The Right to be Disinterested!?

I recently picked up the latest Electronic Gaming Monthly issue and on the cover, it had a title for their cover story saying “Battlefield 3 vs. Call Of Duty: MW3”. I was interest to see what the story is about and basically it boiled down to which one will be the most successful out of the two. The magazine does a great job pointing out their strengths and weaknesses for each game. Written very well and insightful, it made me think of something else. What right do I have to be disinterested in both of them? I’m not really into war or FPS as a personal option to add to my collection of games. In fact, has any of us thought of any reason to be disinterested in games that are successful and are guarantee sells for that publisher?

As much as people are rooting and supporting Battlefield 3, we all know or can assume Modern Warfare 3 is going to sell tons. Due to its strong online following and presence in multiplayer, that main feature is what sells to younger gamers who ask their parents to buy it for them. So when I think of ringing up these games, I think of how boring and unexciting these games are going to be. That’s just my opinion. These games may have more than what they are showing and offering. Though I am going to be excited that a sell of Rhythm Heaven for Wii is ringing up and place in a gamer’s hand. Young or not, that alone satisfy me as a gamer. So where does this disinterest come from?

Part of it is coverage. Reading the stories and hearing journalist talk about it and reading the preview of some games sometimes make me roll my eyes. When I see the pictures in the magazine or online, I just write it off as another military/alien war/space fight FPS that publishers and so called hardcore gamers who are into that, bank on. Whether if it sells or not, I know its going to get a lot of attention and some numbers regardless of review ratings. No matter if there are games I see as more challenging and offer more variety, that familiar content will always win certain gamers. Should I hate on these games for that? No. I’m not being fair to these games. Since I written them off with my opinion and belief, I seem to be one who wants these kind of games to fail and not sell. Every game deserves to sell well and make money. Its just that fact of using the same thinking of design and execution of it.

This is applied to every genre in games though. People are sick or Mario games or Zelda games that don’t change their formula in their respectable games. Though must of us know that the quality and polished content is in these games are creative and massive, it feels like we done this too many times. It’s Mario. It’s Nintendo. We get it. That to many, are what they believe in. Something fresh and hip like Bioshock or The World Ends With You, brought a fresh perspective though we all knew the basic element in these games. One is a RPG and so we should follow the RPG rules. One is a shooter with RPG elements. We should follow both laws for this one. These games broke those laws though and just went for something fresh and outstanding.. That keeps my interest in some genres and in some franchises too.

Disinterest in a franchise or a system can have many factors. It can be art style or characters or sometimes the obnoxious plot. Should my right to knock some games while praising others that get little attention be something understood? At times, yes. I believe people who are so into some genres and disassociate themselves from other games, need to hear out a person reasons for their personal disinterest. Dan Hsu gave Gears Of War a 10 and gamers reacted to that score. It was a new franchise that evolve into something successful. I saw the Resident Evil 4 similarities and felt like nothing stood out from it. Knocking it because it was a shooter with not much to offer. I thought that way. I was giving this game grief and being unfair to it without letting the content and design prove itself to be something enjoyable. I cannot call myself a fair gamer when I write it off for personal reasons. I believe the Gears series is great. I have now, nothing against it.

I keep my right to stay disinterested in the other two games because I know both will sell. COD: MW3 is going to sell on name along. It has a huge fan base and people who are into the hype of which game will win are going to buy either one or both games just to give support. Activision and EA will both make money no matter what. The sad thing about it is us. I feel like we have to buy these games so that we can keep the franchise and maybe the developers alive.

So I ask, what makes you disinterested in a successful franchise?