280: You Can't Judge a Game By Its Trailer

[Adam Greenbrier]

You Can't Judge a Game By Its Trailer

Learning the truth about how a game plays based solely on its trailer or screen shots often requires mental abilities that border on the psychic.

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[Badwolf14]

I personally gave up on gaming trailers mainly because they are basically cutscenes and don't really tell you how the game actually is (like stated in the article). It doesn't give a feel for how the game actually plays or how it will actually look since most trailers are rendered in HD, and so can lead to a disappointment when you expect something great and find out that it basically isn't. I do agree that demo's are a good way to give an idea of the game however, most times they don't give you everything available or will do something that won't be in the actual game, (being nit-picky now) but my main example is in the Star Wars Battlefront demo where as the sniper you could put on a disguise as a stormtrooper but not shoot and basically get by the NPCs, but in the game it was nowhere to be seen. I also have to disagree a little with the fact that demo's aren't around as much, because I don't know about other consoles but on Xbox live I see a lot game demo's available for download, that is how I found out about some games.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Simple rebuttal, you can.

Long rebuttal, you can. . . but.

A trailer(even video reviews which are practicality the same but show more game and game play) if it even bothers to show game play can show you the direction of game play and some basic things about it. Turok showed how fluid the QTEs where. Bioshocks stuff showed off its atmosphere and action a shame it did not show off how utterly shallow it was......

I suppose you don't know the depth of the waters till you jump in but you can still tell some things without getting ankle deep.

DX:HR is going in a bland modern shooter direction using a "cover regeneration" system or just cover and regen is old bland and tired...of course they would have to work more on level layouts if they didn't use it so they have to use it these days. But still what we don;t really know about DX:HR is AI and how you interact with it and the game world. BS had deaf and blind AI it had decent to good level layouts if you can forgive the 2 or 4 invisible walls but everything else was unbalanced, how balanced will DX:HR be how intricate will it be, is it just another corridor shooter like Halo ep 3 or is it trying something more?

We won't really know till we are flooded with video previews by sites and even then not till its out.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I personally gave up on gaming trailers mainly because they are basically cutscenes and don't really tell you how the game actually is (like stated in the article). It doesn't give a feel for how the game actually plays or how it will actually look since most trailers are rendered in HD, and so can lead to a disappointment when you expect something great and find out that it basically isn't. I do agree that demo's are a good way to give an idea of the game however, most times they don't give you everything available or will do something that won't be in the actual game, (being nit-picky now) but my main example is in the Star Wars Battlefront demo where as the sniper you could put on a disguise as a stormtrooper but not shoot and basically get by the NPCs, but in the game it was nowhere to be seen. I also have to disagree a little with the fact that demo's aren't around as much, because I don't know about other consoles but on Xbox live I see a lot game demo's available for download, that is how I found out about some games.

Demos are not really standard these days.

 

[Tharticus]

It's normal to be hyped up seeing a game trailer because most gamers do. But pretty much these days, trailers look like they are for a movie, not a game. But the biggest let down of trailers is that the trailers look really good and after playing the game, it's awful.

Demos also helps the game developers. Should the gaming population not happy by the demo, they can fix those problems. I wonder why developers don't give out shareware these days.

 

[Falseprophet]

Most game trailers do not appeal to me. I must not fall into their target demographic or something. And they lie. O, how they lie.

When the Dragon Age: Origins "Sacred Ashes" trailer came out, I hated it. I had never played a BioWare game before, and everything I'd heard of them had been second- or third-hand, but I thought about picking up DA:O since I hadn't played a good WRPG in almost a decade. The trailer nearly ruined it for me. That trailer (which was third-party produced and did not feature any direct gameplay) showed some of the characters looking weird and acting like completely confident badasses, and doing things more in line with JRPG/anime characters than serious western epic fantasy (ie, Matrix-style acrobatics). Even when the frakkin' dragon shows up in the trailer, the characters just shrug and act like hyperconfident badasses for whom this is a daily occurrence. I thought, "if these characters act brazen and confident when a dragon shows up, how can their story be fulfilling or epic? They don't have to really struggle to accomplish anything."

