Relentless negativity

I watch every E3 with the understanding that these companies are trying to sell me something. So the PR stuf is expected, and does not bother me at all. That is what this show is for. It's a marketing expo, and it always has been.

I have no problem ignoring the negativity, and mainly just watch the show for an idea of what's coming.

@benpicko: I think that being a bit snarky about the weird awkward nature of the press conferences is part of the fun of E3 for those of us who don't attend the show. Because they are weird and talk in weird ways sometimes. Like when they catch on with buzzwords about "We've been listening to what you the players want" and just repeat them a couple dozen times through the day. Or when EA bother to have a press conference which is sports games (which I'm sorry but annual sports games are really inherently cynical themselves so I think we're allowed to be a bit cynical about them) and then a bunch of conceptual stuff and a video of Dragon Age 3 that made it look like an action game. Now there was totally stuff there that I like, but if you're trying to sound

E3 is super exciting, but at the same time, it's the industry selling itself and sometimes it is healthy to take that with a pinch of salt. If you looked at my Twitter/Facebook during the conference I'd probably mentioned more of the bad things and the awkward things. Because it's easier to be funny about that stuff, about business buzzwords, about a conference full of games 18 month away from being finished, and a comic book guy going on for ever about a TV show that I didn't sit through the conference to watch. But that doesn't mean I'm not excited. There's a lot of stuff cool stuff. But a bit of cynicism towards the inevitable bullshit of industry press conferences is healthy, it doesn't mean I'm not hyped for even the little things like an updated Grim Fandango.

Yeah, the only press conference yesterday that was worth mocking or bitching about is EAs. It reminded me of when i was in highschool and forgot to do any work for a class presentation and bullshitted my way through it.

I do get sorta bummed out when people bitch and hate one something just because its not for them. Ubisofts games looked pretty good overall, both microsoft and sony had alot of cool looking games shown as well. There weren't really any games that blew my pants off, but so what? There were alot of cool games, most of which i dont really want and thats ok.

People are just negative because its easier to hate something than like it. You can hate on something to feel "above it" and feel better about yourself. Also a bit sick of the staff being so jaded and cynical as well. I opted to not watch their commentary since they were just mocking stuff they havent even seen yet like a bunch of jerks (plus the audio mix was awful)

These things.

CG trailers do absolutely nothing for me, and of the handful of games that showed gameplay, most of them either looked like heavily scripted demos or just weren't interesting to me. I'd rather be cautious now and pleasantly surprised later than get super hyped now and then be furious when the game they deliver doesn't match the game they showed at E3.

That hit the nail on the head. Be your own negative self, but don't try to drag me down into your pit of despair when I'm genuinely excited for the future of my favorite hobby. Usually when you see someone post something positive about a game, it's mere minutes before they're called any sort of names and their opinion is immediately devalued because it's positive.

This makes most comment and forum sections a hive of negativity and complaints, because the positive people don't want to voice their opinion, or are off doing something other than seething about a video game on the Internet.

It's sad, and makes the entire industry look like garbage.

Am I one of the few people who didn't think that GB was overly negative? I mean I know they were making fun of stuff, some more than others, but they seemed excited and interested about a lot of games as well. I don't know it seemed like sometimes they made fun of games that they were excited about which I don't think is bad, you can like something and still make fun of it for some of its dumb aspects. Huh I guess I just didn't think it was that bad, but then again I always avoid the comments/chat sections during e3, not just because of negative comments but because any chat seems to turn dumb during any big event. Like what you like and don't let the comments get to you.

Everything will be liked by some people and disliked by others, but negativity becomes the default in an untrusted setting (ie: the internet), because it's harder for other people to make fun of than optimism.

You risk nothing by saying everything looks bad, but when you say something looks good and you like it, you're putting yourself out there to be crushed!

How terrifying.

The thing that makes me angry is the people saying things like "E3 has been boring so far", or "I've seen nothing interesting yet...". Really? do you even play games...? sometimes I think the people that make these sorts of comments don't even play games at all.

This reads like you haven't experienced much. You seem to think there is only negativity- to any extreme- when it comes to video games.

I recommend you get out more, see the world, see sights, get involved in programs. You'll come to find this type of thing is everywhere, not just the internet, and is not just confined to video games or it's communities.

The only thing relentless is the naivete some have on the internet like "negativity" in it's most concentrated form is only present on the internet and to video games. That is simply untrue.

I feel your opinion is healthy minded and well balanced so i decided to break the internet forum trend and reply to you instead. good job.

@somberowl: I play games. In fact, I played half of these exact games last year. That's why I'm bored.

Or should I be psyched that I can replay Halo 1-4, GTA V, The Last of Us? I love those games but it's not exciting.

For Halo 2 they actually bragged that the multiplayer would be exactly the same as it was 10 years ago, a tacit admission that they've done nothing good with it since then.

