Codemasters Makes A Mockery Of The Gaming News Cycle

We’re hesitant to write up posts when games are announced without any further context. There are too many issues to consider, the most important being that it’s a terribly dull read when you can’t offer more information than: “Yo, the publisher says this goddamn thing is gonna totally happen you guys”.

One of the other reasons is that it’s too easy to get overexcited and delve into stupid clueless speculation. Yesterday Codemasters announced something to do with the return of ZX Spectrum star “Dizzy”. The internet, or at least the British subsection of it, was ablaze with excitement about new content in a much beloved series.

Today we’re all (most notably Destructoid) saddened that this isn’t a completely new title, it’s instead a port of Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk that will soon be released on iOS. Not to sell it short, but that’s hardly worth the same Brake-Pedal-Hitting reaction as a completely new take on the franchise.

I feel like bringing this up now because Codemasters have discovered and latched on to maybe the most horrifying technique that could ever cripple the games journalism industry. We like to call it the “Tom Sawyer” principle: if you pretend that what you’re doing is of the utmost importance, you can get people to believe it. The game announcement is mutton dressed as lamb, only it’s more like a battery egg trying to pretend it’s free range.

What does all this mean? I guess I just hope that it won’t cause every company that feels the can spare the budget turning every announcement into a media frenzy with a clever trailer and a silly promotional website. It’d be bad for everyone! We might get to a point where we’re tricked into actually caring about something that fucking Koei puts out; that’s a horrible day for the entire world.