As with all industries, the gaming industry also has legal affairs linked with it. I have done a little research into some of these affairs, such as age ratings and the companies responsible for them.
Games will be produced with a target audience in mind (This is something I will need to think about further on in my research, once I have a clearer idea for my game). All commercial game developers and publishers will need to think about this, for example, if they are aiming their product at 12 year olds, they do not want the game to be rated higher than that, so will have to keep violent and gory themes to a minimum.
Most regions have a ratings board, for example, games released for sale in America will have been rated by ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). Games to be released within Europe will be rated by PEGI (Pan European Game Information) and New Zealand and Australia have a similar system with the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) rating their games. Japan has the CERO (Computer Entertainment ratings organization) and most British games will usually be rated by PEGI, however the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) will also occasionally rate video games. These boards are usually government funded in some way and are put in place to help parents make informed decisions on what games they are buying for their children.
The way in which these games are rated differs between rating boards, the two main boards, PEGI and ESRB choosing to use different ratings to distinguish games. Below I have shown examples of their rating systems.
Pegi rates in age categories, for example 12’s or 18’s, much like films are rated, whereas ESRB uses ratings such as ‘teen’ and ‘mature’ for theirs. These are both iconography as they are widely recognisable by gamers.
Both of these rating systems serve well as a way to deter younger gamers from violent and gory themes. This is done because young players are deemed vulnerable and easily imposed upon. The hypodermic needle theory implies that the media we see in society can have a direct and powerful effect on the audience it is viewed by, the use of powerful and positive words are often used in advertising to persuade viewers into buying a product, or thinking they need it. After the clockwork orange murder case, people are becoming more and more concerned about the effect of violent movies, books and video games on the people viewing. The games industry in particular is often criticized for making kids ‘violent’ due to the game play within them. Germany, has made the decision to ban all violent video games rated 18+, this was put in place after a school shooting. Video games are now highly regulated and Germany has its own rating board for this. I will be looking further into the effects of video games at some point, along with escapism and why people choose to play video games in the first place.
During official TV trailers, the rating is usually shown at the beginning or the end, this is done to show viewers what content deemed for a certain age group is contained within the game. Each ratings company has a variety of themes that contribute to their overall rating, for example, sexual themes, violence, substance use and violence, along with others such as gambling. The overall rating for the game is compromised of how mild, if at all, these themes are implemented into the game play.
Legal affairs associated with the advertising of the game, state that all game play or footage captured for the poster or trailer must be suitable for everyone, if shown before the watershed or in a place where under aged people may view it. If I decide to make a violent, mature rated game, this will be something I will need to keep in mind.
Another thing I will need to be keeping in mind is copyright. I will need to produce my own graphics and use my own, or royalty free music in the production of my game and my trailer.
Next I will be deconstructing the packaging of three video games, this will help me find some common conventions within them, which will be useful when designing and planning my final product.
Indie Game companies are game developers that produce video games without the financial aid of a publisher. Indie (or Independent) companies usually consist of an individual or a small team of up to ten people.
The creation time of an indie game can range from a few weeks to many years depending on how complex the project is. The majority of indie game developers distribute digitally through downloads on websites and platforms such as Steam.
Steam, a direct download client for video games is now well known for helping independent developers get their games on the market, with two notable games, Garrys Mod and Audiosurf receiving phenomenal success rates since being sold there. The Xbox live network has also recently allowed sale of indie games in their store and the Wii U is said to allow other developers and clients to distribute their games through the network. Something that is to be confirmed nearer to the consoles release.
Many indie games out today are very different to the commercial games being released. Unlike commercial game companies that have the support of publishers, indie games are very low budget and simply cannot afford the high polygon (Polygons being used to compose graphics with a 3D feel to them) count, HD graphics that most commercial games sport. Because of this, the large majority of independent video games will use 2D, retro or unusual graphics, making them quirky and desirable, instead of trying to compete and failing with commercial developers.
Terraria and Minecraft are both very notable indie games that have taken the gaming world by storm. Terraria having an 8bit 2D feel and Minecraft having very blocky and low polygon count graphics.
