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yeesh
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 113
Location: Unofficially representing Queens |
When you pay 10 bucks for a GameStop card to get 10% off all your used game purchases, they throw in a ten month subscription to this very magazine. Consequently, it's the only game mag I get, and this announcement has me thrilled as punch. I don't know what the situation is where everybody else comes from, but here in NY, GameStop's prices are the best, so agreeing to this offer just makes sense across the board. Now I'll be reading about TES4 while I'm on the can. What more do I need? |
Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:38 pm |
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TheMadGamer
High Emperor
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 487
Location: Southern California |
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
That being out of the way, maybe you misread my comment. I had no expectations regarding the "countdown" mentioned before.
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
I would have expected Bethesda to know better after hiding the development of ES IV for two years...
Hmmmmmm... I don't think I 'misread' your post inasmuch as perhaps you might have meant to communicate something different...
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
I was just pointing out why anyone would be disappointed by this though. And I understand anyone being a little peeved too.
I can understand the disappointment. After all, we’re gamers and we crave for information about the next ‘big’ thing. At the same time, I have a feeling that no amount of screenshots or info would satiate some people.
I can't really understand being angry though. The announcement 'is' the info. Gamers that didn’t build up any expectation during the countdown probably reacted positively to the announcement and the opposite probably true for people dreaming of screenshots and a completed FAQ. Bethesda doesn't owe anyone anything at this point. They can steer this however they wish.
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
But sometimes player expectations are being built-up by developers/publishers.
Sometimes. But I’ve observed many more instances on message boards discussing a game before it’s released where someone will write, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if the game had INSERT_FEATURE_HERE? Then, before you know it, INSERT_FEATURE_HERE becomes an expectation. In the meantime, several hundred other threads have popped up with, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if INSERT_FEATURE_HERE’ was in the game?
This player induced feature list (aka player hype) grows at a pace faster than the developers can respond to it. Sometimes the developer might comment that, ‘such and such feature will not be in the game’ or that, ‘such in such feature may or may not be in the game.’ Either way, there is this player induced set of expectations that grows to monstrous proportions during the 3 to 4 year development cycle that the developer never even mentioned only to be lambasted after the release of a game that they (the developer) hyped the game too much. I’ve seen this time and time again.
But while I will never disagree that developers do hype their games with unrealized features in their frantic rush to make Christmas, I think the more prevalent evil is player-induced hype, also known as, ‘expectations.’
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
Bethesda knows that players are expecting bits of news regarding TES4, and they played on that to heighten the expectation…’
See, this is where I lose you. Expectation of what? Personally, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought it would be a high probability of something to do with the next Bethesda game, but other than that, I really had no idea or expectation about what to expect.
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
…only then to turn out a rather lame news post about an upcoming magazine article....
This is reflective of the current trend with gaming magazines and publishers than it is to Bethesda’s practices as a developer. Gaming magazines are all competing with each other for, ‘exclusives.’ In the long run, this hurts gaming magazines and readers because the flow of information is so restrictive.
A few gaming mags have already written inside-the-industry editorials on the subject, if you care to know more I can find out a recent magazine that discusses this in great detail. Anyway, now that this, ‘exclusive’ environment has been created, it would take a simultaneous and collective action on behalf of all publishers and gaming magazines to stop this practice, something not likely to happen when it’s your magazine that has that ‘exclusive’ carrot dangling in front of you.
quote:
Originally posted by Ekim
When I saw the newspost myself, I thought that I would get to see something. But there was nothing. Yeah, I'm a little disapointed. I'm still excited about the news, but seeing how they built it up, I was a bit suprised that I couldn't see anything.
But there was something. There was the announcement. And there was a picture of the game as it will appear on the magazine. You were disappointed because you were expecting something different.
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The Poster Previously Known As NeptiOfPovar |
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Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:30 pm |
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TheMadGamer
High Emperor
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 487
Location: Southern California |
quote:
Originally posted by niteshade
Well it's sort of questionable weither you can say they can rest on the success of past games.
If you're referring to this...
quote:
Originally posted by TheMadGamer
When it comes to quality gaming companies who have proved themselves based on their prior game releases, hype can actually be a fun thing because based on such a company's track record, they will most likely deliver something very close to what they claim in the pre-release hype. There have been some exceptions of course. But a game company such as Bethesda has earned my benefit of the doubt.
... then you missed my point entirely.
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The Poster Previously Known As NeptiOfPovar |
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Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:39 pm |
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Rendelius
Critical Error
Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 16
Location: Austria |
Well, I can tell you what I expected: game info, screenshots, release date. They didn't produce these things, so yes, I was disappointed, yes, because my expectations weren't met.
