Cynicism, Hype, and Broken Promises

[pkmin3033]

There is no denying that the game industry has changed significantly over the last couple of generations, but over the last two generations in particular there has been a lot of fudging the truth, especially from the AAA industry. Game trailers are nowhere near representative of the final, finished product, and critical elements are cut out to be later released as DLC, or not at all.

There is a huge buzz surrounding new game announcements, but by the time the game is released and the reviews are in, disappointment is a fairly common sight. It's simple marketing, and not outright lies - usually - but it is difficult to not become cynical about it and expect the worst after it happens repeatedly...or is it?

So, how do you react now to new game releases and announcements, compared to how you reacted a few years ago? Do you find it as easy to get excited about games as you may have done in the past, or is your first thought speculation about how much of what you've been shown in the trailers is going to be in the actual game? Can you "believe the hype" or does cynicism reign supreme now for you? Just how cynical are you in regards to the game industry and the ability of developers to deliver a quality experience that lives up to the level of effort they put into advertising it?

 

[mew_nani]

Used to, I saw commercials that had actual in-game engine footage (unbelievable in this day and age, I know) like the original advertisement for Kingdom Hearts and thought "Whoa. Neat game."

I remember seeing the advertisements for Aliens: Colonial Marines and seeing how stunning it was several years later and then hearing about how the actual game was horrible looking. I'm aware that trailers can't always be 100% correct about the game they advertise; the trailer is taken from a more early version of the game, where there's either things that aren't there yet or are but are cut later, but it's inexcusable to have a trailer be solely FMVs rendered on a computer that make's NASA's entire computer room look like a bunch of antiques. Pokemon X and Y and Pokemon ORAS sorta fall guilty of this because their commercials didn't have a lot of in-game footage either; you saw computer rendered versions of the Pokemon in the game that looked way better than the actual models you see playing it, and instead of getting a clear idea about what the game is about it shows some Pokemon hanging around and Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon meeting up on a beach with a kid in between.

If you're gonna make an advertisement about your game, at least have 50% of the time showcasing how your game actually looks when it's being played. Computer generated imagery looks amazing but if your game looks like crap and the FMV is all you show, you're blatantly lying to potential customers who are expecting the game to look half decent.

As for hype... eh. I can't say I get as hyped as I used to. There's not a lot of games out there that are worth being hyped about these days, what with most of them being the latest version of Madden or Call of Duty or part of franchises that I'm not that familiar with like Far Cry, and even the franchises I do like aren't as good as they used to be. There are some I get very excited about though; Five Nights at Freddy's 3 was one such game, and that one actually sorta lived up to the expectations I had for it so yay!

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

I only hype when I hear localizations of J-games.
I definitely don't care about announcements of AAA titles, but if some of my favorite franchise gets a new J-game, I'm definitely pleased, but I wouldn't call it hype probably.


On the other hand, if Zero Escape 3 ever gets announcement, I'll probably hype so much it wouldn't be hype anymore =D

 

[Nolafus]

I'm not as into video games as I used to be, so I can't say I get excited for games and wait for their release date. By the time I usually get into a game, it's been out for at least a year, and I know exactly what I'm getting into.

However, Mass Effect 4 doesn't come out until 2018, and I might die of anticipation before then.

 

[Legobricks]

Well, nowadays I might actually notice pre-release media and therefore have a reaction to begin with. That's a start, right? Ha. Really, anything pre-release has been complete BS since sometime like 2008, and I'm not interested in it.

it's inexcusable to have a trailer be solely FMVs rendered on a computer that make's NASA's entire computer room look like a bunch of antiques.

Maybe matters have changed since I read this factoid (or, possibly, this factoid wasn't true even then), but as far as I know, NASA's computers are antiques contemporary with the 60s space programme, since much of the equipment still satisfies their requirements.

 

[mew_nani]

Maybe matters have changed since I read this factoid (or, possibly, this factoid wasn't true even then), but as far as I know, NASA's computers are antiques contemporary with the 60s space programme, since much of the equipment still satisfies their requirements.

It's a running joke on the internet that if you have a high performing computer, it was stolen from or probably belongs to NASA. As for their computers, I've say they've updated them since then. A 60's computer is no better than a calculator compared to what a computer in 2015 can do.

 

[Lord Scalgon]

To be honest, I'm not truly looking forward to new games nowadays. Back in the days, I was...especially for games like Warcraft III and StarCraft II. I used to be hyped about Pokémon games until somewhere around 2011, when I simply lost my motivation. I have no cynicism by any means, but......maybe it's just life or something.

I guess StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void will be one of the last hyped games on my end, but other than that, not much else to say here.

Nowadays, I tend to play competitive social games...Clash of Clans being one example since a bunch of friends I know play it, but eh.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

The only company who gives us actual gameplay and let us know which may or may not be included or part of the final product is Nintendo. Everyone else uses pre-rendered CG cutscenes or live action scenes for their trailers and commercials. When their hyped games receive high scores from critics but get negative scores from gamers, it usually means that the critics were paid by those companies for higher scores, whereas Nintendo doesn't pay critics. So yeah, I'm expecting more of what I've listed from these companies at this year's E3, just like the previous ones. It's a never-ending cycle unless the gamers do something about it.