Both of these games have gone on to prove that a games graphics are not everything. Terraria sold over 200,000 copies on Steam within its first week of released and Minecraft (not released on Steam) has sold 3,000,000 units since its release in May of 2009, both games and developers are doing incredibly well.
An example of the graphics in the indie game Terraria, produced by the studio Re-Logic
An example of MineCraft's low poly graphics from the first person viewpoint.
An example of the high poly graphics of recent commercial game Portal2 (VALVE). Showing off the high detail and depth of scenery, hardly comparable with the low poly and 2D worlds of Minecraft and Terraria.
In the first week of Terraria's release, it overtook Portal 2 on Steam sales, proving that each has its unique charm about it and both can be popular.
Despite the harsh and often unsteady market of the games industry for an indie developer, it is now becoming easier for these producers to gain success, especially through download clients and apps for phones, such as the android and iphone. Cheap but effective programs such as Game Maker and AGS allow those aiming to produce an indie game, get their foot in the door without facing extortionate costs.
Due to the fact that I will not have a publisher and therefore will be an indie developer myself, I will need to concentrate on a style of graphics or game play that would interest gamers in my game. This will need to be emphasized in my trailers and poster. By emphasizing an interesting type of game play or graphics style when advertising, it will help my game a little to not be overlooked by fans of more commercial companies.
My next step will be to research some of the legal affairs within the industry, such as age ratings. As this is a requirement of the majority of video games in some form. I will be researching some video game standard and rating companies, before going on to look at game packaging, another part of my brief.
I have chosen to do some background research on the companies I found in my last blog post. By doing this, I can get a better view of how much a game company makes per year along with genres used and employee numbers. I chose to harness new technology by learning how to use the presentation software, Prezzi, for this.
I decided to research more into the game industry, looking at production and publishing companies and finding out more information about the leading game developers in the industry at current.
The video games industry mainly persists of Developers, Publishers and Manufacturers. Developers are the companies that produce the game itself, hire the staff to code, animate, storyboard, write and complete the video game in all its stages. Publishers are responsible for bringing the final product onto the market, advertising it and trying to ensure its success. Publishers for video games, unlike those for books, will play a vital part to the development and have a say on design and content within the game. Video games manufacturers are the companies that create the platform the game is played on, for example Nintendo with their Wii or DS consoles.
Many large video game publishers, such as EA, Activision and Nintendo own both Development studios and publish. (Nintendo manufactures as well as doing both these things, this however is rare for a gaming company.) Because of this, these companies can bring a game from an idea, to the final product without going to a 3rd party to finish it.
The most popular 5 game publishers/developers with gamers, within the industry at current are (According to Yahoo directory);
Electronic Arts (EA) who publish and create a wide variety of different games for varied platforms.
Blizzard Entertainment - developer of the popular online phenomenon World of Warcraft.
ID Software.inc – who were responsible for the Quake series.
Activision - publisher and developer of many games, including Call of Duty and Guitar Hero.
Valve – developer and publisher of many popular series such as Portal, Team fortress and Half Life
All of these companies have both developed and published successful games to the market, many of them recognisable to video game players.
As far as video game manufacturers are concerned, the market is solely dominated by three main conglomerate companies. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. All of these companies have manufactured a successful 7th generation console on the market today, such as the Wii, DS, PS3 and Xbox 360. Currently, these are the only companies that have been successful in the console market, despite many attempts by others to break in. Some companies such as Sega have dropped out of this market and steer more towards game developing now. Sega was popular in the 3rd and 4th generations of the gaming market, creating many popular consoles along with cabinets for arcades, the Sega Megadrive and Sega Dreamcast were highly popular consoles in the 90’s and achieved high success for the company.
All three of these companies are highly recognised among gamers and many developers and publishers work to release games on their consoles every year.
I will now be looking at some indie game developers, due to the fact that my end product will be indie. (as I am working solo) Indie games are often very different to mainstream games produced by large companies, so I will be taking a look at some indie developers and the genre’s /styles they have chosen to work in.
The next trailers I will be analysing are for the RPG/Adventure games, Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. These were released for the Nintendo DS, March 2011.
The first trailer I will be analysing is a TV advertisement for the games. This trailer is very different from the others I have analysed in the fact that is uses celebrities; in this case a well known band, to advertise their game. This advertisement has been shown on TV and is one minute in length.
