Q
Shared on Fri, 09/01/2006 - 14:47As seasoned adult gamers we are all aware of the dreaded game delay that keeps us from getting our new electronic fix at the time we were hoping. However, delays are becoming more and more common as the years go by. So much so that I almost expect game to be delayed now and am slightly shocked when an announced game makes it's initial ship date. Could this be because of the hype game? I believe it is.
The most recent example of this is the announced delay of Timeshift and Lost Planet. These are both shooters (first-person and third-person respectively) that have big budgets, are being touted as true next-gen experiences, and are exclusive (at least initially) to the 360. They were both also supposed to be released in Fall 2006 for the Christmas season. I have to admit that a fall release date for those never sat well with me, and I'll tell you why (like you care).
Gears of War is M$'s big game this year. They are pitting it against the release of the PS3 for christ's sake so they must have a ton of faith in it. They have been campaigning this game as the next Halo for a year now and are dumping tons of money into ads for it's November release. So why would they want to release any other shooters in close proximity to GoW? They wouldn't! It would be suicide for any other shooter to come out around then because it would be swallowed whole by the gaping maw of the M$ published juggernaut. Sierra (Timeshift) and Capcom (Lost Planet) never planned on releasing their games in the fall. They made those announcements to do one thing: generate hype.
That's right, they were just toying with our emotions. Getting us to think that pretty soon we would be overwhelmed with games where we get to blow the shit out of aliens and each other with extreme prejudice and really cool fucking weapons. Alas, it isn't to be. Sierra has been releasing a steady stream of gameplay movies and screenshots over the past few months but Capcom is even worse because they released a killer demo of Lost Planet at E3! That's right, a playable demo that had two seperate missions and looked and played beautifully. If you haven't played it yet go and download it from the marketplace, NOW! But that was four months ago. I'm expected to believe that they can release a demo that good of a game that still needs another eight months in the digital womb? Bullshit! Ya, I'm calling bullshit! They never planned on releasing that game in competition with GoW becaise they knew that they couldn't survive the wake. Then they have the gall to announce in September that they are delaying until the second week of January instead of releasing in November. How would a pub know right now that they only needed an extra month of dev time? At least Sierra delayed until March of 07 to make it look less obvious.
I know that this is just the way of the industry but it still pisses me off that they think I'm so stupid I can't seeing their thinly veiled attempts to hype their product. I understand hype and the need to generate it, but do it through ad campaigns instead of obvious lies. Oh, here's a thought, make your game so good that it doesn't even need the hype to begin with! I know, I know, that is really stupid.
The most recent example of this is the announced delay of Timeshift and Lost Planet. These are both shooters (first-person and third-person respectively) that have big budgets, are being touted as true next-gen experiences, and are exclusive (at least initially) to the 360. They were both also supposed to be released in Fall 2006 for the Christmas season. I have to admit that a fall release date for those never sat well with me, and I'll tell you why (like you care).
Gears of War is M$'s big game this year. They are pitting it against the release of the PS3 for christ's sake so they must have a ton of faith in it. They have been campaigning this game as the next Halo for a year now and are dumping tons of money into ads for it's November release. So why would they want to release any other shooters in close proximity to GoW? They wouldn't! It would be suicide for any other shooter to come out around then because it would be swallowed whole by the gaping maw of the M$ published juggernaut. Sierra (Timeshift) and Capcom (Lost Planet) never planned on releasing their games in the fall. They made those announcements to do one thing: generate hype.
That's right, they were just toying with our emotions. Getting us to think that pretty soon we would be overwhelmed with games where we get to blow the shit out of aliens and each other with extreme prejudice and really cool fucking weapons. Alas, it isn't to be. Sierra has been releasing a steady stream of gameplay movies and screenshots over the past few months but Capcom is even worse because they released a killer demo of Lost Planet at E3! That's right, a playable demo that had two seperate missions and looked and played beautifully. If you haven't played it yet go and download it from the marketplace, NOW! But that was four months ago. I'm expected to believe that they can release a demo that good of a game that still needs another eight months in the digital womb? Bullshit! Ya, I'm calling bullshit! They never planned on releasing that game in competition with GoW becaise they knew that they couldn't survive the wake. Then they have the gall to announce in September that they are delaying until the second week of January instead of releasing in November. How would a pub know right now that they only needed an extra month of dev time? At least Sierra delayed until March of 07 to make it look less obvious.
I know that this is just the way of the industry but it still pisses me off that they think I'm so stupid I can't seeing their thinly veiled attempts to hype their product. I understand hype and the need to generate it, but do it through ad campaigns instead of obvious lies. Oh, here's a thought, make your game so good that it doesn't even need the hype to begin with! I know, I know, that is really stupid.
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