PixlBit

In about a week Street Fighter V will finally be out. Considering its one my most anticipated games of this year, you would think I would be foaming at the mouth excitement for this game, and I am excited, though not to that creep extent. In fact, there is one thing that's largely damping my excitement for SFV, its SFV well its coverage at least.

 

Let's do an experiment: I want you all to stop reading this for a sec and visit the fighting game news website Eventhubs. Now when your there, count how many stories they have currently on the first page over Street Fighter V. Currently there is 12 right now as of writing this piece. Just reading the quick blurbs, ask yourself, how many of these are important to you? How many of those 12 actually are new news to you? Maybe all 12. Maybe none of them. The point I'm trying to make is that there's A LOT of stories of SFV but many of them may not be worth pointing out. A lot of FGC news sites are doing this too, however, not to the extent of Eventhubs. Of course that's news, specifically gaming news, there's going to be a lot of fluff. However, with SFV coverage, that's “fluff” seems to be taking over a lot the spotlight of the important news. For example, today it was announced that Alex would be the first DLC character coming in March as well as PS3 Legacy controller support. Tucked in that bit of info though was the fact all of this would also be coming with the challenge mode coming with this future patch as well. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't challenge mode away to get fight money, the way to buy some of this DLC? That mode won't be at launch? Why? There's a lot of gaps info still about what kind of game we will be playing come next Tuesday and I'm kind of wondering why there aren't more people asking these questions. I'm excited just as anyone else for SFV, but considering we're less than week away, maybe its time to stop talking about the fluff.

 

The goofiness of SFV's coverage is not an isolated incident. Its part of a large growing problem within every aspect of FGC: we let excitement get the best of us. Or to put in another way, we let “hype” get the best of us and don't question until its too late. Hype isn't just a buzzword in fighting games. Its a driving force, plot device, the very essence of competitive fighting games. When people get excited for a game or a tournament with fighting games, you can see its affect everywhere. That being said, hype can also be one large divider, narrow our focus, and even make mole hills into mountains (and vice versa). As SFV comes closer and closer, I'm already starting to see this with things like the news articles. Its one thing to be excited about the game, its another to nearly blot out coverage of other fighting games with one fighting game's presence, let alone not really stop an ask questions about what you're posting.

 

One final note: I don't know each person's feelings towards SFV. I'm sure there are a lot of people excited about the game as I am sure there are a lot people who couldn't care less. Whatever, your thoughts on SFV or any fighting game, I only ask that you approach things without letting hype override everything. Hype is great, especially for fighting games, but let it get out of control, and you'll miss out on important details.