Do you see Hype for a game to be Beneficial, Negative or a bit of both?

[HowlerMonkey]

If it's used on a game that's already good, then it's a good thing. It brings more people in to buy a good game, which entices developers to make more good game.

Generally bad though, since it'll tend more toward either fanboyism stemming from people who can't believe the game they got all hype over isn't the second coming of Christ, or people just being disappointed.

I'm sure there weren't have been as many people going "Bleehhh Fable bleehhhhh" if Peter Molyneux hadn't blown it up to be the best game ever made (I know it has like an 85% on GameRankings. I'm just going anecdotally). I didn't pay attention at all to stuff about Fable until like a week after it came out, and I thought it was awesome. Same goes for the sequels.

[Exz]

I think game-reviewers and game-sites are overhyped. It's a long while since I stoped caring what scores a game gets or even reading the reviews really. Let's not even talk about paper-magazines.

Also it's quite obvious that there's a conflict of interest here. The sites and reviewers want to make money so they do what makes them money. It's way easier to just "ride along" on an existing hype and help keep it up than to hype yourself. So really, they want to over-hype games. It brings them more views and therefore more money. And that's without any speculation of bribes, other financial assistance, "gifts", promises of exlusives, previews et.c. You also have the fact that without game-developers, they would all be without jobs.


The thruth about it is that gaming has become to mainstream. This means there's a lot of people with different background and different tastes all looking at the same games. Then developers try to cater to everyone to get as many customers as possible. Leading to games in general becoming watered-down and less creative. Then they hype it a lot so that everyone will see something they like and get stuck on in the hype.


Personally, I think nowadays they just start hypeing way to early. You may not know, but there's a lot of marketing and research put into these things. Hype only lasts a certain amount of time. And you don't want to over-hype so that people will get bored before release. So when you start building hype early, you basically put a clock on the development. Early, and too much, hype leads to unfinnished games.

I guess this turned out to be quite a bit of text.

[lizard81288]

both. hype can mean sales, but if the game falls short, people will piss and moan about it.

[Drageuth]

Honestly, I don't really care about hype. The only thing I do care about is how "big ticket" games (Call of Duty, Halo, Final Fantasy, etc) can overshadow smaller (and usually better) games that are released for the same console. Everyone seems to think "oh, Call of Duty is the best FPS! ZOMG SO AWESOME! ORGASM!" or "FINAL FANTASY IS TEH ONLY RPG!" (again, this is from a stereotypical casual gamer point of view), but 90% of the time the "hyped" games that get all of the attention don't hold a shadow against other games in the same genre. It's just that they are entries in a well established series, and therefore receive the majority of the attention.

That's just me, though.

[toudeleski]

I don't care for it, and I usually avoid like 90% of it. But for smaller devs, I definitely would them to have as much exposure as possible (Atlus/Carpe Fulgar).

[damian]

I'd say it's only really good for indie games, which would never get the type of press it usually deserves e.g. Minecraft wouldn't have gotten off the ground were it not for hype and word of mouth. But when it comes to bigger releases, like FF13, which was hugely hyped, there's a major letdown, even if the game isn't bad, per se.

[DoomKefka]

i never buy into any of the bullshit magazines tv or anyone says about games...i personaly do not like fps games too repeetive and when someone or somehting says this is the best game ever n blah blah blah it usualy sux...i stick to my own opnions and never give into the hype..why be a follower?

[Mushi]

Hype is alright.. At least until it goes too far. Popular franchises always get hyped, such as Assassin's Creed, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, ect. These games may not be bad, (most of the time), but they aren't necessarily great games. The problem I see with hyping up one game, or one franchise, is that equal (or better) games get lost in the haze. This happened so much with the PS1, and PS2 era.. Not so much now-a-days, but it does happen in current-gen.

Though, hype is really good for indie-games. It helps those developers come out of the shadows, and grow into something big. The good thing about indie-hype, is that the games don't get hyped just because of the creator, or genre. They get hyped because they're actually good. Super Meat Boy, and Minecraft for example. :3

[unnoticedninja]

I agree with hype being good for indie games. I generally don't pay attention to hype for other games. I buy games that I like, but also pay attention to reviews of a game after it comes out to see if it would be the kind of game that I would want to play.