The advertisement starts with a young lady introducing herself. She states and ‘you’re here with-‘. From the very onset of the trailer, it addresses the audience, by stating ‘you’re’ instead of ‘i’m’ this is done to draw your interest in the advertisement. She points and the camera (seemingly handheld) moves to follow, where the band all shout in unison ‘One Direction!’. This advert is clearly aimed at teenage males and in particular fans of the band and fans of the Pokemon franchise.
The young lady shown at the beginning then goes on to say ‘ and we’re here to talk about-‘ in which the band follow up with, ‘Pokemon!’. From just 7 seconds into the advert, you already know what it is going to be about. This will attract fans to the advert and serves to keep them interested throughout the entire 1 minuite.
A series of shots of the band, with some people dressed in Pokemon costumes are shown, whilst a recording of them cheering is played, this is non diegetic as it would not have corresponded to the clips shown. The band members are shown having fun and kicking a football around with these characters. The characters, especially Pikachu, work as a semiotic to the audience and serve the purpose of attracting existing Pokemon fans. Oshawott, Snivy and Tepig, three of the dressed up Pokemon characters are new and by featuring them in this video, they are introducing them to their fans.
The advert serves as a sort of interview for One Direction, whilst endorsing the games. The band is asked what they like about Pokemon, the band members give their reasons and some hand held footage along with some game play, filmed for a DS is shown. Both these entice people into wanting to get the game, the fact that a well known band is endorsing it and saying different things they like about the game, make it sound interesting and cool to viewers. They are asked what their favourite thing about Pokemon is and two different band members’ answer, both highlighting very different and fun aspects of the game play, battling and collecting. This is done to help appeal to people who are interested in that sort of game play.
Lots of footage of the band members having fun whilst playing the game is shown. Some of this has been edited to be in black and white, relating to the games. By showing footage of the members having fun, it connotates to the audience that by buying these games, they too are going to have that sort of fun (Association).
A bit of comedy is used when they are asked what Pokemon they think one of the band members looks like. This gives them the chance to introduce yet another new Pokemon, ‘Pansear’ and the use of comedy appeals to the emotions of the audience.
All of the footage shown is filmed from a Nintendo DSi XL handheld console. This is a recent console to be released and by filming off the console instead of having pre-filmed clips, they are advertising the console to their audience as well.
Finally, an ending visual is shown, featuring the covers of the game, the DSi and One Dimension logo and the signatures of the band members. These all serve as iconography and will be recognisable to the audience. The game box art will tell viewers what to look out for in stores. A voice over with a slogan, ‘Explore, Collect and Battle with Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, Only on Nintendo DS’ is played. Once again, this enforces the main aspects of the game, but also gives the title of the new games and the platform they are playable on. All of these are important to viewers wishing to buy the game or interested in playing.
The Pokemon copyright information is shown below in small, this is done because it is not relevant to the audience.
The second Pokemon Black and White trailer I will be analysing is another TV trailer. This one however, is more set on game play and information about the game, rather than celebrity endorsement. It is only 33 seconds in length and would therefore, more likely be played on TV more often than the one shown above (due to it being cheaper to show).
Unfortunately embedding has been disabled by the uploader of this video, so you will need to click through to the video on youtube, rather than watch it embedded as done with my previous video deconstructions.
This trailer is mainly about showcasing the graphics and game play of the Pokemon Black and White games. From the very beginning of the trailer, it starts out with upbeat music from within the games, playing. Players of previous Pokemon games will recognise this music as it is a re-mastered version of the music that plays at the beginning of each game. The first piece of footage shown in this trailer is of the Sky Arrow Bridge. This footage show cases the improved perspective and 3d environments of these new games, already showing new features to attract old players of the Pokemon series. This is followed by a triple battle scene, triple battles are another new feature to the Pokemon black and white games so this serves as another way to draw back old players. By showing scenes like these, the trailer is both appealing to old fans and people who haven’t played the games before but are interested in the graphic quality or game play. The clip that plays after this, once again, introduces ‘Snivy’, ‘Tepig’ and ‘Oshawott’ the three new starter Pokemon in the game’s by showing all three of them being selected during game play. Most of the game play footage shown showcases either the new Pokemon or the new region the game is set in.
