Remember the days when you were actually surprised by the popularity of a game the you previously had no knowledge of. What happened to those days? It seems that nowadays, gamers know so much about games before they even release that there are hardly any surprises. Whether its the fact that any game that shows a spec of potential that it gets hyped to astronomical proportions, or maybe gamers are so involved in the industry that they’ve sucked all the fun out of playing the games themselves. Whatever the case may be, this is an issue and it should be addressed.

Its funny, the only real sleeper hit that I can really think of this generation is Bioshock. I mean this game released with practically no hype at all. It actually released in the same window as Lair and Heavenly Sword. Both of which were hyped to be the equivalent to the second coming of the gaming world. Bioshock released to not much fan fare, and went on to take the industry by storm. Gamers and media outlets alike praised it for its ambitous storytelling and engaging atmosphere. Did it have the best story ever? No. Did it have the most engaging atmosphere ever? Well the jury may be still out on this one, but the fact of the matter is the fact that this game was able to succeed in the eyes of many people due to the fact that not everyone expected the game to walk on water before it even released. On second thought, one other sleeper hit that comes to mind is Left 4 Dead. It also wasn’t hyped to be the best thing since sliced bread; the game simply delivered.

All in all, it seems that gamers are too into the inner workings of Sony and Microsoft to just enjoy the games. Every Sony exclusive is hyped to the point that no game can ever live up to. They either have to “save the system” or “be the end of the 360″. Maybe if people stopped hyping the games so much then maybe every Sony exclusive wouldn’t be considered underwhelming.

Written By: bakerboy