Like many of you on the East coast, I had the privilege of seeing "Take Back the Earth" Mass Effect 3 trailer during tonight's new episode of the Walking Dead on AMC. I was watching the show with my significant other, and because I love talking to her about videogames, I asked her what she thought.
I believe her exact quote was, "It looks another lasers, glowing robots, imitation Star Wars spaceships, being in a war, shooting at the things that don't look like people game. I don't know why they're running this commercial in the middle of an overly chatty, generally slow paced zombie apocalypse show."
I have to agree with her there. Though there are plenty of videogames about living through a zombie infested nightmare, few of them take the same slow based, character study focused approach that the Walking Dead does (except The Walking Dead game, naturally). If EA wanted to make a Mass Effect 3 trailer that would appeal to The Walking Dead's audience, I figure they should have shown off more of the inter-party drama and angst-ridden moral dilemmas, and less of the "videogame-y" looking stuff.
I have no doubt that Mass Effect 3 will do great with current fans of the franchise, but is this the kind trailer that gets outsiders interested in starting off on the series?
Jonathan Holmes is the most lovable Associate Editor on Destructoid. Catch him on videos, original editorials, and on back episodes of the Destructoid Show and MTV's Road Rules. Jonathan is a retro gamer's gamer.
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Seemed cool to me. But I guess I can't say shit seeing how I've played the other 2 ME games and am eagerly awaiting the third. We finally get to go to Earth bitches!
"I don't know why they're running this commercial in the middle of an overly chatty, generally slow paced zombie apocalypse show"
The same reason that the overly chatty, generally slow paced zombie apocalypse show was advertised with a trailer that mostly showed zombies getting shot in the head.
Overly chatty, generally slow paced trailers don't draw much attention. Complaining about trailers has never made much sense to me. People always freak out before the release of a Hitman game too, because the trailers always show people getting shot in the face, but sure enough the games come out and they're just as sneaky and slow paced and cerebral as ever.
It's just marketing. If we haven't figured out how that shit works by now, we're clearly just not paying attention.
I really enjoyed the trailer personally, but my friend I was watching it with just turned to me and said "is this a game?" When I said yeah it's going to be amazing and I already pre-ordered it, she just lost interest immediately.
Lot's of people watch The Walking Dead... Lot's of people will see the trailer. It's about exposure not appealing to a specific demographic...
I know you've never really been a fan of the ME games, Mr. Holmes, but why you keep posting about Mass Effect (usually with a negative undertone) is more confusing than the reasons behind why they would premier a trailer for Mass Effect while a popular TV show is airing...
I think very highly of johnathan but you are the last person, and I mean the very last person, at dtoid who should bother talking about Mass Effect. I am with Jim Sterling on mass effect when he said, "I think anyone who likes it is a functionally retarded rapist." (Podtoid episode 177 I believe)
Comics and video games do go together fairly well, and fans of one tend to be fans of the other. Personally, walking dead is exactly the kind of show that Mass Effect's prime audience could be reasonably thought to be watching. Quite frankly I think more shows with nerd pedigrees should advertise with those who love nerdish things in mind.
Holmes, you really are from another planet. God love you, and your inscrutable tastes.
And as a parting thought, of course your old lady reacted that way. Only a female gamer wouldn't have reacted like that.
You know what's weird? Given the hype leading up to it, I honestly thought the Mass Effect 3 trailer was being shown during The Walking Dead in order to attract people to THAT series, not the game series. (As in, inform the internet that the "only way" to watch this trailer is to watch the show, that way people flock to a show they may not already be watching to see something they already plan on buying.)
The crossover for video game fans and zombie shows is probably pretty sizable. Thus, a well placed ad. It's pretty simple. Although I will add that you can tell the gamers in the crowd easily... They are the ones bitching to no end yet tuning in every Sunday. That's (unfortunately) kind of our thing.
Oh come on, it was an alright trailer, but where were the aliens? Ugh, instead I'm treated to generic Shepard, the racist bitch, and the goddamn Mako? Where's Garrus? Wrex? Tali? Y'know, the characters that are actually worth talking about?
@Tristix, AngryEMOgirl: The problem is that by going for a high-action and grandeur, they're missing the fact that the people who will see this trailer are the ones watching a slow-paced, generally chatty show. Yeah, this trailer is probably "better" if we shift the focus to a more general demographic (i.e. it probably would get more hits on Youtube/Gametrailers), but it's a wasted opportunity to show off some of the less obvious aspects of Mass Effect, like the deep characters and ambiguous moral choices, although that might be more difficult to get across. That is, the real wins for a trailer such as this is to find the people who aren't normally into sci fi and convincing them to consider Mass Effect (and ultimately buy or spread the word).
So yes, it is a numbers game, but I think they could be doing it smarter and not harder.
