Shack Reels: Top 10 Disappointing Games

Some games simply don't live up to the hype. Today, Greg Burke breaks down ten of the most glaring instances of games that set a high bar and just couldn't clear it.

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Certain games don't always live up to the hype issued by developers, publishers, and yes, even the media. Sometimes, blockbuster games just fall short of expectations. Today, Shacknews is taking a look at some of those games.

Join Greg Burke as he looks at ten games that simply didn't meet the lofty expectations that the hype cycle had set. For some reason or another, they weren't the games we thought they'd be and Greg explains why in the video below.

For more, be sure to subscribe to Shacknews on YouTube.

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group. 

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  • reply
    February 27, 2015 5:00 PM

    Shack Staff posted a new article, Shack Reels: Top 10 Disappointing Games

    • reply
      February 27, 2015 5:10 PM

      [deleted]

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        February 27, 2015 5:17 PM

        Thanks qwpeori! Can't be helped. I did pull from my experience while playing these games. Some people Loved DA II, and some didn't. In the End it's all subjective. But I'm prepared for hate that will come flowing in the flood gates.

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      February 27, 2015 5:22 PM

      The Walking Dead -> Video closed.

      GG, you got me watching and commenting!

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        February 27, 2015 5:24 PM

        YAY! :)

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        February 27, 2015 6:19 PM

        Seriously. I know anyone can claim this is all subjective. But Walking Dead was not a disappointing game. The argument presented here isnt even a good one. The first gripe is how its an interactive story game instead of more action? Anyone with a brain knew it was going to be this way based on telltales previous games like jurassic park and back to the future. In fact, because of the fact that the 2 games I just mentioned were mediocre, expectations for WD shouldnt have been high enough for anyone to be disappointed.

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          February 27, 2015 6:25 PM

          Jurassic Park was mediocre. Puzzle Quest was fun, So was Back to the Future, They made me Think instead of Baby feeding me steps, to move the story forward. TWD was Just not my type Of Point and Click Adventure, coming from the background of all the Lucas arts games and the earlier work of TellTale. Unfortunately I'm in the minority here, so I expected a lot of Disagreement.

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            February 27, 2015 6:33 PM

            Why do you write like a Fox News commenter? The random caps are super weird for anyone, let alone someone who writes for a living.

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            February 27, 2015 6:35 PM

            You aren't into that type of game, but back to the future was good yet walking dead was disappointing? Ok, now you've really lost me.

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              February 27, 2015 6:41 PM

              There's no Puzzles in walking dead. The inventory mechanic is a joke in walking dead, the stuff you need to solve there puzzles are on the floor right in front of you for everything. The lack of thinking puzzles in Walking Dead is one of the reasons I was disappointed by it.

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                February 27, 2015 11:49 PM

                That's a joke of an argument. You might as well argue Zelda's disappointing because you prefer shooters. More puzzles would be nothing but a distraction from the meat of that series.

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            February 28, 2015 4:17 AM

            Jesus Christ what the hell is with all the caps.

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            February 28, 2015 5:22 AM

            Explain how you decide where to put a capital. I can't figure it out.

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        February 28, 2015 10:27 PM

        Yeah, wtf srsly? The Walking Dead is awesome!

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      February 27, 2015 5:24 PM

      Kudos for the interesting choices. GTA V Online was really fun I thought.

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        February 27, 2015 5:25 PM

        Thanks Megarust32! It was all base on Personal Feelings and experiences. To each his own ya'know

    • reply
      February 27, 2015 5:31 PM

      List from the video:

      10 - Mass Effect 3
      09 - Evolve
      08 - Aliens: Colonial Marines
      07 - The Walking Dead
      06 - Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
      05 - DC Universe Online
      04 - Duke Nukem Forever
      03 - GTA V Online
      02 - Dragon Age II
      01 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

      Solid list, but you're just wrongety wring wrong about Wind Waker and Walking Dead. Yes your opinion is wrong. Good thing you blew yourself up in the end.

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        February 27, 2015 5:35 PM

        Walking Dead doesn't really seem like a game. I guess this list is new(er) games only, or else he or she forgot gems like Daikatana

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        February 28, 2015 4:13 AM

        How can be The Walking Dead more disappointing than Colonial Marines. How can it be on the list at all, actually. This is a really poor choice.

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        February 28, 2015 10:13 AM

        Yep, it's a solid list but I gotta disagree with #1. I think Twilight Princess might have been a better fit (assuming we're talking Zelda games).

    • reply
      February 27, 2015 5:39 PM

      This is probably #1 on my list of top 10 Disappointing Shacknews clickbait listicles.

      • reply
        February 27, 2015 5:40 PM

        Actually no, #2 after firephone-gate

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        February 27, 2015 6:04 PM

        I would argue that it isn't really disappointing, because expectations were never high.

