The gaming industry sucks now, no one can have surprises anymore

I love video games. I love reading about them. I love getting that feeling of excitement when the official trailers tease you.

I don't like it when everything is spoiled in the form of "leaks" now.

You remember how the Mass Effect 3 story got leaked online? Just a few days ago AC3 got revealed a few days earlier than planned by Ubisoft? And just now, the new Valve console "rumored"?

Official marketing does what it does best, feed the fans teasers and hyped. It is controlled and precise in getting a reaction and speculations from us. It just isn't fun anymore speculating and discussing and waiting for the next trailer to be out, when you can read it online weeks and weeks before they go official. Remember the Modern Warfare 3 leak which basically exposed EVERYTHING? It must have been super shitty for the guys at Infinity Ward and I'm glad to see them pulling through and still have confidence in their project. And just a few days ago, how Ubisoft was teasing us a reveal a week after? They're basically forced to reveal it RIGHT NOW with all the official artwork out there.

Leaks have always been around in the industry but they were never huge. Sometimes gaming presses try so hard to get their articles some attention they spoil the fun for everyone. I don't know what you guys think, but I personally like it when stuff is officially revealed and i can actually be happy and not guilty of reading about it.

I admit that it sucks to have things spoiled ahead of the schedule, but when it's just marketing and things like that it doesn't seem so bad. If anything, I got way more excited about a possible Assassins Creed 3 when shady, unconfirmed rumors and images were floating around with tales of Native American assassins stalking redcoats. I have more of a problem with actual game details being spoiled, and still shake my fist (lightly) in the general direction of the Arkham City coverage.

But to be fair, the Mass Effect 3 spoilers have saved a lot of people a lot of money and frustration.

My solution: don't read things that look like spoilers.

So leaks are somehow less surprising than official teases.

GG life, it was a good run.

That's a product of the age we live in. Anything we want can be delivered near-instantly to our phones, TVs, computers, etc. Before, you lived in ignorance, because there wasn't a such thing as the "internet". You'd have to wait for the issue of Gamepro to see new photos from an anticipated game, not minutes after the trailer hits the web. The rumors about new consoles would hit months after they were relevant. And so on.

It's not just him thinking this, it's everyone. I remember at e3 two or so years ago, every journalist was writing about how boring the keynotes were, especially sony's, because all the information had been leaked beforehand. Leaks are like how everyone is writing articles now about how porn is ruining actual sex. No one has the self control to keep from looking, but the end result is that everyone is complaining that's its making their lives worse.

The game industry has more leaks in it than the Iraqi Navy.

@JazGalaxy said:

It's not just him thinking this, it's everyone. I remember at e3 two or so years ago, every journalist was writing about how boring the keynotes were, especially sony's, because all the information had been leaked beforehand. Leaks are like how everyone is writing articles now about how porn is ruining actual sex. No one has the self control to keep from looking, but the end result is that everyone is complaining that's its making their lives worse.

That's actually a pretty good way to put it. We can be blind to this if we want to, but will we choose to when it's right in front of us?

If you don't want things spoiled then dis-connect yourself from gaming blogs and communties. Leaks are going to happen its part of the industry. I've had numerous games spoiled for me but in the end having a game spoiled doesn't ever impact my fun. Who cares if I know the twist in Bioshock ahead of time or who the killer is in Heavy Rain? Both were still fun for me regardless. I think people are way too hypersensitive to spoilers.

I agree it sucks that everything comes across as a "leak" but I'll tell you what, when I saw that Assassin's Creed poster I was still pretty damn excited.

Somehow Kanye West and Jay-Z managed to put out the most anticipated album of 2011 without any leaks. So that was cool.

I dunno, I choose to ignore leaks, but I also tend to avoid as much preview coverage as possible. Previews set expectations, and I'm not a big fan of developing those inorganically. The preview cycle is certainly part of that problem, and some games simply don't preview well.

There have been genuine surprises, of course. Nobody leaked anything about Yakuza: Dead Souls until a few months after the game was announced.

That Twisted Metal reveal was a total surprise two E3s ago. Just listen to the crowd!

Resident Evil 6 was also a fantastically shocking reveal. Not that it was coming, any idiot could tell you it was being made, but just how awesome the trailer was still was a good surprise. Or what about The Last of Us being revealed at the VGA's a few months ago? Once again you can hear the crowd. Sure, sometimes things get leaked but it's not like it happens all the time. To say that the gaming industry sucks now is a huge overreaction.

Cut yourself off from reading any game news than. It's really easy.

It's pretty easy to avoid leaks. If you see something with the title Mass Effect 3 story leak you might want to consider not clicking on the link.

I don't really see the big deal about the AC3 thing. It was one piece of information about the game and you're going to have the same reaction to it the first time you see it no matter the source. It doesn't ruin anything about playing the game in the slightest unless you were planning on trying to go into AC3 with no idea what time period it would take place in.

