Hmm they could go for the "you have an axe but try not to use it" approach, like some kind of of zombie stealth game when getting noticed by a hoard sends you running for the nearest locked room Amnesia style... That would be awesomeQuazimofo said:
Dead island reveal trailer, piece of art or too far?
- Thread starter bfgmetalhead
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What the fuck were they expecting to happen when they decided to go on holiday to a place called Dead Island?
Seriously though, I think that was beautiful. And to everyone angry that there is no actual gameplay footage and that it is uninformative, just wait a little while
I'm sure this is just a teaser trying to grab some attention from the public, they'll probably release a gameplay trailer a little later on.
Seriously though, I think that was beautiful. And to everyone angry that there is no actual gameplay footage and that it is uninformative, just wait a little while
I'm sure this is just a teaser trying to grab some attention from the public, they'll probably release a gameplay trailer a little later on.
I thought the trailer was pretty awesome. Am I going to buy this game based off the trailer I saw? No, I am going to wait till I learn more about the story and the game play. I see nothing wrong with expressing how well made this trailer was though.strangeotron said:
Art? Not by my definition, but I'm no expert on the subject. It was just a 'tragic' event set to 'tragic' music. The reversed scenes were good, but it's not 'art' in my head.
Too far? Of course not. It's not glorifying the death of the child in the slightest. It's a "I am sad trailer, this are sad game" video.
Too far? Of course not. It's not glorifying the death of the child in the slightest. It's a "I am sad trailer, this are sad game" video.
Believe it.strangeotron said:
I'd never even heard of the game before... what, the 18th of this month?
Watched that trailer once. Want to buy it.
Seen that trailer a few more times now, still want to buy it.
Funnily enough, trailers are used to get people interested enough to buy/pay for things. And it works, sometimes.
I'm sorry, it's got zombies in it. I just can't take it seriously. I can understand why other people would, but... it's got zombies in it.
Zombies to me are just plain silly no matter how or where they're used. Yeah, I get it--there's this "realistic" zombie that's been seeing a lot of attention since 28 Days Later, the whole idea of a strain of rabies or something that makes people go axe-crazy and start eating each other, turning into unstoppable adrenaline-crazed psychos and all, but I still just see people with missing limbs and open wounds acting goofy. It's just pathetic, like how turkeys are so blitheringly stupid that they'll actually drown themselves staring up into the rain open-mouthed--only I think even the turkey understands when it's BLEEDING TO DEATH.
I understand that's the point of zombies, they're supposed to be satirical and comical, meant to symbolize abject, instinctual stupidity and our struggle to escape from it, but even taking it like that I can only deal with so much of the same joke before I'm just tired of it, and when you juxtapose an overused joke with a scene of tragedy like this it just completely diffuses it. Really, it's like if moments after showing that little girl's corpse and starting the morose, somber piano music they just threw a Chuck Norris joke at me.
As for the game itself, I really just don't know. Looking at the screenshots I'm already reminded of Illbleed, a Dreamcast horror game that took place in a demonic amusement park--except that Illbleed had a fun concept and defined itself by its self-satirizing attitude and B-movie/exploitation flick inspiration where Dead Island just seems like it's trying way too hard to tug at peoples' heartstrings, and I really doubt they can maintain the tone set by this trailer throughout the entirety of the game. I'm going to hazard a wild guess that they're probably cribbing most of their stuff from other survival horror games, and it's difficult for me to imagine being all maudlin while axing my way through hordes of disposable enemies.
Who knows? Maybe I'll be surprised. I've yet to see zombies examined in the context of a vacation setting, it's an interesting location to explore, and it looks to be offering a lot to explore if the screenshots are any indication; then again, I could also see the designers throwing darts at a board and hitting "Dead Rising," "Uncharted," and "Heavy Rain" and getting the results shown here.
Zombies to me are just plain silly no matter how or where they're used. Yeah, I get it--there's this "realistic" zombie that's been seeing a lot of attention since 28 Days Later, the whole idea of a strain of rabies or something that makes people go axe-crazy and start eating each other, turning into unstoppable adrenaline-crazed psychos and all, but I still just see people with missing limbs and open wounds acting goofy. It's just pathetic, like how turkeys are so blitheringly stupid that they'll actually drown themselves staring up into the rain open-mouthed--only I think even the turkey understands when it's BLEEDING TO DEATH.
I understand that's the point of zombies, they're supposed to be satirical and comical, meant to symbolize abject, instinctual stupidity and our struggle to escape from it, but even taking it like that I can only deal with so much of the same joke before I'm just tired of it, and when you juxtapose an overused joke with a scene of tragedy like this it just completely diffuses it. Really, it's like if moments after showing that little girl's corpse and starting the morose, somber piano music they just threw a Chuck Norris joke at me.
