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It can cause huge raging arguments face to face, over the phone or on a message board. It can build up hopes of millions all around the world, only to bring them crashing down. It can be the hinge of many-a multi million pound decision...and we call it hype.
Unless you've been living under a huge rock for the past year, without radio contact to any living human being, you'll know that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is coming out on Friday. A follow up to the best game of 2001, this is supposed to be the best game of 2002. The thing is, Rockstar North's newborn baby is already being proclaimed as the greatest, before the unbillical cord has even been cut. It's been out for a week in America, and yes, everyone's really pleased with it...but is it the best thing since internet pornography? The claims that the next GTA would be set in a massively multiplayer online crime-ridden city turned out to be rubbish. Claims that the whole game environment would be unlocked from the start had to be withdrawn as sections were blocked off in the last minutes of production. People say that Vice City itsself is nowhere near three times as big as Liberty, and the lack of features like a proper gore mode (as seen in a cheat code from GTA3) have frustrated many. But really, this doesn't change the fact that it's a great game. It's just that magazines, respected news sources and silly rumours have built us up for things that would either never have been possible, or that didn't happen after all. It's all too easy to mock those who aren't 100% satisfied with GTA:VC, but it's only natural to want what you've been told you're getting.
An even better example of hype destroying a game would be WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Time and again, Yukes (fast becoming the most hated games developer ever) have promised things. Full commentary since the first game, full sized hell in a cells since the second...time and again, the wretched thing is released with maybe on or two of the dozen or so announced features having made it. This time round, we were promised all the correct fully licensed themes, and a password system for swapping created wrestlers instantly. What do we get? At least six superstars with generic guitar riff tunes and a stupidly complex CAW with no passwords in sight. 2 full years of Season Mode were promised, and reports show that only 1 has worked its way into the elusive final build of WWE Smackdown.
TimeSplitters 2 is a bloomin' great game. Maybe not quite Halo great, but worth £40 of anybody's money. A huge selling point for many was the online network option which would let console owners take the first big multiplatform FPS onto the web. It was pulled out so that the game would be released on schedule. Definitely frustrating, but I guess it can be forgiven. There's a geniune reason for the withdrawal of the feature, and hey, the game's good on its own. But that's just one type of hype. There's another, even more destructive way of being destroyed by your own marketing campaign...the killer label.
Turok 2 was a "GoldenEye killer". It was uninspired, and boring. Mortal Kombat 4 was a "Tekken killer". It took all the good things about the series, and tossed them into a vat of acid. Rayman was a "Mario killer" and...well, I'd rather not go into Rayman, lest I throw my keyboard through my monitor in a fit of french limbless weirdo-fuelled rage. When a game is given the tag "__________ beater", it invariably sucks. The gaming equivelant of saying your football team can go unbeaten throughout the Premiership season, it sets you up perfectly to be slaughtered mercilessly. The past has not been kind with the next big things, and things don't look that bright for the future either. Blinx the Time Sweeper has 'a nice idea but...' written all over it, which won't read well for the Microsoft execs looking forward to glowing reviews crowning it the King of platformers. The Getaway is going to blast Grand Theft Auto out of the water, apparently...although this definitely wasn't Sony's first intention, as development started before even GTA3 was released. It's been 'in progress' for so long that it will either be fantastic, or terrible - and first impressions from the playable demo, almost always including the words 'dull', 'slow', 'GTA' and 'wannabe' - seem to point to the latter.
Splinter Cell is going to render Metal Gear Solid obsolete, apparently. Taking a look at Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, then taking a look at what I've just written, I don't think Hideo Koshima should start trying to find a new job just yet. I have nothing against the game, really. Or The Getaway. In fact, I'm desperate for them both to be successes. I'd just love to have an alternative to Solid Snake, and bombing down Lahndahn Tahn with the cops chasing me would be excellent; but I refuse to get my hopes up on what are such safe bets to fail.
You might say I've been jaded by hype. Others might say I've been educated. It's always good to be a little cynical in life, always to keep your feet on the ground. No matter how 'amazing' a game is going to be, just remember that it can't be all that 'amazing' until the game's whirling around in your disc tray. I'm still conflicted over whether or not Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance will crash and burn. I loved MKII, and I'd love it in 3D...but with all the hype, I'm just not sure.
