Death Stranding makes a beautiful mockery of E3 and its reveal trailers

PCGamesN: It's late May 2016. CG studios the world over are working extra hours to fulfil meticulous briefs handed to them by the world's biggest game developers and publishers. They're preparing for E3, when company heads will introduce their trailers to millions of eyes across the world, after which everyone will get busy articulating their reactions on social media. Are the shoulder pads big enough?, They worry. Can we make those explosions explode a bit more? We don't want that other franchise's explosions to explode more than ours. Let's linger on that returning character for a touch longer there. We'll win E3 if we do that.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

I agree, No wub wubs, no constantly fading to black for no reason, a song that actually complements whats being shown instead of something from a random top 10 radio list, no pre-order crap pushed into our faces. It was quite simple and perfection is simplicity itself.

[Fin_The_Human]

Pre order?

Why would you preorder a game that does not have a release date?

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Tell that to Evolve.

[MyDietEqualsGames]

People do it all the time. I had FFVXIII preordered for the longest. Why wouldn't they? Because no release date?

Hahaha! with that logic, we shouldn't put down on Crackdown 3.
https://www.amazon.com/Crac...

[ziggurcat]

"Pre order?

Why would you preorder a game that does not have a release date?"

because it's his money, not yours?

[jb227]

Really working hard to downplay this one Fin...

The game is absolutely intriguing...the trailer is only the tip of the iceberg, Kojima added some crazy Easter eggs, just do a quick YouTube search to get them explained.

The trailer was basically cut to complement Arnold's entrance into Terminator 2...2 of the dog tags on Norman Reedus' neck show equations related to black holes & quantum mechanics. This isn't something that was thrown together over night, there is a huge story here dealing with time travel, multiple dimensions & black holes. This game is obviously something that's been brewing with Kojima for a long time now & it could easily end up his crowning achievement now that he has the freedom to create outside of Konami's horrible standards. If you have been gaming long enough to recall, Psycho Mantis' introduction in MGS is hands down one of the most mindblowing moments any gamer will remember. It was the instant where gamers realized that they aren't just messing around with a controller on a medium that will never reach the heights of others, it was the instance where all gamers around the world realized that gaming could be altogether something more special & unique than anything else.

Yeah, this game ain't coming out this year, or the next, or maybe the year or 2 after that....but when it does release, it's gonna be something special...this is not a case similar to Dead Island where the trailer was more interesting than the game itself, this is Kojima....this is just the opening salvo for a game that will be one of if not the high water mark for the entire generation. This is one of those games that legitimizes the entire medium in the face of so much shovel ware & lackluster stuff that may release like clockwork, but isn't worth the money spent.

Can't rush perfection. I guarantee as soon as the game is available for pre order, it'll draw in plenty of folks, and none of those gamers will be let down for their long wait.

[jessionpc]

The idea of pre ordering from a consumers point of view is to buy something before it releases, so you don't forget to do so later. Most people who pre order a game arn't on N4G or the center of gaming news. They see something they like upcoming, have jobs, and prepurchase it and wait for that magical weekend they get a friendly reminder when they're watching netflix with their family that their new game is downloading.

^ Putting aside all the controversy and just stating the obvious here. ^

[SmielmaN]

Jessionpc- I've been gaming since I can remember, I've been on n4g since Sony was the worst for making PS3, and I preorder games during E3 for the next 1-2 years because I can get deals like 20% off this year (or 30% off last year) and price protection from Amazon. So my games come shipped to my house, the day they release, charged to my credit (which I immediately pay), for about $50-55 total with free shipping while most would drive to the store and pay $79.99 plus tax (Canadian eh). So, for example, last year Amazon offered 30% off and some games debuted that would t release for a year to two years. So I preordered them and now I will get horizon, the last guardian, and fractured but whole for $55 after tax, delivered to my door. As a consumer, this is called "smart" as I would have purchased these anyways and in order to get $30+ total off my purchase I would have to sell my previous games or trade them in for terrible deals. This way I get big discounts just because, build my library of games, and don't pay a dime until the game ships. Oh, and I get the bs preorder bonus codes every time too. Not sure why some parts of the gaming community shit on preordering so much. Get a credit card and use Amazon during e3. You can preorder two years worth of games for big discounts during e3 and don't pay a dime until they ship it. Save your money.

