DC Universe Online: On The Epic Trailer Bandwagon (Video)
SOE just released a rather epic cinematic trailer for DC Universe Online. Like others, I’m wondering about several things with these really well done trailers. I wonder why companies stop at telling short stories and just don’t go for the full feature length movie. I also wonder if these short but usually awesome clips do more harm than good for the games they “represent”. Check out what I mean and peep on the clip after the break.
Pretty epic, eh? Wonder woman was never so bad ass if you ask me. Every character looked awesome, and much more fearsome than I imagined them. The action was great and it did what the creators aimed for it to do, it brought the story to life in an amazing way. For the game creators, it will generate much needed excitement for a new game.
It’s been said before, but it is not representative of actual game play. Most of these types of trailers are not. There’s a long history of these epic trailers and game play that falls far short of being good, much less epic. Honestly I’d prefer that game trailers be driven by the game engine itself, while showing actual game play as much as possible.
These types of trailers are awesome and I do enjoy them. But I know that many people may be misled into thinking the game itself will be this epic. Perhaps these CGI stories are best saved for full feature films like The Ultramarines for the 40k universe, as an example. A full CGI epic movie would make a great compliment to a collector’s edition for game pre-sales, so long as you also have a real trailer showing off the game. If I were a CEO at SOE, EA or Activision, this is what I’d be thinking about doing.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Charles King, imtalkingames. imtalkingames said: DC Universe Online: On The Epic Trailer Bandwagon (Video) « http://bit.ly/azwIKg #dcuo #mmo #soe #game [...]
Although I agree that cinematics are getting more and more extravagant, I still think they serve a purpose. They help set the imaginative stage in the viewers’ minds. Personally, I’m a visual guy and I like to have in my mind the concept and story behind the game I’m playing, so cinematics really help me conceptualize the direction the game should in theory be going.
As you mentioned, the drawback is that many get caught up with how cool these cinematics are (mostly due lately to the brilliant visual geniuses of Blur studios) and mistake these for actual game footage.
SWTOR is yet again another example of this. They’ve got not one but two cinematics out now, but in doing so, they’ve also released the all very important in-game footage. Looking at both is important, both for a storyline/concept purpose as well as a enjoyable gaming experience purpose.
I forgot to note: This DCUO trailer, although very cool and frankly I’d watch a full hour of this type of stuff, in the end does not get me to want to play the game.
[...] So in looking at the first method of hype generation, we can use the very example that started this whole discussion. That would be DC Universe Online and their epic, but aptly named, trailer “Who Do You Trust?” [...]
DC Universe Online: On The Epic Trailer Bandwagon (Video) « http://bit.ly/azwIKg #dcuo #mmo #soe #game
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