The voice over that plays throughout these clips makes sure to use language that creates interest, makes it seem action packed and invites old players back. Words like ‘New’, ‘Never before seen’ and ‘Ultimate’ draw attention and make the game seem good. The voice over refers to the viewers as ‘you’, ‘you can assemble your ultimate team’, by addressing the audience directly in this way, it helps draw them in and encourages them to buy the game. From then onwards, as the game play is shown, the commentary, instead of addressing the audience by using the word ‘you’, it becomes more like an order, ‘take on Team Plasma’ and ‘Uncover the secret of the legendary Pokemon’. The commentary now changes to things the audience could be doing if they bought and played this video game.
The tag line for these games is shown, in black and white to correspond to the game titles, ‘start from a new beginning’, this has been edited to zoom out and connotates that you will be playing this game and starting your journey soon.
The box art for these games is then shown, along with the website address (for viewers interested to learn more) and the ESRB rating, Pokemon Company logo and Nintendo DS logo. All of these are used as iconography, viewers will recognise and be able to relate to these. The E rating applies it can be played by people of all ages, though the primary target audience for these games is 12 – 15 year old males.
Finally, the advertisement ends with information about downloadable content in the game, in the form of the Pokemon Victini, ‘The FIRST fire and psychic Pokemon’. Victini is used as an advertising point for fans, but also encourages people to buy the game in the first month of the release, whilst Victini is available for download.
Now I have analysed three sets of trailers, I feel it is important to take a step back and research more into the companies dominating the institution, along with legal restraints for both games and advertising. I will then move on to analyse three sets of box art for video games, before establishing the main common conventions throughout all of my deconstructions and thinking about how I can apply these to my final product.
For my first TV trailer analysis, I will be deconstructing is the trailer for Okamiden, an action adventure game for the Nintendo DS and also the sequel to the game Okami, a Wii/Playstation 2 game released in 2007. Okamiden is a fairly recent game, released in Japan in September of 2010 and then in North America, Europe and Australia March 2011.
The trailer begins with the Pegi logo, Pegi stands for Pan European Game Information and it is well recognised when looking at game trailers or packaging within the UK and other European countries. This game is rated a 12 which denotates its intended age group. This image is followed by the Nintendo DS and Capcom logo. These both work as iconography. The DS logo is well known by the majority of people, gamer or non gamer, and the Capcom logo, although less known to the general public is well known for game developing within the industry.
Similarly to the Portal 2 TV spot advertisement, the majority of the trailer is animated specifically for use as a trailer. This trailer shows the main character, Chibiterasu, jumping onto the screen. The style this character is drawn in is recognisable to players of the original Okami game as it is very unique. Chibiterasu walks over to a Nintendo DS Lite system and nudges it with her nose. Displaying the DS console serves, again as iconography within the advertisement, due to the fact that it is widely recognised.
Kuni, another main character in the game, flies out of the DS and is hoisted onto the back of Chibiterasu. Kuni lifts his sword into the air, and the previously white background becomes red and white, non diegetic music from the game plays. This music is another thing that original Okami players will recognise as it is very specific and oriental sounding. The music from the original Okami game is used within this trailer, possible to gain attention of previous fans.
Both Chibiterasu and Kuni jump into the DS console and a spinning, Japan, rising sun circulates in the background whilst in the foreground, within a screen made of brush strokes, shots of game play are shown. The use of brush strokes and the rising sun constructs a representation and culture reference of the place this game is set (Nippon, Japan) and clearly connotates this region to the audience by use of graphics and music.
Finally, after game play footage (used to gain audience interest in buying the game) has been shown, a visual showing the logo, box art and some merchandise is shown. A gong is played as this is shown, again, referencing back to the region of Japan, as this is a Japanese instrument. By displaying the logo and box art, the advert aims for viewers to look for this game in shops.
This ending screen also specifies the release dates for both the UK and other places in Europe. The Capcom and Nintendo DS logo’s are once again, shown below this. The Official Okami Facebook page is shown, this is used to entice viewers to check out their page, ‘like’ it and read more information about the game. Because Facebook is an easy to use website and many teenagers have it, Capcom is using this to appeal to their target audience, but also harnessing new technologies to advertise with. Small print is shown at the very bottom, this is small due to it having no relevance to the viewer, only copyright information.
