Daring to believe the hype
Hype is the path to the Dark Side. Hype leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Scientifically proven.
With game budgets hitting a Squillion quid (fact) and with teams of hundreds involved in their production it’s understandable that publishers and game developers want some reassurance that the fruits of their labour will yield juicy profits and not leave them with barren coffers. Enter the marketing department.
A steady drip-drip-drip of new screenshots, interviews and game mechanics are fed to us to keep us interested over the lifecycle of a development and for high profile platform exclusives and titles with marketing budgets that equal the combined GDP of several 3rd world countries, this often results in at least 12 months of expectations being hiked to levels that cannot possibly be fulfilled. When these titles are released their component parts are scrutinised far more than they otherwise would be because the PRs have lead us to believe that these individual parts are worth getting excited about in and of themselves.
Bioshock was disappointing for me because I couldn’t eat a little sister whilst I was shooting up.- monkeyking
And recently it seems that we have had to endure a string of unfulfilled promises. Many of the recent high profile new releases, taken on their own merit, have been competent, solid enough titles. But when you’ve spent months fawning over every detail and hankering to get hold of a game you don’t want a ‘competent’ and ‘solid’ title you want one that will blow your floppy socks off.
Assassin’s Creed disappointed with its repetition. Army of Two promised game play built from the ground up as a co-operative title but failed to engage. Kane and Lynch had illusion shattering broken mechanics and Haze...Haze was, during its best moments, average. Average so that just as many gamers shrugged their shoulders with apathy as vented their frustration at Free Radical’s folly.
Even the hyped titles that receive critical praise can suffer a backlash of consumer opinion once the dust has settled. For all that Bioshock’s stylised environment and mature narrative delighted its black and white ‘moral decisions’ and sloppy ending frustrated. GTA IV is accused, by some, of running out of steam despite earning near universal top review scores. The most disappointing aspect of these hyped, or ‘aggressively marketed’, titles is the depressing feeling that the simple act of believing that a game could be just half of what’s being promised and getting excited about it will, in itself, lead to disappointment.
[GTA IV has disappointed me] even with the story complete I’ve tried just having fun and playing about but can’t seem to get any satisfaction from the game... What’s wrong with me?!- radiofloyd
It’s not just you; I’m about 40% through [GTA IV] and am finding it a bit of a chore now. Also the bowling and darts games are rubbish.- -Jay-
One school of thought suggests that we should take pleasure in the anticipation of pleasure. Another, that humans define their existence through their misery. Should you ever buy in to the hype surrounding a title, however justified it may be, it’s likely that’ll you’ll appreciate the teachings of both.