The first thing I did was to write to Pete Hines and to congatulate him on their marketing ploy. Getting a 12 page exclusive in the largest gaming magazine was and is a good thing. I know what I am talking about. In my RL job, I work for one of the leading advertising agency networks worldwide, and I do so for nearly 20 years now. They are running a great strategy. It may be annoying for the online community, but this annoyance will only last for a week or so. After that, information will flow freely (and Pete assured me that MorrowindDot - which will be renamed to TESDot soon - will not be forgotten by them  ).
Don't forget, Oblivion won't be released any time soon, and there will be a lot of stuff coming towards you during the next weeks and months.
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Rendelius
former Senior Editor RPGDot
now at http://www.theastronomers.com |
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Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:58 pm |
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jamey333
Village Dweller
Joined: 10 Dec 2001
Posts: 24
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Can't help but notice that this one was bold. Thanks for making my point. This was abaout the most non-news item ever. This was certainly a MORE interesting, important, and informative post than the announcment on NWN2. LOL
~Jamey |
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Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:25 pm |
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guenthar
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 20 Jun 2003
Posts: 26
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Why they did this could have been because of what happened with previous games. With the first game Arena they changed it from an action game into an rpg and morrowind was originally going to be the second game and after daggerfall came out they were going to do morrowind next but instead they did battlespire and red guard and then they finally came out with morrowind. |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 1:31 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
I bow to your vastly superior marketing knowledge, Rend but it seems pretty stupid to me to have an online countdown to nothing. I can't even buy the magazine today (even assuming it was available here). And how many people collectively read online gaming sites?
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 1:39 am |
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niteshade
Guest
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Hmmm....I guess I may have missed your point, but going back and reading it again gives me the same impression as my initial one, that you are claiming that Bethesdas games are as good as their hype, which is what I'm disagreeing with. Given how you didn't bother to back up your argument though, it's probably not worth wasting any more time on. |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 2:12 am |
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Guest
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quote:
Originally posted by Destroth
I want my free blowjob. Damn you Bethsoft.
Why can't game developers give the fans what they really want.  |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 2:20 am |
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Drakton
Captain of the Guard
Joined: 14 Oct 2001
Posts: 195
Location: Monterrey, México |
Well... to me Daggerfall is one of the best games I've ever played. So Morrowind was expected with great anticipation, but was not as good as DF. I will not hold great expectations for Oblivion, for the same reason. Still, I'm happy this game is in the making. I only hope we don't have to wait another 5 years to get it. 
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"You may win a thousand fights, but you can only lose one" (Zaknafein to Drizzt - The Dark Elf Trilogy.) |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:10 am |
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Lorgosin
Head Merchant
Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 69
Location: Sweden |
quote:
Originally posted by niteshade
Well it's sort of questionable weither you can say they can rest on the success of past games. Morrowind is the only game they made that most people would consider to be good, and even there many people say it was significantly flawed. Battle spire (or whatever it was called) was awful, Daggerfall was deeply flawed and generaly considered to be awful. Red Guard was mediocre at best. If anything their name brings to mind a company that has some good ideas but which usualy fail on execution.
Arena was considered something of a technical marvel when it arrived. Daggerfall had a lot of fans once it was patched up and all the games brougt something new to gaming. As someone interested in game design (to the point where i read alot of game design books) I always find it interesting to see Bethesdas next experiment. While other companies work with a fine brush Bethesda throws on the paint buckets. The advantages of their games are huge, and so are the flaws. If you can accept that is a matter of taste. To say that Daggerfall was generally considered to be awful is a gross overstatement. I'd say it was a hate it or love it game. Anyway I agree that Morrowind is likely to be the only game most gamers (if you can call them that) have heard about. So for the fans of the series the unbroken line of interesting games (I'm talking about regular TES) will hint at another interesting experience. For the rest, well it's the sequel to Morrowind. |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:05 am |
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cfmdobbie
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 1859
Location: London, England |
quote:
Originally posted by niteshade
Daggerfall was deeply flawed and generaly considered to be awful.
I have to agree with the others here - while Daggerfall was deeply flawed, it was still a great game. I was still playing it up to the day of the release of Morrowind, and have dug it up again a few times since. But anyway.
Ammon, I know exactly where you're coming from. Woohoo indeed!
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Charlie Dobbie
=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Moderator of the Morrowind/Oblivion Forums= |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:59 am |
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El Patito
Head Merchant
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 59
Location: Sweden |
I for one think that in-game shot looks very, very nice. I look forward to finding out more about the game in the coming weeks. |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 1:37 pm |
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Guest
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Did anyone tell Beth PR guys that the mag isn`t widely distributed in the world, with only a few stores importing it directly in Europe, for instance, while PCGamer and CVG are either distributed directly or using sindicated content in other mags or as a franchise? So the countdown means nothing to thousands of Beth fans all over the world, except that they have to wait even more time for scans to show up, and left European mags silently angry with them, wich i thought was impossible.
Who does the Beth PR anyway, some amateur probably |
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Sat Sep 11, 2004 2:53 pm |
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