Who\'s Hyping the Games: Us, or Them? (Long)

Awhile back, I wrote an article (Editorial) discussing how gamers are better off being casual and being free of all the Internet media, news, reviews, and previews that are present and updated on a daily basis.  If you don\'t remember what I am talking about, click here and give it a read: http://194.47.16.181/forums/showthread.php?threadid=12798

Anyways, building on that article somewhat, I have pondered the source for games being hyped.  During this Christmas season, we are in no way deprived of hyped up games.  Hell, there is probably more hyped up games this year then there has been in the past ten years and that\'s no joke I\'m sure a handful of you can attest to, but what makes these games hyped up at all?

The first explanation I can think of is the hype from a popular sequel.  Would Mario Sunshine be hyped up if Mario 64 was garbage?  Would Metal Gear Solid 2 be sought after if MGS was terrible?  What about Resident Evil, or Zelda, or any other popular franchise for that matter?  One could ask how the first one became popular in the first place, but for the most part, most gaming sequels were generated from a time when the media, massive million dollar commercials, and videogame magazines were almost non-existant.  It was just a game loved by all the fans and now chased after heavily by the fanatics, which of course leads me into the next possibility --

Games are hyped by the gamers.  Yes, that\'s right, we do the hyping, not the company.  Does Squaresoft really need a commercial to advertise the next Final Fantasy?  Did the Bouncer still do well just being a fighter made by Squaresoft?  We have to face it, no matter how much we deny it, we are sheep.  We are the prey of the wolves (companies) feeding off of our next biggest gaming fad.  Do you think Konami would dump ten million dollars into MGS2 if it wasn\'t a key money maker or a new ambitious title that may or may not be popular -- of course not.  Good business feeds off of our needs and wants and our wants are the next biggest thing and we need it as soon as it comes out.  However, it\'s difficult to be hyped up about a game unless we exposed to it in some form and that leaves another good friend --

The media.  Read the preview to the Bouncer on IGN.ps2 and tell me this isn\'t the greatest game you\'ve ever heard of.  Now read the review  on the same site and tell me this isn\'t a game you would avoid like the plague.  Or, take ZOE for example or even Munch\'s Oddysee or to an extent, Luigi\'s Mansion.  Are these games the full masterpieces we all expected?  To some degree, they are, but for the most part, they come up short in some way that just drops our hopes down lower than anything else.  Imagine walking into Disneyland as a five-year old kid only to see that all the rides were closed, get the idea?  The magic is just snatched away right before your very eyes and put into something that does exist, but might as well of stayed absent regardless.

Companies put in their fair share of hype with ads, commercials, and videos delivered to the media, but the large extent of that media is displayed before us at a sites will.  Would we know of every Bouncer trailer as they came out at every trade show if it wasn\'t for Gamespot or IGN?  Sure, pictures are worth a thousand words, but if a demo reel from the company says "do not release to the public" because it was a concept video and a news site released it anyways and our opinion is shaped by that, who\'s fault is it really?  We hyped up the games in our minds expecting what the reel showed off, while the media used flashy words to sell us these games attributes and finally a popular developer relying on its brand name recognition alone sold us the product rushed and incomplete beyond belief and snatched away hours and money straight from our lives and pockets.

I suppose, like the article I wrote mentioned above, this is another case of ignorance being bliss, but I\'m not too sure this is the case.  I always used to blame Sony or Squaresoft or IGN for my dissapointment in games, but maybe it\'s just because from everything I read and saw, I expected far too much.  Maybe I brought this on myself.  It\'s dissapointing and sad really, but who is really to blame?

So what do you all think?  Are we, the Internet browsers, magazine subscribers, and Crystal Ball analysts really just ruining our gaming experiences?  Why or why not?  Who is really to blame for the hyped games not delivering what we expected?  Thought provoking discussion is encouraged.

We ourselves hype the games, but also IGN (media)..

Remember ICO? Sony didn’t say anything about this game.. No marketing, nothing..
They relied on our "hype-machine".. and it worked..

king of all "user hype"

Blair Witch

word spread like wildfire

I think it is fanboys hyping games way too much. Most gamers don\'t even bother going to web sites and what not. They rely on word of mouth or the guy who works in the counter at the electronics store.(And that guy is usually the biggest console fanboy of them all)

I can\'t even begin to count how many times I am at a store lookin at games and someone will come up and asK me so whats good.  And there is usually a bunch of  marks  lurking and listening waiting to point them in the wrong console direction.

Some of the time, us hardcore gamers are the ones to blame for over hyping a game. That is part of what makes us "hardcore gamers." Talking about the latest graphics and newest creations from our favorite developers. Anticipating every bit of new information and new released pictures. Having picture wars with other people debating which game is graphically superior. And talking about how game \'A\' will have this and this over game \'B\' (even when sometimes it is not true -- it\'s just us over-hyping a game without even realizing it), sometimes takes some fun, and overall "pizzaz" out of the final product.

Sure, hyping up games make the games we play slightly less fun because we are always expecting more, but it is a price worth paying IMO. I wouldn\'t give up my hardcore gaming lifestyle for anything (well, almost anything )

But I don\'t think the Hardcore gamers are the only ones to blame. Every gaming magazine, webzine, friends, internet acquaintances, local video game store employee, commercials, and even the developers themselves (Munch and DOA3 developers being the most recent examples) contribute to the hype.

The whole video game market\'s success is really based on hype. Would the PS2 be so successful without all the hype? Would people be looking forward to the "Nintendo Dolphin" two years before it was released without hype? (that hype was coming from the Nintendo name and good franchises that Nintendo was known for.) Would the PSX have been so successful if the hype about the FF series, the Tekken series, the Grand Turismo series, etc, was not there? Without hype, this industry would not exist IMO.  We would still be stuck in the NES era -- where video games were not quite accepted as a real form of entertainment.