But the game was well-reviewed and there was a great Christmas sale, so I picked it up. And the characters were the opposite as portrayed in that bloody trailer: flawed, vulnerable, struggling to make a difference in their own lives or for a better world. And combat could be tough--you couldn't just plow your way through the tougher fights without some tactics. This game (when including expansions and DLC) has proceeded to consume well over 200 hours of my life, when I've rarely played a game more than 20 hours. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel. And all because I ignored everything that useless trailer told me.

 

[hermes]

We can read trailers, especially gameplay trailers, in the same way we read movie trailers... We do it to see if the setting, story and gameplay is something interesting for us.

Demos help, but they are not all that good. Demos are very succinct versions of the gameplay, and can only be useful if they are made to represent the actual game. Demos like Brutal Legend misslead more people that it helped, even if its existance helped improve sales by creating awareness.

 

[108Stitches]

We can read trailers, especially gameplay trailers, in the same way we read movie trailers... We do it to see if the setting, story and gameplay is something interesting for us.

Demos help, but they are not all that good. Demos are very succinct versions of the gameplay, and can only be useful if they are made to represent the actual game. Demos like Brutal Legend misslead more people that it helped, even if its existance helped improve sales by creating awareness.

Could not agree more with the Brutal Legend demo. Wish you got more of the same gameplay once you got beyond the demo...but alas, it seemed it was drive around, listen to some tunes and every now and then kill something...horrible game that suckered me in by the demo.

 

[Badwolf14]

@ ZippyDSMlee
they may not be standard in the sense that they arent given out as publicly as they used to...but for like the xbox there are hundreds of demos available that can be downloaded at any time (cant say for the wii or PS3 bc i dont own them)....in fact looking at it there are currently 280 demos available for download on the xbox live website (give or take a few since they could remove and add them at any time)

 

[hermes]

We can read trailers, especially gameplay trailers, in the same way we read movie trailers... We do it to see if the setting, story and gameplay is something interesting for us.
Demos help, but they are not all that good. Demos are very succinct versions of the gameplay, and can only be useful if they are made to represent the actual game. Demos like Brutal Legend misslead more people that it helped, even if its existance helped improve sales by creating awareness.

Could not agree more with the Brutal Legend demo. Wish you got more of the same gameplay once you got beyond the demo...but alas, it seemed it was drive around, listen to some tunes and every now and then kill something...horrible game that suckered me in by the demo.

I knew enough about the game to know what I was getting into, so there were no surprises there. But I can totally see why you or other people might got confused from the demo, and its a prime example of a demo being missleading.
That is why examples like Ratchet & Clank's 2 demos, or Darksiders' long demo are very effective at showing the player exactly what they are getting into; but not all of them are.

 

[Whoracle]

Totally agree, but:

. According to Watts, THQ "[doesn't] have any way of tracking directly how many people played the demo then went out and bought the game." For all that they're free to us as consumers, demos cost money to produce. However, their effect on a game's sales is impossible to determine.

And with trailers you can? And they are free? Don't cost any money to make?
For a demo, having both worked on (lowlevel) game development and (amateurish) filmmaking, I say that a demo is in most cases way cheaper to do than a trailer. For a trailer, you'll need new music, the voice actors and most of all _a whole new camera direction_, and this is if we presume that the trailer is actually being rendered by the games engine.

For a demo, "all" you need is a presentable segment of your game, which you should have either way if the game's any good.

In both cases, the textures, objects, setpieces and environments already exist.
And don't get me started on the cost for Prerendered trailers, for which you'll have to build all the assets (barring maybe voicework) anew...

So, the point stands: Trailers cost more than demos, and either impact on sales is impossible to determine. So why the trailers?

Because if you release demos, your consumers can actually judge the game before buying, and would likely ditch the buggy games with bad tech before the companies see a single cent.
It's just a way to release more crap...

 

[Illessa]

they may not be standard in the sense that they arent given out as publicly as they used to...but for like the xbox there are hundreds of demos available that can be downloaded at any time (cant say for the wii or PS3 bc i dont own them)....in fact looking at it there are currently 280 demos available for download on the xbox live website (give or take a few since they could remove and add them at any time)

Yeah, there's a similar number on Steam too, I think that would back up the claim that only 1/4 of games (or less) have a demo. Consider that there will be multiple demos for a few games, that those demos could be anywhere between brand-new and 5 years old, and that this is covering all 360 releases - physical release and downloadable games. >300 doesn't really seem like all that much to me.

