The Waiting Game: A Gamer’s Least Favorite Next-Gen Title7

Of course, if you’re a hardcore gamer (or just an older gamer) you’ll bitterly remember the likes of Duke Nukem Forever and Starcraft Ghost–and you might also want to tell younger gamers to get off your lawn. You waited patiently, you dreamed hopefully…then you snarked bitterly at the announcement that these games are “TBD” rather than “DO…almost A.”  (If it were DOA, it would have received extra points for breast physics.)

But, there are games out there that are effected in a more subtle manner. Take Alan Wake for example…
Gamers had been intrigued with the prospect of Alan Wake since it’s announcement at the 2005 E3. After which, interest promptly died down due to a lack of information until a trailer was unveiled at the 2008 E3 and the title was announced as “finished in 2009. But, gamers still didn’t see a finished title until 2010.

All the while, a genre-similar title in the form of Heavy Rain was being developed by Quantic Dream. Meaning, a title “finished” in 2009 was going to be competing in 2010 against a game that had been in development for–about the same amount of time–but with “2010-looking” graphics and a unique gameplay development.  And, to add insult to injury, Heavy Rain released months ahead of Wake.

Gamers everywhere were truly excited when they received the long-awaited title, however they soon found out that their princess was in another castle as the general comment seemed to be that the character was unrelatable and that everything done in Wake was done in Rain–and better.

Had Alan Wake released in 2009, it would have been one of the top games: innovative storyline and interesting tweak of a tried-and-true gameplay. However, in a 2010 world the game-mechanics fell flat next to titles that could do everything Alan could do…and more: cover features, realistic graphics, engaging story lines.

So, how was Heavy Rain able to pull the rug out from under Alan Wake? Well, that’s easy: if you old the RT and LT and sweep the analog stick you can pull the rug yourself. There’s always something more innovative, with crisper graphics on the horizon…if your game is “finished” launch!

Of course, this isn’t an argument in favor for “rushing” games to launch before they’re ready. Although rushing a game through launch often does result in some hilarious bugs: unintelligent AI, getting stuck in solid parts of the level, disappearing parts of the level (and it’s typically key pieces like the floor), and the every popular npcs that never die…

The real winners are the developers who can find the happy medium between demand and technical capability…without leaving us on the load screen of the waiting game for too long.