t anus reconstruction: Sequels to famous games are perennially near or at the top of gaming industry hype lists. It's pretty much how things have always been in this business.

The experimental design around the corner may or may not be half the game it claims to be, but if Epic Classic 2 sold a zillion copies and got >90% ratings in all the magazines, and the entire design team is onboard for Epic Classic 3, people are definitely going to be saving their pennies.

Original titles that get huge hype and turn out to be awesome do exist (see: Half-Life 1), but ambitious and original titles almost always have to slip in at medium hype levels (if that) and prove themselves before people cream over the sequel (see: Deus Ex, Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy, et cetera).

Or, failing that, games can amass uber-hype level by being associated with a big-name development team (see: Quake). For logistical reasons, this doesn't happen as much; most people who want to do a sequel will just *do a sequel* instead of coming up with a new rendering engine and backstory and design paradigm and blah blah blah blah blah.

P.S.: As an unrelated side note, in my opinion, complaining that Half-Life is too linear is a bit like complaining that Citizen Kane wasn't filmed in color.