Oh long delayed games, why do you taunt me so?
I've grown so weary of games having sweet trailers and gameplay videos a year or so before the actual game finally comes out. The new Fractured video shows the beauty of spike-riding and terrain deformation. It's expected in summer 2008. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. had plenty of media in December 2004; the game just took until March 2007 to be released. 2.4 years! In May 2005, there was a trailer for a game that is still unreleased. Huxley is scheduled for release in the 3rd quarter of this year, 2.4 years after the trailer, just like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Another trailer came out in May 2005 whose cinematic quality is unrivaled to this day. This trailer was for Hellgate: London. Two years later, it's still not released. It's currently scheduled for a November release, 2.5 years after its sick trailer. Waiting this long for a game to come out is nothing short of ridiculous. Six months is bad enough but 30!? Half Life 2 stood up to the hype because it is the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time. Starting out a new IP two years late hurts its sales. I was interested in all three of the games mentioned above when I first saw their trailers. As time marches on, however, the excitement fades. New trailers are released, reigniting interest, which then fades. Gameplay and developer interviews come and go as other games are announced, promoted and released.
It's hard to stay interested in a game that's been in your consciousness for so long with no actual experience. It's like the boy who cried wolf. Eventually you just stop caring.
A: "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. came out."
B: What's that?
A: Remember the shooter that was delayed forever?
B: Oh, that? I thought that was vaporware.
Only firmly established IPs can get away with such blatant disregard for deadlines. Halo, Starcraft, even Duke Nukem Forever (if ever released) would have a bigger splash than a game you were interested in two years ago because it's desire is in your mind. There is brand name recognition, and you know what you are getting. I was jazzed when S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was debuted, but after about 12 months, my patience evaporated and I no longer desired it. Hellgate: London and Huxley find the same ambivalent fate. Those games would have to be extremely spectacular to live up to the amount of hype that has accumulated over the years.
It's like a line. People will wait in a long line for something they really want. But if some mediocre game takes two years to come out, you aren't going to have the same interest as if the line to obtain the product was a quarter the length. Non-established franchises suffer for the delays, but games with a legendary tradition can get away with unnecessarily long waits. Despite this advantage, games like GTA 4 were announced less than 18 months before release, and a trailer wasn't available until 6 months before its release. This is a reasonable timeline. Waiting over two years from trailer to game like Hellgate: London, however, is inexcusable.
Name - Tim Madsen
Forum name - Hitman
E-mail - Tim_x12@yahoo.com