So next time, when you're reading a news article about the next killer app, or the latest innovative feature in a game, just think back to what I've said. Remember how much better than GoldenEye Perfect Dark was going to be? Remember the option to put your face in the game?
Exactly.
Thanks for reading.
-El Blokey
Unless you've been living under a huge rock for the past year, without radio contact to any living human being, you'll know that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is coming out on Friday. A follow up to the best game of 2001, this is supposed to be the best game of 2002. The thing is, Rockstar North's newborn baby is already being proclaimed as the greatest, before the unbillical cord has even been cut. It's been out for a week in America, and yes, everyone's really pleased with it...but is it the best thing since internet pornography? The claims that the next GTA would be set in a massively multiplayer online crime-ridden city turned out to be rubbish. Claims that the whole game environment would be unlocked from the start had to be withdrawn as sections were blocked off in the last minutes of production. People say that Vice City itsself is nowhere near three times as big as Liberty, and the lack of features like a proper gore mode (as seen in a cheat code from GTA3) have frustrated many. But really, this doesn't change the fact that it's a great game. It's just that magazines, respected news sources and silly rumours have built us up for things that would either never have been possible, or that didn't happen after all. It's all too easy to mock those who aren't 100% satisfied with GTA:VC, but it's only natural to want what you've been told you're getting.
An even better example of hype destroying a game would be WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Time and again, Yukes (fast becoming the most hated games developer ever) have promised things. Full commentary since the first game, full sized hell in a cells since the second...time and again, the wretched thing is released with maybe on or two of the dozen or so announced features having made it. This time round, we were promised all the correct fully licensed themes, and a password system for swapping created wrestlers instantly. What do we get? At least six superstars with generic guitar riff tunes and a stupidly complex CAW with no passwords in sight. 2 full years of Season Mode were promised, and reports show that only 1 has worked its way into the elusive final build of WWE Smackdown.
TimeSplitters 2 is a bloomin' great game. Maybe not quite Halo great, but worth £40 of anybody's money. A huge selling point for many was the online network option which would let console owners take the first big multiplatform FPS onto the web. It was pulled out so that the game would be released on schedule. Definitely frustrating, but I guess it can be forgiven. There's a geniune reason for the withdrawal of the feature, and hey, the game's good on its own. But that's just one type of hype. There's another, even more destructive way of being destroyed by your own marketing campaign...the killer label.
Turok 2 was a "GoldenEye killer". It was uninspired, and boring. Mortal Kombat 4 was a "Tekken killer". It took all the good things about the series, and tossed them into a vat of acid. Rayman was a "Mario killer" and...well, I'd rather not go into Rayman, lest I throw my keyboard through my monitor in a fit of french limbless weirdo-fuelled rage. When a game is given the tag "__________ beater", it invariably sucks. The gaming equivelant of saying your football team can go unbeaten throughout the Premiership season, it sets you up perfectly to be slaughtered mercilessly. The past has not been kind with the next big things, and things don't look that bright for the future either. Blinx the Time Sweeper has 'a nice idea but...' written all over it, which won't read well for the Microsoft execs looking forward to glowing reviews crowning it the King of platformers. The Getaway is going to blast Grand Theft Auto out of the water, apparently...although this definitely wasn't Sony's first intention, as development started before even GTA3 was released. It's been 'in progress' for so long that it will either be fantastic, or terrible - and first impressions from the playable demo, almost always including the words 'dull', 'slow', 'GTA' and 'wannabe' - seem to point to the latter.
Splinter Cell is going to render Metal Gear Solid obsolete, apparently. Taking a look at Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, then taking a look at what I've just written, I don't think Hideo Koshima should start trying to find a new job just yet. I have nothing against the game, really. Or The Getaway. In fact, I'm desperate for them both to be successes. I'd just love to have an alternative to Solid Snake, and bombing down Lahndahn Tahn with the cops chasing me would be excellent; but I refuse to get my hopes up on what are such safe bets to fail.
