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[papo]

Cg trailers have been there forever. They even exist in movies. They are called teaser trailers.

Only gamers expect everything to be ready at a moments notice when a game is announced.

That is not how it works in every other media, so don't expect it from games.

I personally like them if they are cool. Like the Blizzard and Bungie/Halo one as an example.


Edit: After reading through the thread I really think some of you are oblivious about how stuff works in real life.I understand that you don't like the CG trailers, but you can't expect a game to have in game footage in a teaser trailer when said game can be years out. There are exceptions, but even the Kojima trailers are a bit doctored. Unless a developer does what Bethesda recently did and announce the game just when it is about to come out, then yeah it makes sense to expect in-game footage. If not you are being unrealistic and it is not a disingenuous thing to do a reveal with CG. Some of the best reveals have been like that too.

 

[Baroquemantic]

I really like CG trailers too. I'll never understand why some people get so bothered by them.

 

[darklin0]

CG trailers are dope. I dislike when people say that they are indicative of the actual gameplay and expect the game to be like that.

 

[xVodevil]

Announce, show gameplay... then you can build hype with CG trailers!
But start with them, kinda... NOPE. Imo that's the first sign of announcing way too early.

 

[swearing-circle]

Dead Island was the perfect example of why CG trailers are pointless. I was so hyped off that trailer and the game that came out had literally had nothing to do with it.

 

[LakeEarth]

Dead Island was the perfect example of why CG trailers are pointless. I was so hyped off that trailer and the game that came out had literally had nothing to do with it.

The cancelled Phantom Dust sequel is another example of this. The CG trailer not only looked nothing like the game being developed, the developers didn't even know that a CG trailer was being made.

It's almost as if the CG trailer was made specifically to pad their E3 instead of hyping up the game that they clearly didn't have confidence in as they cancelled it less than a year later.

 

[Calabi]

I like any trailer that Blur has done.

If they've paid attention to the craft, and have good synaesthesia between the sounds and visuals then I like any trailer.

 

[Fix-It Felix. Jr.]

I love CG trailers. They help build atmosphere and give significant insight on the game's story. Games today are so advanced that elements aside from gameplay, such as the soundtrack and characters, are important enough to justify having trailers that focus on them rather than direct footage. Of course, the objectivity of gameplay trailers is still necessary to give a proper idea of what the game will be like.

 

[RevolverRoden]

Me too :]


As long as they're not trying to act like its in game footage.

 

[Robot Pants]

They are fine.
Ass Rev
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Anything Blizzard
Most Blur stuff

all great

 

[Son Of Sparda]

I like it when devs don't announce their games with one.

Making a CG intro or something like that is cool but the reveal trailer should contain scenes from actual game (both cutscenes and gameplay).

 

[Raptor]

Also I think is pretty logical a CG trailer is not what the game will look or play.

This is not the movie industry, this is the videogames industry, people that straight up buy games based on CG trailers have nothing but themselves to blame if they get disappointed with the actual game.

 

[sixteen-bit]

they should get the studio that made the Onimusha CG trailers to do more stuff

 

[exfatal]

Love cgi trailers, like a mini movie trailer for the game

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Getting a CGI trailer is not taking away gameplay footage from you, if they had that ready you'll be looking it at it as well. People need to get over it.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Don't really care for them either way. I don't really watch them either if I'm not interested in the game in the first place (from having seen actual gameplay).

 

[SomeRandomWeirdGuy]

Like others have said, CG trailers are great as long as actual gameplay trailers/demonstrations accompany them. A CG trailer is nothing but a concept. Like Re:core at the Xbox conference last year, I couldn't give a shit about that game. And phantom dust and crackdown two years ago. A CG trailer by itself tells me nothing. Its basically marketing in its purest form.

 

[Yarbskoo]

They don't inspire me to be excited about the games, and most of the time they're not done well enough to be enjoyable on their own. I'm almost always disappointed when I realize the trailer I'm watching isn't going to show me what the actual game looks like.