As for the game itself, I really just don't know. Looking at the screenshots I'm already reminded of Illbleed, a Dreamcast horror game that took place in a demonic amusement park--except that Illbleed had a fun concept and defined itself by its self-satirizing attitude and B-movie/exploitation flick inspiration where Dead Island just seems like it's trying way too hard to tug at peoples' heartstrings, and I really doubt they can maintain the tone set by this trailer throughout the entirety of the game. I'm going to hazard a wild guess that they're probably cribbing most of their stuff from other survival horror games, and it's difficult for me to imagine being all maudlin while axing my way through hordes of disposable enemies.
Who knows? Maybe I'll be surprised. I've yet to see zombies examined in the context of a vacation setting, it's an interesting location to explore, and it looks to be offering a lot to explore if the screenshots are any indication; then again, I could also see the designers throwing darts at a board and hitting "Dead Rising," "Uncharted," and "Heavy Rain" and getting the results shown here.
I find it interesting to gauge different reactions from different people, specifically from older generations.
I showed the Dead Island trailer to my dad's girlfriend who doesn't play any games at all. She is not desensitized (as much) to this kind of violence as I am because she grew in a different time. Plus she's such a crybaby, she cries at everything. She's not an anti-game person or whatever, though it's also interesting to note that my dad came in towards the end of the trailer and he said "disgusting", though he's never approved of my games (he keeps quiet about it, oddly enough).
When she watched it, she obviously thought it was a bit disturbing, but she understood how it was effective. She's from an older generation where violence wasn't as, well, violent during her time, so her reaction is one of slight disgust while mine is more sad. It's an interesting thing, so see different generations see different things, well, differently. This is why I disliked Dead Space 2's "You're mom hate this!" advertising, it showed a pretty friggin' bloody and violent game to a bunch of elderly mothers who haven't been desensitized to this stuff.
As for the trailer, to some extent I can see why some people think it went too far. I, personally, found it to be a very effective trailer and it has certainly piqued my interest for the game.
I showed the Dead Island trailer to my dad's girlfriend who doesn't play any games at all. She is not desensitized (as much) to this kind of violence as I am because she grew in a different time. Plus she's such a crybaby, she cries at everything
. She's not an anti-game person or whatever, though it's also interesting to note that my dad came in towards the end of the trailer and he said "disgusting", though he's never approved of my games (he keeps quiet about it, oddly enough).When she watched it, she obviously thought it was a bit disturbing, but she understood how it was effective. She's from an older generation where violence wasn't as, well, violent during her time, so her reaction is one of slight disgust while mine is more sad. It's an interesting thing, so see different generations see different things, well, differently. This is why I disliked Dead Space 2's "You're mom hate this!" advertising, it showed a pretty friggin' bloody and violent game to a bunch of elderly mothers who haven't been desensitized to this stuff.
As for the trailer, to some extent I can see why some people think it went too far. I, personally, found it to be a very effective trailer and it has certainly piqued my interest for the game.
I thought it was beautiful in the way a good tragedy is beautiful. Because you know that no matter how hard the hero tries and tries to protect what he loves, he will still fail
(Apologies if I repeat someone else - I just skimmed the first page)
I believe the whole controversy stems from the stereotypical mindset that either games are for children and/or disaffected youth and that anything that extends outside of the realm or harmless mascots collecting shiny colorful objects or supreme ultraviolence with manly-men and sexy-womanesque creatures killing stuff, it cannot exist in a videogame medium.
Then comes this trailer portraying fairly realistic looking characters (uncanny valley notwithstanding) being attacked violently by zombies. They aren't fighting back like Frank West and L4D Zoey, this is what would happen if you were swarmed by the undead. Welcome to the mortal coil.
And then, of course, there is the kid. Now let's think about this - the character, a child, dies on screen. Furthermore, this was not a nice death - it was a kid being terrified, attacked, gnawed on, then after transformring getting thrown from a window. Pulling the perspective out, how many games in the last decade featured kids (normal kids, mind you. Nothing from Visceral's stable counts) being killed and/or at risk of dying? And how many of them do you see dying before you - actually being on screen when they die? Not that many. This is one of those taboo videogame lines that has yet to be fully crossed and only flirted with.
Digressing back, does this deserve the controversy people are wondering about? No. It is an effective trailer and it tells a vignette that many games would have alluded to around the edges. It is in essence putting YOU into the onslaught of a zombie outbreak, it is placing you into a situation that feels familiar and thrusting the unknown upon it. And that is why I think it is disturbing so many people who view it.
So, my props to the people who made the trailer. I just hope the game is worthwhile.
I believe the whole controversy stems from the stereotypical mindset that either games are for children and/or disaffected youth and that anything that extends outside of the realm or harmless mascots collecting shiny colorful objects or supreme ultraviolence with manly-men and sexy-womanesque creatures killing stuff, it cannot exist in a videogame medium.