This.

There are a gaggle of exciting things that have come out of this E3. It's fun to be excited about the coming horizon.

Stones are just easy to throw.

@sin4profit: Nod and wink, ole boy.

@wrighteous86:

You remember how much people complained when Kinect features were added to the Halo 1 port?

@disaya: I have to say, I never meant to infer that Giant Bomb was the source of the negativity - I am thinking more about the general public, and even then more twitter than here. GB hit a really good balance between criticism and hopefulness in their commentary, and didn't just lose all hope in any of the games shown due to first impressions.

I donno, sounds like OP's pretty stressed out about all this.

It's easier to be cynical and snarky than optimistic and hopeful.

Personally, the growing negativity in the medium (particularly the journalism aspect) is highly offputting and something I'm going to actively avoid in the future.

I play games for fun. I don't need that negativity in my life. Nobody does.

There was actually stuff to be upset about last year so the negativity was understandable and necessary. Huge industry shaping policies that could have potentially changed how the medium was consumed. This year....I don't know what anyone would be upset about that holds any weight. Maybe EA phoning it in or Sony talking about a TV show for 5-10 minutes. Nope. This year was super tame. People are just finding stuff to channel the rage they became accustomed to from last years infamous E3. I know I was up in arms and wrapped up in the negativity last year.

This year they've showed a lot of games and one of them is Zelda so I don't have anything to complain about.

If people don't speak out against not liking the direction the industry is taking the industry doesn't change. Pretty simple really.

The Order is a great example of the kind of game that I hate, where the developers clearly wish they were just making movies but don't have the talent to make it in that industry so they turn to the game industry with a bitterness for the medium. Here's an interview with the director, and a choice quote I've picked out from it.

So of the three key aspects of a game - visuals, gameplay and story - which would you say was your priority with The Order 1886?

I think story and visuals are very high. Gameplay is something that... it's a game, we make games, we can't get around it. We love games, but we also love telling stories, so I think story is always going to be at the top because it's what we start with. It's at the top of the pyramid and everything else supports that. I think it'd be more challenging to make a game for the gameplay's sake, then try to make a story that fits in there.

He backpedals a bit, but clearly he's coming at this from the perspective of story being the important thing and the game actually being enjoyable to play secondary. I'm not against story in games, the interactivity and possibility of branching storytelling allow for some interesting things and I really love games like Alpha Protocol and Virtue's Last Reward that take advantage of these possibilities, but The Order is very clearly just cribbing from film rather than taking advantage of the medium. As games like it and Uncharted push the industry farther towards mirroring film rather than finding its own identity I grow more disinterested in the industry and push back, and I think other people should make their voices heard too. If you like film so much go make a film, I want a video game.

Also you can make a video game with a heavy focus on story that still has interesting gameplay, just look at Metal Gear. I don't think Metal Gear's story is very good, but it doesn't matter because the gameplay is engaging and a unique take on stealth. The Order is just another shooter.

I can empathize. I get really sad seeing the large amounts of negative, dismissive, and overall mean bullshit so much of the internet is made up of. Especially around this time of year. So many people actually want to type words into a text box to let people know their disdain for something. They like to talk about things they don't like. My threshold for being exposed to that stuff has gotten increasingly smaller as time goes on.

The way it plays out is me being super excited about something, to just being upset by the end of it because so many people decided to go on a tirade explaining why they think it sucks. At some point I might just have to wash my hands of it all.

So you're not excited about any of the games shown...? Far Cry 4, Sunset Overdrive, The Witcher 3, Dragon Age 3, No Mans Sky, The Order 1886, all the new Nintendo stuff, Bloodborne, Evolve, Destiny, Scalebound, Crackdown 3, new Tomb Raider, The Division, Assassins Creed, Battlefield, Call of Duty, The Crew, Metal Gear Solid.

I mean not all the games shown are my cup of tea but theres plenty to be excited about. When people can't get excited about anything shown this year I have a hard time understanding them and question if they even play games...

Grim Fandango?

I don't know man. What they showed of The Order reminded me of Dragons Lair which is an absolutely great game that doesn't give a shit about gameplay. Obviously they aren't one to one but in concept they seemed really similar. The Order gameplay they showed switched seamlessly between cutscene and gameplay and offered the player only brief chances to interact (shoot the fucking werewolf) with the game. Dragon's Lair is the same way. You watch a cutscene for a few seconds and then have to hit series of buttons to move onto the next screen. A lot of people will understandably think that this sucks but I thought it looked freaking awesome and a really great way to break up the monotony of a normal third person shooter.

Every exclusive is both the best and worst thing ever for some people on the internet.

That admission is why I'm interested in buying the game. I'd love to play some Halo 2 multiplayer again. Because it was fun.

