The Religion of Release

The last game I truly anticipated with complete abandon was Black & White, and the lesson I learned from it was so sharp, so biting, that I've never anticipated games in quite the same way since. While I was enthusiastic about big name releases like Half Life 2, World of Warcraft, Halo 2, and most recently Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the anticipation has been tempered, and even openly restrained, with cynicism and a painful knowledge that despite moments of grace and brilliance, these are works of men and subject to the inherent fallibility with which we are all cursed. In short, I've become a gaming pessimist living by the credo that if I don't get my hopes up, then I'll never be disappointed. It occurs to me that this may be something of a tragedy.

As the days of Oblivion approached, I had plenty of time to watch the psychology of the fan and all of its subtle permutations. I watched with a brand of abject horror, as the most vocal and intense segment of the fanbase began to speak of the game almost reverently, with traits that seemed religious in nature. Thou shalt have no game above the one true Oblivion. Thou shalt not use thy lord Oblivion's name in vain. Thou shalt type in all capital letters and vulgar acronyms to really get thy point across. The most important element to this cult of Bethesda was what it most shared with religion, and that was unwavering faith on the part of its laity. Though these priests of Tamriel had never held the game, nor played it, nor been granted concrete evidence that this game would be as good as promised, their certainty was absolute.

I'd seen it before, and with disastrous results. I'd after all been a quiet acolyte of Black and White once, myself. And, I knew from experience that when you abandon yourself so completely to an unreleased game, you run the risk of having it all end in disappointment and resentment. Having put your faith in a game that ultimately proves to be fatally flawed is probably like being a devout Christian and having Jesus show up at the door, leave half empty glasses of conjured wine all over the house, record over everything you'd been saving on TiVo, and leave unceremoniously with all of your credit cards.

And, yet, there is joy too in the singular act of anticipating a game, regardless of its ultimate quality. It's easy to get burned by a bad game, and decide the hours you put in to reading previews, and looking at screenshots, and chatting about it on message boards, and anticipating its release were completely wasted, and as with anything when one takes the anticipation to an extreme that's probably true. But still, we wouldn't participate in the hype if it weren't fun in and of itself.

I remember an advertising campaign for Heinz that, to the best of my recollection, played back in the early 80s or late 70s in which you see a glass bottle of ketchup held over a tantalizing burger waiting to take the tomatoey goodness like a penitent sinner waiting to take communion. The wait seems, for the viewer, endless as you watch the thick and viscous sauce bulge slowly from the opening, held in place by surface tension that seems bolstered by some hyper-thin space-age polymer. And through this interminable wait, because there was a day when ketchup did not come in squeeze containers and an art to hitting a glass bottle in the sweet spot, Carley Simon is singing her hit song Anticipation.

Now we have plastic-squeeze ketchup delivery devices that distribute it evenly and quickly onto your burger, hot-dog, or in the worst cases eggs. We simply grab the bottle of ketchup, give it a good squeeze to taste, and proceed happily about our lives, never having to hit anything or pass the bottle around the table to the guy who says he knows just how to make the ketchup come out. And, yeah, sure getting on with the eating part is good enough on its own, but I kinda miss the, for lack of a better word, anticipation. Maybe Heinz's marketing firm was right; maybe waiting for ketchup is better than eating ketchup.

Ok, that may not have been their point, but it certainly can be an accurate description of other things which we anticipate. For example, waiting for Star Wars Episode I to be released was better than watching it. Waiting for Doom III was better than playing it. And, waiting for Black and White, was damn sure a lot better than actually playing it.

It would seem that sacrificing enthusiasm to save disappointment is an equally failing venture. It is the other extreme to which I've occasionally and more frequently fallen from those who proselytize the hype. I've become something of a pre-release atheist. My interest in coming titles, until I put them in my hands for careful study and empirical analysis, is usually one of a purely academic nature. I question everything, take nothing for granted, and damn sure am not interested in simply having faith. Show me the money, and then I'll spend it. Not the other way around, thank you very much, can I get an amen?

But, then a game like Oblivion comes along, a game that appears to match the quality promised. And, now, I almost wish I'd put in the time looking forward to it, because the only thing better than playing an amazing game is anticipating an amazing game and having it meet your impossible standards. Sure, we all know in our cynical hearts that it's a bunch of measured corporate propaganda delivered in large-scale tactical hype-strikes, but there's a good reason that so many people abandon themselves to the drunken ecstasy of hype. It feels good to believe in the coming of something great, even on the small-scale level of games, or music, or film, or book. It is strangely inclusive.

I loved the last days before a game I have anxiously awaited hits shelves, loved calling retailers the day before to see if maybe, just maybe, it's out early, basked in the single-minded drive to pick up the game, and, most of all, wallowed in that moment just after you've put the disc in the tray but before you've gotten to the first splash screen when the gaming universe bursts forth with unseen possibility "… is there anything better? Well, of course, the answer to that depends on the game. But, it's been a while since I did those things to that degree of optimism, and I miss it.

I'm happy as I put forward plentiful hours into Oblivion, satisfied that the game is crafted by loving and genius hands, but there's a strange emptiness in me as well when I think I have no game coming in the immediate future with which to obsess myself. For me, the fat dollop of ketchup has landed on my burger, and, sure, it tastes good, but there was a moment there when Carley was bawling out like a cat in a dishwasher, and that thick, red bulb of condiment defied gravity, and I guess maybe I wasn't paying attention to that the way I should have been.

- Elysium

Comments

To me this article is about one thing... Bottled Ketchup! God am I the only one who thinks it tasted better from the bottle? Why can I get bottled ketchup in a resturant but not in a grocery store? I want some glass arround my fry toppings! (I'm not kidding here) If anyone knows anyplace online I can order Heinz ketchup in a bottle shoot me a message! I miss it.