You might say I've been jaded by hype. Others might say I've been educated. It's always good to be a little cynical in life, always to keep your feet on the ground. No matter how 'amazing' a game is going to be, just remember that it can't be all that 'amazing' until the game's whirling around in your disc tray. I'm still conflicted over whether or not Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance will crash and burn. I loved MKII, and I'd love it in 3D...but with all the hype, I'm just not sure.
So next time, when you're reading a news article about the next killer app, or the latest innovative feature in a game, just think back to what I've said. Remember how much better than GoldenEye Perfect Dark was going to be? Remember the option to put your face in the game?
Exactly.
Thanks for reading.
-El Blokey
I think the main problem is that you expect the world from computer games. For a star, I do not know of one person that is unhappy with GTA: VC, and you talk about features not in SD: SYM, when they are. There is the 2 season mode, although the second season is only there if you cannot get all of the stuff in the first season. HIAC is full sized in this version, and the game isn't out yet, and you still take it upon yourself to take to your high horse and condemn it, when you have not played it. And realisticaly, could you expect for CaW codes to be short enough to give to a mate?With the number of body parts inevitably available, the cod would be as long as your arm.
I play games for fun. I expect them to be fun, and give me enjoyment. People expect games to be perfect simulations of life, and when they get ideas into their heads, they wont take anything less. When I bought GTA: VC, did I think the following things:
Will I be able to go everywhere from the start?... No. It would sort of defeat the point of having access to new stuff by accomplishing missions, and the way it is now is fine. The map is huge, and the part you have access to at the start is ample enough.
Do I expect to be able to chop peoples limbs off with a chainsaw?... No. Although a chainsaw in a game may insinuate this, any such graphical detail would be frowned upon by sensors, as it would have no real affect on the gameplay/plot, and the feature would not be worth it. I'm happy with the chansaw doing what it does in the game.
You have to think about games "Is this a good game?", not "Is this game as good as its predecessor?", as a sequel has to keep in the same spirit as it predecessor, otherwise it wouldn't be a sequel. If you feel that way about games,then dont buy them, or rent them before you buy. Its not a difficult situation to get out of.
I play games for fun. I expect them to be fun, and give me enjoyment. People expect games to be perfect simulations of life, and when they get ideas into their heads, they wont take anything less. When I bought GTA: VC, did I think the following things:
Will I be able to go everywhere from the start?... No. It would sort of defeat the point of having access to new stuff by accomplishing missions, and the way it is now is fine. The map is huge, and the part you have access to at the start is ample enough.
Do I expect to be able to chop peoples limbs off with a chainsaw?... No. Although a chainsaw in a game may insinuate this, any such graphical detail would be frowned upon by sensors, as it would have no real affect on the gameplay/plot, and the feature would not be worth it. I'm happy with the chansaw doing what it does in the game.
You have to think about games "Is this a good game?", not "Is this game as good as its predecessor?", as a sequel has to keep in the same spirit as it predecessor, otherwise it wouldn't be a sequel. If you feel that way about games,then dont buy them, or rent them before you buy. Its not a difficult situation to get out of.
Nah, it's not just you.
Hype is always over exadurated and overblown and ALWAYS ends in disappointment.
Other than wild over-exadurations from magazines (blistering speed, hordes of enemies, epic battles - they never turn out to be the way you imagined!) there's also this sense of "been there, done that. Not such great fun the second time round!".
You see, the most hyped up games are often sequels to real ground breakers.
No one had played an FPS like Goldeneye before.
The graphics, the animation, features like headshots, splitscreen multiplayer etc. They blew everyone but the most anti-Nintendo fanatics away (and even some of them became instant converts!).
So it's sequel, Perfect Dark, was going to do the same thing but better?
And so it did, but it was never going to be as much fun the second time round, even though almost every aspect, from graphics and animation to imaginative weapons and clever scenario's were improved infinately.
But while we had all sorts of fun playing with the dead bodies on Goldeneye for hours on end, the novelty had pretty much worn off, even though Perfect Dark breathed new life into it by letting you do it a several new ways, it never gave the same joy as doing it for the first time, just enough to remind you what it WAS like the first time.
