It happens every year. In the month or so, leading up to E3, something is bound to be leaked. Most of the time, at least two of the big three have some kind of announcement that's revealed earlier than anticipated, as does at least one third party studio. Excitement stirs, and many anticipate the full reveal of these games.
On the other hand, many think leaks are a bad thing. If a company's hand is shown early, it can give their competitor a leg up. On the consumer side, announcements are much more flashy, and exciting, when they're revealed at the event, as planned. Revealing this stuff early, just robs it of some of its thunder.
You may be surprised then, to learn that I don't think leaks are such a bad thing. In fact, I can think of three reasons, off the top of my head, why leaks are actually a good thing, so hear me out.
For one, even though I've only attended E3 once, I follow it every year, like every gamer should(seriously, it has to be in the gamer code somewhere), so I can say with confidence that the big three in particular, usually have more cards up their sleeve than they're given credit for, even Nintendo.
A couple leaks won't ruin the best of conferences. If the company doesn't have much to announce in a given year, then even one leak could be disastrous, but this early in a new gen, the race is usually on to secure as many exclusives as possible, so I don't think we have to worry. At most, I think we're looking at a game of Texas Hold'em, with a couple of cards turned up. It's still too early to know for sure, how the event is going to play out.
Secondly, leaks do have the effect of building excitement. When people hear about something big, it's bound to get people to ensure they tune in to the corresponding conference, or at least find out all the details, as soon as they're posted. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if companies leak some stuff on purpose. They often tease big announcements prior to the event, so it's not too much of a stretch to think that they would allow a full announcement to be revealed early.
Lastly, things like leaks, kick off E3 early. E3 is often thought of as Gamer's Christmas. The real Christmas holiday, technically takes place on the 25th, but the entire month of December prior, builds up to it, and it still takes a few days to wind down afterwards, even in the US, which doesn't have Boxing Day.
E3 is kind of like that too. It doesn't begin, and end, with the conferences and show floor. It takes a few days to wind down afterwards, and we get announcements leading up to the event, which are kind of like the chocolates in an advent calendar.
Sure, that last point kind of ties into my second, but I prefer to think of E3 as more than an event. It's a gamer holiday, and one that will be recognized as a real holiday, with mandatory days off, should I ever rise to power. Like all good holidays, it's a celebration, and the longer we can celebrate, the better.
E3 is upon us. What are your thoughts on leaks? Do you agree with my assertions? Leave your comments below.
Release date and expected launch time for when the Fallout 4 next-gen update will come out along with how to download.
This is a huge release being treated like a patch update but really it’s a monster in disguise…Bethesda being Bethesda, no actual release times or pre load available or file size info, sigh. All that said, clearing space on the SSD and putting the PS5 in rest mode while at work so I can play later, fully expecting snail download speeds as millions bang on their servers.
WTMG's Leo Faria: "A Difficult Game About Climbing is obviously frustrating, and I don’t exactly think it’s a fun pasttime, but it’s exponentially more enjoyable than the horrendous Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy. It’s actually beatable with enough trial and error. Its mechanics, whilst not exactly polished to the brim, work as intended, with no intentional input lag. It’s still clearly meant for Let’s Play youtubers to film themselves losing their minds over it, but it can still be a passable challenge if you’re up for the task."
WTMG's Oliver Shellding: "Overall, I think Stitch is an ultra quaint title that oozes warmth and welcome in gameplay and visual presentation, and is just such a decompression tool after a long day doing literally anything. It gives me such joy and relaxation to bring together the numbers and colors until I’ve made a bicycle or a nutcracker or whatever. I’ll do Christmas puzzles in April, it’s fine and the game doesn’t judge me. Unlock more and more pieces, don’t wait for power ups or villains because there are none, and just keep making yourself happy. If games are art, this one is a sweater my mom made for me, and I’m wearing it to keep out any and all chilly elements. But, just like mom, I’ll only pretend to listen."
I don't care for leaks, since either I am paying more attention to it or it seems like the media is taking literally any rumor regardless of how likely, logical or well done they're and writing an article about it because it could theoretically be accurate.
I personally find this annoying, since I see exciting headlines and when I look at the article, there is a blurry picture of some printer paper that has obvious spelling errors, information that is too good to be true coming from a source that is more vague than the contents of a hotdog.
Don't get me wrong, leaks can be fun if they come from reliable sources and contain factual information, but that isn't always the case and lately the unreliable leaks / spoilers are vastly outweighing the plausible ones. Even then this wouldn't be so bad, but if you heard from a friend that Final Fantasy VII HD Collection would be announced (one of the more dubious rumors that made it to N4G) and you went in expecting it, then you're probably going to be disappointed when it doesn't happen and ultimately take away some of your hype.
Long story short, they can be fun, though they can also cause expectations to be out of whack and lower your overall hype. Especially when no one is filtering information.