Count me among those pleasantly surprised by Space Invaders Extreme. Still, there's not all that much I can think to say about it. This was a tough review to write, but an easy game to recommend.
I'm suffering from E3 overload right now, fending off dueling live-Twitters and redundant news posts in Google Reader. Even the interesting stuff from this show still isn't that interesting. It's a little surprising that Final Fantasy XIII is no longer PS3-exclusive, but what does that really mean for anybody? Exclusives are much more newsworthy than non-exclusives.
Anyway, I've railed against the culture of hype before, and I don't really have the energy to do it again. Suffice it to say that much of what comes out of E3 -- even in its newer, sleeker iteration -- is not news. It is publicity. The message is controlled fully by the marketers. By now, you'd think people would know better.
In a perfect world, maybe the only way we'd find out about any games would be by taking them off the shelves at random and discovering what awaited within. Probably not worth the effort pining for that world.
5 comments:
It means a lot to those of us who, only having enough money for one current system, chose the 360 for it's wealth of games, and were sad because FFXIII was the only PS3 exclusive we really cared about!
That said, I agree with everything you've said. I'm tempted to turn off Twitter for the week, as it's getting ridiculous
As editor of www.gamingsa.com I feel it necessary to at least take note of the events of E3 but as someone not attending the event, journalist or otherwise, I see no need to bring much of what is announced to my community. Why? Because it's mostly just that, announcements. Mostly, confirmations or denials of useless rumours that have also been circulating.
However, I hold this opinion because anything I bring to my community will simply be the rehashing of news posted by "journalists" already on site and via competing websites.
That said, if I were to personally attend E3, I have no doubt I'd be in the mix too, liveblogging, producing thirty articles a day and meticulously cataloging every aspect of my adventure via Twitter.
The most "exciting" thing to come from E3 for me has been the recent Fallout 3 trailers, but as already noted, this game isn't coming to my country (through any legal means) and as such, I'm now more pissed off than anything with the current state of game and politics in my country.
Now, back to Google Reader in the hope something interesting jumps out and grabs my attention.
I've really got to edit my comments before posting...
"However..." "That said..." Now..." Mostly, mostly..."
PR doesn't control what's coming out of E3. There's nobody stopping games journos from writing what they think about the games that they're playing or the press conferences that they're seeing.
Problem is most of us really aren't stopping to think. We're just regurgitating what we see in live blogs and limp previews.
Daniel, I can't even summon an adequate reaction to the news about Fallout 3 in Australia. That's just nonsensical.
Gus, that's what I mean. It's not just NeoGAF posters who are breathlessly passing along every nugget from the show. And it's not to say that I'm getting no value from any of this -- I thought the coverage of Gov. Perry's speech was all around pretty good. But the bulk of the news seems to useless.
(I've also really been enjoying Jeremy Parish's non-stop coverage of Mega Man 9.)
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