Game Save #09 | Tomodachi Direct, Fable on PlayStation, VR Metaverse Reset, & Community Spotlight
Taking a look at news about the Tomodachi Nintendo Direct, Fable coming to the PlayStation and the impact on Xbox, the disappearing Metaverse, fantastic articles for the community spotlight, and more!
Letās Jump In
Welcome to this Game Save!
Thereās been so much going on lately that has happened in the world of gaming news, and Iāll have a few topics that have been on my mind to go over today!
First up, I want to share some thoughts I have on the recent reveals from the latest Mario movie trailer, as well as the Nintendo Direct for the new Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream game! Iāll also be taking a look at the recent Developer_Direct from Xbox, as well as the continued decline of the Xbox console. Lastly, I had some things I wanted to share about the state of VR gaming and affordability, especially after the layoffs at Meta within their VR department!
After that, there are two fantastic creators whoāve written some insane articles over the past couple of weeks that I wanted to highlight for their awesome work!
Lastly, Iāll go over a few updates for The Saved Game and check out whatās coming up for February ā including my collaboration article!
Letās dive into it!
Welcome to The Saved Game
First off though, I want to extend my warmest welcome!
My name is Joe, and Game Save articles go over some of the latest gaming news you may have missed along with some thoughts I have on them, reviews of games or accessories, as well as a Community Spotlight for articles that I loved! Read more here about my Substack page and content!
š Take a look at my recent main article on Katamari Damacy
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If you would like to support my work and creative content, then please take a look at my Ko-fi page using the button below! Thanks!
My Thoughts from Recent Gaming News
As mentioned, thereās been a lot of stuff floating around with news in gaming!
The newly released PvP raid shooter Highguard has seemingly had the weirdest marketing ever since the Game Awards, and itāll be fascinating to see how it works for them. Xbox had their Developer_Direct for some upcoming titles, with a beautiful-looking Forza game among others. Likewise, thereās just been so much talk Iāve seen online about the latest Mario movie trailer, as well as the news from this morning about the upcoming Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream game!
Letās start there with some quick thoughts I have on Nintendo!
Nintendo Updates for Tomodachi Life
One of the biggest things from the past couple of weeks was the trailer for the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy movie! Itāll be releasing on April 1st of this year, and Iām looking forward to it. The first one was amazing, and I thought they did a great job with it.
In this latest trailer, they introduced Yoshi and Birdo, two classic characters that looked great!
Afterwards, Nintendo announced a new Nintendo Direct with a focus on the upcoming Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream game that happened today! In it, they talked a lot about this upcoming game that will be coming out soon, April 16th to be exact!
I had the first (in the US) Tomodachi Life for the 3DS, and it was fun! It wasnāt the type of game I wanted to play all the time, but I had some good memories with it! More so, I honestly think this new game looks fantastic based on the trailers from last year and from this recent update!
This Direct went over a demonstration for Living the Dream, all while following along the funny storyline for some of the Mii characters they created ā especially Angie trying to find love! There were a wide range of customization options you can add to your Mii residents when creating them. They demonstrated how you can add in custom topics for your characters too, which looks like it could be a wacky and fun conversational way for your characters to get along! The Mii News Network and other shops looked amazing, and a lot of the visuals were as humorous as I remember from the 3DS version!
They also showed the Quik Build mechanic, which allows you to build out your island to your liking. You can add landscaping and decorative items, move shops and other buildings around, and even expand areas of land to customize your island! Compared to the 3DS version, it looks a lot more expansive than ever before!
The Mii characters also have Little Quirks, which are fun personality traits each of them has that you can discover and gift throughout the game. The animations for these were funny, and really showed the personalities that your residents can have! A neat thing too was having a lot of characters, up to eight, living together in the same house on your island ā undoubtedly creating some hilarious moments!
You can also create specialized items using the Palette House, which lets you make and customize a variety of items your Mii residents will interact with, your houseās exterior, and even designs on the ground you can create!
Overall, a lot of the quirkiness from the 3DS version looks to be in this game, such as the hilariously text-to-speech voices, dialogue options, imaginative style of gameplay, and more! It looks like they took the 3DS version, tossed in some more Nintendo charm, and really expanded it out while maintaining the wacky style this series is known for!
