Every once in a while, a developer steps out from behind the red curtain and becomes something of a superstar.  He/she is quoted, interviewed, photographed, and followed by a sort of geek paparazzi.  It’s a goldmine for devs who must normally compete for attention, but then are suddenly deluged with interview requests.  It’s like your game going from Bob Saget to Paris Hilton.  Dyack, Molyneux, and B.  These were the names that geek press followed most this year.

From Cliffy B’s retarded appearances on X-Play for Gears 2 to Dyack’s Too Human predictions of 80-hours to complete the game, to Peter Molyneux’s nonstop Fable 2 predictions, developers seem to have lost their grasp on the “Under-promise over-deliver” philosophy.  Despite enormous assurances of radical awesomeness, it appears only Fable 2 lived up to the hype this year.  Gears 2 was plagued by multiplayer issues, and Too Human got a lower metacritic sore than Namco’s Arcade Museum.

Perhaps in the coming years, developers will learn to muzzle their mascots just a bit and keep expectations under control.  If they don’t, it’s quite possible some of the names above will make repeat appearances on the Top 100 for 2009.

For being all bark and little bite, Dyack, B, and Molyneux share the number 44 spot in our Top 100 gaming moments of 2008.

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