Games Inbox: Do you care about AI use in gaming?

The Monday letters page hears from one parent that tried to teach their kids to play ‘proper’ games, as Neon Inferno is criticised for its gameplay.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Humanity is dead
The use of AI is a hot topic in all walks of life at the moment but surprisingly it seems like gaming is one of the places that’s resisting it the most. I’m all for that but I am surprised, given how high-tech gaming is by default.

It’s turning up in all sorts of games at the moment. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Arc Raiders have been the most high-profile that I’m aware of (little indie companies that can’t afford to pay a real artist, right?). But I also read that Let It Die: Inferno has a lot of it. So much for Grasshopper Manufacture’s mott of Punk’s not dead, right?

Personally, I think it’s disgusting and there’s only two real situations: either you’re a disgustingly rich company looking to cut costs and lay off people or you’re a small indie company that can’t accept the limits that everyone else deals with, so they just add to the problem in the belief that their use doesn’t count.

I really dread what the next gen is going to be like, when Microsoft really starts pushing all this stuff. Curious to know what other reader’s think though.
Focus

The f is for free
RE: Black Friday. I got myself Silent Hill f last week or was it the week before? Off of the Xbox store, as soon as it reduced in price from £70 to £55, I used the Microsoft Rewards to knock another £50, off so five quid in the end!

Haven’t even played it yet, as I was growing more and more frustrated with Blue Prince. Gave up once I realised I would need to build a pool and a pump room and a boiler room and then build a chain of rooms with vents all the way to the pump room and drain the reservoir and make it all the way to the antechamber and have enough stamina to make it back all the way to the start and achieve all this in one sitting, all the while relying on the RNG to spawn the rooms you want/need… So yeah enough, thank you.

Now I’m on CloverPit, a demonic fruit machine with never ending debts and that one more spin hook… one day I’ll get around to Silent Hill and its creepy fog. Does it still have creepy fog?
big boy bent

GC: Yes.

Two-dimensional thinking
I’ve just looked at Neon Inferno in your newsletter, and it’s truly a good-looking game. It’s the Emma Bunton (I’m showing my age) of scrolling shooter games. I used to own an Amiga and ST at different times, and every other game was a scrolling shooter.

Neon Inferno has Operation Wolf undertones, which you could tell from the video you linked to. I hope they make another one with better gameplay. Back then in the late eighties I used to think of games being just sprites, just hardware scrolling, everything a young programmer would think, not in terms of the story, just as it being a technical trip… games were never tales to tell, they had to be good gameplay-wise.
Dave Diamond

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

A year out
I’ve just got the latest Edge magazine and I see they have an advert for this month’s Retro Gamer, which features the 20th anniversary of the release of the Xbox 360 on the front cover, with a feature inside. I always remember The Gadget Show previewing the Xbox 360 and one of the things that stuck in my mind was that the presenter said you could drive towards the spectators in Project Gotham Racing and they would react to it!

Also, with the Edge magazine they have included a Zelda 40th Anniversary 2026 Calendar. I was going to ask Game Central what was the original release date for Zelda in 1986 in the UK? I am hoping for some Zelda remasters or remakes around the anniversary next year!
Andrew J.

GC: Zelda was originally a Famicom Disk System release in Japan, which is why its 40th anniversary is February 21, 2026. The first cartridge releases were in the West, on August 22, 1987 in the US and November 15 in Europe.

Maximum cuteness
I stumbled across a game over the weekend called Cotton Fantasy on the Switch in the sales. It’s basically a shoot ’em-up with cutesy graphics and an easy going difficulty level.

After reading a few reviews I quickly realised that they call these games a cute ’em-up a term new to me, even though I’ve been playing games for nearly 50 years!

Anyway, I like shoot ’em-ups but I don’t have a time, the patience or, reluctantly, probably the reflexes for those hard as nails games. So this really fits my bill, I just want a great blast on a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and I want to feel good afterward. After all that is why I started gaming in the first place.

I had Trouble Witches on the Xbox 360 years ago, which is very similar and I know it’s soon to be released on the Switch over here, so my eyes are wondering in that direction.

My question is, can any other readers recommend anything similar on the original Switch?

Many thanks in advance guys.
freeway 77

GC: We’ve never heard that term either. Someone must’ve just made it up for that game. Traditionally, the cuter a retro game the harder it tends to be, so there’s not much else that comes to mind.

Technical requirements
Regarding John needing a TV for films and games for under £1,000 I’d recommend anything but Samsung, as they stubbornly refuse to adopt Dolby Vision and once you’ve seen Dolby Vision, you really can’t un-see it.

As for recommendations, LG seem to offer the best of value and here is a good choice within his price bracket.

Here are some important technical details for both films and games:

Panel bit depth: 10-bit
HDR formats: Dolby Vision IQ, Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG
Response time: 0.1000 ms
Panel frequency (Hz): 120 Hz (VRR 144 Hz)
Motion processing: OLED motion
Local dimming: Yes
Pixel Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Backlit: OLED

Panasonic or Phillips are not to be sneezed at either, as most of these have Dolby Vision. If you want the best motion handling in the industry though you’ll need a Sony TV. That’s what I rock with personally and I wouldn’t be without it.

Hope John finds a TV that suits him.
Charlie H

Bullet Refutation
RE: Danganronpa series. I’ve always been a massive fan of the games (apart the last chapter of the third game, that ruins the whole series) and they got me into the whole visual novel genre, e.g. Steins;Gate is another classic.

I never really got into Ultra Despair Girls when it came out, though, due to the change in genre and the stop/start gameplay. I have dug it out for another try though and I’m really enjoying it second time around. The soundtrack is excellent and I’m really enjoying the interactions between Komaru and Toko – they are genuinely funny at times. Toko was always one of my favourite characters of the series and she is great in this.

With the Switch 2 re-release of 2 with the extra content, do you know if it’s a Switch 1 release as well?
Simon

GC: Danganronpa 2×2 is multiformat. So it’ll be on Switch, as well as Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

Kids today
Totally couldn’t agree more with the weekend feature by Soldat. But don’t agree from down to parenting.

I have two teenagers, and video games for them translates to Roblox, Minecraft, Fall Guys, and a whole other bunch of blah blah not real games (no actual progression to new levels, beating a final boss, etc.).

I do try and push the other many hundreds of games I have. I go as far as putting a controller in their hands for something and saying, ‘play that’.

For my kids, it all falls on deaf ears, because they just aren’t interested. Massively fits with them also doomscrolling random TikTok and YouTube shorts.

They only want short and quick experiences.

My kids (despite my best efforts) just don’t seem to have the attention or desire to play a ‘proper’ game.

They aren’t even interested in the lightgun thing I got a Reader’s review put up for previously.
Si-zero

GC: Fall Guys? That’s so old school.

Inbox also-rans
Funny seeing how popular Kirby is in Japan. There even seems to be quite a gap between there and the US, which usually likes most NES games equally. I guess Kirby’s brand of cuteness just really appeals to his home audience.
Cornst

Just wanted to thank you, as others have, for the Sektori review. Never heard of it up until then but it’s one of the best arcade style games I’ve ever played. Absolutely top notch stuff.
Gordo

Email 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.

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