 

[Dandy Lyin]

I like them too, though I find them annoying when that's all that is shown... Like, I want CGI, but I also want gameplay.

 

[pablito]

Cg trailers have been there forever. They even exist in movies. They are called teaser trailers.

Only gamers expect everything to be ready at a moments notice when a game is announced.

That is not how it works in every other media, so don't expect it from games.

I personally like them if they are cool. Like the Blizzard and Bungie/Halo one as an example.


Edit: After reading through the thread I really think some of you are oblivious about how stuff works in real life.I understand that you don't like the CG trailers, but you can't expect a game to have in game footage in a teaser trailer when said game can be years out. There are exceptions, but even the Kojima trailers are a bit doctored. Unless a developer does what Bethesda recently did and announce the game just when it is about to come out, then yeah it makes sense to expect in-game footage. If not you are being unrealistic and it is not a disingenuous thing to do a reveal with CG. Some of the best reveals have been like that too.

I can't agree. Feel free to bring up examples of games that have a significant portion of its story experienced through CG. But, from what I remember, CG is just a bigger part of movies. Some movies are all CG. Others incorporate throughout the whole movie. Like Yoda being all CG in the prequels as an example. If games used CG like that, I'd agree. A recent example of this CG hate is the new Injustice trailer. I think the story mode for the first was in game engine. Not to mention it's a fighting game, so once people are done with the story mode, it's all gameplay from there. People want to see what they'll actually be playing, and there's nothing wrong with that. You say we can't expect gameplay when a game is years out. Why in the world should a dev even tell us about the game at that point? Just keep us in the dark until you can show us the game you're working on. We're fine with that.

 

[Dawnbuster]

Whether we like or don't like CG trailers is pretty much irrelevant. Because core gamers are not the target for CG trailers. So to pretty much everyone who reads NeoGAF ... they aren't meant for us.

They're meant for broader gamers. The kind of people who buy Call of Duty for full price in Best Buy and only occasionally pay attention to gaming culture/news. Who watch football on the weekends and see an ad for Game of War or Clash of Clans and download it during commercial breaks.

E3, besides the holiday advertising spend season, is one of the only times the mainstream press pays attention to gaming. So these trailers at this time of year fight for attention and to be picked up by those press blips on the news.

The game developers themselves often have little to no awareness of the trailer, which is almost always produced in a partnership between the publisher's marketing team and their advertising agency (or sometimes direct to a CG production house like Digital Domain or Blur, who often try to cut the agency out of the equation). Sometimes the developer takes a heavier hand, but often they're too busy actually making the game to spend more than a few meeting hours approving what the marketing teams are doing (if they're even allowed to "approve" ... I've seen some of the bigger publishers only tell the developers about the trailers as an FYI).

The agency will craft strategy and target specific market segments and shape their messaging to speak to those people.

They typically drive two media metrics: awareness, and purchase intent. Awareness around E3 and in big TV buys, and purchase intent closer to launch with more specific targeted executions. If it's a returning franchise the CG trailer will hit big story moments to make lapsed fans excited ... again, not us. It's the guy who played Uncharted 2 but missed 3 because he was in college or had a kid, and needs to be reminded in general terms who Nathan Drake is and what he looks like.

No publisher spends millions of dollars on a CG trailer and the media to drive eyeballs just to attract core gamers. We're already birds in hand. We're already aware of the entire slate of titles and have obsessed over small details. And success just with us can't possibly cover the costs of developing and marketing a big-budget title.

But if we like the trailers ... great. Free earned media. If we don't and demand gameplay ... fine. We'll get it closer to launch when the game is ready.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

The only CG trailers I like are those for marketing a game once we all know what it is. Announcement trailers that are CG are completely pointless to me. To the point where if I see a new thread that says there is a new trailer for a game but it's CG I won't even watch it.

 

[NHarmonic.]

Show me gameplay, it's a simple point.

Even if it's story focused, or you want to portray a tone, if you can't do that through showing me content from the game then that's a very clear failure.

