Opinion Fest 2008: Vaporware Award

This award goes to the RPG that is slapped in gamers’ faces, yet dangled just out of reach. The developers or publishers of these games feel absolutely no remorse towards showing off CG trailers, producing bullshots, and otherwise flaunting an unfinished game, content to let gamers and press alike derive wild speculations on everything from characters’ relationships to release dates.

Dishonorable Mention: Final Fantasy XIII – Square Enix – PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

3rd: Cry On – Mistwalker, AQ Interactive – Xbox 360

Since its announcement in 2005, Cry On has been at the top of my Do Want List consistently. The concept, the character designs, the pedigree, the promise was just too much for me to ignore. It sounded like one of the most innovative and meaningful action-RPGs we would have ever seen.

And then… nothing. Oh sure, occasionally scraps of info would show up somewhere, but nothing substantial was ever shown and fans were left to cry and pray that the game would be everything Sakaguchi had promised.

After nearly a year of no news at all, word finally came down from above that the game had been canceled. Cry On, we hardly knew ye…

2nd: Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled – Studio Archcraft, Graffiti – Nintendo DS

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exile (formerly Project Exile) has been on my radar for at least the last 3 years. Studio Archcraft, the developer, promised time and again that the game would be released soon. But as expected release dates came and went, the game’s followers would exhale a sigh of disappointment.

Finally, though, this year the game’s publisher was officially decided, and the game was slated to indeed be coming out before the end of the year. We were even promised the game as a Christmas present.

Then… nothing. No word on a delay, no new date, no reasons, just silence. When is the new “release” date this time? I have no clue, and frankly, I’m not even sure the publisher or developer do either.

1st: Final Fantasy Versus XIII – Square Enix – PlayStation 3

Though Black Sigil’s forever delay and Cry On’s mysterious silence (followed by a defeating cancellation) have been trying on our souls, no developer even comes close to the gall that Square Enix has shown regarding Final Fantasy Versus XIII. ‘Add 3 seconds of CG footage to the game’s trailer and wave it in front of the press’ is a tactic that has gotten so old and so transparent, that all it does for me now is piss me off. Maybe this works on poor, brainwashed fanboys, but it doesn’t work on me.

Listen up, Square Enix: if you have a game to show me, show me a game. I don’t want to see more CG footage until you show me the game behind it. Also, release dates, even target quarters, would be greatly helpful in determining how to gauge a game’s progress. I, for one, don’t like being told I’ll get something, but never be given a date or details. So seriously, show me the game or GTFO.