At the end, they announced that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will be coming out on April 16th, 2026 for the Nintendo Switch and will be compatible with the Switch 2!
The Ongoing Death of Xbox
I was keen to watch the Developer_Direct that was released by Xbox last week. They showed off a lot of awesome-looking games, including a new Forza game as well as the much-anticipated Fable title that will be coming out this year!
I had heard the rumors at this point about Fable possibly making the jump over to other platforms. Itās not that surprising to me to have seen this given the trajectory that Xbox has taken for the past few years with other Xbox titles coming to the PlayStation. But, my anticipation was high when the Fable part came up in the stream!
When Fable was being discussed, I couldnāt help but fall in love with a lot about this game based on what they showed! The British style of humor really stands out to me, and Iām thoroughly looking forward to what Richard Ayoade is going to bring for his role. I also really loved the open-world RPG aspect, and how beautiful it all looked. Everything with this game just looked fantastic! Then at the end, they announced with a confirmation that it will also be coming to PlayStation as well when itās released later this year!
I know that much has been talked about with Xbox and what has happened over time with them, but I want to dive a bit more with some thoughts I had about their decline since 2013, and what I worry about with the PlayStation possibly being the only choice for console gamers in the future. I canāt help but feel like their decisions to put some of their most well-known franchises (Halo, Gear of War, Flight Simulator, etc.) onto their competitorās console is a bit odd.
I think competition is a good thing to help stoke fresh ideas and content, especially for consumers. To me, itās a way for those with the purchasing power to tell a company what they like or donāt like as far as their direction goes ā as well as to have some influence by how much time consumers are willing to spend on a game.
I couldnāt help but see this as clearly as possible when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were announced at E3 back in 2013. Sony quickly took over with the PS4 when they announced its lower price tag. Then, they practically ridiculed the Xbox brand about the issue of DRM and used games, and how they seemingly made it clear that Sony cared more about gamers than Microsoft did by keeping the focus on the games, instead of other all-in-one features the Xbox One was being marketed for. I still remember watching Sonyās video about sharing used games when it first came out, and couldnāt believe how much they kept sticking it to Xbox!
All the while, Microsoft seemed to be the ones responsible for how badly the Xbox One was received back then. As reported by Business Insider in 2022, Sony ended up selling over twice as many PS4 consoles than Xbox did for the eighth-generation of consoles. Fast-forward to the mid-2020s, and I canāt help but feel like Xbox is continually making these decisions that are just driving gamers to other platforms.
I wish we lived in a world where Xbox focused their hardware on the gamers, and demonstrated that they could innovate beyond what theyāve been doing for the past several years. It feels to me that their choice of innovating lately is by becoming a publisher for other platforms. The Xbox ROG Ally seemed to be an interesting choice to compete with the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch consoles, but I canāt help but feel like this was another step in a weird direction. This past holiday season was telling when the relatively unknown, motion-controlled Nex Playground ironically outsold Xbox hardware, as reported by GameSpot.
My worry is the thought of PlayStation becoming the go-to for a general console, and becoming so large that it stifles any competition in the console space. Even though the PS5 seems to be an excellent console right now and Iāve been playing on Sony consoles my whole life, it makes me wonder if them having less competition in the future might reduce their creative output? Would they be able to force prices higher? Will future Sony consoles be the only choice for a standard console experience?
Time will tell. However, my hope is that Xbox is able to revive some form of devotion that people once held for their brand. Iād love to live in a future where I can have a selection to choose from, and not be forced to only purchase between a Sony console or what Nintendo decides to make in the future.
The Disappearing Metaverse?
One of the bigger stories that came out over the past few weeks that I wanted to share some thoughts on has to do with the layoffs at Meta in their VR department.
I actually think the idea of a virtual world using a VR headset is pretty cool. It has always fascinated me to think of a world where Ready Player One or Sword Art Online could actually take place. But from the limited time Iāve spent playing with VR technology, I realized that the sci-fi future in my mind is either not here or locked away due to affordability.
