Minkley’s Bananas, And How Things Are

Eurogamer’s Jonny Minkley has been stoking the internet fires this weekend, teasing an upcoming reveal of something rather big. Naturally, in doing so he’s caught the attention of lots of others, including NeoGAF, some of whom have gone into overdrive trying to figure out what game Minkley was referring to.

It’s an easy trick, of course, and Twitter has changed the way many journalists approach their roles, but has such an excited initial message ended up creating a bit of a negative atmosphere?  “I NEED ATTENTION! I NEED ATTENTION!” said one response, “Another faux journalist looking for attention.”

Surely it’s reasonable to be enthusiastic about what you do, and those that aren’t are clearly stand out a mile, sadly phoning in the articles rather than really getting involved. Johnny Minkley’s one of the UK’s best journalists, and I admire his passion.

[drop2]There’s certainly nothing ‘faux’ about him.

“Amazing gaming week with Journey & Vita. But the top, top secret thing I saw t’other day,” was his initial tweet. “The internet will go bananas when it’s shown.”  The hyperbole is there, for sure, but it all just seems like genuine passion. “That is a very annoying tweet, I realise, it’s just that I’m SO EXCITED by what I saw. Shouldn’t be too long for you to wait.”

He continues the ‘bananas’ theme in a later tweet – “the internet will go bananas at how impressive it is” – which is what’s spurring most of the speculation around the internet at the moment. Bananas? Must be Time Splitters then, say emerging comments. If so, I’m in.

It’s an interesting story, not because of whatever the game/thing might be Johnny was teasing, but because these things can spread incredibly quickly based on nothing but a tiny tweet. Done right, these things can be massive. Done badly, and they do little but backfire.

American Geoff Keighley is notorious for hyping up future events, but his efforts can normally be tied directly to one of his shows – Minkley hasn’t done this – the game isn’t mentioned, nor an outlet, it just seems like a genuinely excited blurt that caught everyone’s attention.

And if he’s excited, I’m excited, I don’t care what everything else thinks.

11 Comments

  1. Geez get a room already! :P

  2. And if your excited Alex, I’m excited too.

  3. Oooh – Timesplitter 4, I forgot all about that OPM ‘reveal’ last year. Hopefully we’ll hear something official soon!

  4. i don’t know about a new timesplitters game, but i’d love to see a game based on this.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwRMYz1vfcQ
    ^_^

  5. Lair 2 for Vita, I’m calling it..

  6. I’ve got something huge to reveal as well. *unzips*

    • You tease you

    • TUFFCUB!

      i expect better of you.
      .
      .
      .
      wait, what am i saying, this is exactly what i expect from you. ^_^

  7. cool

  8. Ape Escape Vita

    excitement over

    • Yes please. LOVE ape escape. Ahhh chasing those black monkeys was amazing.

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