Developer Insists Dead Island Trailer Was Not Misleading

[Marshall Honorof]

Developer Insists Dead Island Trailer Was Not Misleading

Deep Silver believes other Dead Island assets conveyed the game's true nature adequately.

Remember the spinoff title [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqrG1bdGtg], Riptide, its tone was much more "pulp adventure" than "dramatic survival." Deep Silver, however, maintains that calling this trailer misleading is "ridiculous," stating that there were more than enough other materials to get an idea of how the game would really play out.

"We did many gameplay trailers with in-game footage before the release, so labelling the CGI misleading would be ridiculous. We never pretended to be something different," explains Guido Eickmeyer, Deep Silver's creative director. Eickmeyer argues that, in addition to providing prospective players with a variety of pre-release material, Dead Island still provided an emotional experience. Playing cooperatively against zombie hordes with strangers or friends produced feelings of intensity and horror instead of sorrow.

Finally, Eickmeyer believes that the videogame industry should not feel so tethered to traditional narratives anyway. "Games live by user stories, not pre-defined narratives," he says. "For watching a scripted experience, I still prefer a good movie." An interesting viewpoint, although one has to wonder where a "cinematic trailer" falls on this continuum.

Source: VideoGamer.com [http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/dead_island_riptide/news/riding_the_wave_of_success.html]

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[Harker067]

So essentially, this trailer wasn't misleading cause there was lots of other stuff showing how bad the actual game was in comparison? Not exactly a great defense.

I remember my time in dead island, realizing I hates all the playable characters by the time I got to the slums. Then stopping the game entirely while grinding through the jungle when I read up how the whole thing ends. Apparently riptide follows the same people too.... yeah really skipping that. I'd like to think you can make dead island as a coop focused loot game while still having an emotionally satisfying bit of narrative like the trailer had.

 

[Baldr]

There ere a ton of articles saying it was just an art piece not representational of the game at the time. Then again, a lot gamers are not like us escapists and only watch the videos, not bothering to read the articles.

 

[Deathfish15]

I have to agree with them. Any idiot that believes a CGI trailer represents actual gameplay is just that: an idiot. Honestly, I don't see anyone going up in arms against Blizzard, the masters of CGI trickery, who always has a CGI that shows off things that are impossible in their actual games.

Why don't we all just try and sue Blizzard because their Mists of Panderia CGI showed The Horde and The Alliance working together to fight a Panda; and that in PvP a Panda can take on other people else 1vs2; and that they can use environmental weapons; and that they can do acrobatic somersaults while kicking people in the face? After all...that's the "emotional tone" that was set in their trailer. It's only right to expect that everything in the trailer -not the gameplay videos- represents what's actually in the game.

 

[Trishbot]

Yeah, it WAS misleading. From heartbreaking family breakdown to "Who do you Voodoo, *****!" is quite the tonal shift. And, guess what, the TONE of something IS important and it WAS misleading.

That said, they aren't exactly alone. Remember Gary Jules' "Madworld" for Gears of War?

 

[Chester Rabbit]

I agree with him. I saw E3 footage before I ever came across that trailer and was amazed that most of the reason people were criticising the game was because they built their expectations off the cinematic trailer. I mean come on just from the E3 footage you could tell this game had the emotional depth of a cat and was a simple zombie-ocalypse run and gun hack and slash.

 

[Legion]

Yeah, it WAS misleading. From heartbreaking family breakdown to "Who do you Voodoo, *****!" is quite the tonal shift. And, guess what, the TONE of something IS important and it WAS misleading.

That said, they aren't exactly alone. Remember Gary Jules' "Madworld" for Gears of War?

If only Gears of War had taken that kind of atmosphere into the game... I still like the series, but damn it had so much more potential than being another cheesy-dialogue ridden shooter without any emotion. The books did a better job of it, but people shouldn't need to read them to get the same feeling.

 

[Harker067]

I have to agree with them. Any idiot that believes a CGI trailer represents actual gameplay is just that: an idiot. Honestly, I don't see anyone going up in arms against Blizzard, the masters of CGI trickery, who always has a CGI that shows off things that are impossible in their actual games.

Why don't we all just try and sue Blizzard because their Mists of Panderia CGI showed The Horde and The Alliance working together to fight a Panda; and that in PvP a Panda can take on other people else 1vs2; and that they can use environmental weapons; and that they can do acrobatic somersaults while kicking people in the face? After all...that's the "emotional tone" that was set in their trailer. It's only right to expect that everything in the trailer -not the gameplay videos- represents what's actually in the game.

There's a difference between not being actual gameplay and not trying to evoke the same themes/emotions as the game.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

It seems like there are increasingly more bizarre comments and ideas coming out of Deep Silver every day.

 

[zaziuma]

*reposted from facebook post*
I agree that user experience in a game is different than what you would see in a movie, though don't you think that as a media video games should try to follow what movies and books do? It's the only way too actually diversify yourself from the same old thing, and while new mechanics and "gimmicks" with the Wii is the way most developers think the future is, it's not really what most gamers want. Think if The Walking Dead (a good example of how to make a Zombie game) was motion control all the way, without the amazing story and diverse storytelling? It would be crap! That's why you should also focus on a good narrative; not just the user experience.

 

[DragonWright]

I thought it was a terrible trailer just for not revealing any information that everyone didn't already know, ie. there are zombies on a resort island, and for showing less gameplay than a Final Fantasy trailer.

I hadn't even considered how it didn't present the tone of the player's perspective.

 

[Skeleon]

This is still an issue? This long afterwards?

 

[revjay]

It's funny because actually playing the game both solo and in groups the only "feeling" I got was that I shouldn't use weapons since they'll break after four hits and that jump kicking zombies to death was the only viable option. Then once I had an abundance of stuff to make bullets with I just shot the bastards. So the tense feelings I got was, jump, find a work bench and "shit this broke again", much like that trailer. mmmhmmmmm. If the ripoff.. errr spinoff is more of the same I'll just go ahead and pass.

 

[Thyunda]

Did Deep Silver just get access to the internet or something? Throughout Dead Island's hype, release and criticism there was not a peep from them. Now they can't shut up.

Also. Yeah. The trailer was very misleading. The trailer implies a survival game with a sorrowful tone. What I played was the Sam B Sledgehammer Quartet.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

A lot of trailers are misleading, just look at Dragon Age: Origins. Trailer was amazing, game was bland and boring as hell. The trailer made it look like there was actually going to be combat in the game.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

"Yeah that TOTALY happend in the game, we just didn't show it." ~_~

Teeechnically, the dead bodies of that couple are in the hotel

doesn't really change anything though