It's a new year and with it comes the hype machine. Which will be the biggest hit of 2011? Is it Bulletstorm? Or Dragon Age 2? Or maybe The Old Republic? I'm sorry to disappoint but it will more likely be Sims Medieval than any of the above. In reality, I couldn't care less. I'll leave the speculation for people who get paid for it. Unfortunately we can't all be Michael Pachters. I am a gamer, not a market analyst. Sadly many people forget that about themselves. They rather spend their time on System Wars squabbling over trivial matters than spend the time playing games. I used to be there - I hyped every promising game to heaven and back. As a result I only enjoyed the games less. Too often games weren't what I expected them to be. But that shouldn't be surprising at all. The whole point of marketing is to make the product sound more appealing than it actually is. Every preview, every interview, every trailer is marketing. Video gamers are hungry for commercials. [size=9]''Hey come check this out, it's the latest trailer for Duke Nukem Forever!''[/size] Do you remember what it was like to be a kid when you hardly knew what a game was like before you tried it? Do you remember the feeling of discovering something great? I hadn't heard of Super Mario Bros. before I tried it for the first time and I still remember the moment like it was yesterday. That and the time my friend's older brothers introduced me to DOOM are some of my best childhood memories. There are plenty more like them but rather than listen to me, take a moment to think of your own. Oh, the good times... I hadn't heard of Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga before I was purchasing it last Christmas. I had tried the demo for Divinity 2 Ego Draconis and thought it would be an ordinary RPG where you slay dragons for a living. Imagine my surprise when I flew as a badass dragon for the first time. It took me back to my childhood when every feature in video games didn't come as granted. Hyping games only ruins them. I haven't read a preview since Age of Conan came out and I'm extremely happy about it. Now I'm pleasantly surprised by games. It's much more fun to learn about a game's features by playing, rather than reading about it a year before release.