I want a hamburger covered in Ketchup, along with an amazing game that lives up to the hype.

To me Oblivion has gone beyond the hype, as I bought it on launch day, not quite sure WHY I was buying it, as I never got into Morrowind due to the complete lack of direction, horrible journal system and the fact that everything killed me.

Then Oblivion turned out to be a really good game.

Spore seems too damn ambitous to me, just every single part of it is ambitous in concept, and expecting all that to blend into a single game? Craziness.

Gothic 3 will be a great game as well, but people will complain that the controls are even worse than Oblivion's.

The Cylon created games will be hated as you can never win, as the cylon games are simply smarter, faster, and better than you, without cheating.

Crap. Now I have West Side Story, and Carly Simon, blended in my mental ear.

Anticpation...In Amerreka!

Staying at least a year behing the curve of the new release schedule has a plethora of benefits. Steep discounts, bug fixes and the benefit of a year of reviews hindsight are among the top of the list.

Thanks to a strong prevailing pride of ownership among the youthful gaming constituency that satisfies the publishers needs, more mature gamers can use a year's gap to line their wallet with saved cash or line their shelves with well reviewed games to a magnatude of savings, at times, reaching 60%.

"God of War" anyone?

Game previews usually end up making me angry. I love my old-school turn-based RPGs, and it seems most RPG previews are out to help remind me why the games that have given me more joy than any electronic entertainment on the planet are "outdated and dull."

Too often, I'll turn a digital page and read something like:

"And thank god they've done away with boring turn-based combat... this new iteration is fast, flexible and action-packed (not to mention combo laden (when's the last time you did 400,000 damage in Suikoden II?) destined to relieve the tedium of menu-driven combat...."

and my blood pressure starts to go up a little bit.

Then, I'll read something like:

"As usual, the talking heads spout boring plot forwarding nonsense, and thank GOD, in this one you can skip it quickly and easily to get back to the killin' in a hurry"

. Never mind that if this were a book or a movie review and I didn't even bother to mention the plot or character quirks to you I would be fired, but because this is a game, the "lesser entertainment medium (according to Ebert), the ability to skip through every possible point of intelligent discourse is a certifiable, skoal-can-tapping, l33t thumbs up!!!)

It's kind of the old "Dude, how many times do I need to read about how the insolent young prince sought the magic crystals to overthrow the evil shadow king before I can just sigh and try to click to get to the next battle?" For me, the answer should be, in addition to a John-Wayne-esque growled "as many times as it takes", a stalwart puffing of the chest and a fearsome glint in the eye.

"Does the judge, faced with his tenth murder case of the month, suddenly say "Bah! I heard it all before! Man loves woman, woman loves other man, man slices up woman! heard it all before, let's skip to the verdict here! Guilty by association!"

No, let's hope not.

It comes to my mind that, for most previews I read, I spend more time hoping that I won't find something that angers me about the new title, rather than hoping to find something that amazes me. So often I find myself going "please, oh please don't let them do _______________ or ______ or make the battle system like _________, rather than thinking gee, I hope they do ____!!! or _____!!! or wow, surprise me with __________ !!!

Puce Moose wrote:

Then, I'll read something like:

"As usual, the talking heads spout boring plot forwarding nonsense, and thank GOD, in this one you can skip it quickly and easily to get back to the killin' in a hurry"

I'd say this is fault of game companies for making most storylines yawn-worthy drivel.

"Does the judge, faced with his tenth murder case of the month, suddenly say "Bah! I heard it all before! Man loves woman, woman loves other man, man slices up woman! heard it all before, let's skip to the verdict here! Guilty by association!"

I think I have a better parallel.

Imagine that I came over to you and hit you with a chair over the head.
You: "Ow ! That hurts !"
Me: ... "should I go on ?"
You: "Yes please ! Maybe it won't hurt when you hit me with that Xbox !"
Me: (breaks Xbox over your head)
You: "Owww ! I'm bleeding ! Will you be a sweetie and hit me with that iron ? I bet this time it won't hurt at all."
...

As humans we learn to see patterns and stereotype. It is a primitive, inaccurate, but vital tool, which can often keep us away from unnecessary pain. FIRE BAD.

When I see the storyline about Dark Lord who Stole The Princess from Fat King's Castle In An Epic Medieval Environment With Kobolds In It for the 374th time, I say "Wait a second... I'm not going to hit myself on the head anymore... these are not the storylines I'm looking for... let's move along."

Please, mature gamers... don't let the preview hype influence your game buying preferences, otherwise the game review scene will just get worse... game developers will simply start spending more money on marketing and bribing game magazines than on quality game development. Bethesda needs to tell us how they managed to spend so much time and money into their latest release while pulling out a profit.
The only games I was truly happy about buying on release day was Battlefield 2 and Oblivion. I was disappointed in HL2.

Staying at least a year behing the curve of the new release schedule has a plethora of benefits. Steep discounts, bug fixes and the benefit of a year of reviews hindsight are among the top of the list.

Thanks to a strong prevailing pride of ownership among the youthful gaming constituency that satisfies the publishers needs, more mature gamers can use a year's gap to line their wallet with saved cash or line their shelves with well reviewed games to a magnatude of savings, at times, reaching 60%.

"God of War" anyone?

Nooooo doubt! I'm playing Deus Ex:IW right now, and while it is grossly inferior to the original title, I don't feel that bad about it because:

1. The game-stopping bugs have been fixed.
and 2. It was only $4.99

God of War is on my list, once I finish with Secret Weapons Over Normandy.

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