[Foxhound922]

Pure sodium chloride from all the people who won't be able to play the game. Who cares if it's a year or two from release? We know it's in good hands with Sony and Kojima, aka Sonjima, so let it bake in the oven and most likely have a masterpiece on our hands. Luckily, there's countless PS exclusives to play until then.

[Shubhendu_Singh]

I don't even know why you're getting downvoted.

People do it all the time doesn't really mean that it is right..or tasteful.
Preordering ANY game in itself in this day and age doesn't really mean much. You will never run out of copies.

[The 10th Rider]

Oh, for sure. I mean, I love trailers for games that haven't even gone into full development yet. /s

I'll give Kojima props for music, though. He always picks great music.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

It's not the first that this has happened, didn't they recently started production of Cyberpunk 2077? I say a good trailer is good trailer.

[Fin_The_Human]

Dead Island had an awesome trailer but the game was ok at best.

[The 10th Rider]

And people have been clamoring for Cyberpunk info since then. It's not coming out for likely another two years, either. There's some people who aren't too happy with that. Probably wasn't the best choice on their part, but I believe they said it was to draw in new staff for development.

[NeoGamer232]

And not a single ounce of gameplay to see whether the game will be any good.

[souldestroyer14]

Of course it's good it's a Playstation exclusive and it's Kojima /s
Its going to be in people's lists of games to come for another 4-5 years

[Imalwaysright]

I just thought that it was a big FU to those that said that Kojima was sexist due to Quiet's outfit.

[Rimeskeem]

LMAO true

[spicelicka]

What? How does that relate to other game trailers?

It's a beautifully well made and really intriguing trailer that's it. I don't know why the author is over-analyzing it, I highly doubt this trailer is making a mockery of anything, considering many would find the lack of gameplay, and an early announcement for a game that probably won't come for another 3 years, as not the best way to reveal.

I mean think about it, this game is most likely going to be amazing, but if every game did mysterious reveals like these with no release window in sight, we'd lose our minds in anticipation.

[jb227]

Just do a quick search of theories behind this trailer...you will fall down an entire rabbit hole, the likes of which just don't exist elsewhere. Kojima didn't just release a traditional early cg trailer, he has created an entire narrative based off of these quick 2 minutes...most games would kill to be as deep as it in all honesty. I understand the cliches about Kojima fans overblowing his abilities, but this trailer is easily more involved than anything else released this year at E3.

Either way, it's getting really old to hear gamers downplay amazing reveals solely because the games themselves aren't dropping in this calendar year. No offense, but it reeks of platform allegiances. Ive seen so many well known Xbox fans downplay Sony's entire conference because they featured few actual release dates, but everyone else that has no dog in the console war is just excited about the prospects of these titles. People with no vested interest can see the promise in new announcements. I'd rather see something like Death Stranding, Spider-Man, God of War, Days Gone, etc.. Sans concrete release date than an annualized racing game and another DR game that is timed exclusive. Sony brought the games this year, regardless of how people need to spin that.

[Germany7]

It's really funny to see someone criticizing Sony's conference, lol, they don't have any argument.

[spicelicka]

God of war, and Days gone had full gameplay videos. Spiderman and Detroit: Become Human also had in-game footage. That's actually what i DO want, we know those games will come late 2017 or early 2018 most likely.

I'm not talking about how detailed Death Standing is, nor am I criticizing its reveal per se, if anything Kojima is one person who could pull off what he did. I simply meant, every trailer cannot be like that, the author seems to suggest that it's the best way to show your game. I prefer a mix of everything. Not all games are deep like this, there are many games I'd prefer to see a gameplay trailer of instead of a mysterious teaser, i.e. God of war.

