The Friday Inbox has some choice ideas for what to do about eBay scalpers, as one reader has trouble with the Xbox Series X controller on PC.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
Early retirement
So what exactly is going on with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X basically not existing anymore? I had no idea you couldn’t buy them anymore until GC’s GAME Black Friday round-up. I know they’re not a priority at the moment, in terms of production, but not to have a single one available from the country’s biggest games retailer? That is pretty weird.
I assume they’ll come back in stock eventually, or otherwise Microsoft and Sony would’ve said they’ve been discontinued, but it seems to me they effectively have. You can’t buy them in the run up at Christmas, they’re not part of Black Friday, and they’re certainly not being advertised or anything anymore.
It’s all pushing us into buying into the next gen except… there’s none of those either. What a mess. Nintendo must be laughing their heads off as the only option left is the Switch.
Kendal
Grand Theft Spaceship
EA has got to be working on a Mandalorian game right now, surely? They finally seem to have got the hang of Star Wars games now and the show is really hot right now, with at least one more season to come and I would imagine many more after that.
It’s all so perfect as well, because not only are there a bunch of Mandalorians, all with their different gear and factions, but the sensible thing would be to make it a massive scale bounty hunter simulator, so you could be an IG droid or anything else from the Star Wars universe.
I really hope this seems as obvious to EA as it does to me, but there is the question of who to make it. The answer? Rockstar of course! Imagine GTA but with droids and blasters and you’ve basically got what I’m imagining. I realise that’s not going to happen but I hope the general idea is possible.
Faust
Nintendo smash
I absolutely agree with Panda’s letter and GC’s response. The reason Nintendo’s top tier franchise games usually review well is because they are finely crafted and fantastic fun to play. If someone doesn’t like the basic concept of playing a Super Mario platform game (or whichever of their franchises) then they probably won’t be massively swayed by the next iteration but there is no way you could accuse Nintendo of re-skinning the last version with a few minor improvements to make a bit of quick cash.
Undoubtedly, they are happy to use their history and people like me will buy the Game & Watch purely for nostalgia but I really don’t think it’s fair to suggest that their new games are popular on the same basis.
Should Disney/Marvel pension off Hulk, Iron Man, etc. as they’ve been around for decades and still basically do same the things they’ve always done?
John
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Xbox series of errors
So after getting an absolute battering over the first lockdown it became time to retire my old Xbox 360 wired controller (I’m a PC gamer). I have actually worn away the grips on the analogue sticks and after all this time thought a new wireless controller would be nice.
I like the Xbox layout, and the fact that most games on PC are designed around Microsoft’s controller meant that for me getting hold of the new Xbox controller would be the best thing to do right?
Well, maybe not.
How hard would it be for Microsoft, the maker of both the controller and the operating system, to get it working out of the box? The answer my friends is very, very hard. It hooks up fine through Bluetooth, great. Fire up Forza, yes, another Microsoft product… nothing. Not recognised. Delve into Steam library, again, no joy except Ori And The Blind Forest works! One game in my whole library.
It’s only recognised otherwise if I plug it in (or spend an extra £30 on their wireless adaptor it seems). Going online it appears this is not uncommon.
Now for the actual controller, if I keep it, it just feels a bit lightweight compared to the Xbox 360. The triggers don’t appear to have as much travel, and while the D-pad is better, it is very clicky! All in all, so far not impressed. Maybe I just need to get used to it but it honestly feels like a backward step. I’m going to give it a week to see if I can get it working through Bluetooth, otherwise it’s going back and I’ll see if I can get a decent third party controller.
The Dude Abides
A deserved rant
I have just seen the news report in the Metro over scalpers and selling the new consoles on eBay.
I have had sleepless nights trying to get the Xbox online overnight, not getting what I want for my 13-year-old for Xmas, then finding the next day these are being sold for double the price on other sites.
I do not have the funds to pay double the price and if I did I wouldn’t pay this out of principle.
Something should be done about this. Parents will beg and borrow to make sure their child has what they want for Christmas and these scalpers are getting away with this. One person on eBay has sold over 138 units it’s disgusting.
Thanks for letting me have a rant.
