Waiting for a game I've already bought four times before

One of the things about getting older is that I should be getting a little wiser, more experienced, I'm supposed to learn stuff. But year after year, I've been the perfect retarded customer the gaming industry wants. A new Call of Duty gets released and I go buy it. Three days later (literally), some website announces that Activision registers a new website, trademark or some other shit, announcing an upcoming new CoD title for next year. And just like that, my new game becomes 50% less awesome. Because I'm playing something, which is bound to become outdated in about twelve months time. Something I've only just installed.

Don't get me wrong. Of course they're releasing a fucking new CoD in a year. There's a stupid new CoD every fucking November. But they don't have to rub my nose in it. "Haha, you moron! We've got you all hyped up about our game, now we have your money and we're gonna start the hype machine for a whole new version!" What really bothers me, though, is how I always fall for that shit, even though the game never really changes. Yes, every new CoD comes with a brand new singleplayer campaign, which I really don't care about. The multiplayer part, however, has been the exact same thing since Modern Warfare, just with new maps and some new weapons here and there.

The games are so similar to each other in multiplayer, for the most part they just feel like map packs and minor balance patches. One game comes with "pro" perks, which are more difficult to unlock than regular perks, the next game removes pro perks again, the one after that slightly nerfs perks, the next one buffs them a bit and so forth. One game makes killstreak rewards more powerful, another one removes the most powerful killstreak rewards, yet another one adds even more killstreak rewards and lets you customize them.

You know, there used to be a time where people could just set up their own damn servers and adjust all of these settings by hand. They didn't have to buy the game again and again every year and just accept those relatively minor tweaks here and there.
With the upcoming release of CoD Ghosts I couldn't help but cringe at their shows and presentations around the game. Why the fuck did Jimmy Fallon feature that stupid game in his show? And then there was this:

Erm...
So Ghosts has exactly one new, slightly unique feature (I'll get to that in a bit) and other than that, it's the exact same game. Again. So how do you market that shit? Add an Eminem title song and a 10 seconds clip of him talking about the game. Invite some RL marines to have them slaughtered by a bunch of nerds in a multiplayer session, live on stage. I can't help but feel that they've run out of ideas a while ago and now they're pulling off weird shit like that, since there really isn't anything left to talk about when it comes to a "new" CoD.

That's especially the case when Mr. Rubin talks about how they've looked at every single aspect of the game in order to find stuff to change. You know, telling people they wanted to make every component of the game even better. But to me it sounded more like, "We had a really hard time slightly changing stuff around a bit that hasn't already been changed back and forth a hundred times, anyway." Think about it. Quickscoping, no quickscoping. Nuke killstreak, no nuke killstreak, nuke killstreak again. And so forth. They add stuff, nerf stuff, remove stuff, add it again, buff it again, going in circles. They're not improving anything, they're just adjusting the rules a little bit each year and that's it.

And they keep talking "next generation". Next generation this, next generation that, next generation my fucking ass. Look at multiplayer videos from any CoD game from Modern Warfare 2 to Ghosts and you can't even tell they're all supposed to be different games. Okay, so you can blow up a gas station on one map, nuke a bus off a cliff on another and turn one map into a blazing ruin when you nuke it, that's new. And that's fun the first three or so times you see it. I don't see anything groundbreaking, innovative or next-generation there, but hey, an actual change, whoop de do.

The one really new thing, and the reason why those bastards are getting me again, lies within the new squad system. I didn't even look at Ghosts. I didn't care. I didn't want to buy this game again. But I'm a sucker for this whole squad thing. Create and customize a bunch of soldiers, pick all their gear and perks, set up the perfect team and fight the squads of your friends. It's really just a glorified bot match and I doubt that a lot of people will care for it much, but I'm actually looking forward to squad matches with Claire. We're into that whole customization and optimization stuff.

Fighting a bunch of 14 year olds on the 'net, the whining, insults and bitching, all of that is gonna be fun for the usual 3 or 4 weeks. But fighting the Bear, squad vs squad or teaming up with her to fight the squads of our friends, at our own pace, "offline", whilst unlocking new stuff and leveling up... yeah, I'm up for that. That's probably the most casual way I've ever played CoD and I don't even mind. If that part of the game turns out to be as fun as it sounds, if it's well-executed and enjoyable, then I'll stick with just that. And then I won't give a shit about them releasing yet another CoD a year later, which will probably get rid of squads again to "offer the classic prestige experience our veterans have been asking for" or some shit. Nah, they'll probably find some other hook and get me hyped enough to buy it again. I'm an idiot. -_-

Oh well. One more month to go until the game comes out. I think I'm gonna practice a bit by playing some of the earlier titles of the Franchise. Modern Warfare 2 was always entertaining. Akimbo SMGs. Incredibly stupid, but so much fun! Got a few days off after all my hard work, so I may as well give it a try. Let's see how that'll go...

-Cat