I don't see that as them admitting they've done nothing good. I see that as them pointing out they haven't updated it or anything, but kept it true to the original game.

There's your problem.

Fuck Yeah. Enthusiasm! See!

I was talking about the chat on the stream and didn't really even put any thought into them when I said that, so if you are on of the few people that don't think that then I am too.

Do you realize how many sequels and/or remakes you just listed?

There are just as many new IPs there as there are sequels and most of the sequels look pretty good, even the ones that you wouldn't expect to look incredible

For the record: I liked the show so far ... there was a bunch of stuff I want to know more about. I also enjoyed Watchdogs and think Borderlands 2 was funny ;)

Yes, doesn't mean I can't be excited for them.

It absolutely doesn't, but you listed them in your reply to a guy who said he wasn't interested in playing the same games again.

Is Relentless Negativity the followup to Depression Quest?

NeoGAF. I used to read it and it would just annoy me (like it seems to be for you). Now I don't and even thinking about those reactions now, I'm just happy knowing I feel like you (hey, it's maybe not for me, oh well).

I think it's a very toxic place and is certainly not much fun.

Sequels are not the same games. Remakes are, and is what he said he wasn't interested in.

I've played a lot of sequels that were a lot different than the game before them. There's no real point to what you're saying. There are experiences all over the map: familiar and more experimental. If you don't like one particular game, there is more for you.

I get being bored of AAA or whatever, but hey, there's a smaller market that fits what you're looking for. There are multiple cRPGs and tacitcal RPGs coming out and set to come out soon. Those were dead genres years ago. Things are fine.

Yeah, it bugs me too. It's gotten to the point that I just ignore comment sections around E3 time--or, indeed, pretty much any time something I genuinely like the look of makes an appearance. I understand some amount of the negativity, but a lot of it just feels knee-jerk and incredibly lazy. It's not being contrarian any more; it's just the accepted thing. No one seems to like anything, with a few oddly arbitrary exceptions--No Man's Sky, for example. I mean, make no mistake, I am fucking pumped for No Man's Sky, but there's just as much to be cynical about with it as there is any other game that isn't out yet.

It's the prequel

I didn't say I'm not excited about anything, but it has been lackluster.

I'll probably get around to those remasters I mentioned, plus Grim Fandango. But playing prettier versions of games I already own and have played in the last few years is not exciting, no.

Of the games you mentioned, I'm interested in Dragon Age 3, The Order 1886, Rise of Tomb Raider, and Call of Duty: AW, but hesitant about all of them enough that I'll wait to hear gamer/review consensus before I get too invested, because all of them are very iffy prospects to me.

I'm excited for the new Metal Gear, Evolve, and a lot of the new Nintendo stuff, but that's only a handful of games that I'm interested in without reservation. E3 used to offer me more than that. I'm not being a downer, I'm just saying that for my specific interests this year was mostly just eh.

And like others have said, that's a lot of sequels and remakes -- which are fine, don't get me wrong. I love them for a reason, but they used to be released along side plenty of new IPs and new ideas. This E3 didn't have many of those at all.

The biggest surprise for me was a remake of Grim Fandango. It would have been Evolve if that hadn't been shown already. So those are my two big surprises. A remake and a (relatively) new idea. I'm not being down on sequels and remakes. I'm just saying they aren't exciting. E3 used to be more exciting and innovative.

I agree it was fun. And it will be fun to play again online. But it's not exactly thrilling. It's just "oh cool" I can play this again.

Wait, what!?

Being cynical is considered cool on the internet.

Not sure if you're serious, but Sony helped Double Fine convince Disney to let them release Grim Fandango on PS4 and Vita (and probably PC), and they are going to remaster and update it a bit.

And I can't fucking wait. One of my top 5 games of all time.

I expected the King of Video Games to be on top of this shit.

I can identify with some of the negativity. There's nothing that has blown my mind, no "This is what the future of games are" at the show, just a lot of safe stuff. On the other hand, it's still safe stuff that I like. Maybe we all just need to adjust our expectations a bit.

@demoskinos said:

There's a grain of truth to this, but what confounds me is that - from what I've seen of E3 - there are a lot of games to look forward to. Even if there was a lot more Sims, EA Sports, Ubisoft Fitness, and Dancing Games than I would have liked (which admittedly is zero), there was still plenty shown that looked interesting at the very least, and made me excited for the next year.

Especially compared to the last two or three years where there was nothing that interested me (save the odd announcement like MGS5), I'd call this E3 a win. Hell, we even got confirmation that DOOM 4 is coming and that project looked to be in dire straits for years. I don't get it, just what are people looking for in E3 aside from an idea of what's coming over the next year?

@oldirtybearon: I'd agree with this. Every system seems to have 3 or 4 games that a good percentage of people are pumped about. I'd definitely call that a win.

It's the first I've heard of it. I generally don't do E3.