Rachel
Profiting from friends
The only people that can stop resales on eBay are the shops and eBay but because the shops are selling them and eBay is making a slice of the PlayStation pie nothing will ever be done to stop it. If shops did a proper job, and did have things in place where if a second order to an address that had already had one delivered flagged up and the order was cancelled automatically there wouldn’t be this problem.
And as for eBay, they really aren’t bothered with PayPal fees seller fees and all the other fees they get they don’t care, because they’re making money. I’ll be honest, I pre-ordered two, one from GAME, one from Amazon. I was going to sell one on, then my mate rang me saying he couldn’t get one.
I said he could have my spare one. I did make a 2p profit. I’m lucky I did get my orders.
David
Sensible precautions
How to stop scalpers scooping up consoles?
I’m a BT internet customer, last week they made some PlayStation 5 consoles available.
To get one you had to log into your BT account and click on an onscreen link.
This caused a unique code to appear, you could then click through to the BT shop and quote your code; one code per customer, first come first served.
Sony and Microsoft could do something similar, reward the loyalists with PSN and Xbox accounts, click the link on your PlayStation 4 or Xbox, take your chance to get a console, one per person.
Even the likes of Amazon could do the same, register interest, and get a code or unique URL that doesn’t go live until pre-order day. Then they can cross reference to make sure the same address doesn’t appear multiple times, bob’s your uncle or am I being naive?
dsb
GC: Not from our perspective.
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Analogue tax
I don’t know if you and your readers are aware of the American company Analogue? Essentially, they make high end, HDMI friendly reproductions of retro consoles using programmable hardware to emulate them with (they claim) 100% accuracy instead of going down the software-based route that can lead to various issues.
Anyway, they make good stuff, which I know as I own their Mega Drive – the Mega Sg. A few months ago I beat the pre-order odds (they always have very limited stock of their products) and bought their rerelease of their NES – the (take a breath) Nt Mini Noir V2 at a what-are-you-thinking-Rob price of $499. I relied on nostalgia to justify this to myself, as the NES was my first console and these things tend to hold their price due to their rarity.
Now to the point of my letter, I got a message from FedEx today saying they were handling the delivery of my Nt but that there was the small matter of the customs duty to pay. Sigh, I thought, fair enough. Then I saw the amount – £201! 2020, you swine! I got in touch with Analogue to see if there had been a mistake with the value of the goods they had declared to customs. Sadly not.
They sent me a link that revealed our government has imposed an additional import duty of 25% on video game consoles and machines coming from America. This started on the 10th of November this year and is in addition to the standard 20%. A 45% tax. For me this has turned an already frankly ridiculous extravagance into something only a Russian oligarch should consider. I’m now looking at my Analogue Pocket pre-order like Old Yeller at the end of the film.
RedRobN
Inbox also-rans
RE: eBay sellers selling pics of Xbox. I saw one of these ads which looked like a real Xbox and in the tiny print it said it was just a picture of it. I did report this to eBay but I don’t think anything was done about it.
Anon
Love your work, but is there any chance you’ll review Oculus Quest games going forward? A couple of big releases (Star Wars: Tales From Galaxies Edge and Population: One) have come and gone and a few are on the horizon (Climb 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) are due to arrive soon… and your opinions are generally spot on.
Birdmanrob
GC: We may have missed the boat with Population: One but we’re trying not to with Star Wars, so look for that next week. But yes, in general we hope to keep up with the bigger releases – which is easier to do at other times of the year than now.
This week’s Hot Topic
The topic for this weekend’s Inbox asks what is the most impressed you’ve been by something from the next generation of consoles?
It can be the consoles themselves, the games, the controllers, or a service or feature that wasn’t present in the previous generation. What gives you the most encouragement for the future of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S and why?
Do you feel that the new consoles are making a better impression at this stage in their life than previous formats or do you think they’ve been a disappointment so far? What are you hopes for the immediate future (the next six months or so) and the longer term?
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.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.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, 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: Xbox Series X best game, PS5 pros and cons, and Oculus Quest 2 vs. next gen
MORE : Games Inbox: Seven PS5s for one customer, DualSense on Steam, and missing PS5 power adapter
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