for the older console version. Players hoping to secure a full 1,000G completion should act fast. Friendly Race asks gamers to win a race against someone on their Friends list, while Buddy Bust requires busting a friend playing as a racer. These can only be done online — and time is running out. For those who don't have a friend still playing Rivals, groups on gaming forums like TrueAchievements are setting up sessions to help others complete the achievements before the cutoff date. But once the servers go down, those opportunities vanish. One fan wrote online: 'It breaks my heart. "This was one of the best NFS games for multiplayer fun.' Others called it 'the end of an era' and said it would be missed for its intense cops-vs-racers gameplay. Need for Speed Rivals, released in 2013, was praised for blending single-player and multiplayer experiences seamlessly — a major innovation at the time. It remains playable offline, but the full experience, including crossplay events and leaderboards, will be gone. The game is currently available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate through EA Play, but once servers are shut, subscribers will no longer have access to the full online experience. The Xbox 360 version, meanwhile, is not backwards compatible, so players will need an original console to finish up any online trophies. EA has been gradually retiring older titles to focus on new projects. Just this year, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Crysis 3, and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition all had their servers closed. Anthem, the live-service sci-fi shooter, is also scheduled to go offline in early 2026. While the move makes sense from a business point of view, longtime players say it's frustrating when games with active fanbases are taken offline. Some have even called for EA to open peer-to-peer options or private servers to keep these titles alive. The shutdown of Need for Speed Rivals is a reminder that online features, no matter how beloved, don't last forever. If you're planning one final ride, you'd better hit the gas — the finish line is in sight.
The Irish Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
EA is shutting down hugely popular racing game after 13 years with fans saying it ‘breaks my heart'
EA is shutting down a hugely popular racing game after 13 years, leaving longtime fans heartbroken. Rivals, part of the iconic Advertisement 2 The shutdown of Need for Speed Rivals is a reminder that online features, no matter how beloved, don't last forever Credit: Microsoft / Xbox The game's servers will be shut down in October 2025, meaning some features and achievements will soon be out of reach for good. Gamers in the UK and around the world have until 7 October 2025 to enjoy Need for Speed Rivals online. The shutdown will end access to multiplayer features and discontinue two Xbox achievements — Friendly Race and Buddy Bust — which both require online play with friends. Currently, only the Xbox One version has been listed for shutdown, but it's highly likely the Xbox 360 version will follow suit. Advertisement Read more on Technology EA hasn't confirmed it officially, but given past closures, the odds aren't good for the older console version. Players hoping to secure a full 1,000G completion should act fast. Friendly Race asks gamers to win a race against someone on their Friends list, while Buddy Bust requires busting a friend playing as a racer. These can only be done online — and time is running out. For those who don't have a friend still playing Rivals, groups on gaming forums like TrueAchievements are setting up sessions to help others complete the achievements before the cutoff date. Advertisement Most read in Tech But once the servers go down, those opportunities vanish. One fan wrote online: 'It breaks my heart. "This was one of the best NFS games for multiplayer fun.' Others called it 'the end of an era' and said it would be missed for its intense cops-vs-racers gameplay. Advertisement Need for Speed Rivals, released in 2013, was praised for blending single-player and multiplayer experiences seamlessly — a major innovation at the time. It remains playable offline, but the full experience, including crossplay events and leaderboards, will be gone. The game is currently available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate through EA Play, but once servers are shut, subscribers will no longer have access to the full online experience. The Xbox 360 version, meanwhile, is not backwards compatible, so players will need an original console to finish up any online trophies. Advertisement EA has been gradually retiring older titles to focus on new projects. Just this year, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Crysis 3, and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition all had their servers closed. Anthem, the live-service sci-fi shooter, is also scheduled to go offline in early 2026. While the move makes sense from a business point of view, longtime players say it's frustrating when games with active fanbases are taken offline. Advertisement Some have even called for EA to open peer-to-peer options or private servers to keep these titles alive. The shutdown of Need for Speed Rivals is a reminder that online features, no matter how beloved, don't last forever. If you're planning one final ride, you'd better hit the gas — the finish line is in sight. 2 Gamers in the UK and around the world have until 7 October 2025 to enjoy Need for Speed Rivals online Credit: Alamy Advertisement
Metro
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
After 24 years of wasted potential the Xbox dream is finally dead