Goldeneye and Perfect Dark is the example that comes to mind, but there are countless billions of other examples.
Many MGS die hards (like Ant) loved the MGS2, but they'll still tell you that the first is better.
Smash Brothers Melee is infinately better than the N64 original and it's one of my favourite Gamecube games so far, but it'll never get the same playtime that the original did - it's never as much fun the second time round.
Pokemon Gold and Silver are both great RPG's and are as great as a Red/Blue sequel can be. But a Red/Blue sequel was never going to be a fun as it was the first time round.
Majora's Mask would not surpass Orcarina of Time (I wasn't disappointed this time because I didn't even expect it to even touch it, so I found it surprisingly good! :-) )
So people, some of you wonder why originality is important?
Well there's why. It's always new ideas that impress us the most and blow us away. It's NEVER the same the second time round.
Yes, for EVERY example the sequel might seem better for the first few days or so, but the more you play it, the more that coat of paint of new levels, features and storyline wear off, and you start to realise that you're playing a game that you've played before.
Pikmin's originality was fantastic, and blew people away, which is why it got raves reviews despite being criminally short and there being not much to it.
If Pikmin had had a little more substance in it, it would've had the makings for a true mind blowing classic. But it didn't. Never mind.
Hype is always over exadurated and overblown and ALWAYS ends in disappointment.
Other than wild over-exadurations from magazines (blistering speed, hordes of enemies, epic battles - they never turn out to be the way you imagined!) there's also this sense of "been there, done that. Not such great fun the second time round!".
You see, the most hyped up games are often sequels to real ground breakers.
No one had played an FPS like Goldeneye before.
The graphics, the animation, features like headshots, splitscreen multiplayer etc. They blew everyone but the most anti-Nintendo fanatics away (and even some of them became instant converts!).
So it's sequel, Perfect Dark, was going to do the same thing but better?
And so it did, but it was never going to be as much fun the second time round, even though almost every aspect, from graphics and animation to imaginative weapons and clever scenario's were improved infinately.
But while we had all sorts of fun playing with the dead bodies on Goldeneye for hours on end, the novelty had pretty much worn off, even though Perfect Dark breathed new life into it by letting you do it a several new ways, it never gave the same joy as doing it for the first time, just enough to remind you what it WAS like the first time.
Goldeneye and Perfect Dark is the example that comes to mind, but there are countless billions of other examples.
Many MGS die hards (like Ant) loved the MGS2, but they'll still tell you that the first is better.
Smash Brothers Melee is infinately better than the N64 original and it's one of my favourite Gamecube games so far, but it'll never get the same playtime that the original did - it's never as much fun the second time round.
Pokemon Gold and Silver are both great RPG's and are as great as a Red/Blue sequel can be. But a Red/Blue sequel was never going to be a fun as it was the first time round.
Majora's Mask would not surpass Orcarina of Time (I wasn't disappointed this time because I didn't even expect it to even touch it, so I found it surprisingly good! :-) )
So people, some of you wonder why originality is important?
Well there's why. It's always new ideas that impress us the most and blow us away. It's NEVER the same the second time round.
Yes, for EVERY example the sequel might seem better for the first few days or so, but the more you play it, the more that coat of paint of new levels, features and storyline wear off, and you start to realise that you're playing a game that you've played before.
Pikmin's originality was fantastic, and blew people away, which is why it got raves reviews despite being criminally short and there being not much to it.
If Pikmin had had a little more substance in it, it would've had the makings for a true mind blowing classic. But it didn't. Never mind.
It can cause huge raging arguments face to face, over the phone or on a message board. It can build up hopes of millions all around the world, only to bring them crashing down. It can be the hinge of many-a multi million pound decision...and we call it hype.
