Since the recent Nintendo Direct about Pokemon people got upset over that it wasn’t about a rumored Pokemon Stars that may or may not be for the Switch. It a little weird how this rumor was made out to be real when the source of it was from a forum with very vague descriptions, dates of announcement which was off, and no follow-up by the source with additional info to back it up. It was sad that Pokken, Ultra Sun & Moon, and the VC of Gold & Silver were meet with anger for not being the game people were thinking of from the rumor.
So what do you guys do when you hear rumors like this?
Do you avoid it at all cost? Do you take it with a gain of salt as some of it can be help with how things are going?
While hearing rumor of what could happen with certain developments in games is interesting and keeps in into a game, I have to take a step back from it that this information isn’t solid and that I should’t expect a outcome that I’m making up in my head. Until evidence of the details are complete to make a perfect picture I wont be able to see the whole thing correctly.
I am bad enough at keeping up with video games from the last few years, so getting too excited about games that are coming out is nearly impossible for me.
The Pokémon Stars rumour something I’ve heard from various sources who had fairly solid track records. Basically, the same people that were talking about the Mario + Rabbids rumour was also talking about Pokémon Stars, so it appeared fairly reliable as far as rumours go.
Whenever I see a rumour, I need some sort of reason to believe it. If it’s a person that’s had a proven track record of rumours in the past, I’m more liable to believe it, for example. Pretty much anything else isn’t solid enough, including well-done screenshots or even trailers.
Pokémon scans are a different ballgame. The techniques for separating the fakes from the real can be quite sophisticated in that case.
At this point marketing cycles are so long that I find little cause or joy in getting excited on any game until it’s near completion. I don’t even bother with cinematic trailers anymore because I glean nothing from them except the tone of a particular game, and even then that’s not that helpful to me.
As to rumors specifically: I see it, say “Oh, weird” and then forget it pretty much instantly.
I don’t get excited about rumors, especially with Nintendo, since they have a habit of going their own way and surprising us time and again. Based on the announced length of the Pokémon Direct I figured it was either going to be a tease for something huge or a few small updates, and it definitely fell into the latter category.
I didn’t hear many rumors about Stars, I was hopeful for an Alola/Gen VII game on Switch but not surprised that they’re sticking with the established 3DS base for now.
They would have been terribly upset anyway. Pokemon Switch is the turning point of the system for many people so the rumor wouldn’t have mattered in their expectations that much. It’s just the pitchfork waving fanbase that is on full blast for years to the point they made Iwata their sworn enemy less than a month before his tragic death soon after E3 2015. I think this subset of angry fans might be the most toxic community in videogames.
I think rumors are great, most often they’re just logical follow-ups of our expectations, sometimes they’re just outlandish (FF7R every year 10 years ago), but it brings things to talk about and it shows a fair amount of what players wants to the companies.
I’ve started looking at game rumors the same way that I look at rumors in sports of player transfers between teams and instances like that. It can be duly noted, but I don’t want to get excited for something until it happens, and I try not to assume that a rumor will come true.