I hate game trailers

[PettingZoo]

In many industries, making a commercial for a product that doesn't exist is considered stupid.

Launch announcement videos (sequel announced at a con, etc.) are another story, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Then why was Hitman: Absoluton mentioned earlier as a trailer without any gameplay substance, it was a launch trailer?

Guild mentioned this somewhat earlier in response to the Pandaria example, that expansion and sequel products are often aimed at the existing userbase (so some level of existing knowledge on the product can be assumed).

My concern is public trailers and commercials that get released with little to no context, often on TV. The point of a commercial is to show a potential customer your product, and a lot of modern commercials don't show that.

Well from watching the TV spot advertisements of MoP rather than that launch trailer there is a context of a new coming party to an ongoing fight. Also if you bothered to look at TV advertisements rather than launch trailers you'd notice that there is some ingame footage in the TV spots:



Although in rare cases where gameplay isn't shown I guess that many people are used to very high budget seeming CGI and some gameplay footage may seem much more unflattering than it may have back when those old SEGA/Nintendo commercials were created.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

It does seem to be a problem with every type of propaganda, they usually distort the truth or gets to the point of lying.

The main point of a commercial is to draw the public attention and advertise the product as the solution for the products and by any possible mean.

One classic example related to games:



Ignore the blast processing part. Notice how they show lots of Mega Drive/Genesis game full screen and with lots of movement and when they show Snes's Super Mario Kart they just show the title screen for 2 secs and barely show the gameplay and didn't even focus properly the game or show it full screen like the sonic games. All this to make Sega's products look big and superior, and Nintendo's games look small and inferior. Is it ethic? Maybe not. Did it work? Apparently yes.

 

[Rydian]

Then why was Hitman: Absoluton mentioned earlier as a trailer without any gameplay substance, it was a launch trailer?

I didn't know which one it was. If it was a TV/launch trailer, than it did a shitty job at showing the product (since it didn't).

Well from watching the TV spot advertisements of MoP rather than that launch trailer there is a context of a new coming party to an ongoing fight.

Because that totally tells us a lot, right? "A new side in a fight in a fantasy world" tells me shit about the product, that could be describing tons of things. Hell, who's to say it's a game? Could also be describing a movie, or (for some reason) a book.

They're not conveying the product clearly.

Also if you bothered to look at TV advertisements rather than launch trailers you'd notice that there is some ingame footage in the TV spots:

That's not the commercial showing on the TV here. I can't find the exact one on youtube, but there's no game footage in it (it's a standard TV commercial so it's like 30 seconds and made up of various CG clips).



Is it really so bad that I expect commercials for a product to show the product? I mean seriously guys.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Is it really so bad that I expect commercials for a product to show the product? I mean seriously guys.

It's WoW.

The answer is "Yes".

 

[Veho]

I would argue that game commercials are much like beer commercials, they both tell you that using their product will let you have awesome adventures, thrills and excitement, they both try to show their users as hot young studs surrounded by lingerie models, neither of them gives any hint as to what it's actually like to use their product, and in most cases, the product is frankly pretty close to piss.


Game trailers are ads and it is their duty to get you hyped and excited about the game and its fluff, and that means awesome cinematics, epic music and voiceovers in a manly baritone, and as little actual gameplay as possible because that would just detract from the message.

 

[PettingZoo]

I didn't know which one it was. If it was a TV/launch trailer, than it did a shitty job at showing the product (since it didn't).

Well no it isn't doing a shitty job of advertising the product. They can't show gameplay footage of this product on TV since it's a god damn game where you're killing people, usually in a highly violent manner, it's pretty obvious that the launch trailer with the nuns wasn't aired on TV because of the blood, etc.



Here's a TV commercial of the game, notice there is combat but no blood/gore/ultra violence. They're showing off the premise of the game to the best of their ability that it's a stealth game, shit look at the title 'Hitman'. They're doing the best they can and it looks great.

Because that totally tells us a lot, right? "A new side in a fight in a fantasy world" tells me shit about the product, that could be describing tons of things. Hell, who's to say it's a game? Could also be describing a movie, or (for some reason) a book.

They're not conveying the product clearly.

That's not the commercial showing on the TV here. I can't find the exact one on youtube, but there's no game footage in it (it's a standard TV commercial so it's like 30 seconds and made up of various CG clips).

I really can't be bothered continuing this anymore due to your ignorance, but jesus of course they have more than one advertisement running and it isn't going to always show the same stuff. Your argument against WoW is ridiculous, it couldn't be a book or a movie since they show in game footage, how are you so oblivious to that? And yes they can get away with not including much of the gameplay footage since they already have an established user base, are well known, and besides the advertisement is aimed at existing consumers since it's an expansion pack (meaning you have to own all previous games to play it). I mean seriously I can't tell if you have aspergers or something to not understand that it seems to be some sort of new race/character/etc coming into the existing World of Warcraft, this signifies new content.