I'm with AngryEMOgirl and Folkenhellfang on this one. You gotta lay off the shit you don't like. Lately I'm hearing criticism undertoning everything you say. I'd like to continue thinking of you as the internet's missing link but all of the unwarranted negativity is undermining my faith in the human race.
That was a pretty crappy trailer, at least at the end. I agree, it's hard to say what they were going for. The beginning looks to be building some sort of atmosphere then it's all pew pew KABOOM. It doesn't even look like a "video gamey" trailer as you put it, Jonathan. To me it looks like another "hey let's have no gameplay and just treat the game as if it were a theatrical release" trailer, which is a shame. I think they could have easily shown a conversation for a minute, then a choice being made, and then the impact that choice has. That's pretty much half of Mass Effect anyway.
I totally agree. I friggin' love the Mass Effect games, but I could only scratch my head when I heard EA was doing this. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.
@pneuma08 As a fan of both the ME games and The Walking Dead (comics, I could never really get into the show to the same degree) I get where fans of the TWD are coming from when they say an oppotunity to show off more of the ME story-telling, etc. But at the same time I know an equal number of people who watch it mostly for the zombies and "action" as the ones that watch it for the story telling and slow pace, etc. A lot of the fans I know are also video game fans. On top of it all, TWD was made into a TV show to reach a wider audience than what the comics were reaching. The comics existed for years and never got the recognition they currently have until there was a "new hit show on AMC".
Regardless of the quality of the trailer, the games coming out in about two weeks. There's just nothing really confusing about showing off your product in the time slot of a very popular TV show (all crammed into 90 seconds). The reasons for the ME trailers being more action oriented have been explained by, I think, one of the Bioware writers or designers. Fans my cringe at how it's not what they love about the series, but it's proven to be what gets new fans interested.
I'm a huge fan of both, so they did just fine by me. The trailer was pretty underwhelming though. I hope they are just trying to keep things spoiler free or something, because I haven't seen anything since the announcement trailer that managed to hype me up - except for the title.
And this is part of the reason I dont like Holmes, this post felt more like a "hey babe, I mentioned you on the site!" rather than actually just wanting to get his opinion of his chest and out to the community.
As for the trailer, maybe its because I've gotten pretty deep into the Mass Effect universe but what I saw on top of all the "pew pew" and Lasers was a devastated world with many wrong decisions and team casualties.
As excited as i am for mass effect 3, that trailer was really weird.. If i wasnt a previous fan, i would not be inspired by this trailer to pick up ME3
Yeah, when I saw it I had a hard time feigning enthusiasm as my friends nearly shit himself with excitement. It was pretty and all, but it was almost cliche. There is so much more to Mass Effect than just lazars and explosions.
you seem like a cool guy holmes, but right now you are coming off like that guy who only watches foreign black and white films with subtitles, and lets face it watching TWD doesnt make you too intectual for Mass Effect.the show is getting by because it has a suberb cast, the writing is nothing special. I could go on about the opportunities they have missed by not following the comic but at this point it would probably seem petty, and who would want to put that kind of stuff on the internet?
I cant think of a way to put this that wont make me sound like an asshole, so I'll just say it
Holmes.. this shit has no place on destructoid. Seriously dude, your girlfriends lack of interest in a mass effect trailer does not an interesting article make. At worst it makes you sound like a bitter asshole grasping at any straw you can get a hold of in order to bitch about ME, and at best its an alarmingly half assed, lazy excuse for something to write about.
Please, please, pleaaaaaaase put some more thought and effort in to your content on here instead of putting up stuff like this, because honestly dude... this is the kind of desperate excuse for an article that I'd expect from kotaku and it it makes me feel a little embarassed to say I'm a fan of our writing.
I don't see why this is being misunderstood. The Walking Dead is an apocalyptic themed, speculative fiction television show and the audience is primarily 18-30 years old. Mass Effect can pretty much fall into the same categories with the exception of being a video game. Based on the huge television numbers on Sunday night, this would be an ideal time to target some potential consumers. Besides, Husks are zombies. BOOM.
@AngryEMOgirl: First off, if someone with some insider perspective has something to say about why the ME trailers are shaded towards action, I'd be interested in a link. (Although not if it's more apologetic than informative.)
Anyway, there are different shades of action, and TWD (or, what I've seen of it at least) has a very different type of "action" than the one shown in the ME trailer (i.e. tense and brutal vs. jumping through the air with a laser arm blade badassery). It doesn't quite resonate.
Also, I would further caution against relying on personal experience in trying to determine reasons why people watch TLD, as given that you're posting on a game site, you probably spend more time around gamers than most, and gamers are more likely to seek something different from both the show and the game than other demographics. That is, getting a TWD fan who isn't into games (or action games) to consider ME is a much bigger win than showing a gamer yet another ME trailer, as the latter is much more likely to already be exposed to (and may even sold on) the product.