Unless you've been living under a huge rock for the past year, without radio contact to any living human being, you'll know that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is coming out on Friday. A follow up to the best game of 2001, this is supposed to be the best game of 2002. The thing is, Rockstar North's newborn baby is already being proclaimed as the greatest, before the unbillical cord has even been cut. It's been out for a week in America, and yes, everyone's really pleased with it...but is it the best thing since internet pornography? The claims that the next GTA would be set in a massively multiplayer online crime-ridden city turned out to be rubbish. Claims that the whole game environment would be unlocked from the start had to be withdrawn as sections were blocked off in the last minutes of production. People say that Vice City itsself is nowhere near three times as big as Liberty, and the lack of features like a proper gore mode (as seen in a cheat code from GTA3) have frustrated many. But really, this doesn't change the fact that it's a great game. It's just that magazines, respected news sources and silly rumours have built us up for things that would either never have been possible, or that didn't happen after all. It's all too easy to mock those who aren't 100% satisfied with GTA:VC, but it's only natural to want what you've been told you're getting.
An even better example of hype destroying a game would be WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Time and again, Yukes (fast becoming the most hated games developer ever) have promised things. Full commentary since the first game, full sized hell in a cells since the second...time and again, the wretched thing is released with maybe on or two of the dozen or so announced features having made it. This time round, we were promised all the correct fully licensed themes, and a password system for swapping created wrestlers instantly. What do we get? At least six superstars with generic guitar riff tunes and a stupidly complex CAW with no passwords in sight. 2 full years of Season Mode were promised, and reports show that only 1 has worked its way into the elusive final build of WWE Smackdown.
TimeSplitters 2 is a bloomin' great game. Maybe not quite Halo great, but worth £40 of anybody's money. A huge selling point for many was the online network option which would let console owners take the first big multiplatform FPS onto the web. It was pulled out so that the game would be released on schedule. Definitely frustrating, but I guess it can be forgiven. There's a geniune reason for the withdrawal of the feature, and hey, the game's good on its own. But that's just one type of hype. There's another, even more destructive way of being destroyed by your own marketing campaign...the killer label.
Turok 2 was a "GoldenEye killer". It was uninspired, and boring. Mortal Kombat 4 was a "Tekken killer". It took all the good things about the series, and tossed them into a vat of acid. Rayman was a "Mario killer" and...well, I'd rather not go into Rayman, lest I throw my keyboard through my monitor in a fit of french limbless weirdo-fuelled rage. When a game is given the tag "__________ beater", it invariably sucks. The gaming equivelant of saying your football team can go unbeaten throughout the Premiership season, it sets you up perfectly to be slaughtered mercilessly. The past has not been kind with the next big things, and things don't look that bright for the future either. Blinx the Time Sweeper has 'a nice idea but...' written all over it, which won't read well for the Microsoft execs looking forward to glowing reviews crowning it the King of platformers. The Getaway is going to blast Grand Theft Auto out of the water, apparently...although this definitely wasn't Sony's first intention, as development started before even GTA3 was released. It's been 'in progress' for so long that it will either be fantastic, or terrible - and first impressions from the playable demo, almost always including the words 'dull', 'slow', 'GTA' and 'wannabe' - seem to point to the latter.
Splinter Cell is going to render Metal Gear Solid obsolete, apparently. Taking a look at Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, then taking a look at what I've just written, I don't think Hideo Koshima should start trying to find a new job just yet. I have nothing against the game, really. Or The Getaway. In fact, I'm desperate for them both to be successes. I'd just love to have an alternative to Solid Snake, and bombing down Lahndahn Tahn with the cops chasing me would be excellent; but I refuse to get my hopes up on what are such safe bets to fail.
You might say I've been jaded by hype. Others might say I've been educated. It's always good to be a little cynical in life, always to keep your feet on the ground. No matter how 'amazing' a game is going to be, just remember that it can't be all that 'amazing' until the game's whirling around in your disc tray. I'm still conflicted over whether or not Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance will crash and burn. I loved MKII, and I'd love it in 3D...but with all the hype, I'm just not sure.
So next time, when you're reading a news article about the next killer app, or the latest innovative feature in a game, just think back to what I've said. Remember how much better than GoldenEye Perfect Dark was going to be? Remember the option to put your face in the game?
Exactly.
Thanks for reading.