Is it really so bad that I expect commercials for a product to show the product? I mean seriously guys.

Movie trailers may not show you key points in the film but they do show you what type of movie it is since they don't want to spoil it, video games are doing the same and in many cases they do show gameplay footage when they can. If they showed every single aspect of the gameplay, there probably wouldn't be much left to discover when you play the game.

tl;dr

it's a different type of product, please stop nitpicking details with your autism.

 

[Rydian]

Well no it isn't doing a shitty job of advertising the product. They can't show gameplay footage of this product on TV since it's a god damn game where you're killing people, usually in a highly violent manner, it's pretty obvious that the launch trailer with the nuns wasn't aired on TV because of the blood, etc.

I'm pretty sure the entire game isn't killing and gore, like 100% of the time. There's going to be dialogue, non-violent cutscenes, story hints, all sorts of stuff they could focus on for the commercials.

I mean, if the game really is 100% bullets and blood without a break or any story or non-R dialogue every single second... that's gotta' be a world record.

They manage to advertise rated-R movies on TV all the time by simply showing the bits of it that are safe for TV. A game company should be capable of the same thing.

Here's a TV commercial of the game, notice there is combat but no blood/gore/ultra violence. They're showing off the premise of the game to the best of their ability that it's a stealth game, shit look at the title 'Hitman'. They're doing the best they can and it looks great.

That's the kind of idea I'm talking about. Show the concept and story, give users an idea of what the product is about... but with footage from the game.

Why they feel the need to make up footage that's not in the actual product, I don't know. What they're showing is not what you're buying. They're showing you one thing and then selling you another.

Bait and switch, I think they call it?

I really can't be bothered continuing this anymore due to your ignorance, but jesus of course they have more than one advertisement running and it isn't going to always show the same stuff.

Multiple Pandaria commercials exist, but a couple of them (such as the one showing on TV here) don't show in-game footage. I embedded an example.

Your argument against WoW is ridiculous, it couldn't be a book or a movie since they show in game footage, how are you so oblivious to that?

The commercial I embedded and the commercial showing on TV here do not show in-game footage. Yes there's a trailer that shows in-game footage, but it's not the one being aired on TV from what I've seen (the one here and the one I embedded marked "commercial" from youtube, neither show in-game footage at all).

And yes they can get away with not including much of the gameplay footage since they already have an established user base, are well known, and besides the advertisement is aimed at existing consumers since it's an expansion pack (meaning you have to own all previous games to play it).

If the commercials were just being shown to WoW players (announcement on the official forums or fan forums, booth at a con, etc.) that'd be understandable, but this is on public TV, where a majority of the viewers have never played the game. That's where the lack of context becomes important. Most people viewing have no experience with WoW, and wouldn't know what to make of the commercial.

Movie trailers may not show you key points in the film but they do show you what type of movie it is since they don't want to spoil it

The important part is movie commercials show bits of the actual movie. They show parts of the actual thing you're going to pay to experience. It doesn't matter for this comparison how well the movie conveys the plot or hides the twists, since they at least display the product.

video games are doing the same and in many cases they do show gameplay footage when they can.

Yes, they do show footage at times, but it's not most of the time, which is alarming. If I watched a commercial for a restaurant and it never actually showed the restaurant or the food, that would not convince me to go there, that'd be a bad commercial.

But when it comes to video games everybody's fine with being shown lies? "Hey guys buy this product, we're showing footage!" And then you buy it and you don't get any of that.

If they showed every single aspect of the gameplay, there probably wouldn't be much left to discover when you play the game.

There's no way they could fit the entire game into a commercial, and movies convey entertainment from drawn-out stories you sit and watch while games get much of their entertainment from the interaction anyways.

I really can't be bothered continuing this anymore due to your ignorance

I mean seriously I can't tell if you have aspergers or something

it's a different type of product, please stop nitpicking details with your autism.

You might want to watch it there, unless you want a ticket off the forums. That kind of crap doesn't fly very well around here.

 

[PettingZoo]

I'm pretty sure the entire game isn't killing and gore, like 100% of the time. There's going to be dialogue, non-violent cutscenes, story hints, all sorts of stuff they could focus on for the commercials.

I mean, if the game really is 100% bullets and blood without a break or any story or non-R dialogue every single second... that's gotta' be a world record.

They manage to advertise rated-R movies on TV all the time by simply showing the bits of it that are safe for TV. A game company should be capable of the same thing.

I'd have to disagree with this since in Australia there aren't many, if any R rated movies advertised on TV

That's the kind of idea I'm talking about. Show the concept and story, give users an idea of what the product is about... but with footage from the game.

Why they feel the need to make up footage that's not in the actual product, I don't know. What they're showing is not what you're buying. They're showing you one thing and then selling you another.

Bait and switch, I think they call it?