This advertisement, although having the Pegi rating at the beginning, does not construct a very good target audience representation. This game is aimed at 14-18 year olds, however, the advertisement is made to look appealing to very young children, due to the cute graphics and inviting music.
The second Okamiden trailer I will be looking at, is its teaser trailer. Unfortunately this trailer was never released in English. However, with it having no dialogue and mostly being game footage, I will be analysing it anyway.
This advert is a teaser trailer and was released long before the game was released. It has a target audience of 14-18 year olds, although this does not reflect well from the style of the graphics and game play, the game shows no connotations of age rating.
The trailer starts with brush strokes drawing a frame for a faded out picture of Amaterasu, the main character of the original Okami game. From the very start of this advert, Iconography is used, both the brush strokes and Amaterasu are recognisable to players of the original game, therefore by adding these to the beginning of the trailer, it is attracting existing Okami fans to the game.
The text used at the beginning is most likely explaining how the new game follows on from the original Okami. This new game is set 9 months after the ending of the original and Chibiterasu is the daughter of Amaterasu. This text does not last very long and the soundtrack of the plains in the original Okami is played. The background is very simply animated and game footage is played within the brush stroke box. Lots of footage is shown, mostly of cut scenes and other exciting parts of the game. The video shows some of the brush techniques used within the game (techniques such as cut and how to guide Kumi across area’s you cannot walk, on using the brush).
As the footage changes to a battle scene, the music becomes fast paced and more sinister to match the action within the game play. The background also changes, from a calm, blue, simply animated back drop to a swirling red animated fire. There are no transitions or special effects used within this trailer and jump cuts are the only thing used to switch between different game play clips.
Finally, the trailer ends with a re-generation of a cherry blossom tree. This is well known from the first game of Okami and both the music and scene will be recognised, as well as the graphic’s style. Finally it ends with the Okamiden logo and a jingle of oriental drums and instruments, this jingle was used in the original game and therefore will be another thing to attract players of the original game.
Similarly to the Portal 2 teaser trailer I analysed, this advertisement was released long before the final stages of production for the game, only shows game play and does not have a specifically animated trailer unlike the TV advertisement.
My next task will be to look at another set of trailers intended for TV. By looking at a variety of different adverts, it will help me better know some of the conventions commonly used within this form of advertising and help me to apply these well when it is time for me to make my final product.
There is more than one type of trailer used within the gaming industry. Many of these trailers will be of a variety of lengths and will show different game play. The length of the trailer largely depends on where they will be displayed. For example, game trailers shown on TV are likely to be between 30 and 60 seconds in length. This is because time slots on TV are expensive to buy and game publishing and development companies will want to keep the audience’s attention throughout the whole ad. Often, these types of advertisements will not show actual game footage but instead will have an animated sequence relating to the game, with a narrator talking about the game or ratings and quotes from critics with comments about the game. Below is a TV advertisement for the game Portal 2, I will be using the trailers for Portal 2, an action adventure strategy game, to show some of the different styles used for trailers in the gaming industry.
The TV advertisement for Portal 2 is 32 seconds long and does not feature any footage from within the game. The whole advert is animated specifically for the purpose of this advertisement and shows two characters from the game (Atlas and P-Body) trying to work the portal gun (something players of the original Portal Game will recognise). The main focus of the advert is on the portal gun, you can tell this from the start of the advert, as the portal gun is the only thing in focus. Jump cuts are used often to keep it flowing continuously.
Non diegetic music plays throughout the first scene; this is very laid back, light hearted and not incredibly serious. This part of the trailer is intended to be comical, something that may hook viewers to it and keep them interested. This scene also ensures that it shows how the portal device works as this is the main aspect of the game. The portal guns and portals themselves work as iconography for the game, because after the original Portal’s big success, they are recognisable to many gamers and may entice them to buy the sequel.