But videogames are a mix of media, even in the same game you can find CGI cutscenes to set the tone or atmosphere, watch an event unfold, characterization, etc.

Why can´t they show us CGI scenes to contribute to the style and tone? to introduce you to something?

Or i guess it's a nintendo thing, again, and the only thing that matters is gameplay. And you can ditch the rest because "lol, cinematic".

 

[papo]

I can't agree. Feel free to bring up examples of games that have a significant portion of its story experienced through CG. But, from what I remember, CG is just a bigger part of movies. Some movies are all CG. Others incorporate throughout the whole movie. Like Yoda being all CG in the prequels as an example. If games used CG like that, I'd agree. A recent example of this CG hate is the new Injustice trailer. I think the story mode for the first was in game engine. Not to mention it's a fighting game, so once people are done with the story mode, it's all gameplay from there. People want to see what they'll actually be playing, and there's nothing wrong with that. You say we can't expect gameplay when a game is years out. Why in the world should a dev even tell us about the game at that point? Just keep us in the dark until you can show us the game you're working on. We're fine with that.

I am talking in general. Gaming is not a special medium better or that much different from the rest. Teaser trailers exist everywhere and even for full length movies we have only CG trailers for live action movies. I think you don't get the point of my post, it's not about the use of CG in trailers for games/movies vs the end product, but that in every similar medium CG or some sort of subterfuge is used in every announcement unless that product is wees/months away.

And yes we cannot expect gameplay if a game is years out. It is disingenuous of you to expect it. Are you really asking why in the world a developer would announce/tease/reveal a new game when it is years away? Maybe to get some hype going and get people excited about said game before it actually comes out.

Most games are not Fallout 4 which has previous games so a big reveal is not necessary SO CG trailers are not as big a problem or an issue as gamers make it sound..

 

[sjay1994]

Love CG trailers.

They are good tone setters.

 

[Gtagentleman]

I love them, they make it easy to know what games to probably avoid.

I will get avatar quoted for sure, but I watched a ton of OW gameplay before buying.

 

[Valahart]

I don't mind CG trailers as long as there is a little gameplay with it. It's even fine if a gameplay video has already been shown, it can be used to set the mood and the story.

However game reveals with nothing but a CG trailer are just garbage. One just know that game is not even close to existing yet if ever. See BG&E2.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

I enjoy CG trailers a lot as well, have nothing against them especially when they are cool af.

 

[IntelliHeath]

I don't understand why there is suddenly rise of hates for CGI trailers because the gameplay trailers usually come like few hours to few days later. Yeah, I always enjoys the CGI trailers because they are meant to be eye-candy for the audience to view, like OverWatch, Smash Bros, Street Fighter x Tekken, etc.

 

[Permanently A]

Show me a CGI trailer and the gameplay. There's no reason to get hyped over CGI which tells you literally nothing about the most important aspect of a game, the gameplay.

 

[sn00zer]

I think most companies have gotten very good at setting expectations and tone as well as showing game mechanics in CG trailers. Square especially, huge props for their Deus Ex stuff.

on the other hand

Blizzard is the absolute worst at representing what their games are with trailers. They make great games and amazing short films mind you, but the trailers seem to be selling a much different project than the actual game. I would much rather play the game in Blizzard trailers than the actual games themselves.

 

[taizuke]

If done well i'm all for it like the Injustice 2 trailer which i can't stop watching.

Releasing a CG trailer when the game is close to release tends to rub me the wrong way cause at that point i'm more interested in what the game actually looks like.

So, i'm all for it but how and when they do it is key.

 

[Squishy3]

Chills everytime.

Also the one for the expansion, but that one has spoilers in it. Can't wait to see what the one for the next expansion is.

 

[Molemitts]

But videogames are a mix of media, even in the same game you can find CGI cutscenes to set the tone or atmosphere, watch an event unfold, characterization, etc.

