My Problem With Yahtzee's E3 Philosophy

[teebeeohh]

i myself am rather indifferent to the whole thing, i hate the hype that comes with E3 and the massive dump of information all at once usually ends up with me missing something that may interest me if i knew it existed.

what annoys me is that people will not accept middle ground around E3, i have either love the Wiiu(which i will call nintendo ambulance) or hate it because it's a useless gimmick and caters to the audience who play on their tabloid and such.

captcha: wersame resources


edit: still, Yahtzee was right most of the time

 

[Griffolion]

While I can't deny that it makes perfect sense to be pessimistic so you aren't disappointed, I can't help but feel that it really takes the fun (remember that word?) out of seeing the industry advance and seeing your favourite franchises grow.

Plus eventually you'll have completely desensitized yourself into not caring about anything announced at any conferences resulting in a completely passive, almost robotic, persona towards gaming.

Also it doesn't make you very interesting to talk to at dinner parties. =P


Incidently though, his E3 episodes are some of the best comedy-wise were he drops all critical pre-tense and just flat out insults everything. xD

I see what you mean. Allow yourself to get hyped, savour the bitter disappointment in some titles but enjoy the validating highs of others. It's human emotion games ultimately appeal to after all.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

If you want to open up Master Chief's cockplate one more time to orally apply Astroglide for MS, or really including anything EA-related, make sure you use a pre-paid mobile so neither one can call you up for further booty calls; because I'm fucking tired of seeing a tired MILF (Masturbating nerds-IPs-Like to-Fuck...over) of a franchise every E3.

You missed the part about 'people keep buying these games because they enjoy them'.

 

[Zhukov]

Does it really matter?

Let the guy be cynical. If nothing else, it makes for funnier videos.

Besides, while I don't entirely agree with him, I can see where Yahtzee is coming from. The number of games that lived up to their promotion? I can count them on my fingers. And the number of games that were hyped to all hell and then turned out to be turgid drivel with the flavour of pre-chewed bubble gum? More than I care to remember.

Personally, I can't help but get hyped every now and then. However, I do try and meter out my hype in careful and precisely aimed doses.

 

[TrevHead]

I think he's looking towards the games that the west are making, he should be looking at all the games from Japanese (or those coming from EIDOS and other UK studios now owned by the Japanese)

Who said Japanese gaming was dead (lols)

 

[ReservoirAngel]

I'm actually looking forward to his cynicism this year around. I'm dying to see how badly he slams the Wii-U. I won't trust a word of it, but I'm dying to see his reaction, especially after he spent the past few years just bitching and whining about the Wii console.

 

[Zac Smith]

Yahtzee is not a reviewer, he's a critic. I'm sure he is interested in a few games at E3 like Batman or whatever but even if he was he is trying to make a point about the hype industry in games, which is a fairly good one.

Personally I see him and less of both and more of a comedian/entertainer. I don't really take any of his videos or articles seriously

 

[9thRequiem]

I think the best road is the middle path.
Not expecting everything to be terrible, and not getting over excited by every shiny bauble waved in front of you, but going in without expectations at all, and measuring things based on merits.

It's almost a certainty that everything will be over-hyped (That's pretty much what E3 is for), but it doesn't mean it won't still be good.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I hear Yahtzee say this around every E3, and whenever I do I think, "Right, keep telling yourself that. Maybe you'll actually believe it one day."
He wouldn't have to force himself to pessimistic in order to not be disappointed if he wasn't actually already looking forward to it.

It's obvious that the guy is passionate about gaming, so I'd say it's pretty impossible for him not to anticipate a new and interesting game. I also read in that big internet Q&A he did a few months back that he was looking forward to Portal 2, L.A. Noire and Infamous 2 . So there's that as well.

 

[Netrigan]

I find myself having similar pessimism. I'm typically open to new things (unless it involves Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern), but I take most advanced hype with a massive grain of salt.

It's a rare game I pre-order with no advance reviews or hands-on experience. LittleBigPlanet 2 which promised more of the same. I tend to pre-order the Lego games because you always know exactly what you're getting with those. Pre-ordered Bulletstorm and Infamous 2 on the strength of the demos. Mostly I wait for the first reviews to see if the game looks to live up to the hype.

Advanced publicity is used to rope in the punters. Too many times a massive advertising campaign has been used to sell something everyone knew was shit... like the American Godzilla movie.

 

[Adzma]

I'm the same as Yahtzee when it comes to hype and E3. Fact is you'll always be more disappointed if you expect something to be great and it turns out to be shit. It's also all the more merrier if it does turn out to be great.

I blame FF XIII for this, so much disappoint for that game.

 

[TheHardcase]

I think I automatically kind of share Yahtzee's view. The whole E3 thing comes off as kind of corny to me. I don't like to think of myself as a cynic, I just like to get my information more... plainly. If a game really looks good to me, it's not going to take a big demonstration to show that. I just need to see a demo on XBL and a release date (unless it's a sequel, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Serious Sam 3).

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I agree ^^ Looking forward to something feels good Knowing I will be playing Syrim by the end of the year is a good thing. It makes my heart sing =P And singing hearts are the best!

The problem is, if Skyrim turns out to be shit (sorry fanatics of The Elder Scrolls), then it will completely break your spirit.

For example, when I first heard about FF13 (I will stop using this game as an example I promise), I was looking forward to it so much, I pre-ordered it, so full price then, and after playing and loving FF10 and FF12 (sorry fanatics of the FF series of old times), I thought that their games could only get better. Turned out I hated FF13, I played about 5 hours of it, got bored, and traded it in for about half price (maybe less). Since then I have never pre-ordered any game, and never bought any game new release for full price.

So yeah, no optimism = no disappointment.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I've already made a comment on this in another topic. Here it is -

You need to see Yahtzees E3 hype episode, because he's right. You wont be disappointed if you assume that it's going to turn out to be a piece of shit. If it does turn out to be good, then great. Happy days.

And that's where Yahtzee's wrong. Dead wrong.

You can still remain un-disappointed if you have no expectations at all. Why is that better? Because then you don't end up on message forums arguing with someone else because you think their must-have game is crap. Win-win for both parties.

Indifference > Pessimism.

I definitely agree. Taking an expectation-free approach has the Yahtzee-recommended advantage of pessimism (not being disappointed) but also has the advantage of avoiding disputes with others over different expectations. As a bonus, this approach (in my experience) is better at dodging the common trap of pessimism: turning a person into a jaded, cynical, and generally unpleasant person.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Yahtzee, but I wonder just how pleasant he is to be around IRL... (EDIT: That is to say, I wonder if he's fallen into said trap, and if he has, I wonder how deeply has he fallen.)

 

[Halo Fanboy]

I'm an excellent judge of game previews and I can usually get a pretty good understanding of games from them. And I can adjust my expectations as I get more information.

Expecting disappointment from every game is ridiculous and doubt any real person would actually believe such a thing. If you think all games are bad, why would you ever play anything?