Personally the lack of a demo is the primary reason why I haven't taken the plunge with a few games. If a game sounds interesting but is ouside my comfort zone and/or has mixed reviews, doesn't have a demo, and has a double-figure price-tag, it's really unlikely I'll pick it up without strong recommendations from friends. A demo can push me into buying as even if it isn't representative of the entire game, I can at least have more confidence that I find some portion of the gameplay enjoyable enough that I won't be wasting my money.

 

[Badwolf14]

they may not be standard in the sense that they arent given out as publicly as they used to...but for like the xbox there are hundreds of demos available that can be downloaded at any time (cant say for the wii or PS3 bc i dont own them)....in fact looking at it there are currently 280 demos available for download on the xbox live website (give or take a few since they could remove and add them at any time)

Yeah, there's a similar number on Steam too, I think that would back up the claim that only 1/4 of games (or less) have a demo. Consider that there will be multiple demos for a few games, that those demos could be anywhere between brand-new and 5 years old, and that this is covering all 360 releases - physical release and downloadable games. >300 doesn't really seem like all that much to me.

Personally the lack of a demo is the primary reason why I haven't taken the plunge with a few games. If a game sounds interesting but is ouside my comfort zone and/or has mixed reviews, doesn't have a demo, and has a double-figure price-tag, it's really unlikely I'll pick it up without strong recommendations from friends. A demo can push me into buying as even if it isn't representative of the entire game, I can at least have more confidence that I find some portion of the gameplay enjoyable enough that I won't be wasting my money.

it might be a quarter of games out but what about games being released? how many games get released a year? im pretty sure its not that many compared to amount of demos available, some of the demos might be for old games but i saw plenty of demos for new games still to be released

 

[Vuirneen]

I bought the game off the Darksiders demo and I wouldn't have touched it before then. The reviews said that it was a Zelda clone, but it didn't look like one - that's exactly what it feels like though. I wouldn't have believed how much fun it was without the demo.

 

[Imp Poster]

I think trailers sole purpose is to introduce what the title is and hopefully leave a good impression. That's great for movies since all you do is do what you do with the trailer. You just watch it. But with games, you got to think another thing that trailers don't give you. How does is the game play? And if it is a sequel or prequel, you got to wonder if what they improved on or added if any, on game play. So game trailers don't do anything for me. They are nice to look at, but previews, interviews with the creators with that game giving you some insight on what they are doing to the game, demos, etc. are more important to me, anyways, than trailers for video games.

And look, I am at a gaming website which should tell you I am here for information on games.

 

[rebus_forever]

so, article aside, did u say a good or a bad thing about Dark City? i re read a bunch of times and im still not sure.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

The dearth of demos is one of the reasons I see the rise of streaming services like OnLive and Gaikai as such a good thing - sure, their ostensible function is to be a full-blown content delivery system that exists alongside traditional digital distribution and retail channels, but some of the things you can do with those services has tremendous potential for how we look at demos.

Picture an applet on a blog that shows "[Author of blog] is currently playing [Game X]", that, if you click on it, will not only launch the game in question via your web browser, but actually drop you into the game with the author (presuming it's a multiplayer title where that sort of thing is possible of course). That's something Gaikai is capable of, along with embedding links in Twitter feeds, at the end of reviews for the game in question, you name it - if a title is on such a service, you can fire it up and play it for a set amount of time just by clicking on a widget/hyperlink; word of mouth advertising and other existing channels for disseminating information to your customers can be seriously augmented in such a fashion.

As for the usual barriers that arise to halt demo development (cost, time spent focusing on a demo in lieu of the product itself, etc) - none of that would even need to apply, as you wouldn't have to gin together a tailored "glimpse" of your gameplay, customers could/can simply sit down with your actual game and play it for an hour or whatever. Without needing to download and install anything. How cool is that?

