My Corner of the Interweb

I dislike hype.

I think, as a general rule, I dislike hype. I dislike people shouting at me that I'm going to love something, or even THEY'RE going to love something that they haven't experienced, seen, or played.

This is true for movies, certainly. "I'm really looking forward to X" is not the same things as "Certain to be the biggest blockbuster of the summer!"

In any case, this is particularly true of videogames. The videogame medianeeds to be more discerning and less of a hype engine. I cannot tell you how many times I've read a preview or article on a game that's coming out where the author is gushing all over a game he hasn't even played. The previews for Brute Force, for XBox, would have made you believe that it was the greatest team-based 4 player simultaneous excursion since Gauntlet II. Newsflash...it wasn't even playable.

Doom 3 has been hyped for years now. YEARS. About how great it looks, about how excited everyone is about it, about how Carmack is a genius and we're all so grateful that he's finally creating his videogame vision. OK...it looks great. Plays pretty poorly unless you're playing it on a Cray, then it's just acceptable.

I think that the media does this, not just for videogames and movies, but because people have stopped thinking and forming opinions of their own. If you think I'm kidding, witness CNN or any coverage of the upcoming election. CNN not only reports the (obviously biased) news...but tells you what it means. Any election coverage has a "political correspondent" who spins what was actually said by the candidate in question. Horrific.

Some people might say that people aren't sophisticated enough to form their own opinions, and so CNN and the media tell you what to think. This extends to the political arena, of course, where if Kerry says "Strength" 12 times in a speech, you'll think he's strong. When Arnold Schwartzenegger runs for governor, people elect him because they think he'll be a strong leader...in spite of the fact that they can't separate his political leanings from his shotgun wielding antics in the Terminator. And arguably worst of all, Bush will continue to insist that there are weapons of mass destruction hidden in the sands of Iraq, that "No child is being left behind" in spite of the fact that education budgets are being slashed and slashed again to support an unpopular war machine, and that Edwards is a poor choice for vice-president because he has limited political experience in foreign affairs...unlike himself, of course.

Peoples' actions speak for themselves. Regardless of what they say. Software stands alone. Give me the goddamned installers, and I will tell you what I think of the game. I don't need someone to tell me what I will think, I assure you.