Guess what, peeps? The next Nintendo Direct is going to happen on February 28th at 6:00pm EST. When it happens, it will reveal information about Super Mario Odyssey DLC, the next Pokemon and Metroid Prime games, and brand new Animal Crossing, Star Fox, and Super Smash Bros. installments for the Nintendo Switch. How do I know all this? Well, I have my sources. I’m not going to say what they are; you just have to take my word for it. Just kidding! None of this is real.
I was originally going to write about the joys of finding old games at the flea market, but I couldn’t help notice this trend of desperation for gaming news. Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, and Kirby: Star Allies are right around the corner alongside the third-party releases of Scribblenauts Showdown, The Longest Five Minutes, Fe, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2+, and Payday 2. Yet, everyone’s waiting on Nintendo’s next move. People are preparing to hype themselves up in ways not unlike what I discussed about before. Certain other individuals capitalize on this hunger for announcements by posing as industry insiders.
Let me ask you all this: What’s so great about leaks and rumors? If they’re true, they spoil the surprise of a game’s announcement and make people want to shoot the messenger for spoiling it in the first place. If they’re false, then other people would want to shoot the messenger for acting so smug about the possibilities of them being true. There’s no winning in this situation.
Feel free to believe me or not when I say this, but if having secret info on upcoming things is what it takes to be an “insider” then I guess I technically count as one. I have a source that, on December 2016, informed me about AtGames’s 2017 SEGA and Atari clone console plans. However, I didn’t report on it for TICGN at the time. Why’s that? Because I was told by the source not to say anything, and I know for a fact I would have hurt morale on all sides if I did. My position is no different from the “insiders” that are doing the total opposite if their statements are true. They are hurting morale, for themselves and for the companies putting out these games.
Think about Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Davide Soliani and his team were crushed beyond belief when their lovingly-crafted game was being prematurely revealed to the public eye. They spent years on this game and prepared a big surprise for E3 only for said surprise to be ruined by insiders beforehand. Given the Rabbids‘ reputation as being gaming’s precursor to Minions, initial reactions were severely soured by the possibilities of these dumb bunnies ever being alongside a top icon like Mario. There was no way it could happen. If it did, it would be such a stupid decision that Mario‘s reputation would be harmed by it. So the reactors initially thought, anyway.
So what’s the deal with the people “leaking” info now? For all I know, they’re just seeking attention at the expense of themselves. Whatever you do, pay no attention to rumors and stick to actually waiting for what comes directly from the horse’s mouth. I know this is basically the same message as the one I’ve written for my article on hype, but history has a nasty habit of repeating itself…hence why people still fall for these things.
