Hype, Disappointment, and the "Hardcore"

[NeoZeedeater]

Well, see, it's like this:

back in the NES days, it was pretty much the only system in town, and we had like 3 good games a year. That left plenty of time to play all the mediocre to bad games, and maybe find a few surprising gems or so-bad-they-were-fun games.

Nowadays, every month usually brings at least a couple of excellent games. Who honestly has the time to waste on the dregs?

That's definitely not the view I have of the 8-bit era. I could hardly keep up with all the great stuff every year on the NES, not to mention all the great SMS and computer games.

[Bacon McShig]

Nowadays, every month usually brings at least a couple of excellent games. Who honestly has the time to waste on the dregs?

Jeremy.

*rimshot*

[RedCoKid]

High expectations = greater potential for disappointment when the game fails. ... Katamari Damacy ... had failed, ... It's merely another boring game,

You took the words right out of my mouth!

[Jeremy]

LOL@Bacon. Also, the NES era was full of great games, you just had to sift through the Acclaim shit to get to them. The same has held true for pretty much every generation since, with more and more companies being in the "avoid like the plague" league.

[toxic]

I got Fable for free.

I thought it was Purgatory: the Game. Bland and boring character designs, bland and boring environments, a story I couldn't care less about, boring missions, easy and boring combat... it didn't really do anything WRONG, per se, but it didn't do anything interesting or particularly good, either. I'm not judging it harshly, and I never even listened to the hype.

Hey, you just described FF:TA also!


There will always be games that get an unfair shake ... Zelda 2 on NES and Chrono Cross comes to mind ... expectation breeds contempt.

Normally its reserved for sequels ... or next generation titles of existing franchises ... thats what makes all the hate for Fable sort of wierd (But I guess since Peter Moly* was attached to the game, there was a sense of expectation)

[Diff-chan]

Chrono Cross was the best RPG of the past 5 years.

[Mzo]

Purgatory: the RPG

[Shapermc]

7 Bad Mistakes that Good Game Journalists Make

#2. The Preview Gloss

The Problem:
We all understand the "you scratch my back" nature of the videogame industry, and the unspoken practice of avoiding negative comments in a preview is accepted and acknowledged even by the most naive of readers. However, by glossing over clearly evident problems in previews, the magazines continually breach their readers' trust.

"Remember that first person shooter we called the Halo 2 killer? Well, now we're nuking it in our world exclusive review!"

Even secret negative code phrases such as "if everything comes together before release" don't go far enough to warn gamers about clear problems in pre-release games. This gloss continually blurs the supposedly bright line between the publications as journalistic endeavors and product marketing devices.

One example of how this issue could be better handled was in a recent PC Gamer. Its Ghost Recon 2 feature pointed out the high points of the upcoming game while bringing up serious and pointed questions about the direction of the Ghost Recon series. (Most notably, the perceived abandonment of its core realism-seeking audience.) The feature was sharp, analytical, and unyielding. It undoubtedly caused friction with the game maker, but it was also the best feature in a videogame magazine in the last six months.

Who Suffers:
The Readers:
Games often hit stores before reviews are printed in magazines, so previews are what gamers often use to pick what games they'll spend their hard earned money on. However, judging games by previews is like hooking up at last call. You go home at 2 with 10 and wake up at 10 with a 2.

[JefmcC]

LOL@Bacon. Also, the NES era was full of great games, you just had to sift through the Acclaim shit to get to them. The same has held true for pretty much every generation since, with more and more companies being in the "avoid like the plague" league.

Akklaim released one of my favorite NES games ever: Wizards and Warriors.

[Opaque]

are you new?

http://www.pimp-productions.com/reviews/drake.php

I don't go to pimp productions.