Well no it isn't a bait and switch since they've cleary applied text that reads "Not actual game footage" meaning that it isn't gameplay footage. Although the style of the cutscenes play out similar to this ad (visually)/

Multiple Pandaria commercials exist, but a couple of them (such as the one showing on TV here) don't show in-game footage. I embedded an example.

The commercial I embedded and the commercial showing on TV here do not show in-game footage. Yes there's a trailer that shows in-game footage, but it's not the one being aired on TV from what I've seen (the one here and the one I embedded marked "commercial" from youtube, neither show in-game footage at all).

I guess it just depends on where and when you're watching TV.

If the commercials were just being shown to WoW players (announcement on the official forums or fan forums, booth at a con, etc.) that'd be understandable, but this is on public TV, where a majority of the viewers have never played the game. That's where the lack of context becomes important. Most people viewing have no experience with WoW, and wouldn't know what to make of the commercial.

Well that's not necessarily true since many people do happen to know what World of Warcraft is and I guess also what you do in it (I mean the game is 8 years old and has over 10 million subscribers). Many people do happen to know that advertisements can be exaggerated.



I mean take this advertisement for example. They aren't showing the actual cables themselves, yet they're showing little colourful icons whizzing about. Would people believe that the new broadband network rollout would cause this to happen?

The important part is movie commercials show bits of the actual movie. They show parts of the actual thing you're going to pay to experience. It doesn't matter for this comparison how well the movie conveys the plot or hides the twists, since they at least display the product.

You're right on that, it was a pretty weak point to make.

Yes, they do show footage at times, but it's not most of the time, which is alarming. If I watched a commercial for a restaurant and it never actually showed the restaurant or the food, that would not convince me to go there, that'd be a bad commercial.

But when it comes to video games everybody's fine with being shown lies? "Hey guys buy this product, we're showing footage!" And then you buy it and you don't get any of that.

Here's another new game which features gameplay.

I really am not sure what ads you're seeing on TV but most ads I do see include gameplay content and many times where you are shown a commercial with out gameplay content it's usually noted that it isn't in game footage. It does seem pretty bad that for the WoW ads that don't happen to have the footage in it there isn't any note saying it isn't in game footage. Yet most people these days aren't dumb enough to believe pre rendered cgi is game footage so it wouldn't be needed.

There's no way they could fit the entire game into a commercial, and movies convey entertainment from drawn-out stories you sit and watch while games get much of their entertainment from the interaction anyways.

Again, I didn't manage to word this properly though a sense of discovery is some part key to interaction in video games, a motivation.

You might want to watch it there, unless you want a ticket off the forums. That kind of crap doesn't fly very well around here.

I am very well aware of this and apologize for my rash descriptions it was uncalled for, but jeez people aren't necessarily dumb is what I'm trying to get across here. People can tell the difference between what is false and what isn't, if people even remotely know what one video game may be like in the current or previous generation then they would know to expect that cgi cinematics wouldn't be gameplay. As well as that if you feel that people are being strongly done wrong and lied to about a product so much to the extent that they may buy the game and be dissatisfied, if they took one look at the back of the box they would be able to tell that the screen shots of the game would differ from the cinematic.

As for the cinematic action not telling you how gameplay pans out, well gameplay could do the same. If there was an ad for S.T.A.L.K.E.R that included some gameplay footage people could make assumptions that it is an FPS similar to CoD, etc.

 

[Rydian]

I'd have to disagree with this since in Australia there aren't many, if any R rated movies advertised on TV

The Godfather: R
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/

The movie has plenty of assassinations and blood, but it's not in the trailer.

Se7en: R
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/

The movie has a serial killer disfiguring and killing people, but none of that is shown in the trailer.

Saving Private Ryan: R
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/

Near the beginning of the movie, one soldier is looking for his arm. You don't see that type of thing in the trailer, however, because the trailer, while needing to represent the actual product, also needs to be clean enough for TV, so they show clips that are safe for TV.

Well no it isn't a bait and switch since they've cleary applied text that reads "Not actual game footage" meaning that it isn't gameplay footage. Although the style of the cutscenes play out similar to this ad (visually)

I've only seen that in a few trailers, announcement ones at cons and such (and usually because at that point, the game is unfinished and any visuals they would show are likely to change).

I mean take this advertisement for example. They aren't showing the actual cables themselves, yet they're showing little colourful icons whizzing about. Would people believe that the new broadband network rollout would cause this to happen?

They're not advertising a good, they're advertising a service, so simply mentioning what service it is is often good enough, especially one with such a wide variety of visualizations (web pages on different devices, online gaming, video chatting, etc.).

I really am not sure what ads you're seeing on TV

Seeing as you're in a heavily-censored country while I'm in the US ("violence fuck yeah!", etc.), that's probably why we see such different approaches to things.

 

[naved.islam14]

@OP: I hate 'em too!
@Everyone Else Who Posted In this Thread: Let's sue everyone who ever made an advertisement/commercial!
End of thread.