As far as Xbox goes, I did not bring that up in the convo myself. But I thought Microsoft's E3 was really unexciting other than Scorpio. I would've loved some new game annoucements even if they were for late 2017. But I also think they played it safe, Gears of war 4, FH3, Recore, Sea of thieves, Crackdown 3, Scalebound, and Halo wars 2 are all planned to be released in a year from now, which I think is a damn solid lineup. We see just as many Sony fanboys marking the death of Xbox because they chose to be conservative. As far as we know, no games were announced on Xbox for end of 2017, early 2018 I can see why that's not exciting but that doesn't mean nothing is coming. Last year we saw amazing reveals, but too many games were revealed too early, and as a result this year there were no shockers. I have a feeling Sony might suffer the same way next year E3, have to understand that literally all the big games shown this E3 will be RE-SHOWN next year, which leaves less room for new surprises. People have to stop letting fanboy wars cloud our discussions, or it just turns into conflict.

[jb227]

@spice

I will say that you are more level headed than most on here, so my apologies if I hoisted anything on you that didn't fit.

I just see that criticism about "it's not coming out for another decade" as a way that a lot of the more hardcore on here are downplaying some amazing game announcements. Sony made a point to refrain from dating much this year & I feel like they did that in response to the criticism about the delays, which I applaud them for...a large sect of gamers used the 'in development' tag to condemn their showing though, and that's just a bummer. I only have a PS4, but I want to see interesting games content from all devs across every platform...Id personally love to see MS show stuff that is new, even if it is further out as long as it is accompanied by gameplay. I do fully agree about cg trailers though, which is why nearly every other game reveal for PS4 has worked so well...Horizon, God of War, Days Gone, all of these titles were revealed with full gameplay, which I appreciate.

I think the main reason why I'm okay with Kojima's cg trailer is that it did such a good job setting up a fully unique tone, and it had so much deep thought behind it. Seeing it side by side w/ the entrance of Arnold into T2 was pretty interesting...the man has really put some thought into this so that it doesn't just feel like a placeholder.

Again, I apologize, because I absolutely agree, I'm tired of cg trailers & if it were any other game I most likely couldn't have cared less about it. Seeing you clarify your point I understand what you were getting at.

I also agree that MS definitely has a very solid lineup from here until at least Spring/Summer 2017, a lot of potentially amazing games. I understand MS' methods...the only thing that gets me on the defensive is when I see people trying to knock Sony's methods, because they are just different approaches really. I guess when an E3 goes by & I don't see much new, it will always make me wonder whether there is much in the pipeline for the future. That probably comes from years of being conditioned to see all kinds of new titles every E3 like clockwork, but times are changing so that may be an outdated way of seeing things.

As far as Sony having a similar E3 to MS next year, that's always a possibility, especially so if we keep seeing appearances at so many conferences every year, but I honestly thought that was in the cards for Sony this year & they managed to pull out a lot of great looking games. For next year, they could have potential titles from Sucker Punch, Sony Japan, Guerrilla's 1st team & Naughty Dog all on the docket along w/ any third party partnerships so it is also just as likely that they end up with another assortment of great looking future titles. I personally think the success of the Ps4 will allow for at least 1-2 more years of constant reveals, even if the Scorpio swings the balance back in MS' favor consumer wise.

[spicelicka]

I agree, both have their own methods and this has been going on for a long time. Sony has always revealed games this way and it has always worked. I had a PS4 for a while, which i had to sell unfortunately and missed out on Uncharted 4, but i do plan on getting one again later in the year for US4 and Horizon.

At the end of the day, i care more about the games than the corporations. I have certain games that I really care about on both platforms, I've always bought Xbox first because of Halo and Gears of war being a HUGE part of my younger years, but I made sure to get a PS3 later to play God of war, UC, Resistance, Killzone, and I'll make sure not to miss out this gen. I just to like rustle fanboys sometimes by arguing with them.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Wholeheartedly agree Spicelicka. Not every trailer needs to be the same but it would be nice to feel that they have put effort into it. I love seeing gameplay trailers as well mind you because they are showing what we are getting our hands on but the trend of throwing in a random Rolling Stones song or the redundant fading to black every 2 seconds along with other tropes. The Spiderman trailer perfect because it showed gameplay while using original music which is very rare nowadays.

[Ristul]

Beautiful trailer, loved it. Looking forward to see this game take form.

[PigsR4Eating]

Worst part of sony's conference. A trailer that tells you nothing and I can not wait until I stop seeing articles for it.

[cheeko]

band wagon. feel free to jump off it.