-El Blokey
Unless you've been living under a huge rock for the past year, without radio contact to any living human being, you'll know that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is coming out on Friday. A follow up to the best game of 2001, this is supposed to be the best game of 2002. The thing is, Rockstar North's newborn baby is already being proclaimed as the greatest, before the unbillical cord has even been cut. It's been out for a week in America, and yes, everyone's really pleased with it...but is it the best thing since internet pornography? The claims that the next GTA would be set in a massively multiplayer online crime-ridden city turned out to be rubbish. Claims that the whole game environment would be unlocked from the start had to be withdrawn as sections were blocked off in the last minutes of production. People say that Vice City itsself is nowhere near three times as big as Liberty, and the lack of features like a proper gore mode (as seen in a cheat code from GTA3) have frustrated many. But really, this doesn't change the fact that it's a great game. It's just that magazines, respected news sources and silly rumours have built us up for things that would either never have been possible, or that didn't happen after all. It's all too easy to mock those who aren't 100% satisfied with GTA:VC, but it's only natural to want what you've been told you're getting.
An even better example of hype destroying a game would be WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Time and again, Yukes (fast becoming the most hated games developer ever) have promised things. Full commentary since the first game, full sized hell in a cells since the second...time and again, the wretched thing is released with maybe on or two of the dozen or so announced features having made it. This time round, we were promised all the correct fully licensed themes, and a password system for swapping created wrestlers instantly. What do we get? At least six superstars with generic guitar riff tunes and a stupidly complex CAW with no passwords in sight. 2 full years of Season Mode were promised, and reports show that only 1 has worked its way into the elusive final build of WWE Smackdown.
TimeSplitters 2 is a bloomin' great game. Maybe not quite Halo great, but worth £40 of anybody's money. A huge selling point for many was the online network option which would let console owners take the first big multiplatform FPS onto the web. It was pulled out so that the game would be released on schedule. Definitely frustrating, but I guess it can be forgiven. There's a geniune reason for the withdrawal of the feature, and hey, the game's good on its own. But that's just one type of hype. There's another, even more destructive way of being destroyed by your own marketing campaign...the killer label.
Turok 2 was a "GoldenEye killer". It was uninspired, and boring. Mortal Kombat 4 was a "Tekken killer". It took all the good things about the series, and tossed them into a vat of acid. Rayman was a "Mario killer" and...well, I'd rather not go into Rayman, lest I throw my keyboard through my monitor in a fit of french limbless weirdo-fuelled rage. When a game is given the tag "__________ beater", it invariably sucks. The gaming equivelant of saying your football team can go unbeaten throughout the Premiership season, it sets you up perfectly to be slaughtered mercilessly. The past has not been kind with the next big things, and things don't look that bright for the future either. Blinx the Time Sweeper has 'a nice idea but...' written all over it, which won't read well for the Microsoft execs looking forward to glowing reviews crowning it the King of platformers. The Getaway is going to blast Grand Theft Auto out of the water, apparently...although this definitely wasn't Sony's first intention, as development started before even GTA3 was released. It's been 'in progress' for so long that it will either be fantastic, or terrible - and first impressions from the playable demo, almost always including the words 'dull', 'slow', 'GTA' and 'wannabe' - seem to point to the latter.
Splinter Cell is going to render Metal Gear Solid obsolete, apparently. Taking a look at Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, then taking a look at what I've just written, I don't think Hideo Koshima should start trying to find a new job just yet. I have nothing against the game, really. Or The Getaway. In fact, I'm desperate for them both to be successes. I'd just love to have an alternative to Solid Snake, and bombing down Lahndahn Tahn with the cops chasing me would be excellent; but I refuse to get my hopes up on what are such safe bets to fail.
You might say I've been jaded by hype. Others might say I've been educated. It's always good to be a little cynical in life, always to keep your feet on the ground. No matter how 'amazing' a game is going to be, just remember that it can't be all that 'amazing' until the game's whirling around in your disc tray. I'm still conflicted over whether or not Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance will crash and burn. I loved MKII, and I'd love it in 3D...but with all the hype, I'm just not sure.
So next time, when you're reading a news article about the next killer app, or the latest innovative feature in a game, just think back to what I've said. Remember how much better than GoldenEye Perfect Dark was going to be? Remember the option to put your face in the game?
Exactly.
Thanks for reading.
-El Blokey