[Nick]

They get hyped because they're actually good. Super Meat Boy, and Minecraft for example. :3

My Avatar would agree. Meat Boy FTW! Also... I have come to a new viewpoint(That I established with the help of this thread). Hype is the software equivalent of Aids. Specifically for Big budget games. It is the cause of many game franchises deaths. While it's not the Hype that directly kills the franchise. But it was the major influence for pissing a lot of paying customers off.

I must say. Some of the games I enjoyed the most are the ones I just bought without reading any reviews really. Or I just got a recommendation from a friend without any real info. I also got some of the "not so good" ones. But hey who cares? Anyway... Sometimes reviews can poison a persons personal view on a game. I hate it when somebody says something like "But It only got a 6.6 average on gamespot... myaw...". Tom cruise has never won a Emmy(I think) but a lot of people still loved that creepy guys movies. It seems Nobody listened to the stupid critic there.

[unnoticedninja]

I analyze reviews carefully to make sure there is no bias involved, and carefully read the good and bad reviews so my view will not be poisoned. I don't really pay attention to the points on GameFAQs or GameSpot because a number is not the best way to know if a game is good or not, its the features, story, and gameplay that matter in a game. I also get games that friends recommend, but return them promptly if I do not like them. I use reviews as a process of elimination, the way to sort out the good and bad, and get the most amount of awesome from as many great games as possible without having to deal with the bad games. There are also certain game series/franchises that I always buy due to most of my favorite series having great games (sonic aside but generations should change that). I do buy as many Final Fantasy games as possible, as they're great games, but I also buy every other RPG I can get my hands on. Sorry about the long rant, just voicing my opinion, feel free to criticize. I do feel a little bad that I don't have the money to own more Atlus games.

[Raype]

My Avatar would agree. Meat Boy FTW! Also... I have come to a new viewpoint(That I established with the help of this thread). Hype is the software equivalent of Aids. Specifically for Big budget games. It is the cause of many game franchises deaths. While it's not the Hype that directly kills the franchise. But it was the major influence for pissing a lot of paying customers off.

I must say. Some of the games I enjoyed the most are the ones I just bought without reading any reviews really. Or I just got a recommendation from a friend without any real info. I also got some of the "not so good" ones. But hey who cares? Anyway... Sometimes reviews can poison a persons personal view on a game. I hate it when somebody says something like "But It only got a 6.6 average on gamespot... myaw...". Tom cruise has never won a Emmy(I think) but a lot of people still loved that creepy guys movies. It seems Nobody listened to the stupid critic there.

I'd say it's a lot more hazardous to series that are in the process of becoming established. Well established series can easily get over a hype backlash due to them having an established fanbase (will FFXV/vs XIII/whatever tank because of the shouts of overhype when it comes to FFXIII? Highly doubtful), but fresh games often have a hard time shaking that. As an example, I don't think Assassin's Creed will ever quite recover, regardless of how much improvement occurred with the sequels.

Why would he, the Emmy is for television. He has won several movie equivalents though. But awards don't necessarily show quality, just how much cock you're willing to suck in your respective field. Even I can win an award by being cast in a biopic, (based on a) true story, or blatant piece of award bait. And I can assure you that I am no actor. In the case of game reviews, pandering to nostalgia, buying adspace, or having a number in your title pretty much guarantees a good score. The next Zelda game or the newest Battlefield entry could easily be a steaming turd, but I can guarantee you won't see it score below an 8 anywhere even if that were the case.

[Drageuth]

The next Zelda game or the newest Battlefield entry could easily be a steaming turd, but I can guarantee you won't see it score below an 8 anywhere even if that were the case.

Case & Point: Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass both scored in the low to mid 9s.
Awful, AWFUL games.

[Raype]

Case & Point: Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass both scored in the low to mid 9s.
Awful, AWFUL games.

Metroid Other M: largely bashed by the fanbase and a really poor followup to the really good Prime games. Even the Metroid fans didn't take too kindly to it. Objectively, it can be seen as a pretty average action game with good production values but shoddy controls.

And, well yeah. It's not until you hit the lesser known publications way down the page that you start to hit lower scores, and even those are in the 70s.

[Dr Mario]

To be fair, a good chunk of the hatred for Other M comes from the fact that the writer(s) clearly weren't all that familiar with the style of the Metroid series rather than from the gameplay issues.