Why can´t they show us CGI scenes to contribute to the style and tone? to introduce you to something?

Or i guess it's a nintendo thing, again, and the only thing that matters is gameplay. And you can ditch the rest because "lol, cinematic".

Because those themes could be shown through gameplay, or cutscenes if the game is heavy on them. If you need a CGI trailer to portray such things I would consider that a problem.

 

[kewlmyc]

CG Trailer are fine, but just don't expect me to get to hype for a game until I see a gameplay trailer. Same for animated trailers.

There are a few exceptions however, like Overwatch.

 

[Aters]

Only the good ones. FFVIIR announcement trailer is GOAT.

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

The only time I activley hate CG trailers is when its a new IP, and Im not sure how the gameplay works

 

[banefirelord]

I have no problem with CG trailers provided they aren't target renders trying to pass themselves off as gameplay. That Saints Row the Third trailer set to "POWER" is one of my favorite game trailers ever and did a great job of conveying the game's style and direction even if it wasn't indicative of the actual mechanics or appearance.

 

[Starsunder]

i hate them

waste of time for me

 

[LordRaptor]

Like others have said, I like Blur Studios as much as the next guy, but they do nothing for conveying what exactly I'm supposed to be interested in in an upcoming product.

Also I'm recycling this gif as relevant.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I don't mind them. Some of my favorite trailers have just been cg ones like Assassin's Creed Revelations and Lords of Shadow 2

 

[luka]

i dont care as long as it's not cg masquerading as the actual game. cinematic trailers are neat.

i have no interest whatsoever in 'proof of concept' cg demos and would prefer that devs show nothing at all if they're not ready or too scared to show off WIP footage of the actual game.

 

[lord_of_flood]

I don't like them much, especially when they include no gameplay. The new IP by Deep Silver (Agents of Mayhem, I think?) had a neat little CG trailer, but I kept wondering "when are you going to get to the gameplay?" while watching. When there was no gameplay after all, I was really disappointed.

Would love if there would at least be some gameplay mixed into the CG trailers, but nope. Apparently, devs/publishers are too scared to show the actual product.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

I like CG Trailers mixed with a bit of gameplay, that's my favourite type: giving the artistic vision of the devs time to breathe whilst giving us a taste of what's to come via gameplay snippets.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Cg trailers have been there forever. They even exist in movies. They are called teaser trailers.

Only gamers expect everything to be ready at a moments notice when a game is announced.

That is not how it works in every other media, so don't expect it from games.

I personally like them if they are cool. Like the Blizzard and Bungie/Halo one as an example.


Edit: After reading through the thread I really think some of you are oblivious about how stuff works in real life.I understand that you don't like the CG trailers, but you can't expect a game to have in game footage in a teaser trailer when said game can be years out. There are exceptions, but even the Kojima trailers are a bit doctored. Unless a developer does what Bethesda recently did and announce the game just when it is about to come out, then yeah it makes sense to expect in-game footage. If not you are being unrealistic and it is not a disingenuous thing to do a reveal with CG. Some of the best reveals have been like that too.

I understand that just fine. I would much rather that they wait until they have something to show before putting out a CG trailer. CG trailers typically don't tell me anything about how a game plays, so they're useless to me. I don't even pay attention to a game until there is game play available.

 

[Koyuga]

Gameplay trailers usually aren't a good indication of what the game will actually look and play like on release, so bring on the CG trailers, I say.

 

[Shadow Ranger]

I like them too. I like hybrids. Open with CG, even if it's 2 minutes, then show some gameplay.

 

[RobotMoses]

Never go for the CG trailers. Spend that money on something useful instead.

 

[czk]

They are a waste of money and time.

 

[Bulletzen72]

Apart from The Witcher story trailers (because, for me, they are just short Gerlat stories in CGI form) the only CGI trailer that I've ever really liked was the Left 4 Dead trailer as it perfectly encompassed the characters and gameplay elements in a scenario. You could actually watch that trailer and know what to expect in the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvOGCZPDv7g