At around 0:18 in the trailer, the light hearted background music takes on a more serious tone before becoming faster paced. The diegetic sound of the character GLaDOS speaking can be heard. She has a very powerful, female robotic voice and this will be, once again, recognised by players of the original game. Many features of this new game are show cased within the trailer, but due to the fast paced nature of the second part of the advert, it does not give very much away. This trailer makes sure to show off the graphics for the game, but also the detail and structure of the facility in the game itself.
As the music becomes fast paced, there is more action within the scene, P-Body and Atlas use the portal gun to accelerate through portals and the trailer ends with Atlas firing a portal right in front of him as he nears a wall. At the same time, GLaDOS leaves the trailer with ‘we’re going to have fun.......with science’. Using a phrase like this is inviting people to play the game as it is talking as if you are actually going to be playing this game. Finally, the trailer ends with the Portal 2 logo, the logo of VALVE (the developer and publisher) and the icons of all gaming platforms this game is able to be played on (PC, XBOX and PS3) . It has the text ‘Pre Order now’ in a large blue font with the name of the game’s website underneath. This form of typography draws your eye and ‘Pre Order’ denotates that this game is soon to be released. GLaDOS’s voice over states ‘Rated everyone, 10 and up’ which is the ESRB rating for the game. I think however that this advert is aimed at an audience over that age and aims to serve a target audience of 14-20 year olds. I have come to this conclusion because of the complexity of the game play.
This second trailer is more of a preview trailer. This was first released at spike TV’s VGA’s (Video Game Awards) where VALVE showcased it. It is one minute and 15 seconds long, not short like the TV trailer. This is because, unlike the TV trailer for Portal, they do not have a limit to the length and gamers are the people viewing it already, so they do not need to worry about gaining the attention of viewers.
This trailer is another one that does not show game play, but rather, sets the scene, using animation of the characters involved (P-Body and Atlas). The trailer starts off with a warning from ESRB, stating that the trailer may contain content inappropriate for children. ESRB are a well known age rating organisation and therefore this warning is a semiotic to the audience. By having this, it also begins to reinforce the intended age group for the game (Young adults).
From the very onset, this trailer helps to set the scene, the sounds of machines and fog are used, along with many close up shots of machines working to build something. A shot is shown of the top of one of the machines, where the ‘Aperture Science’ Logo is, this logo is a semiotic to the Portal games and is well recognised. This scene cuts to an extreme close up of a circle, which envelops in light and becomes the eye of a robot. Non Diegetic music plays from here onwards, setting a more upbeat atmosphere.
It zooms out from this scene, to show the whole view and you see two robots alive but still being built, one of these (Atlas) is a lot more uneasy about this process. They both greet each other before the panel beneath them opens and they both jump down. The camera follows Atlas down a tube, spiralling and becoming lighter before finally fading out to white.
The Portal 2 logo is then shown; fading out to show the box art of the three consoles it is available on, along with ‘Pre Order Now’ and the official game website. At the bottom of this is the VALVE logo and small print, noting copyright details. This is situated in this area and made this size as it is of no importance to the audience.
This trailer is more about introducing new characters within the game than showing off the game play or game workings themselves. It does not feature any previous characters (such as GLaDOS as featured in the TV advertisement) and focuses solely on P-Body and Atlas, show casing their personalities to the audience.
After being shown at the Awards, this type of trailer would be used for online advertising, such as on YouTube.
This is the full Portal 2 trailer. It is one minute and 57 seconds long and was probably made for website or internet display. It could also have been used occasionally for the TV. It starts off showing machines moving and working to build something, some of this footage was shown in the previous trailer.
From the very start of this trailer it has a voice over by GLaDOS, one of the main characters and the villain figure of the original Portal. Her voice is easily recognised due to its robotic tone. She addresses the audience as she speaks stating ‘YOU don’t know pride’, rather than ‘they don’t know pride’. This draws the audience in and gets them involved. The fact that she is talking to P-Body and Atlas, but addressing the audience at the same time, puts you in the shoes of these two robots, getting you more involved.
At 0:20, after both robots have fallen down the shafts, the Portal 2 logo appears on screen, this time with ‘Cooperative testing initiative’ underneath it. By having this, it shows what particular aspect of the game this trailer seeks to advertise. After this has been shown, non diegetic, upbeat, fast paced action music plays and a sequence of game play shots are played, again with GLaDOS guiding the way through it. These show some of the puzzles needed to be solved within the game and real levels are used within these sequences, introducing the game play of the game (despite the fact that the game play sequences are scripted).
