Stop Talking Down to Gamers with Generic Trailers

Last week, the Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer came out with a reasonably good reception. It depicted a scantily clad young woman in what seems to be a red light district, who has gone insane from her synthetic use. Police are firing their guns in slow motions, and a cool looking mysterious policeman comes in for the kill on the young woman. Then cut to the young woman now being a part of the police squad. This trailer had it all. Sexiness, violence, bedazzling surroundings, and a badass looking dude to save the day. However I had a different opinion although this does not mean this is the opinion of Capsule Computers as a whole.

[discordman]

This is just how it is these days, trailers gonna trail.

[ManDemon]

Almost the same could be said about teaser trailers for movies. Did it catch your eye? Are you talking about it? They won.

[ScubbaSteve]

It did catch my eye, but it did so back at e3 when it was just some guy from CDPR saying they were making a cyberpunk game. To be fair tho, Michal Platkow-Gilewski is pretty darn smexy.

Seriously tho, that trailer seemed to be more of a throw back to the 5th element than any planned sexism.

[militissanctus]

Definitely striking. The blades coming out of the arms - it was borderline disturbing.

[showtimefolks]

i just wish that more of them actually talk about how the game is gonna be like and don't play with our emotions. Look at Dead Island trailer it shows the concept of what happens when shit gets real but when you are playing the game its just a generic story no emotions what so ever

the first gears of war had a awesome trailer with song mad world but the game was no emotional roller coaster yet it was another TPS with macho man big muscles story of how i am gonna blow your head off and set shit on fire

and some of these trailers are not cheap, it could cost millions to make a great trailer

[iWishTifaWasReal]

i remember when the trailer for Dead Island first came out, people were going crazy about it. but when the game came out, it wasn't that great and got average reviews.

It really was just the soundtrack of the trailer that made trailer epic.

[ZacE]

Loved the trailer. She was made female just because its a more striking and effectual image.

[AznGaara]

Exactly, how would the trailer be received if it was a half naked male with cybernetic claws coming from his arms instead of a female? People would probably go "oh another Deus Ex game."

Its not all about the breast, heck they're pretty covered up. You have to look at this from a logical and artistic view too. Why is the woman so exposed? So the viewer can see the bullets hitting skin and not hurting her. Why is the woman wearing such tight white clothing? Maybe it was to better contrast the dark blood within a night scene. etc. etc.

[koga88]

I didn't see anything wrong with the Cyberpunk trailer. It was as that ZacE guy said, striking and posed a better image than a boring generic guy getting shot up. Along those same lines I didn't have an issue with Hitman: Absolution's nun trailer either. People are getting way to PC nowadays.

It's not like she's stripping or posing or anything. She's sitting in a red-light district, probably living/working there due to her cybernetic implant addiction, after going on an insane murder spree from having too many cybernetic implants and losing her mind. Would it have been better if it was a female cop shooting at her?

[anime_swag_pro]

No. It wouldn't. Authoritarian policemen shooting people in the back of the head is kind of a hot topic to even put in there. At least in the united states right now, where cops do in fact shoot people with little restraint.

Point being not the gender politics that everyone seems to have read too much into, but rather the quality of the trailers we are given. They have no context to the game when you see what they are really about. it's just a way to get the lowest form of gamer to buy it while the rest of us actually look for content.

Yes. the trailer did look cool. I did recognize that. And no one seems to realize that i'm point out that the trailer looked cool, but didn't show what the game was or the quality of the game.

[CrzyFooL]

This article gave me a migraine. OW.

[-Falaut-]

I've been gaming for 24 years, and that is one of the best trailers I've seen. Plus, I'm usually one to see through PR/Marketing bullshit.

This is just a good trailer, get off your high horse.

[LordHiggens]

Wait a minute...Sex and Violence sells media? QUICK!!! LET US ACT ON THIS BEFORE OTHERS REALIZE!!!

[PopRocks359]

Not all trailers are generic though. I actually really loved the one they did for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Cool music, great animation, got the mood and point of the game across; it didn't talk down to me at all. It just made me say "Wow, I really want to try this out."

[ZacE]

But that's a massive established brand based on ass-kicking robots...of course you're interested. Don't even need to see footage; on the name alone people would be intrigued.

[PopRocks359]

Even so, the trailer caught my eye. That and I didn't really know too much about Transformers save for G1 and Beast Wars prior to it. I hadn't even played War for Cybertron.

[KrimsonKody]

I don't really see much problem with most trailers. I understand that its only a mere peek at what the game is about, even if it's poorly presented.

A little off topic;
I have more of a problem with video game commercials nowadays.
They often show a whole bunch of stuff other than actual game footage;
They show people talking, running in different precipitations, lodging, farting, eating...but mostly running, with less than 5 seconds of actual game footage.

[Godmars290]

OMG - I'm not alone! Someone's not going blindly crazy at the mere mention of an announcement of an announcement much less a trailer.

[anime_swag_pro]

Thank you!

[palaeomerus]

Please learn what the word 'generic' means or stop using it. Generic doesn't mean "stuff I'm not personally interested in and bored with". It also doesn't mean "not anime".

Also this is a TEASER not a typical trailer. A teaser is designed to stir up curiosity about an upcoming product, not show you the product as it is in use. Expecting gameplay footage this early is dumb. The game is not coming out for a long while.

[anime_swag_pro]

No disrespect to your post. Generic to me means just like other wester game with a not so interesting story. I personally would have wanted a CG trailer that better displayed what Mark Pondsmith was talking about in the other trailer I put in the article.

[militissanctus]

Not generic? This was the same crap in so many other trailers over the years. Guns, bullets whizzing by, and the lowest common denominator - a sexy lady with little on. In terms of video game trailers, it's fairly generic.

[militissanctus]

There's an excellent point here. I was, honestly, totally uninterested in CyberPunk beforehand. After seeing the trailer the author linked to, I'm really interested in this game now.

[ZoyosJD]

Then you probably haven't heard of CDProjectRED, creators of said game along with the Witcher series, so I have listed things for you to now do.

1. watch The Witcher trailers

2. buy The Witcher games

3. become engrossed in the series

4. thank me when you find time

5. ???

6. profit!!!

[Timesplitter14]

It was a really cool CG teaser, but let's be careful here. We've all seen our share of cool CG teasers that turn into mediocre games.

Dead Island comes to mind, for example.

[MaleManSam]

This teaser was to entice helping hands to develop the game, not entirely for public viewership to be waiting for the game to come out.

Learn your facts buddy before writing drab. Your article is ridiculous.

[ziggurcat]

is "generic" the new buzz word gamers are now using to complain with?