If you didn’t think that EA and Activision had some sort of rivalry going on, perhaps hearing that EA thinks it can compete with Halo with its incoming shooters and the fact that EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said on record that Crysis 2 will be a “Halo killer” would convince you otherwise.Remember the last game that was touted as a “Halo killer”? That would be Guerrilla Games’ Killzone, which was hyped up to be not just Sony’s answer to Halo but topple it from the FPS throne. Well that didn’t happen and Halo was able to remain on its throne.
You have to be careful when calling something a “Halo killer” You have to deliver something that isn’t just good, or even great but something so special that it manages to make a fan who considers himself loyal to one brand, switch to another.
With that said, I feel hype is a very important aspect of gaming. It’s a way of getting people excited for a game and keep them interested as the months or even years) of waiting for a game can be unbearable.
Of course it has backfired in the past, with the best example being the multi-platform game JVC’s Rise of the Robots that was meant to be a revolutionary beat ‘em up that made Super Street Fighter 2 look old. Instead – while it may have looked good – it suffered from horrible controls and dull gameplay.
So you can see hype as a double-edged sword and; it’s something that Train2Game students will have to contend with warily; if they don’t promote their game enough it could see all their efforts wasted due to poor sales/downloads and if they hype it up too much, it could annoy those who were interested and disappoint those when it comes to playing the game.
A good way of hyping is through developer diaries (whenever by video or text), which shows the project is progressing. It’s somewhat a way of promoting a project without going overboard as well as being able to still keep people interested and even more eager for the game. You can check out one such diary from Adarakion Games, founded by Train2Game student gnipper, here.