A reader thinks this week's mass layoffs mark the end of Xbox, as anything other than third party publisher, and laments the missed opportunities of the last decade. So it's finally over. After nearly a quarter of a century, Xbox has finally reached the point of no return. It may continue as a brand, a third party publisher like EA or Ubisoft, but the idea of Xbox being a console manufacturer on par with Sony and Nintendo is deader than the dinosaurs. Although in hindsight, Microsoft was never really a contender. I am saying this as someone that has owned an Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. I sold the last one after a year, once I realised I'd backed the wrong horse, so I'm not going to pretend that after this week I'll never buy Xbox again, because I never was going to anyway. But now I feel better about my decision, especially if it doesn't put any money in the pockets of Phil Spencer and co. I'm not going to gloat over the fallout from the layoffs this week, especially as Spencer has still got his job, but it really is shocking how badly Microsoft has handled this and how, after all this time in the business, they don't really seem to have learned anything. Apart from a five-year period in the mid-2000s the whole brand has been nothing but an abject failure. The first Xbox was released late in the sixth generation of consoles and in some ways could be regarded as the most successful one, since it's the only Xbox that didn't come last in its generation – beating the GameCube by a few million. Both were miles behind the PlayStation 2 though, so Microsoft quickly dropped support for the console and rushed to get the Xbox 360 out early. This sort of worked, because it meant the Xbox 360 had a year head start on the PlayStation 3. More importantly, it had some really important new ideas. After the Xbox started to push online play and Halo became its biggest hit, Xbox already had a big point of difference with PlayStation. The PlayStation 2 didn't have a built-in modem or any real online capability, until Sony was pushed to start experimenting with it because of Microsoft's success. The Xbox 360 took full advantage of that and not only put online play front and centre, it introduced the concept of digital downloads and indie games on a console, as well as achievements. The Xbox 360 was new and innovative, whereas the PlayStation 3 was late, overly expensive, and with no interesting exclusives. 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. Xbox 360 not only had Halo but also Gears Of War, Fable and things like Oblivion and Mass Effect, which were originally Xbox exclusives. It was the lead format for all games that generation, or at least the first half of it. The problem with the Xbox 360 is that its golden age really was just five years. It was in the same generation as the Wii and Microsoft couldn't resist trying to copy it, but with 'better' technology. They released Kinect in 2010 and that was the beginning of the end. Kinect never worked properly, it never had any decent games, and yet Microsoft became so obsessed with it they bundled it in with the Xbox One and made the console stupidly expensive, underpowered, and focused on TV more than games. It was, of course, a disaster. The problem was, so was the Xbox 360 really. Thanks to rushing it out early the red ring of death cost Microsoft over a billion dollars to fix and at the end of the generation they were still beaten by the Wii and PlayStation 3 anyway. The Xbox One was beaten by the PlayStation 4 and Switch (but hey, it beat the Wii U!), and the Xbox Series X/S has, again, been beaten by everything. Not that sales are any sign of whether something Is good or not, but it helps put into perspective how Xbox has never been a true challenger. They've only ever been big in America and the UK and that soon started to change with the Xbox One. What also changed at that time is Phil Spencer taking over. Just as a reminder, that's 11 years ago now and what is the legacy of his time in charge? Two failed consoles and no improvement in first party output, except for from Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, which he spent billions buying. He didn't seem to realise that came with strings attached and within months Microsoft was pushing for Xbox to go multiformat and increasingly not bothering to promote the console, as sales tanked. Almost every month now, more and more of what made Xbox a console manufacturer is chipped away, and it seems obvious that all we're going to be left with is Activision Blizzard and Bethesda – companies that were already perfectly fine on their own, until Microsoft bought them. The only way is down from here on in and laying off 4,000-odd staff, and cancelling a bunch of games, seems the obvious place to draw a line under it all. Not only because of that but because almost half the 9,100 job cuts at Microsoft his week were at Xbox. The company obviously has it in for gaming and no matter how many gaming T-shirts its execs wear the pretence that anyone at Xbox cares about gaming is impossible to believe now. More Trending Xbox had it all: a successful, innovative console and the backing of the world's richest company. But it frittered all that away in just a few years, to the point were, in hindsight, it's been running on fumes for the past decade. I wish I could say otherwise but Xbox is dead and in truth it was barely ever alive in the first place. By reader Ashton Marley The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: Rainbow Road in Mario Kart World is the best track ever – Reader's Feature MORE: Square Enix should hire the Expedition 33 team for Final Fantasy 17 - Reader's Feature MORE: I bought GTA 5 for the third time and it's still one of the best games ever - Reader's Feature