The same games will come out over and over again until they lose money. I have no idea how anything can be spoiled for you knowing that.

@ShadowConqueror said:

The game industry has more leaks in it than the Iraqi Navy.

Solid The Departed reference.

The human population sucks now, I remember when they weren't just a herd waiting to buy corporate feed.

Full story leaks aren't great for anyone involved, but rumors and small leaks are beneficial, since it gets more people talking than a press release does. People like to feel like they're getting insider information that they're not meant to know about, without the PR speak and bulletpoints that official announcements are riddled with.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH I KNOW AC3 STARS AN INDIAN 3 DAYS BEFORE I WAS SUPPOSED TO THE GAMING INDUSTRY IS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

I'm so dumb a leak could drown me and I wouldn't notice that a game was spoiled along with its reveal.

I have just learned to try and keep an eye out for spoilers and reveals. It's tough when sites just blab the big reveal in news headlines instead of just saying "Hey! Read inside for info about game!" like nice non-douchebags would do. The hardest part I find though is if you listen to podcasts, because even if you try skipping ahead you can some times go back to see if they are still talking about it and hear something you didn't want to.

meh, yeah but it happens. remove yourself from the internet.

sometimes leaks can be good as it adds more hype towards the game. other times it leaks too much information.

@nintendoeats said:

My solution: don't read things that look like spoilers.

This

Hey, guess what? I have no idea what happens in ME3, didn't see the AC3 stuff until it was officially revealed, and don't believe or give a fuck about the Valve Bx rumors.

I love video game too

I don't think its the game industry thats at fault, its that everyone has a computer with internet access and information can be spread in the matter of seconds, whereas in the 90's you had to rely on magazines for your source of info most of the time.

Bioshock Infinite was also a huge surprise. Levine flatout said to check the website before a certain time when they're new game was announced, and if you listened, you got to see what new surprises there are for a Bioshock game before every website have images ruining the setting and such. It was great

I have no problem avoiding spoilers and leaks for games I don't want spoiled. Just don't read threads or articles involving them. *shrugs*

For games I don't mind being spoiled, leaks are a terrific way to keep me excited for them. SFxTekken, for example; each new leak rekindled my interest for it over the past year.

game reveal leask get me more exicted, just look at all the AC3 stuff. i try to aviod story stuff by ussally avoiding topics and news with the game init. i navoided heavy rain spoiler a year after it came out and the event in the game were great becaue of it.

@JazGalaxy said:

It's not just him thinking this, it's everyone. I remember at e3 two or so years ago, every journalist was writing about how boring the keynotes were, especially sony's, because all the information had been leaked beforehand. Leaks are like how everyone is writing articles now about how porn is ruining actual sex. No one has the self control to keep from looking, but the end result is that everyone is complaining that's its making their lives worse.

Porn improved my sex life dramatically.

It's not the industry's fault that the internet now exists and everyone wants everything NOW NOW NOW. People have lost patience due to the ease of technology. Technology is great, but it has ruined people. Hell look at any 12 year old type on Facebook, every other word is guaranteed to be spelled incorrectly or be an abbreviation for a 3 letter word.

@Mesklinite said:

@nintendoeats said:

My solution: don't read things that look like spoilers.

This

QFT. If the leaks are for a game you really care about, avert your gaze and read something else.

Case in point: I'm excited for Mass Effect 3, and I feel like that recent trailer has spoiled some of the story's surprises. In this case it's the publisher trying to overhype a game that will basically sell itself anyway.

It's like you just admited that you hang with killers and thugs but are surprised and pissed off when shots are fired....

Stop exposing yourself to it and you won't have this problem, otherwise you have no real reason to complain.

I like hearing leaks, they can surprise you as they may have been something you weren't expecting like the syndicate leak, that was unexpected, never thought syndicate would ever be remade and that leak led to good news about the game. Leaks can be both good and bad. They will continue and I think you'll find that most games companies are generally leaking this info themselves.

@aspaceinvader said:

I like hearing leaks, they can surprise you as they may have been something you weren't expecting like the syndicate leak, that was unexpected, never thought syndicate would ever be remade and that leak led to good news about the game. Leaks can be both good and bad. They will continue and I think you'll find that most games companies are generally leaking this info themselves.

Now imagine if Syndicate was announced out of nowhere. People probably would've flipped about it if a trailer came out and that was the first thing they saw. Then the Starbreeze logo crashes onto the screen and its even more of a surprise.

Instead we got rumors about it happening a long time before it ever got announced, and people wouldn't stop bitching about it being an FPS before they even saw the game.

Continuing with this trend, it seems Microsoft's announcements for Halo, Forza Horizon and Fable Heroes have just been leaked (if these count as surprises).

You could probably avoid news like this, if you really wanted to, but I do miss the days of the "megaton announcements" at E3 that nobody saw coming.

If you know that there is leaked coverage out there, then don't read it.