Modern Game Trailers, what do you think?

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Sep 14, 2009
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Bad Jim said:
Something you'll note about movie trailers is that they generally give an indication of what the movie is about. They succeed in this largely because trailers are, in fact, very short movies.
ehh....sometimes this is completely not true, especially if it's either shit shovelled together quickly for a movie for a cashgrab or if they are trying to attract a wider audience that obviously wouldn't like what they are delivering with the movie.

OT: meh that trailer was alright, but the thing is most games have cgi pieces and whatnot, while movies are just...movies, you get what you get, so when they cut pieces out here and there to make a trailer for it, it's an "as is" product, while with video games, there is no reason to believe that is EXACTLY what you will get in your experience/what the game is, they could be showing the intro to the game for all you know.

i think games have learned a bit from movie trailers, but they are still a whole different beast unto themselves, and in my opinion it's probably better to release multiple trailers, one for story/atmosphere setup, and maybe one geared more towards the gameplay and what kind of features your game might be rockin
 

Terminate421

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Too much reliance on cinematic. Some can be great ways to give an idea of the story.


Others....lie to you.


Others can be totally awesome and show off everything:

 

Madgamer13

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Greets!

This is some really good feedback, awesome. :)

Doubts about the quality of the planetside 2 trailer are viable, but subjective. Borderlands 2 appears better because it is not strictly yet-another-space-marine-game. I'm not in a massive rush to find the vault again though, but watching a claptrap dance to 96.5% more wub wub definately tells me that this will be game of the year.

I've yet to see discussion of how the current state of game trailers can affect the future of gaming and movies, since many trailers that come out for mainstream games are like trailers for movies now.

Whether such trailers actually tell anything about the games in question is pointless, since few movie trailers describe what is going on in a movie either.

What do you guys/gals think? What might the future have in store.
 

laggyteabag

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(unless they are gameplay/ BTS trailer) The most they do is really just set the scene or show you some background information, and they defiantly don't represent the final product in any way, however more so than not, they are definitely really nice too looks at (Im looking at You Dead Island)
 

Madgamer13

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Laggyteabag said:
(unless they are gameplay/ BTS trailer) The most they do is really just set the scene or show you some background information, and they defiantly don't represent the final product in any way, however more so than not, they are definitely really nice too looks at (Im looking at You Dead Island)
Greets!

A good point, I believe that a trailer's purpose is to catch the eye and not be a respresentation actual gameplay. This is where planetside 2 trailer has it right, it says right at the beginning that it is not actual gameplay. Game Demos should be for when gameplay needs to be shown, such is why I would like to see more demos of interested titles.

Unlike movies, games can be interactive, so demos of gameplay can be essential for buying over those on the fence.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

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Madgamer13 said:
Laggyteabag said:
(unless they are gameplay/ BTS trailer) The most they do is really just set the scene or show you some background information, and they defiantly don't represent the final product in any way, however more so than not, they are definitely really nice too looks at (Im looking at You Dead Island)
Greets!

A good point, I believe that a trailer's purpose is to catch the eye and not be a respresentation actual gameplay. This is where planetside 2 trailer has it right, it says right at the beginning that it is not actual gameplay. Game Demos should be for when gameplay needs to be shown, such is why I would like to see more demos of interested titles.

Unlike movies, games can be interactive, so demos of gameplay can be essential for buying over those on the fence.
Unfortunately game demos are a rare breed these days, and with many professional reviews accused of being payed off game-play trailers serve as a vital source of information about the game itself.
 

Madgamer13

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Greets!

Indeed, with demos becoming rarer we can only see gameplay footage from trailers now, which can sometimes not be representative of the game itself. I believe that marketing seems to operate on a baiting system, where they make a nice flashy eye candy, then hook a customer into buying something that they were not expecting.

A rise of the free to play model has curious effects though, with their microtransations. Some games that were single player in previous titles have now gone exclusively multiplayer due to this model, Tribes Ascend is a good example, all previous games of the tribes line had some sort of recognisable single player campaign.

What could be affecting the creation of game demos nowdays? Is it a change in gaming development, or gaming culture? Or something else entirely?
 

CannibalCorpses

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I see no reason for game trailers nowadays until they are regulated into showing actual game footage rather than the cut-scenes. It's like false advertising at it's worst and yet nothing gets done about it because of the cash it generates...

The more money computer gaming gets thrown at it, the more corrupt the business practice will become and we are living through this right now.

I would point my finger at this website as an example of this. Despite having a community that knows it's stuff on computer games, the site still insists on trying to promote absolute rubbish to us because it requires and craves more money. Nobody stands up and says that 'this game isn't good enough to advertise to these people'...they say 'thanks for the cash my corporate friend, would you like to have sex with my sister while your here?'

The lack of demos also shows a lack of quality in the genre. If you were happy with a game you had developed then you wouldn't have a problem letting people have a quick go to generate more sales and interest. If your game is a generic near-copy of something before it then you don't want people to know that until they have paid for it.

This is what the increase in irrelevant game trailers and decline in game demos suggests to me.
 

Angie7F

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I guess, the trailer's aim is to get you to buy the game, so they dont want to show what is really is about...

I like the wii tv ads they run in japan because it shows the people playing it, rather than what it is about.
But then again, that only applies to the fun movement oriented games.
 

MortisLegio

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I don't really like modern game trailers. The trailer doesn't show you any gameplay. I want to see what I'm getting before I buy not after.
 

Aerosteam

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Trailers are supposed to show what the game/movie is going to be like.

Sadly the majority of everyone ignores this and just shows off all the best bits or something that's actually not related to the game/movie.

So yeah, I tend to not like trailers.
 

Mirroga

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Trailers are really not for games. the more appropriate term are teasers in which they both include the storyline, cutscenes, and most of all GAMEPLAY! If you want to commercialize a game, show gameplay!
 

Rumpsteak

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I'm off the opinion that either the marketing departments have no clue about games and specifically the game they are supposed to be marketing or that they have been given explicit instructions to misrepresent the game in order to sell more copies.
 

ultrabiome

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Mirroga said:
Trailers are really not for games. the more appropriate term are teasers in which they both include the storyline, cutscenes, and most of all GAMEPLAY! If you want to commercialize a game, show gameplay!
totally agree.

although occasionally they don't have to: see Transformers: War for/Fall of Cybertron. their trailers were so awesome.
 

OldDirtyCrusty

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Since i spoil myself with previews often enough i really try to avoid trailers.
The only thing i can`t get around are Rockstars dev-diaries (since RDR), they manage to show mechanics and pieces of the game without spoiling the whole thing. Sometimes it`s meaningless blabla but most of the time i get pumped up and hyped like a ten year old and i`m really looking forward watching the first GTA5 dev-diaries.