Today’s Massive Poll has been suggested by philbert8. He is unaware that he suggested it, but his comment here gave me the idea.
Concept trailers, pre-rendered trailers and teaser trailers are popping up on TSA more frequently than ever before. As part of the TSA news team I’ve posted quite a few of these videos and I’m beginning to wonder if we should be posting them at all.
The Dead Island teaser trailer contained no game-play footage at all, but went viral thanks in part to hundreds of gaming websites posting it. Overnight, the title went from being almost unknown to a must have pre-order.
The trailer was a fantastic two minute movie and went on to win the Gold prize for Internet Film at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Since the teaser was released it has become clear that the game is more about smashing zombies with a chainsaw – heart wrenching scenes of children being bitten are few and far between. Alex previewed the game and said ‘What it’s not, for good and bad, is anything like that teaser trailer. ‘
I appreciate that publishers need to build hype for their games, it’s a tough market and bad sales can close down an entire development team, but do these teaser trailers serve any purpose other advertising the game? Obviously all trailers are adverts – to a degree – but most include game-play footage, which allows you to judge the title. We certainly see a decent amount of activity on most of the teaser trailers we post, suggesting a good level of interest in them. But is that just aimless curiosity or an actual desire for information on the game being shown?
So dear readers, my question today is, are you actually interested in these teasers? Are they big adverts that publishers are sneaking in to gaming websites under the guise of a trailer or do you like watching them to get the ‘feel’ of the new game?
The Lone Steven
If they are done well, i like them. If they are a bunch of logos and the title then i don’t like them. Dragon Age had some excellent teaser trailers.
Origami Killer
They make the game in question get attention from you, dead Island teaser was done to perfection and is still the main reason why I have got the game.
sanmartinez
I do like most teaser trailer, but really feel that there should be a gameplay trailer followed close after the teaser. Some teasers tend to set people off as the game itself seems entirely different.
Also for anyone who have played Dead Island and seen the teaser. Have you noticed that the first dead (non zombie) couple you encouter are actually those of the teaser?
OneDown
I like them, but I think you also need to take each one with a grain of salt since they are shown relatively early into development and many think can/probably do change between the game actually being released. As for game play, I’d rather see it later when its more polished as a great representative of the game.
colmshan1990
I like them, so long as there’s only one.
After that, it had better be footage from the game, even if it’s only from cut scenes.
aerobes
Interesting. The Dead Island one was entertaining and it brought my attention to the title, therefore, I suppose, doing its job. On the other hand though, it taught me absolutely nothing about the game. I quite like them but only from an entertainment viewpoint. I usually know a little about most games already so the Dead Island one was special in that it brought it to my attention but generally, they’re nothing more than a little eye-candy and occasionally a little ruinous to the story of a game I might very much be looking forward to.
bacon_nuts
I like good ones, even if it doesn’t show gameplay, it’s an introduction story or concept wise. It annoys me if companies only really use concept trailers for games, even up to release.. although i usually only see that for DS or Wii titles..
ron_mcphatty
They’re great marketing and for some games like Halo they create a real buzz and start the hype without any gameplay expectations, but where the game turns out to be poor or lacking in some way I can’t help thinking the money coul perhaps be better spent on the development side.
MadJunkBoy
i think that its a combination between teaser trailers and gameplay trailers…
a teaser is always good to get the hype up for the game and get many people interested… but the gameplay trailer is vital if u wanna sell the games later… maybe not in all games but in many! =D
CdmanJak
cgi trailers piss me off