Jeremy Dunham, Voice of Socom 4

zpr_DunhamSmash wrote:

Yes, every day.

Positive threads, negative threads -- it's all seen.

To be honest, our biggest enemy (the game's and the fans) is the fact that S4 just isn't out yet. Because there's a ton of information that can't be revealed until it fits into "the plan", speculation runs rampant and entire judgments about the game (in our favor and against) are made with minimal info. I've been in the games industry for 11 years -- including a good amount of time running one of the biggest video game websites in the world -- and if there's anything I've learned in that time, it's that games 6-12 months before release are never what they are as a final product.

That's the catch 22 that we're up against, though, as passionate fans are quick to make judgments when it comes to their favorite franchises. How many times have we seen folks swear up and down that their favorite series only gets better with every installment, or that a developer can do no wrong because of their blind loyalty to the brand or the company that makes it? On the flipside, how many times have we seen folks that are caught up in nostalgia (the most powerful force in all entertainment IMO) go psycho-crazy over any change (major or minor) that alters whatever their favorite product was? Both extremes happen all the time, and typically, they're the most vocal too.

In short, it's a no-win situation in terms of perception. We'll either be "stuck in the past" if we changed little to nothing, or "too progressive" and forgetful of the "roots" if we change a bunch of things. And that's why we've accepted that we're not going to please everyone and we're not going to try to. Instead, we're making the game we want to make that feel that it's the natural evolution of SOCOM. But, like I've said before, there's a lot of the game we've approached with the notion of what longtime fans would appreciate without compromising our vision. Unfortunately, we just haven't been able to tell you most of it yet.

*whew*