As some of you out there have undoubtedly taken notice, I have in my signature a collection of games that I am boycotting. These are all games I am really looking forward to, and I am only trying to get as little of a game spoiled as I possibly can for when I get my hands on it. This might seem as a hard thing to do to some, and I assure you, in the beginning, it was very difficult. I did get better at it though, and now I don't have a great issue with it. The only negative sideeffect for me is that it's hard to get excited about a game. The only thing you can really do is know that you should be excited, which is hardly all that fun.

It's only been recently that I have seen the fruits of my labors though. I started boycotting games like Killzone 2 and inFamous not very long before their respective releases, so I hardly saw great benefits of the boycotting.

However, the first game that I boycotted at a reasonable point to be released recently in time was Batman: Arkham Asylum, a game which became a very pleasant surprise to me. I knew some details of how the gameplay was from before I decided to boycott it, but playing the demo blew me away. I hadn't seen anything related to game for a few months at that point, so it all felt new and surprising. I have rarely gone from little excitement about a game to very excited based on a demo alone.

Then along came Uncharted 2. I had boycotted this a little while after watching the two initial teasers (the last one being the one from the VGA show where God of War III was also 'revealed'). I knew nothing of what characters would be appearing, how the game would start out, nothing apart from knowing that at some point Drake would be sitting in a train car hanging over a mountainside.
And seeing as there was no SP demo (I didn't download the MP demo, as I refused to let it spoil potential surprises, like characters, locations etc.), I didn't really get excited about the game until I was driving home with it in my bag.

So while this may lead to a slightly more dull excitement over games in general, I think it is still very much worth it. I am quite happy that I have done this, and I will continue to do so.

I agree and if I had the amount of will power as you do I would also boycott said games. And Im going to start Boycotting VSXIII as soon as gameplay is revealed. I'm actually starting to wish I boycotted FFXIII as the last few trailers have revealed far more about the game then I wanted, as I know the entire party and summons. Also the recent FFXIII trailer really made me regret seeing it.

I plan on boycotting MGS:Rising and Mass Effect 2

So did you enjoy the games?

I agree with you completely though. I hopefully will join you. So far I've been limiting my exposure to the games I know I'm going to get for sure. The more you read and see in advance the more your expectations can change.

I totally agree with you. I'm also boycotting games I'm hyped for. I'm not watching any trailers nor looking at pictures nor playing demos.

I know nothing of Modern Warfare 2 and yet it's my most hyped game right now.

BTW I really like your sig.

Same thing for me.

Mass Effect is my Best Game of All-Time... yet I refuse to look at Mass Effect 2 screenshots or videos.

yea same here i dont even read on games anymore i just buy them based on box art and the back of the boxes i hate knowing anything about games until ive bought them

I do the same thing you do usually rainbird, I'm boycotting Uncharted 1 & 2 until I get them both for a better price and so I can finish the first one and immediately start the second. The only thing spoiling this are the random images I see in people's sigs and commercials on tv.

the only game I'm not boycotting is MAG, which I'm impatiently waiting for (I even got in to the beta by pre-ordering, having a lot of fun too). 3 months seem like an eternity...

Its a pretty good idea really, the less you know the better the final package. I try really hard but I still find myself downloading trailers, lol. This really applies to Final fantasy games. The more I learn about them beforehand, the less I enjoy them.

i actually got inspired by your sig a few months ago and started avoiding media for games im anticipating. my hat goes off to you Rainbird for opening(or rather shutting) my eyes

I'm glad more people agree with the sentiment, even better if I have actually inspired someone. Though I must admit I had to break my boycott of Uncharted 2 when the first multiplayer trailer was released. I had to see it

@ Boutros - Thanks, yours is very good

@ silicon - Hell yeah I did, and I'm really happy I didn't see all those "Reveal" trailers for Batman, I liked the surprise of getting a new toy instead knowing what I would get. I did boycott Scribblenauts as well, but having it now, I don't really feel that my boycott did anything special

EDIT: @ Dioxinis - You hadn't posted when I started making this post, but now I really feel like my sig accomplished what I wanted. Awesome!

@ Scoobes - Go for it, it's hard in the beginning, but it pays off. I wasn't really excited about FF13 until I started playing FFVII, now I am boycotting it, as I know japanese developers have a habit of showing off to much xP (read: MGS4). I really should update my sig to include it