This is about reviews (of movies, games, so on) and such. Should statements of criticism include about how the product being reviewed is "overrated," "hyped too much" when judging its quality? I mean, should one of the product's faults is getting too much popularity around it, taking in too much attention and so on? Should this product be responsible for the hype and excitement around it as well as the quality of it? I believe not.

Let's take, for example, the upcoming Half-Life 2 game (I hate to use this, but it is the only example I can think of.) And, for the purpose of the thread, let's say HL2 turned out to be a really bad game. Flaws and everything. And we all know how so many expectations, attention and hype for this product surrounds it. In a review of the game, should a statement like "Valve caused much excitement and buzz in the gaming world for years with the production of HL2, but the final product disappoints many." be considered somewhat "valid" along with comments on technical flaws and gameplay issues? Thoughts?

It's obvious that if a game is popular before it's released it will completely suck.

Of course. Valve has promoted this greatly, and, if it doesn't play out to what they've made it out to be, then "over-hyped" is as valid a criticms as any other.

However, if it's completely on the end of the users, then, no, "over-hyped" isn't appropriate, because the company who made the game has no control over that.

You could apply that statement to Fable. Certainly games that are hyped are going to disappoint a few, especially games that have been in development for a long time. Features are inevitably going to be cut. Also, why'd you lower your font size before typing 'Thoughts?' ?

i think doom 3 fits this thread pretty well
now don't get me wrong, doom 3 is a good game, but there are quite a few things that could have been improved. we all know the flaws that doom 3 has ( its too dark, too plasticy, blah blah blah) but it was a very hyped up game. a lot of people got their hopes up for this game and some think id let them down

Nuff sed

Personally, I don't think so. Take Fable for example. It's not the huge, completely open-ended RPG that was promised when first announced, but it's still an enjoyable game.

Except that the hype was from the people who were/have bought the game. In cases like that, I don't think that's "Over hyping" as much as it's people expecting way too much

Isn't the hype keeping many people happy and excited? There are many, many people who actively want to be over-hyped, are there not? For them, the lifetime of a game begins a lot earlier than the game is actually available. And they are happy speculating and discussing, praising and whining even years before the game hits the shelves.

The reviewers should have a realistic view of things: The companies produce games and movies to make money, not to please the audience, although those two things are irreversibly and strongly connected to each other. Money still comes first, and advertising is part of it, no matter if it's truthful or not.

And at least hyping enhances the production of nice teasers, trailers, posters and such. At least I like to watch them, though I'm too much a realist to believe everything