Of course, the problems that make those streaming game services 'not quite ready for prime-time' still exist, most notably that the network infrastructure simply isn't as advanced or ubiquitous as it needs to be, but the possibilities technologies like these hold for the future are quite exciting.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

I personally gave up on gaming trailers mainly because they are basically cutscenes and don't really tell you how the game actually is (like stated in the article). It doesn't give a feel for how the game actually plays or how it will actually look since most trailers are rendered in HD, and so can lead to a disappointment when you expect something great and find out that it basically isn't. I do agree that demo's are a good way to give an idea of the game however, most times they don't give you everything available or will do something that won't be in the actual game, (being nit-picky now) but my main example is in the Star Wars Battlefront demo where as the sniper you could put on a disguise as a stormtrooper but not shoot and basically get by the NPCs, but in the game it was nowhere to be seen. I also have to disagree a little with the fact that demo's aren't around as much, because I don't know about other consoles but on Xbox live I see a lot game demo's available for download, that is how I found out about some games.

I like that style of demos. Instead of cutting the actual single-player experience, the levels are deliberately designed to give most of everything available in the game by first impression. Since demos are there to impress, inform, and incite consumers to buy the game the customer will turn off the TV/monitor having had extra content.

Starcraft and Half-Life both had demos that were stand-alone missions and I really enjoyed the work in them and extra content. Nowadays, those stand alone demos would cost 10 bucks on Xbox Live.

 

[Adam Greenbrier]

Demos help, but they are not all that good. Demos are very succinct versions of the gameplay, and can only be useful if they are made to represent the actual game. Demos like Brutal Legend misslead more people that it helped, even if its existance helped improve sales by creating awareness.

There are bad demos, sure. I can think of a handful of demos off the top of my head that carved out a piece of the game that wasn't representative enough of the whole. The demo for Brutal Legend should have included some of the RTS combat from later in the game. You get bad movie trailers, too, though. I'd rather have a mediocre demo for a game than no demo at all.

So, the point stands: Trailers cost more than demos, and either impact on sales is impossible to determine. So why the trailers?

Trailers get made because they're an easy way to get the game in front of buyers' eyeballs. They can also be cut easily into television commercials and into ads that play on video streaming sites like Hulu and Gametrailers. It's not unreasonable that they're automatically included in a game's advertising budget.

The problem right now is that demos are often seen as an extra, a little something to give the game a boost with potential buyers, when they should be just as much of a gimme as trailers are.

it might be a quarter of games out but what about games being released? how many games get released a year? im pretty sure its not that many compared to amount of demos available, some of the demos might be for old games but i saw plenty of demos for new games still to be released

Wikipedia has 856 games listed as released in 2009 alone. Keep in mind that that number includes games on all platforms: 360, PS3, DS, PSP, Wii, and PC. The list of games released this October that I linked to in the article lists around 80 games, depending on how you count them. There are a lot more games released in a year than just the major titles. Even then, only a fraction of the big releases in a year get demos.

The demos you saw for the 360 cover 300 or so of the roughly 800 games available on that console. That includes Xbox Live Arcade games for which demos are mandatory.

so, article aside, did u say a good or a bad thing about Dark City? i re read a bunch of times and im still not sure.

I think Dark City is a visually stunning movie. I'm a fan.

 

[Cobalt Lion]

DISCLAIMER: Please don't kill me. Just playing devils advocate here to show both sides of the story.

I can understand both sides of the issue for having and not having a demo to go with the all-to-common trailer. As the article pointed out, what if only a quarter of the summer movies had any advertising. Film mavins would have missed out of the majority of summer flicks due to lack of advertising more than anything. That just makes for bad bussines. If nobody knows about your games, your going to have a terrible market turn out. On the smae lines of comparison, movie trailers lie to us all the time. Based off the trailers, I though Devil was going to be good. (I forgot about the whole M. Night Shamalan stigma.) It is sort of accepted as the norm. That yo9u watch the trailers to be willingly lied to then go and take your chances. Games are the same way. Nobody seriously belives that the box art is going to be representitive of the gameplay itself, do they? I'm looking at you, Atari 2600. In the same way, I've never seen a game trailer that has "sold" me on a game, it's just served as some visual candy to make me aware of the exsistance of the game and then leave me to drool a puddle on the carpet while I wait for the release.

That said, demos take time away from creation, since they need their own marketing and release coordination, and they themselves aren't always very representitve of the final game. How many demos have their been that are just as deceptive as the trailers? The true final measure of the game is how it is received by the player-base.

TL;DR version: Trailers may be a marketing lie, but at least it lets you know about the game.