The music is stopped at a dramatic part of the game, this is done to create suspense and the music is re-initiated when this dramatic moment is over. By creating suspense, it works as a way to draw the audience in and create interest. At 1:10 in the advertisement, the game play is zoomed out a little and the Aperture Science logo is shown, projected against the wall panels. Again, Aperture Science serves as a semiotic to the Portal games. The quick sequences of game play are shown, each game play scene isn’t very long, to keep interest and they are played consecutively. Another animated scene is shown at 1:28 and shows the two main players in the cooperative mode of Portal 2, running in slow motion towards the camera. This type of editing is seen often in action movies and is used to simulate bravery and courage.
The final scene within the trailer is a test, zooming out, showing a variety of dangerous tasks to complete. It has the dialogue of GLaDOS, the villain within the game, talking and ends with ‘don’t disappoint me, or I’ll make you wish you could die’. Using dialogue like this adds dramatic effect to the trailer and paired with the sound effects, screen play and GLaDOS’s voice, it works well at leaving a cliff hanger. Because of this, people who are intrigued by the tasks within the game are likely to want to buy it. The trailer ends with the words ‘Cooperation begins 2011’. This is in a large, white, slanted font, partially encased in blue brackets. This is used to draw your eye to it as the white stands out well from the grey and black walls of the facility, shown behind and the blue brackets do well to also attract your attention. Because Cooperation (2 player abilities) within Portal games is a new feature, this phrase is used to draw interest and attention.
The trailer ends with a familiar black screen showcasing the Portal logo, with copyright details in small print below.
I think, due to the more aggressive and tense nature of this advertisement, it is aimed at young adults, rather than at any age group, as some of the previous ‘tame’ adverts have seemed to be.
Finally, I will be analysing the Teaser trailer. Teaser trailers are released long in advance of the release of a game. For instance, this advert was released in June 2010 when the game was only due for release in April 2011. These adverts are used to ‘tease’ the audience and get them excited about what is currently in production.
This trailer is notably different than the previous Portal 2 advertisements I have studied this advert because it advertises single player within the game (all the others have shown multi player). This time, the whole of the advert consists of game play, areas within the game and cut scenes. It shows the worn down and overgrown Aperture facility and starts off with the villain, GLaDOS, waking up. She addresses the audience, saying “it’s been a long time”. This will appeal to players of the original Portal game as they will know her from the first game, released in 2007 and making it a long time since they probably played last. It also points to the fact that this game is set far into the future.
I think that this advert is probably aimed mainly at previous players of Portal, as it states ‘I think we can put our differences behind us’ which also refers to some of the events seen within the original game. This advert is definitely aimed at teenagers and young adults and sets a very dark, even spooky atmosphere.
The trailer is short, only 59 seconds in length and would probably be used in cinemas before films, at gaming conventions and events, for TV or on a website. No transitions or special effects are used within this trailer, however, many zooms and pans are used. This is to set more of a scene because at this stage in the development they probably did not have many completed parts of the game. Zooms and pans are used to make it seem like something is always happening and to keep it interesting.
The trailer ends by flying into a Portal. This is commonly used throughout all of the adverts, no matter what type. The Portal 2 logo and ‘Coming 2011’ are shown at the end. GLaDOS’s dialogue ‘you monster’ is used for humour as she is clearly not putting your differences behind her. The use of the word ‘you’ addresses the audience, gets them involved and makes them want to play.
Now I have looked at 4 different style models for trailers, I will be taking a look at some TV Spot gaming trailers, but also at some Teaser Trailers intended for TV. I will be doing this because 2 TV advertisements are required as part of my final piece within this project and I feel that by looking at some examples of these types of trailer, it will help me gain more knowledge on how to present the trailers I will be creating.
Being an avid gamer myself, I have a lot of gaming magazines at home. Due to the fact that I found it relatively hard to find scans of magazine advertisements online, I chose to go through these and pick out some advertisements of games similar in genre or style to the one I will be creating, scanning them in to put onto my blog. All of these can be seen below.