This past month, Meta announced layoffs in their VR department. As reported by CNBC, about 1,000 people were let go from Metaās āVR-related initiativesā. These also included people who were working on Horizon Worlds, a VR game from Meta Platforms, as well those working on Quest VR headsets. In an earlier report by CNBC, smaller gaming studios impacted by these layoffs include Armature Studio, Twisted Pixel, and Sanzaru. Likewise, the Horizon Workrooms VR application for remote teams/workers will also be shutting down in February, according to Business Insider.
In the first CNBC article, they looked at market research firm IDC, and what Research Manager Jitesh Ubrani said regarding the current state of VR headsets. Ubrani focused on the exclusivity of VR, and ācharacterized the VR headset market as niche and appealing to only a small segment of video gamersā.
The market has spoken ā¦ there are certain niche audiences that will continue to use these headsets, but itās not going to be broadly appealing.
But why exactly is VR not ābroadly appealingā? To me, itās less about the idea of wearing a headset all day, and more about the affordability and use cases of VR headsets and VR worlds.
While the Meta Quest 3S is somewhat affordable compared to where VR headsets were several years ago, now priced around $300, I canāt help but feel like the actual selling points for VR headsets were never made clear ā especially from Meta. Are they simply novelties? Or meant more for video games? What exactly is the vision of the Metaverse and why do I need it? And is the $300 starting point already too much to find out if it would even work for me?
A report from Pew Research, titled The Metaverse in 2040, had some fascinating insights from experts. One that stood out to me was from Jason Hong, a professor at Carnegie Mellonās Human-Computer Interaction Institute. He expressed skepticism for the use cases of VR in everyday life, as well as the practicality.
VR has been around for ages and works pretty well for some gaming situations, but what other use cases? Or, put more simply, will AR/VR offer enough value over existing smartphone + web, at a low enough ācostā (price, usability, social acceptability, battery life) that it will take off? How many scenarios are there where AR/VR works better than a person whipping out their smartphone to get the same information? Sure, smartphone + web is not as dazzling or awe-inspiring, but itās cheaper to make, easier to program and it gets you probably 80%-90% of the way there.
ā Jason Hong, Pew Research (2022)
To me, the idea of people just shrugging and using their phones instead of another device, as Hong suggested, might be one of the largest factors as to why people are not investing into VR as companies wouldāve hoped.
Why get something else for several hundred dollars (or significantly more) when your current device already works?
The appeal of a VR headset to me has just been for the novelty of it. As I said at the start, I love the idea of an immersive virtual world using a VR headset, and something I could use for working on stuff, but I never understood the purpose of current generation VR headsets. I would love a future where someone creates or further develops a better product that is not only cheaper to invest in upfront, but also one that has a clear vision for my needs and succinctly explains why I would need it.
Hopefully, the future will have some new developments in the VR headset environment. I also hope that those impacted by these layoffs will find more work soon, so that they can continue to ideate for the future of VR. I look forward to seeing what might happen, and hope that a better, more affordable, and better-marketed product will be on the horizon.
What are your thoughts on these topics?
How did you like the trailer for the new Mario movie coming out? Did you have any thoughts on the new Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream game?
What are your opinions on the trajectory Xbox has taken for the past several years? Do you have any idea as to what their goals will be in the future?
Have you ever used Metaās Metaverse? Do you plan to? What are your feelings for the impact their recent layoffs will have for VR gaming?
Community Spotlight
For today, I have two fantastic articles to spotlight from the past few weeks that made a huge impact on me! The authors really captured some of the emotional aspects of video games, and they did so brilliantly!
The first one by Amanda really hooked me in with her story about the emotional impact that Nintendo had throughout her lifeās journey. The second series of articles by Mindful Gamer spoke to the detail of games that really breathe life into them, though they often go unnoticed.
Letās jump in!
An Emotional Journey with Nintendo
Amanda Lynn wrote a beautiful article called A love letter to Nintendo and the games that made me, and I absolutely loved the emotional story that Amanda took the reader on!
