You can find the new trailer for Age of Empires III at Gamespot.
In a way, game trailers are silly idea. They usually show little gameplay and tell you nothing you don’t already know. Unlike movie trailers, there is zero chance that they will spoil a game for you or reveal plot points that are best kept under wraps.
This being the internet, there is still an entire site devoted to game trailers. Thanks to my friends over at Computer Games Magazine news, I can even watch old game trailers and commercials from around the world. (The Intellivision ones remind me how much I miss George Plimpton.)
With the AoE3 trailer, the last 40 seconds or so show some gameplay images, but they are intercut with cutscenes and edited into small segments that make it clear that this is very much an Age of game, but fail to really separate it from the others.
And why do all RPG and strategy trailers fit that cliche “It was a time…of war. A time…of love” style? This one goes for the “They came for wealth. They stayed for war. The winner is teh k1ng” motif.
The AoE3 trailer does nothing to increase or dampen my enthusiasm or anticipation for the game. It’s an obvious purchase, and will probably be the game I spend all Boxing Day with. Unless I happen to install Civ IV first.
Aren’t game trailers just sooo annoying? They take the “quick cut” method of commercials to an annoying and headache-inducing height. 3 seconds, next scene of chaotic action, 3 seconds more, cut cut cut cut. Usually accompanied by a terrible soundtrack, replete with booming, overwhelming base. And with a narrative that, like you say, is basically one cliche after another. Yikes, they are awful!
Killzone 2. Making everyone think it’s in-game, while it’s in truth pre-rendered. Only good game trailer I have seen is well… from… uh… 98? :D
Anyway, game trailers don’t work. The concept just doesn’t fit. Games are meant to be interactive, displaying it in uninteractive format is just like using screwdrive to hit a nail on the wall.
And my brother makes me watch them…