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      February 27, 2015 5:46 PM

      Very interesting list, Greg. I'm enjoying your video content; it's a great way for you to express your opinions, share some history, and generate some discussion. Now where's that TMNT Arcade Corner?!

      • reply
        February 27, 2015 6:12 PM

        It's Done! It will be up Wednesday! :)

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      February 27, 2015 6:09 PM

      Walking Dead was fantastic, but I did agree with the Zelda part. I did end up liking it later on but was really let down at the start for the same reasons.

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        February 27, 2015 6:14 PM

        Agree, Looking back at it now, I got over it and appreciated the game for what is was, But i was 15 years old when Nintendo dropped this bomb. I felt like Nintendo Kicked me in the balls.

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      February 27, 2015 6:27 PM

      I didn't play a lot of what was on here, but I heard a lot of people complain about the same things. I think for the reason you listed for zelda a lot of people did feel the same at the time. I played it, not knowing about those trailers. I loved it. And I never finished Twilight because i thought the weird fairy was, well weird. I think that's one of their worst to date. I'm very excited for the new one though.

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      February 27, 2015 6:33 PM

      maybe before your time, but for me it was the LodeRunner 2000 or whatever it was called. I played Loadrunner on an apple clone way back when (like before Bard;s Tale 1) and loved it. was a game my father and I played together. The reboot - SHITASTIC

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      February 27, 2015 6:37 PM

      Greg, for shame on #1. That's my favorite zelda.

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      February 27, 2015 6:38 PM

      Aliens was Canon. Used actual models and sounds and actors. Had a L4D Versus mode. I didn't even buy it and I want my money back. So does Sega, I'm sure.

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        February 27, 2015 6:41 PM

        Arg Dont Remind me...

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        February 27, 2015 8:26 PM

        I don't care what Gearbox says. That shit ain't canon in my world.

      • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
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        February 28, 2015 7:30 AM

        There's plenty of story-related wtf about ACM, but I've played through the (post-patches) campaign twice, enjoying both playthroughs, and the Bug Hunt DLC is good stuff, either done solo or coop.

        It has a place on this list for it's condition on release, but now I'm curious how it compares side-by-side with Monolith's AVP2, which I played back in the day, but have forgotten most all details about, and which is mostly unavailable today

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      February 27, 2015 8:24 PM

      Uses screenshot from Watch Dogs as article header, doesn't put Watch Dogs on list. -50 DKP for deceptive practices.

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      February 27, 2015 8:30 PM

      Slow news month, eh?

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      February 27, 2015 8:37 PM

      As much as I want to give you shit, my own list would get me hanged I think. It includes Diablo II.

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      February 27, 2015 8:45 PM

      Lack of Destiny invalidates this list.

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        February 27, 2015 8:49 PM

        The thing with Destiny is, I didn't have any expectations for it, so to me i wasn't disappointed with it. Like so many people were.

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          February 27, 2015 8:53 PM

          It's just an awful, awful game.

          People who keep playing it are masochistic enablers for Bungie.

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            February 27, 2015 9:00 PM

            I would disagree that it's a truly awful game. It is extremely uneven. The parts that are good are great, while the parts that are bad are tragically terrible.

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              February 27, 2015 9:05 PM

              This is one of those games that I think has a solid core of people who enjoy it and a large group who hated it. i am obviously in the second camp. I give it up to Bungie for trying something different, but to me it is a swing and a miss. I had no interest in playing it after I beat the single player, such as it was.

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      February 27, 2015 10:07 PM

      Severe lack of Brink because fuck that game.

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        February 27, 2015 10:20 PM

        I don't think Jeff has played many games.

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        February 28, 2015 12:05 AM

        we don't talk 'bout that 'round here no mo >:|

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          February 28, 2015 7:52 AM

          I bring it up constantly, because the world should learn. But no, we keep getting one off poorly optimized MP FPS experiences who hope to save themselves with late DLC.

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        February 28, 2015 6:28 AM

        Good one

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        February 28, 2015 8:42 AM

        But why blink...when you can Brink?

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        February 28, 2015 9:27 AM

        That was the one and only game that I gave into the shack hype for. Preordered it and everything.

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      February 27, 2015 10:21 PM

      This list must not be all time because it doesn't have MOO3.

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        February 28, 2015 12:54 AM

        They made a Moo3? I'm pretty sure they stopped at Moo2.

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      February 27, 2015 10:23 PM

      I don't think wind waker was that disappointing as an end product but god damn if it wasn't the most soul crushing/tone deaf reveal.

      you had a small army of teenagers/young adults looking towards the next zelda installment, and they decide to reset the clock on that part of their audience. because I guess according to nintendo of that period, people's interest in video games didn't extend beyond a single generation of consoles.