Then comes this trailer portraying fairly realistic looking characters (uncanny valley notwithstanding) being attacked violently by zombies. They aren't fighting back like Frank West and L4D Zoey, this is what would happen if you were swarmed by the undead. Welcome to the mortal coil.
And then, of course, there is the kid. Now let's think about this - the character, a child, dies on screen. Furthermore, this was not a nice death - it was a kid being terrified, attacked, gnawed on, then after transformring getting thrown from a window. Pulling the perspective out, how many games in the last decade featured kids (normal kids, mind you. Nothing from Visceral's stable counts) being killed and/or at risk of dying? And how many of them do you see dying before you - actually being on screen when they die? Not that many. This is one of those taboo videogame lines that has yet to be fully crossed and only flirted with.
Digressing back, does this deserve the controversy people are wondering about? No. It is an effective trailer and it tells a vignette that many games would have alluded to around the edges. It is in essence putting YOU into the onslaught of a zombie outbreak, it is placing you into a situation that feels familiar and thrusting the unknown upon it. And that is why I think it is disturbing so many people who view it.
So, my props to the people who made the trailer. I just hope the game is worthwhile.
Because children haven't had a long enough life yet, and it's cruel to take someone out of life so earlyicame said:
I just watched it, it was so amazing, very well done.
Don't have a problem with it but I'm sure plenty will. I honestly didn't think it was "artsy" or "emotional", it just made me go "Ooooh, new zombie game!".
Like others I have long found the obssession with "Children are innocent and have so much to live for and killing them is terrible but killing adults is fine no matter who they are" mind-numbingly idiotic. With the exception of a**holes who are provided for the purpose of killing them horribly most adults in media are typically good people, some are even heroic and genuine saints...so why is killing them unquestioned simply by virtue of age? Hell, even most of the jerks in movies aren't bad enough to "deserve" the over-the-top deaths which fill the entertainment industry.
Mind you I don't care, I'm able to seperate fact from fiction. But this silly belief that children somehow have greater worth than adults is just plain foolish. If anything I could make an argument for the fact that given that adults have a greater degree of knowledge and matured social/emotional standards they are going to be worth more during the situation and during the coping/rebuilding that comes afterwards.
That's not really a vouch for either, it's a movie/game/book after all. The accepted fact that children are our future or some s**t just grows dull.
((Edit: Oh, and I'd just like to add that while I don't have children of my own I am the oldest child of 8. I was 12 when my first sister was born and 22 when my last was. As such I was and still am a young adult during much of their growth. Additionally without an actual father around I played the father figure for most of them. So I understand the adult attachment to a child on an instinctive level on pretty much the same plane as a parent.
I would never want anything bad to happen to them. But I also don't think their lives are any more important than another human beings just because they had the good grace to be born after someone else.))
Like others I have long found the obssession with "Children are innocent and have so much to live for and killing them is terrible but killing adults is fine no matter who they are" mind-numbingly idiotic. With the exception of a**holes who are provided for the purpose of killing them horribly most adults in media are typically good people, some are even heroic and genuine saints...so why is killing them unquestioned simply by virtue of age? Hell, even most of the jerks in movies aren't bad enough to "deserve" the over-the-top deaths which fill the entertainment industry.
Mind you I don't care, I'm able to seperate fact from fiction. But this silly belief that children somehow have greater worth than adults is just plain foolish. If anything I could make an argument for the fact that given that adults have a greater degree of knowledge and matured social/emotional standards they are going to be worth more during the situation and during the coping/rebuilding that comes afterwards.
That's not really a vouch for either, it's a movie/game/book after all. The accepted fact that children are our future or some s**t just grows dull.
((Edit: Oh, and I'd just like to add that while I don't have children of my own I am the oldest child of 8. I was 12 when my first sister was born and 22 when my last was. As such I was and still am a young adult during much of their growth. Additionally without an actual father around I played the father figure for most of them. So I understand the adult attachment to a child on an instinctive level on pretty much the same plane as a parent.
I would never want anything bad to happen to them. But I also don't think their lives are any more important than another human beings just because they had the good grace to be born after someone else.))
Um... What? That's like saying King Kong depicted the 'real horror' of a giant ape fighting a dinosaur- doesn't exist, man, so there IS no real horror.bfgmetalhead said:
I thought it was slightly better than most trailers, but still pretty cliched, and yes, it is pretty much just using the memento trick, just not quite as well.
Dead Island isn't due out till August. I am sure as we get closer to August we will see more trailers that will involve the story, settings, and gameplay. I am pretty sure this trailer was just a teaser to get people talking about the game.strangeotron said:
Being a father means nothing in my experience, it's being raised in a sheltered environment. I wonder if the people that seriously can't watch this have any idea how many kids are murdered in front of their parents and vice-versa in the wars we're involved in. Or maybe people would notice if it were a video game trailer instead of just pictures and video.Vkmies said: