Yes, I am being facetious in the title, but this is a trend I'm seeing more and more of with every new game reveal. People come out in full force to just totally tear these games apart, even if all they show is a little snippet of gameplay or literally just a picture of box art. At least wait until they actually show something significant or even better until people actually get their hands on it. What used to generate hype now seems to generate hate and criticism from a lot of people. Don't get me wrong constructive criticism is a very good thing as long as it is just that, constructive. We don't want them to sit on their laurels after all, and we always need to call them on BS, but that's a whole other thing entirely.
Destructive criticism and blind hate on the other hand can be counter-intuitive to the industry. Developers might be hesitant to show off a game out of fear of backlash, they might also not be as willing to take risks because of this as well. Personally, I want them to take risks. I love new IPs and AAA games, along with everything else in between. I don't want yearly watered-down versions of the same games because they know it's a safe horse to bet on or because they're afraid to try something new.
As gamers we should be happy right now, we're in a 'Golden Age' of gaming, so to speak. We've got shiny new consoles and a ton of new games on the horizon. E3 is right around the corner and there are going to be tons of new announcements for everyone. The variety is awesome, not every game is going to fit into every gamers playstyle and they need to learn to accept that. Not every single game is tailor-made to your individual needs, they never have been, never will be. If a game doesn't appeal to you cool, move on. Maybe drop a comment about certain aspects that don't appeal to you, but there's no need to just blindly bash a game or tear it apart just because it's not your type of game. I know internet anonymity allows people to act differently, but that's no reason for the lack of respect that's so prevalent right now (there's also room for that in a blog of its own).
Developers need our support, they're busting their asses for our amusement and entertainment and they deserve more respect than they've been getting lately. We need to lighten up a little bit and enjoy what's happening right now. We're gamers after all, shouldn't we be a little more playful?
Resident Evil Requiem surpasses 7 million copies sold, becoming the fastest-selling entry in the franchise
All 21 Classic Games are playable for a limited time 🎮
CCG writes - "WiZmans World Re;Try has some really interesting things going for it, and some cool mechanics and visuals that few other JRPGs do. It is clear some real care and effort went into this game. However, between the sheer amount of inevitable, unavoidable grinding; the lack of depth to most of the combat; the just-okay music and sound effects; and the moral issues that really make me question how this game got away with an E10+ rating, it's difficult for me to recommend. This is definitely a "play with a podcast or Netflix binge-session on in the background" type of game, even if you are in love with the things that make this one stand out. If that's your cup of tea, then WiZman's World Re;Try will provide 35+ hours of it for a relatively reasonable cost."
Good blog overall, and I'll address the main point in a second, but I just had to bring this up...
"As gamers we should be happy right now, we're in a 'Golden Age' of gaming, so to speak."
Disagree. The Golden Age of Gaming was from the SNES to the end of PS2 era I'd say. That's because devs weren't afraid of taking risks, didn't hold anyone's hands in games, and we didn't have people trying to infect gaming with their social justice agendas everywhere.
These days it's all about corporate greed (Watch Dogs has 5, count 'em, 5 special editions and none of them offer the complete experience. Meaning, you'll have to buy all 5 to get the whole experience), milking the same ideas over and over but with better graphics, and social justice warriors everywhere.
Now, to address your overall theme of gamers hating games, depends on what you mean. If you're talking about fanboys of one system hating the games of another system, it's not really hate. It's the same kind of group mentality that exists in things like sports or sci-fi fandom.
If you're talking about people being overly critical of games in general, which you touched on in the blog, then you have publishers and the gaming media in general for making this kind of attitude acceptable. No one is more venomous when it comes to game criticism than the pseudo-journalists of the gaming media, and publishers promote the attitude of competition to insane degrees.
That said, the thing I personally hate are all the fashionista gamers who bicker over graphics, resolution, and framerate. I swear I'm just going to post the theme song to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in every comparison or graphics article because when you see gamers arguing about which version of a game has better ambient occlusion then they may as well have their own diva theme to argue about dresses over while they do it. It's sad.
I think a lot of it has to do with the business of video game journalism.
In a quest for clicks and ad revenue video game "journalists" build hype, sensationalize things and most often try and create controversy where none should exist.
Sometimes it is in the guise of social injustice, sometimes in the guise of from rate and graphics issues, sometimes it's legitimate but often times not. Everything is overblown just to turn a quick buck and since we as the consumer have had this crammed down our necks since the internet became so mainstream we to have begun seeing things in just as sensational a way (us meaning gamers in general not you or I personally).
Our moral outrage/competitive spirit is being fueled and then exploited to make money and we buy into it, the pseudo console wars that fanboys fight whenever there is a chance is proof of it. These divisions inspire very real passions and I'm sure are driving console sales higher.
Good blog.
I also hate how some people count out any game thats not AAA, or make fun of it. Like whats happening with Drakengard 3
Since publishers / independant developers take sales for granted, it only makes sense to hurt their bottom line. The Video Game Blogging isn't much better either, so they're not without blame.
Being able to see through lies is a great ability, which is why i'm saving a lot of money myself. There are very few developers on my good side, and one of them is obviously CDPR.
The problem comes from gamers who think their console of choice is elite and that the company loves them for helping bad mouthing the competition.
They don't care. They're just trying to sell.
Golden age died when Saturn and Ps1 came out.