Live-Action Mass Effect 3 Trailer Makes Its Way to Earth

[Nurb]

I just think they're trying to ape the Skyrim trailer since people went nuts over it.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Who is that guy? Kaiden? Commander Shepard is a woman

teeeheeehee.

But yeah that looked pretty awful...

 

[Erttheking]

Meh, I don't even really watch trailers any more, I usually know if I'm going to buy something or not.

 

[Raven's Nest]

You know... I KNOW that these trailers are not made to attract me and I KNOW that there is no need to target me with advertising for this title, since I'm part of the "assured sale" crowd, who played the first two games and I am sure that Bioware/EA are well aware of how this crowd can safely be neglected. I am ok with this.

But recently...

I have stood unaffected through everything that has gone on since after I played the first Mass Effect; From the way ME2 eschewed some things I liked from ME1 and put heavy emphasis on others that I was less fond of, to the way each new episode of the trilogy has been heralded as "the best point to get into the story". From the tacky "reality show" treatment given to one of gaming's few relatively unobjectified leading women, to the whole Origin matter. Even the Prothean DLC thing.

I have disregarded all these things. I like this experience, I am going to see it through to the end and I am convinced it will be well crafted and that I will enjoy it immensly, despite everything that the bean counters and marketers have done to put me off.

I knew that marketing and aspects of game design would be pure Michael Bay stuff to draw in a market segment that I do not belong to and I am ok with that.

Still... Now that the game is on the verge of launch, I find... that I do not care - I no longer care for the game and have lost my desire to get it, at least right away.
I don't know... some kind of fatigue, I suppose; Maybe, during a moment of unwary relaxation at the imminent release, the sum of of the past months managed to get to me, after all.

The trailers tell me: "This game is not for me". I knew they would and up until recently I didn't care one jot - heck, I still don't -- I know that they are not very representative of the game and that it will be great.
Yet... Yet: "Meh"

I felt exactly the same as you... Until I played the demo... Perked me right up I suggest you try the same if you haven'tt already.

OT: I think the OP nailed the part where this trailer wasn't aimed at "us". It really failed to illicit any response. That and I'm pretty sure the Japanese proved they don't loot in a crisis...

Personally, If i saw multiple 2km long alien space ships lazering up my 'hood, the last thing I would attempt to do was run away with a 50" plasma thinking "what casual good luck has befallen me this eve?"

 

[alik44]

Well that was...something

 

[Leaper]

I'm with those that think they shouldn't be focusing on Earth so much, or atleast pretty much every trailer. Earth is just a tiny little dot in the whole galaxy, Citadel, hell even Illium seem like places a lot more important to save.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

Oh wow, that looked like ass.

You'd think they would have made an effort to make the CGI look better.

I think it was more a case of "Quick! Slap together a live-action trailer before the fad goes away!" than "Here are 10 reasons why this is a good marketing idea..."

 

[Metalrocks]

not really breath taking. i think they do this these kind of trailers to blind the people or push them away from origin and the bad publicity of EA.

 

[PingoBlack]

Seems straight from ME1 every human was a xenophobe. Every team member you had was, its why i never had them in my team. Just pathetic.

It got worse in ME2 actually ...

I realized BioWare wants me to be all "Oh yeah, humans are the shiz!" while my Cmd. was actually trying to work the diplomacy of "Humans are just a part of the puzzle." in my own role play.

Then again ... You probably, much like me, saved the Rachni from genocide, just to have them go forgotten anyway since they didn't fit BioWare's dream of growing up to become Michael Bay.

Some of us hoped they had a Stanley Kubrick in 'em, but it's very unlikely now.

 

[putowtin]

I'm starting to get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, Earth gets attacked by the Reapers or something.

They just stopped by for tea and cake!

Re the trailer: It's nice to see a use for the London riots, or were the riots just an EA marketing ploy?

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

surely if space colonization has been in full flow, wouldnt humans have a planet more important than earth?
making earth being attacked to ME humans the equivalent of how americans would feel if UK or Europe were attacked today?
so bored of earth being attacked to make me see s#it's just got real.
ME,
Dr Who, EDIT skip Dr Who, doesnt really work for this point
Halo,
Star Trek reboot,
anyone want to add to the list? i know there is a lot more

 

[[zonking great]]

I saw what you did there, trailer. Focusing on the United *snicker* States of America.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I lol'd harder than I should when it said 'BETTER with kinect for xbox 360'

Better and kinect shouldn't be used in the same sentence with a straight face.

 

[tangoprime]

Is it EVER a good sign for a game when they do the live-action trailer thing?
Edit: Well... aside from Skyrim. But usually when they start dropping live action trailers it's a bad sign. Anyone remember how atrocious that F3AR trailer was?

 

[RadiusXd]

Is it EVER a good sign for a game when they do the live-action trailer thing?
Edit: Well... aside from Skyrim. But usually when they start dropping live action trailers it's a bad sign. Anyone remember how atrocious that F3AR trailer was?

deus ex human revolutions

EDIT: and mass effect 2

 

[Mikeyfell]

I'm happy that it was the infiltrator Shepard in the trailer.

Nothing much more to say, the Skyrim live trailer was better.

 

[Seneschal]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't EA have its own in-house marketing arm? It doesn't seem like BioWare would have any say in how EA decides to market the game. Plus, trailers more often than not are meant to obfuscate what's really in the movie/game so that a larger audience would show up for a product that, in its entirety, appeals to a smaller one. That said, such a strategy works better for movies than it does for games, which just goes to show how much we steal ideas from other media without bothering to adapt them - the ME3 demo, for example, was received much better.

So, tl;dr - I don't see how one can base assumptions around a 40-hour game from the publisher's (not the developers') approach to marketing.

EDIT: Also, I didn't like it. Forgot to mention that. Yup.

I always get this really weird feeling with live-action game trailers that I'm watching someone LARP-ing. Does anyone else feel the same?