Support NeoGAF

[Holammer]

If you are unawares, Masahiro Sakurai got his own YT channel where he talks about various aspects of game design. They are short, snappy & expertly subtitled in English.
In today's video he discusses trailers and his opinion should resonate with everyone.

 

[ahtlas7]

He’s right. I want to see the game not a hype driving movie.

 

[dottme]

I want to understand the game. I’ve seen so many trailer where I don’t even understand what kind of game it’s going to be.

 

[Dacvak]

These Sakurai videos have been astoundingly on-point in just about every topic they’ve ever covered. It’s probably the best generalized encyclopedia of proper game development that has ever been made. It still blows my mind how many AAA devs ignore so many aspects that seem obvious to people like Sakurai.

Highly recommend binging the entire series of vids.

 

[Danjin44]

Sakurai…..for love all things good…PLEASE give me Kid Icarus Uprising sequel or at very least bring the first game to Switch…..or Switch 2

 

[Paltheos]

An obvious point that allot of developers still miss (Sakurai doesn't really say anything new btw, but he's right, of course).

My theory has been allot of developers feel pressured to get something out there early to stay in the rat race but what they have at that point is usually too embarrassing (relatively) to show off so we get these weak-ass trailers that don't actually show gameplay. The Nintendo way really is the best way though - Total radio silence until you're near ready to release. I just get overloaded with information from everywhere otherwise and usually lose interest from early reveals. The practice seems counterproductive.

 

[simpatico]

Every cent spent on a CGI trailer is a cent wasted. Maybe outside of GTA and classic WoW

 

[Danjin44]

I love the Monolith Soft does it. They always announce the game when they ready to show something and in Xenoblade 3 not only it didn’t get delayed but instead the they push the release date forward.

 

[Rentahamster]

He's right.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Sakurai is one of the few actually expert designers/producers in the industry.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I suspect part of the problem is that these trailers are not made for gamers, but to please the executives and directors of the company.

 

[bender]

Sakurai…..for love all things good…PLEASE give me Kid Icarus Uprising sequel or at very least bring the first game to Switch…..or Switch 2

He has you on ignore since you talked shit about his favorite SSB fighter.

 

[Danjin44]

He has you on ignore since you talked shit about his favorite SSB fighter.

 

[bender]

 

[Danjin44]

 

[Dr_Salt]

I mean, you can do both you know? Isn't that what he did with the smash trailers anyway?

 

[bender]

I mean, you can do both you know? Isn't that what he did with the smash trailers anyway?

I'd say that a little different in that is a character reveal and the intro section is about building up suspense.

 

[Codes 208]

I mean, you can do both you know? Isn't that what he did with the smash trailers anyway?

yeah, The cgi trailer is just a hype generator followed with actual gameplay to show the character off, its actually pretty genius

I still think the best example was banjo and kazooie, start off with a mislead, then tye actual reveal, then show that sweet, sweet sizzle reel while the hype is still flowing