GTA Trilogy Remaster

There was news back in the summer about the PlayStation 2 Grand Theft Auto games getting a remaster. While III, Vice City, and San Andreas are still excellent games, some aspects could have been finely tuned to be better. The news is confirmed that they are getting a re-release this year. Downside is that the original versions are getting delisted on PS3, PS4, and Xbox 360. The same is going to happen for the HD San Andreas game on 360. At the time of this blog on a Monday night, they probably have be taken off the digital stores already. If not, this week. 

These are coming out on everything. Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4, PS5, PC, iOS, Android, and the Switch. The fact that Nintendo is getting these is a huge surprise. Only their handhelds had GTA games with ports of the first two and two original releases. Rockstar has shown some support with Manhunt 2, Table Tennis and Bully on the Wii and L.A. Noire on Switch. Having GTA is a benchmark for the developer. From all assumptions, these will play roughly the same, but have better visuals. I have a feeling it will get cleaned up quite a bit to retain their looks but utilize the hardware of everything.

As far as delisting goes, I'm not sure if this is going to be permanent or not. I wouldn't think so, but weird things do happen in gaming. With the PC, you can find copies of them. You can also find copies for the PS2 and original Xbox. These were mega sellers. Millions upon millions, especially on PS2. Very common and going for 10 to 25 dollars. Maybe more if people are trying to popularize theme even more. There is that talk of game preservation, but the discs are not inaccessible. GTA is in a strange spot and I don't have an easy answer on how to solve the issue of digital stuff being taken away.

These should do decently and the price will hover around 40 to 60 dollars. You're getting 200 plus hours worth of content with these three games. I'll have to wait and see how it fares and see some gameplay to see if it's worth getting. For now, it's a decent way of celebrating 20 years since GTA III released and changed how games could be played.

Xbox Live Hike and Reversal

If you were to get an Xbox, the way to play most online games is through their Live Gold. They range at one month, three months, and a year. The year one is 60 dollars, which is the equivalency of buying a full priced game. On the 360, there were perks to using it and there still is reasons to have it on Xbox One. But Microsoft considering doubling it to 120 dollars, which met obvious backlash and they reversed their stance on it. They also have plans, according to sites like The Verge and Cnet, to make free to play games free without using their service.

The game industry makes a lot of money every year. Here's the thing however. Most gamers are not going to bend over for something like Live Gold. I don't think parents would go for it for their kids. Even if you were to budget, 120 is very high, no matter how much you slice it. Game Pass has become one of Microsoft's main focuses in recent memory. Reminds me a bit of Sega Channel with picking games you want out of the selection. But this requires a lot of bandwidth. Lots of downloading, too. Internet speeds are not the same for everybody.

I hope this was a test to see reactions. If not, this was a dumb move on Microsoft. They seemed to be making the right choices before the Series S/X came about. Nothing too bad in its first two months. But the PlayStation and Switch are still the top choices for everyone. This will not be anywhere near the disaster of the Xbox One reveal. And Phil Spencer better think about trying to get people into buying his systems. This isn't like the last generation where you're riding high on your major hit. I like the Xbox brand, but they need to get some of their exclusives out if they want even a shot at second place. PS5 and whatever new Nintendo system comes out in a couple years will eat them alive.