Video Game Trailers

You know how game experts and pundits keep saying that games are starting to interlope on Hollywood's turf? Well, here's another example: the rise of the video game trailer.

It's All About Flash

In the old days, there really wasn't much marketing effort expended on a new video game as it was released. You might hear about a new game from a friend, but mostly you just saw the newest game and judged it when it hit the arcades. The closest thing you saw to a trailer or promotional video were the cut-scenes opened by a clapboard in which Pacman and Ms. Pacman literally bumped into each other and fell in love. As game production values and visual verisimilitude increased - along with game production budgets - publishers realized that some sectors of their buying audience got as hungry and intense about an anticipated game launch as some moviegoers got about the release of a new movie. Gamers would analyze any little scrap of information about the game, and the introductory cinematic for games started to gain sophistication and theatrical bombast. Those introductory cut-scenes hardly differed from a movie trailer. And thus the video game trailer was born.

Definitions And Defamations

A video game trailer is a short animation that announces the imminent release of a new game. It's a marketing tool used to help plant the buying urge in the gaming public - essentially, a commercial. It can be released in a variety of ways, most commonly on the internet and on the game's website, and it usually - but not always - includes the name of the game and a sample of actual gameplay. The latter is always a question bandied about in chatrooms and message boards. Savvy gamers know that gameplay can be and has been faked in trailers. There are no regulations that require trailers to show actual gameplay in progress. A trailer doesn't even have to show gameplay at all. In a way, that's good for everyone. Game studios can't promise that a trailer will be accurate - the game isn't finished yet. And if they had to commit to the trailer, gamers might end up getting poorer games because last-minute improvements would be impossible. On the other hand, it notoriously opens the door for a "smoke and mirrors" trailer treatment. No one wants to buy a game on the strength of the trailer, only to find out that all of the gameplay was faked.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

Partly because of the new capability of the internet to transmit quality video, the trailer is a relatively new weapon in a game company's arsenal. It's relatively "viral" - it's something that a gamer might send to another gamer to share enthusiasm (or scorn) for an upcoming product. When done right, it is one of the strongest, most visceral, and most accurate representations of what a game will be. Feature lists and previews only tell you so much; most gamers want to see what they're going to get. And with a trailer, they get not only a sneak peek, but often they also get a sense of the game's mood, music, story, and aesthetics. Should Hollywood be worried? Well, a few years ago Verant and Sony took a little swipe at the celluloid folks - they ran a series of Everquest trailers in movie theatres around the country. [[[Video Game Chairs ]]]

It's All About Flash

In the old days, there really wasn't much marketing effort expended on a new video game as it was released. You might hear about a new game from a friend, but mostly you just saw the newest game and judged it when it hit the arcades. The closest thing you saw to a trailer or promotional video were the cut-scenes opened by a clapboard in which Pacman and Ms. Pacman literally bumped into each other and fell in love.

As game production values and visual verisimilitude increased - along with game production budgets - publishers realized that some sectors of their buying audience got as hungry and intense about an anticipated game launch as some moviegoers got about the release of a new movie. Gamers would analyze any little scrap of information about the game, and the introductory cinematic for games started to gain sophistication and theatrical bombast. Those introductory cut-scenes hardly differed from a movie trailer.

And thus the video game trailer was born.

Definitions And Defamations

A video game trailer is a short animation that announces the imminent release of a new game. It's a marketing tool used to help plant the buying urge in the gaming public - essentially, a commercial. It can be released in a variety of ways, most commonly on the internet and on the game's website, and it usually - but not always - includes the name of the game and a sample of actual gameplay.

The latter is always a question bandied about in chatrooms and message boards. Savvy gamers know that gameplay can be and has been faked in trailers. There are no regulations that require trailers to show actual gameplay in progress. A trailer doesn't even have to show gameplay at all.

In a way, that's good for everyone. Game studios can't promise that a trailer will be accurate - the game isn't finished yet. And if they had to commit to the trailer, gamers might end up getting poorer games because last-minute improvements would be impossible.

On the other hand, it notoriously opens the door for a "smoke and mirrors" trailer treatment. No one wants to buy a game on the strength of the trailer, only to find out that all of the gameplay was faked.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing

Partly because of the new capability of the internet to transmit quality video, the trailer is a relatively new weapon in a game company's arsenal. It's relatively "viral" - it's something that a gamer might send to another gamer to share enthusiasm (or scorn) for an upcoming product. When done right, it is one of the strongest, most visceral, and most accurate representations of what a game will be. Feature lists and previews only tell you so much; most gamers want to see what they're going to get. And with a trailer, they get not only a sneak peek, but often they also get a sense of the game's mood, music, story, and aesthetics.

Should Hollywood be worried? Well, a few years ago Verant and Sony took a little swipe at the celluloid folks - they ran a series of Everquest trailers in movie theatres around the country.