it surely had more hype and talk than things like Bioshock and Mass effect, and probably Super Mario Galaxy as well.
Bioshock and Mass Effect walked away with a number of "Best of E3" awards and have quite a bit of momentum. And a significant difference between the 3 games you mentions in contrast to Heavenly Sword would be this: The 3 developers have all delivered critically successful games in the past. Ninja Theory is a newer developer. Not a dig on NT (new guys can show the old dogs how it should be done quite often), only that on a barometer the newer unproven studio will have a difficult time getting the mindshare away from companies like Nintendo and BioWare.
A lot of games have shown potential -- immesne at that -- and still flopped. One of the things you look at when anticipating a game is, "Can the developer really deliver a complete package that is polished and balanced?" Companies like BioWare and Nintendo have looong reputations of doing exactly this, so for some -- as game preference/anticipation is a taste issue -- it will be far easier to anticipate a game from a proven developer than a game from a newer developer.
Me thinks you have a short memory, as there was quite a bit of coverage on this game -- hell, we've seen parts of it playable publically, which is more than Crysis, Mass Effect and Bioshock had (SMG was playable at E3, iirc).
And to someone in the press, who has played the games behind closed doors, would shrug their shoulders. It is the difference between cosumers seeing a consumer playable demo and a industry professional having more access.
There hasn't been much news/screenshots/vids/etc. recently, but to say those games had more far media attention/hype/anticipation/etc. behind them seems rather silly to me!
Major media sites have been covering Mass Effect and Bioshock with a steady stream of media since early last year (fall 2005 even for Mass Effect).
And
It's an opinion of gametrailers and I realize that, but it doesn't mean I agree with it (and judging by posts on other forums, I'm not alone in wondering where HS was in the list), and I'm not quite sure why people are trying to justify it.
I'm kind of shocked there are three posts defending the lack of HS, actually. Especially when two of them claim there hasn't been much coverage of the game -- are people's memories that short? ...Maybe that's the problem.
"Recently" for Heavenly Sword is putting it mildly. There was the playable E3 demo, but beyond that there has been little media. When was the last bunch of updated screenshots showing the games progress? A handfull in September -- 4 months ago. Before that we had a couple handfuls in July, and a couple in June. Some media from E3 2006 where there was a limited demo, and then you stretch back to E3 2005.
http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/700/700186/imgs_1.html
I think the problem is that in
your anticipation of the game
you are inflating your memory! And to do so you are doing the same things to Mario, ME, and Bioshock that you feel is unfair to HS.
I wouldn't say there has been a lot of media for any of the 4 games you are debating, but I have seen a LOT more gameplay of Mass Effect and Bioshock than I have of Heavenly Sword. I have seen how Mass Effect's dialogue system works in detail as well as a couple various combat situations and demonstrations of various technologies. Bioshock had a lengthy video demo demonstrating the back story in detail, the basic principles of the game, and showing how the user will interface in the world and how making decisions is a focus of the gameplay. This on top of showing off a number of enemies and technologies.
Having watched a good deal (all?) of the footage for HS, ME, and Bioshock I would say IMHO that I know a LOT more about the general direction the two MS titles is going, especially in terms of actual gameplay and the direction the game is going in terms of new features and mechanics and user interactivity.
I absolutely can see how a gamer or someone in the press could have Mass Effect in their top 10 and leave out Heavenly Sword. Mass Effect comes from BioWare (!), won a number of E3 2006 awards, and has had a bit of media and
gameplay footage.
And this coming from someone who is hating the ME pseudo FPS (make it a real FPS for combat!! darn it!) and is much more excited for the combat system Ninja Theory has demonstrated at E3. I have never played a BioWare of Ninja Theory game and don't own either of the consoles, but I think the "lack of media" is a valid point as well as the reality that proven franchises (Halos, GTAs) typically are the most anticipated, followed by new IPs from well established developers. Then followed by the new IPs from newer developers.
The 'new guys' need to do something to totally distinguish themselves to make these sort of lists... like release a demo over the PS3 network (
I am dreaming ) or at least -- minimum! --release a steady stream of weekly content updates (movies, screenshots, 3D screenshots) and combind it with a powerful weekly community blog that highlights all the little things that make the game special and advancements in the dev process. Sign up for an IGN blog and do monthly blogs there, and most importantly start leaking cool techy info and shots to certain tech gaming sites to get even more exposure, word of mouth, and such
)