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        February 27, 2015 10:25 PM

        Yeah I will be honest I wasn't sold on the art style when they announced it.

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          February 27, 2015 10:47 PM

          It wasn't until the second wave of videos that showed the detail in animation and lighting that I was sold on the visuals, but with those, I was sold on Celda.

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      February 27, 2015 10:26 PM

      What is this shit?

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      February 27, 2015 10:42 PM

      I don't even hate the game but man Black and White was disappointing. That's usually the first one that comes to mind for me when I think of disappointing games.

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      February 27, 2015 11:58 PM

      Oh I get it, it's meta. A disappointing article about disappointing games

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        February 28, 2015 12:13 AM

        No man you don't understand. This list is going to be so controversial that it is going to BREAK THE CHATTY. it is going to create a thousand post thread.

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      February 28, 2015 12:10 AM

      The only thing disappointing about Wind Waker is the lack of dungeons and the tri-force hunt (which I guess was fixed somewhat in the remaster?). Even with those faults that game is a goddamned masterpiece. Talking top 10 all time greats, not most disappointing anything.

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        February 28, 2015 12:17 AM

        Its arguably the best 3D Zelda game

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          February 28, 2015 12:22 AM

          Wind Waker, and the two N64 Zeldas are the best 3D offerings IMO. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are good games, but those three have it all.

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            February 28, 2015 12:23 AM

            And they make for a great trilogy as far as timeline and canon go if you play them in order; OoT, MM, and WW.

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              February 28, 2015 1:23 AM

              MM and WW are on another level, just amazing.

              OoT is great because it successfully transitioned the series from 2D to 3D and set the structure for following Zelda games. There are many ways it doesn't hold up though, especially with the quality of the dungeons. Its an absolutely important game but mediocre when you line it up against MM or WW.

              To me it isn't like Super Mario 64 which still holds up, or Metroid Prime which didn't just translate Super Metroid to 3D but is still the best in the series and one of the best games of the last 15 years.

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                February 28, 2015 1:38 AM

                Re: the others, Twilight Princess was good. I mostly remember that Midna was an awesome character.

                I don't think I'll ever finish Skyward Sword. The first 5 hours of tutorial were just brutal and the payoff with the first couple dungeons wasn't worth it.

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                  February 28, 2015 2:08 AM

                  There is quite a bit of good stuff in Skyward Sword, but I can completely understand that.

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                    February 28, 2015 3:51 AM

                    I enjoyed SS, but did feel abused- spouse syndrome during all 50+ hours. It's good, but deeply flawed. I don't know that I'll ever play it again either, and Zelda is my favorite series in gaming.

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                      February 28, 2015 3:58 AM

                      I can't argue. Most of my complaints come down to interface more than anything - it was just really clunky, from descriptive text that you can't skip EVERY TIME you start a play session, down to the complete lack of quest markers and whatnot even though the game had a huge amount of things to do.

                      That combined with the ~5+ hours of play before you really get let loose was just...really poor.

                      Which is a shame, because the actual gameplay on the surface and in dungeons and sword stuff was a lot of fun.

    • reply
      February 28, 2015 12:16 AM

      E3 was never open to the public, including way back in 2000. You always needed credentials to get in.

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        February 28, 2015 12:50 AM

        While E3 was for a time rather lax in their evaluation of the credentials, you couldn't just walk up from the street on a whim and get a fresh badge.

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        February 28, 2015 8:36 AM

        Counterpoint: I went to E3 the two years it was in Atlanta before we shot ourselves in the foot by raising prices on EVERYTHING downtown during that week.

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      February 28, 2015 12:17 AM

      Solid subjective reporting. I'm glad we know which games you just don't like, whether they happen to be good or not.

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      February 28, 2015 12:45 AM

      Where is Spore?

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      February 28, 2015 1:11 AM

      Holy crap people around here are getting touchy and nasty.

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      February 28, 2015 1:41 AM

      I am very disappointed...

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      February 28, 2015 1:48 AM

      dis·ap·point·ment
      ˌdisəˈpointmənt/Submit
      noun

      the feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one's hopes or expectations.

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        February 28, 2015 2:08 AM

        "Some games simply don't live up to the hype. Today, Greg Burke breaks down ten of the most glaring instances of games that set a high bar and just couldn't clear it."

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      February 28, 2015 2:09 AM

      Any list of disappointments that doesn't include the new Thief is...a disappointment.

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        February 28, 2015 7:32 AM

        Don't you kind of like that game?

        • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
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          February 28, 2015 7:42 AM

          The writer(s) was incompetent and should've been replaced early on, but the look -- on a fast pc -- is great, and the thieving and mechanics are well done. There's much to like about Thi4f

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          February 28, 2015 8:06 AM

          I absolutely love the originals. The new one was a disappointment in basically every area.

          If you could get it cheap I might recommend the new one for the small moments where it does recapture some of the original games' magic - there are small bits here and there - but for the most part, no, they took a game all about exploration and letting the player figure out how they want to approach a goal and turned it into a linear game with 'cinematic' on rails escape sequences, etc.

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      February 28, 2015 2:27 AM

      OH god I remember the cell shade zelda announcement and the mega hate it received. I think the style jaded a lot a people away from it.

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      February 28, 2015 4:10 AM

      I get the point with Wind Waker, but Duke Nukem Forever, while a disappointment in terms of the massive 14-year wait preceding its release, actually turned out pretty good considering, in my opinion. I feel like a LOT of people wrote that game off without actually playing through it due to the negative press from some critics. I spent a whole summer playing the SP and MP and had a lot of fun. If you never played the game, I recommend checking it out and giving it a fair shot.

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        February 28, 2015 5:21 AM

        I particularly enjoyed the Doctor Who Cloned Me DLC. Felt like classic Duke.

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        February 28, 2015 7:12 AM

        Lol no that game was straight garbage.

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      February 28, 2015 5:18 AM

      [deleted]

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      February 28, 2015 6:11 AM

      I love this list tbh. I haven't played a lot of the games on it, but I enjoy the spirit of it.

      I'd have Quake 3 on mine. After the super cool gothic horror of Quake 1, I was a little disappointed by the space alien bent of Quake 2, but was REALLY disappointed by the complete lack of single player of Q3. Really, it's the original Evolve only worse because Q1 was such a rad game.

      Black and White would be on my list. I mean, duh.

      I also liked the inclusion of GTA V Online. I LOVED Red Dead Redemption's online component and don't understand why that model couldn't have been more closely followed for other R* games. I'm constantly tempted to return to RDR.

      Another weird pick on my disappointment list would be a two-parter: Battlefield 1943 never got more maps, and never made it to PC. That game is far more fun than anything Dice has done in ages, and it's trapped on the PS3/360 with only the stock maps.

      BF1943-related disappointment was that the bonus map that was unlocked for hitting some number of games played within the first month or something was a shitty air-only map. Stupid bullshit.

      Anyway, interesting list.

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      February 28, 2015 7:48 AM

      Here is a summary of Greg's feelings about several popular video games http://youtu.be/_O1hM-k3aUY

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      February 28, 2015 8:16 AM

      No Trespasser?

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      February 28, 2015 8:31 AM

      Dude, those 5th Element clips... surely there were more "disappointed" clips out there

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      February 28, 2015 8:45 AM

      LOL Congrats Burke you've managed to enrage so many people :D

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      February 28, 2015 8:58 AM

      I'm disappointed at the excessive use of "I am very disappointed."

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        February 28, 2015 9:01 AM

        [deleted]

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        February 28, 2015 9:32 AM

        It was fairly droll by the end, certainly.

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        February 28, 2015 10:32 AM

        All of Greg's videos have annoying crap between each item. It's like he's paid by the minute and pads the videos out with repetitive filler. :/

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          February 28, 2015 10:40 AM

          He is not paid by the minute, he just likes to pound memes into submission. Like that silly Top Ten meme...

          BTW have you seen this fantastic video from CES?

          http://youtu.be/Nh_5FHsXZog

          It is the Robotic Dress Demo, and it is less dissappointing than Gregger's video.

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          February 28, 2015 1:23 PM

          Did know one think chatty blowing me up was funny at the end? Anyone?

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            February 28, 2015 1:24 PM

            No* I can't spell for shit anymore, dammit

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      February 28, 2015 10:43 AM

      I thought this was a good video. It's clearly your opinion and I thought it was interesting.

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      February 28, 2015 10:51 AM

      Missed company of heroes 2, and possibly D3 at launch

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      February 28, 2015 11:26 AM

      What about Daikatana? Wind waker? Come on.

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      February 28, 2015 12:04 PM

      haha! loved #1
      that was pretty disappointing.. I lost all interest at that point (have only played about 5 minutes of the game at a friends house)

      and yes DA2. My hype meter was off the charts and then it just died. Took me a year to even finish the game.

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      February 28, 2015 1:48 PM

      No Brink?

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      February 28, 2015 2:05 PM

      Duke Nukem Forever was the shit! You must not like boobies.

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      February 28, 2015 2:10 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 1, 2015 11:27 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 10, 2015 7:41 PM

      As soon as EA's logo came up for Dragon Age 2, my mind immediately went to Spore.

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