General: Blog: Game Trailers....What Do They Mean to You?

Stradden

Garrett Fuller has updated his official MMORPG.com Staff Blog with a post that looks at Game trailers, and what they really mean.

At E3 we got to see a whole bunch of game trailers. From the seven minute epic trailer of Star Wars: The Old Republic “Hope,” to the two minute Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium first time game play trailer. Game Trailers are critical in catching their audience and play an essential part in whether or not gamers buy your game.

 

In my opinion the best game trailer ever was Warhammer Online’s trailer from Blur Studios. Not the first one, the second one with the huge battle. This was one of the best Warhammer pieces ever made. The same can be said for last year’s Old Republic Trailer with the Sith storming out of the ship inside the Jedi Temple, pure awesome.

 

The issue is, how much of these movie trailers actually portray game play? While Blur Studios is insanely talented, are these trailers an accurate portayal of how the game will play out? They are epic don’t get me wrong and they also create just enough hook to get you into the game, but then it is up to the game deisgners to keep you there.

Read Blog: Game Trailers....What Do They Mean to You?  

wgc01

Good eye candy, nothing more to me, I know the game will not look or play like the high quaility trailers, just something fun to watch...

quiarrah

I agree . . If games ever got to be as good as the Trailers that advertise them. . .peoples computers would have to be farther advanced then what they are right now.

They used to get me. . . wonderful advertising. .but totally false. I learned my lesson with Guild Wars. . . . The concept art was fantastic, the trailers absolutly breathtaking. . .but game play was just like any other game. Poor graphics by comaparison to the trailers.

I think though that EQ does a pretty good job of showing trailers using the gameplay itself. I have never eenan actual gameplay trailer of WoW or Guild Wars, , , ,or Lineage. . . .

Lots of eyecandy and wonderful art. . .but nothing like the game.

Newt

They show the company has put alot of money and time into marketing a game.  That is all.  Most (all?) of the trailers from Blur aren't even using the game engine.   

Game trailers that show real, in game footage are what its all about.  Game Play (aka Combat) is good, but usually all you get are:

1. A bunch of red numbers (indicating someone else getting owned)

2. some warrior spinning around killing 100 creatures at once

and

3. A caster dropping a nuke that covers the entire visible screen

I'd love to see a 'day (minute, 15 minutes) in the life' of a character in the game.  It doesn't even have to be 'game play', it could just be a machinima.  Someone travelling the world, meeting new people and looking at the sights, telling a story, using the game engine.  Killing stuff is optional.

quiarrah

Maybe these companies should use player-made videos to advertise their games.

We use real game footage. . . .have you seen any of them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0qimkDfCI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_LTlZ76bu4

this one isn't gamplay. . just one I did for fun with all the WoW dances

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WAsq1nSKqg&feature=related

These are done by Crainius. . . He is really good at editing. .but it is still real game play , , , don't judge mine by his!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z29Rk8814w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dTxcHulFBI&feature=related

pepsi1028

It shows me how much time, money, and effort a company will put into a little cinema in order to show how "awesome" their games are.  When, in all honesty, we don't care about them. 

We just want gameplay, trailers are a waste of time IMO.

Asmir

While I do enjoy a good cinematic preview of an up coming title, it's the true gameplay previews that will make or break it with me. The cinematic only shows what they wish it might or even could be, but the gameplay, well thats what you get and really pay for.

Along those lines, some good cinematic full features streamed online would be nice. I'd watch em.

Codenak

Non game footage, and even some game footage, trailers mean nothing to me, other than as a way to look at what the artwork styles MAY be, and what the characters MAY look like.

They will not tell me how the game plays, how the world within the game works, wether things are polished or glitched, only a trial will tell me that.

I view the pretty mini clips as something more for the gaming media or people who havent gamed before

hogscraper

For the most part trailers don't mean that much to me. Usually that's because CG trailers are nothing more than an idealized version of what the devs want you to believe a game could be. We learn to dismiss them as kids when you finally get that toy and realize that the commercial was total BS. Sometimes, though, a trailer is nothing but gameplay and still manages to have production values that blow me away. Those are usually the games I follow up on.