Elaborating, I'm of the opinion that one of TWD's main strengths is the character-driven motivations, which is also one of ME's main strengths. If this is highlighted, then it can create a bridge for people to expand their horizons and try something different (which also expands EA/Bioware's market base).
(I also feel that the comics are kind of irrelevant to this discussion - although I hear they are excellent, and I intend to read them in the future.)
To provide a bit more context to my argument, I feel that if they had put the Mass Effect 1 Distress Call trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcM4VPdke8o) in the same timeslot, I think it would have worked better for the Walking Dead demographic.
As a fan of creative media in general, narratives with a focus on zombies fail to inspire any interest on my part. My point is, we all have slightly different tastes.
While Mass Effect or its marketing may not appeal to every niche zombie fan, I'm sure there are plenty who were grabbed by the ad-spot.
Recently, I avoid all advertisements, since they're usually awful no matter how much I like the product.
Video game advertisements only rarely show the actual game advertised, substituting pre-rendered fluff for substantive gameplay.
I hope Holmes sticks to his hipster video "shows" about Holmes and keeps his Holmes articles off a great site like Destructoid. But then again, I guess Holmes needs to contribute SOMETHING in a desperate attempt for Holmes to be on Destructoid otherwise, so I'd give this Holmes post a 8/10.
Ya know, because it's Holmes trying to be clever in his expression about why he doesn't like something, instead of just being straight with it or a bit of a hilarious dick (sometimes) like Jim.
A boring stupid game with incredibly shallow protagonists aimed at teen and young adult audiences advertised on a boring stupid show with incredibly shallow protagonists aimed at teen and young adult audiences. Sounds about right to me!
ME is at a point where everything's come to a head. Its the blockbuster third act so... that's all they've got. ME2's marketing a bit more character focused, because the focus was the characters and their backstories.
Similar to how the first act was about discovery, so everything was a bit more mellow.
To show anything other than these big alien things and war war war would be deceptive for this outing.
It's a character study because the focus of the plot is on the survivors and their state of mind, with the zombie apocalypse serving as a backdrop. I'd almost go as far as to call it a soap opera with headshots.
As for the ME3 trailer, I think it hit the target audience. zombie apocalypse fiction and doomsday science fiction are similar enough to have a considerable amount of crossover among fans.
You made a whole post about how your girlfriend didn't understand a trailer? I like you, Holmes, but I'm starting to think Jim is right: you pretend to be nice but layer some really sharp opinions under it.
Love the hell out of Mass Effect, thought the trailer was good (not great; the ending 1/3 was sort of bland), and really feel the games have pushed the industry forward in a lot of good ways. Not ALL games can be pure "game" like Rhythm Heaven, you know (not that RH is bad; it rocks, I'm just saying...).
And if you argue this wasn't an jab at Mass Effect and instand an analysis of the trailer than maybe you are in the wrong business (or have been asleep the past few years) because as people have already stated in this thread, this is how trailers work. You'd think we'd all have figured it out by now.
(still love you, Holmes, you just make it hard sometimes :/)
Yeah, but who says there'll be any in the game? I can't really give a shit about that trailer because it doesn't have anything to do with the game other than context. The game won't look like that. The reaper invasion doesn't play out like that. And I'm sure there won't be any crazy scene where Shepard jumps through the air to stab a big monster in the head like Kratos does in all the God of War trailers.
If they wanted me to get excited about the game, they should have show me badass stuff from the GAME. Not this. This only makes me realize how bad I want to see a CGI Mass Effect movie.
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Contest:
10:30 PM on 02.19.2012 | 
The same reason that the overly chatty, generally slow paced zombie apocalypse show was advertised with a trailer that mostly showed zombies getting shot in the head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1v0uFms68U&ob=av3n
Overly chatty, generally slow paced trailers don't draw much attention. Complaining about trailers has never made much sense to me. People always freak out before the release of a Hitman game too, because the trailers always show people getting shot in the face, but sure enough the games come out and they're just as sneaky and slow paced and cerebral as ever.
It's just marketing. If we haven't figured out how that shit works by now, we're clearly just not paying attention.
I know you've never really been a fan of the ME games, Mr. Holmes, but why you keep posting about Mass Effect (usually with a negative undertone) is more confusing than the reasons behind why they would premier a trailer for Mass Effect while a popular TV show is airing...
Comics and video games do go together fairly well, and fans of one tend to be fans of the other. Personally, walking dead is exactly the kind of show that Mass Effect's prime audience could be reasonably thought to be watching. Quite frankly I think more shows with nerd pedigrees should advertise with those who love nerdish things in mind.
