Yes. A hundred times, "yes." I don't think I've been more excited for a game in recent years than I was for Uncharted 2, and that was after seeing it at NY Comic Con, E3, and PAX.

And I can't wait to get my hands on MLB 2010 The Show.

I'll often think to myself: This job is fucking awesome, and I'm so grateful. Haven't gotten jaded yet, but then, I've been doing this for less than 2 years.

Absolutely. After my last game was a huge success(Bomberman: Act Zero) I've never felt more excited to be a part of this incredible industry.

Even as someone who doesn't work in the industry (yet comes up with visionary concepts on the fly), things are different than they were as a kid. As a kid, there was that one game, or that one system that I could not wait to play. Now I can afford every system, every major release that remotely catches my interest and anything else that I might need for my gaming.

Even with all of that though... do I still get excited? Hell yes. Even for games that I haven't hyped up. When I am holding that case and manual on my way out from the mall or local game store I can't wait to get home and pop it in. I check to see if the manual got the full color treatment and everything. Games are still huge projects that come out after years of development and dreaming. If a dozen titles come out in a year that I want to play I still get equally excited. Games are about getting to, in a way, physically experience a new experience. Whether it's racing cars, or blowing them up. So even when gamefly ships a title I didn't even initially care about, I still 9 times out of 10 get super excited about a new experience that just arrived in my mailbox.

Wasn't it Cliff Blezinski that just recently tweeted his adoring love for Borderlands? Industry people above all should still retain that fire. They make the games for crying out loud.

I'd love to respond like I work in the industry, but my job has turned into something so weird that it barely counts anymore (and it really totally used to...)

At anyrate, I love this shit.

Working around game deadlines, picking apart code to get one minute detail straight before we have to ship, and finding killer bugs 2 weeks into a major 4 week project. I've been in the depths of tester tedium (to the point of having dreams about apps: like all i see is the app, no context.) But, even knowing how these things actually get put together, I look at upcoming game releases and still find the passion to care about new releases and the holiday crush.

Granted, maybe when/if I end up working on console PC games, I may just change how I feel.

But I really don't think its likely.

@ShadokatRegn

I think that will be my experience. Give and take :).

I'm not in the industry by any means either... but I wanted to comment on what you said about being overwhelmed by the amount of games.

I had that feeling a little while ago. Just looking at everything that was coming out and having to decide was tough. I had the money to get like 6 games at once, but then I just thought about it and really wondered if I would get the maximum amount of enjoyment from them if I did that. So I limit myself in order to really dig into a game and experience what it has to offer. I kind of miss the days of when I could only have one or two games at a time and I just spent hours investigating and exploring everything about the game I had at that time.

I feel like there is less of a connection with our games on that kind of level these days. There are a few new games every month with some new feature or some "must-have" status attached to it. Sometimes it really isn't a game that I would be interested in otherwise, but all of this crazy hype surrounding it makes me wonder why I'm NOT interested in it. I miss that feeling of picking up a game just based on the box art or description on the back and being completely surprised by it. I feel like we have too much information these days. We know what the achievements are two months ahead of time, we know who all of the characters are, we know the stories ahead of time, we know EVERYTHING before we even play a game.

Anyway! I guess I am done with my little rant... I just get burnt out on gaming sometimes because there is no mystery. I remember the day clearly when we walked into Toys R Us and picked up Legend of the Mystical Ninja on a whim. It turned out to be one of the best games I've played... co-op for hours on end with my brother. These days I just feel like some of that magic is missing due to the large selection of games combined with the ability to get whatever game I want.

I mean seriously... how much info do we have on 3D Dot Heroes or Modern Warfare 2? Too much. I understand it is how the business works these days, pushing units and blitzing people with previews and exclusive info to show how much better their game is than the last guy's similar game... I guess sometimes I just miss the more simple days.

Haha... exactly. I cannot STAND racing games but I picked up Midnight Club LA when it came out just because it was a Rockstar game and it got good reviews... and surprise, I hated it. I have also been curious about Forza 3... but I know better. Tekken 6 and Fallout 3 GOTY Edition will keep me happy for quite a while. ;)

Yes, yes and Yes. Otherwise I would have stopped trying to stay in games. I get just as excited for games coming out now as I did before I started in the industry. Heck, I would even say I get more excited just because I get to know more even earlier. I knew about Brutal Legend really really early because I worked just upstairs from the marketing people on it and I was really happy and really proud that they got it out there despite all the bullshit.

I wouldn't exchange it for any other job in the world. (except maybe professional blowjob receiver)