In this article, Amanda wrote about the entire journey with Nintendo that inspired the person she became! Throughout it all, I resonated with so many of the memories that were shared. More so, I loved the overall theme about the impact that video games can have on someoneās life, and how they can positively influence people ā even with the direction of their careers or through hard times!
Nintendo and their games have stayed with me for a long time, ever since my Game Boy Advance I got as a kid (along with one of my favorites, Mario Kart: Super Circuit)! Iām still holding onto that handheld, as well as many other consoles and games I have from Nintendo too, just because of the important memories that I connect with them. The rich worlds that Nintendo created in their games over the years makes me so nostalgic, and Amanda brilliantly wrote about so many of them in her write-up that made me reminisce of my own childhood! Her way with words was fantastic, and I loved the heartfelt journey she told with the wonderful descriptions and emotions that were eloquently portrayed so clearly in her writing!
If you have not read this article, then I implore you to take about ten or fifteen minutes out of your day to read through it! I promise that youāll come away with a wonderful experience from the journey and emotions that Amanda wrote about, and you will see how much Nintendo can make an impact in someoneās life!
The Unseen Details Behind the Scenes
Mindful Gamer created two amazing articles titled The Quiet Hands Behind the Worlds We Play (Part 1 & Part 2) that are well-worth taking a look at!
There will be moments where Iāll sit back and think a bit deeper on the moving parts in life that keep the world moving. Perhaps itās when Iām on a plane up in the air, or driving through a massively constructed highway overpass, or just shopping at the mall ā thereās just so much that goes on in the background from the hands who made it all possible that can be easy to ignore. Mindful Gamerās articles really touched on this aspect when it comes to video games! I loved the way they wrote about the small things that really add to the immersion in video games. There are so many things I have never put too much thought into, like the audio needing to be perfected, or the way lighting needs to be tweaked just right, or a multitude of other parts that make up a successful game, but they are things that truly make a huge difference.
In a way, Iāve often given more notice to the bad parts of game design, since they stand out so much. But these articles by Mindful Gamer reminded me that taking the time to pause and reflect on the quieter moments are worth it ā even when everything is working fine! These moments may not seem like much, or they may leave a yearning for more, but itās a wonderful reminder that it took a lot of love, dedication, and work to make those quiet moments matter for your experience!
These articles are absolutely worth checking out, and I would highly recommend doing so! They serve as wonderful reflections, and I think theyāll give you a lot to think about too!
What's Next & Closing
Thanks all for reading, I appreciate it!
The main update I have is for my upcoming Collaboration Article! Unless if something major happens, it will be coming out on Thursday, the 19th of February! I am accepting submissions from subscribers for it until the 13th! Iāve already received a good number of wonderful entries for it, and would love some more! If you have the time, please take a look at this Note I posted and feel free to DM me a response:
I will also be posting my upcoming Main Article next Thursday on February 5th! Iām looking forward to this one, because I will be continuing my Fallout 4 series! More details will be shared soon!
Until then, I thank you for the honor and privilege of your time in reading todayās Game Save! It means a lot that youāre here, and I appreciate your support!
If this article meant something to you and you enjoyed it, then please drop some love on it down below, share it with some friends or foes, and let me know your thoughts! I always appreciate the feedback š
See you all next time,
Joe
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My opinion on VR, having watched it trying to become mainstream even in the 90's, is that it is too niche to take off fully; games are the only logical application for them.
When PC's expanded, games were a popular option, but the fact that you could do word processing, spreadsheets, then eventually use the internet is what made them appear in every home. When smartphones appeared, it was the ability to make phone calls but also access the internet from anywhere, use dedicated apps to all your platforms, share your experiences with others far more easily (maybe too easily). And of course games are an option too.
With VR, you play an interactive, eveloping experience, but what else can you do? Not tried these, but I imagine "typing" in midair is not tactile enough, so all the regular apps you need are less useful. For meetings, we have other, simpler options - we may complain about them, but audio and video is all you really need. Feeling more present is not really a large enough benefit.
So I think VR was always going to be a sci-fi dream, just like flying cars and jetpacks - they could exist, but why bother?
CAN NOT WAIT ANY LONGER FOR FABLE!! haha š