Holmes, you really are from another planet. God love you, and your inscrutable tastes.
And as a parting thought, of course your old lady reacted that way. Only a female gamer wouldn't have reacted like that.
Interesting.
Nothing new here.
So yes, it is a numbers game, but I think they could be doing it smarter and not harder.
Regardless of the quality of the trailer, the games coming out in about two weeks. There's just nothing really confusing about showing off your product in the time slot of a very popular TV show (all crammed into 90 seconds). The reasons for the ME trailers being more action oriented have been explained by, I think, one of the Bioware writers or designers. Fans my cringe at how it's not what they love about the series, but it's proven to be what gets new fans interested.
As for the trailer, maybe its because I've gotten pretty deep into the Mass Effect universe but what I saw on top of all the "pew pew" and Lasers was a devastated world with many wrong decisions and team casualties.
It got Makos, man!
Holmes.. this shit has no place on destructoid. Seriously dude, your girlfriends lack of interest in a mass effect trailer does not an interesting article make. At worst it makes you sound like a bitter asshole grasping at any straw you can get a hold of in order to bitch about ME, and at best its an alarmingly half assed, lazy excuse for something to write about.
Please, please, pleaaaaaaase put some more thought and effort in to your content on here instead of putting up stuff like this, because honestly dude... this is the kind of desperate excuse for an article that I'd expect from kotaku and it it makes me feel a little embarassed to say I'm a fan of our writing.
Anyway, there are different shades of action, and TWD (or, what I've seen of it at least) has a very different type of "action" than the one shown in the ME trailer (i.e. tense and brutal vs. jumping through the air with a laser arm blade badassery). It doesn't quite resonate.
Also, I would further caution against relying on personal experience in trying to determine reasons why people watch TLD, as given that you're posting on a game site, you probably spend more time around gamers than most, and gamers are more likely to seek something different from both the show and the game than other demographics. That is, getting a TWD fan who isn't into games (or action games) to consider ME is a much bigger win than showing a gamer yet another ME trailer, as the latter is much more likely to already be exposed to (and may even sold on) the product.
Elaborating, I'm of the opinion that one of TWD's main strengths is the character-driven motivations, which is also one of ME's main strengths. If this is highlighted, then it can create a bridge for people to expand their horizons and try something different (which also expands EA/Bioware's market base).
(I also feel that the comics are kind of irrelevant to this discussion - although I hear they are excellent, and I intend to read them in the future.)
While Mass Effect or its marketing may not appeal to every niche zombie fan, I'm sure there are plenty who were grabbed by the ad-spot.
Recently, I avoid all advertisements, since they're usually awful no matter how much I like the product.
Video game advertisements only rarely show the actual game advertised, substituting pre-rendered fluff for substantive gameplay.
Never seen TWD, but nothing compares to 28 Days Later.
It shows one choice, not the others you might make. It's not even compelling to the viewer unless they're a baptized fan.
Ya know, because it's Holmes trying to be clever in his expression about why he doesn't like something, instead of just being straight with it or a bit of a hilarious dick (sometimes) like Jim.
HOLMES.
ME is at a point where everything's come to a head. Its the blockbuster third act so... that's all they've got. ME2's marketing a bit more character focused, because the focus was the characters and their backstories.
Similar to how the first act was about discovery, so everything was a bit more mellow.
To show anything other than these big alien things and war war war would be deceptive for this outing.
It's a character study because the focus of the plot is on the survivors and their state of mind, with the zombie apocalypse serving as a backdrop. I'd almost go as far as to call it a soap opera with headshots.
As for the ME3 trailer, I think it hit the target audience. zombie apocalypse fiction and doomsday science fiction are similar enough to have a considerable amount of crossover among fans.
Love the hell out of Mass Effect, thought the trailer was good (not great; the ending 1/3 was sort of bland), and really feel the games have pushed the industry forward in a lot of good ways. Not ALL games can be pure "game" like Rhythm Heaven, you know (not that RH is bad; it rocks, I'm just saying...).
And if you argue this wasn't an jab at Mass Effect and instand an analysis of the trailer than maybe you are in the wrong business (or have been asleep the past few years) because as people have already stated in this thread, this is how trailers work. You'd think we'd all have figured it out by now.
(still love you, Holmes, you just make it hard sometimes :/)
Yeah, but who says there'll be any in the game? I can't really give a shit about that trailer because it doesn't have anything to do with the game other than context. The game won't look like that. The reaper invasion doesn't play out like that. And I'm sure there won't be any crazy scene where Shepard jumps through the air to stab a big monster in the head like Kratos does in all the God of War trailers.
If they wanted me to get excited about the game, they should have show me badass stuff from the GAME. Not this. This only makes me realize how bad I want to see a CGI Mass Effect movie.