Busy, Blizzard?
- January 1, 1970 - 12:00am
Blizzard has always stood in my mind as the utmost of quality, when it came to the subject of trailers. The work and attention to detail which they put into a trailer is just amazing. I remember sitting at my desk almost a decade ago watching the first Warcraft III trailer with ӝien, feeling chills run down my body because it was so amazing.
This continued on with the rest of the Warcraft III trailers. The Diablo trailers were all amazing. The World of Warcraft trailers were amazing. And the Starcraft 2 trailers have all been amazing... until now...
I saw the Zerg Revealed trailer like a month ago on IGN. It was lower quality, but I could still tell that it did not remotely hold up to Blizzard's amazing track-record. I however thought that maybe when it was released in higher quality, I would change my mind.
It is now available in HD format from StarCraft2.com.
It looks like they are using something like the WoW engine for most of the "cinematic", and while Blizzard has always been amazing at keeping their dialog succinct and and not remotely touching the border of melo-dramatic, this does not hold exactly true with this one. The Queen of Blades is talking, and it just seems a little over-board for me. It goes on a little too long.
The gameplay footage is amazing as would be expected, but the cinematic parts have so much contrast to the negative side, that it downgrades the good.
My point is that taken as a whole, the trailer looks like they felt a need to put something out, but didn't have time to do it, so they told two people in the back room to throw something together and release it. This is not uncommon for a lot of studios, but extremely uncommon for Blizzard.
So are they stretched too thin, or just losing their focus on quality?
Comments
ѻyashachan
Never Played Half-Life
Most trailers actually bore me (my attention span really is that short) so they have to be really flashy to keep me interested. But I might have to go take a look at the trailers for Warcraft III/WoW and then look at the trailer for StarCraft II.
If I have time. :B
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
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ɤSoren
Rides A Chocobo
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
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ɤSoren
Rides A Chocobo
ɤmanbot68
Has A Giant Minature Space Hamster
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
After the launch trailer looking absolutely godly, this is just a huge disappointment.
I, Gamer!
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
In my opinion, that should NEVER happen.
I, Gamer!
ӝNirach
Worrying is about as effective as chewing gum to solve algebra
Did you see their team number break down a while back, where a good 60% of them were dedicated to WoW?
I've not seen it yet, downloading (still!), but I would not be at all surprised if they just don't have enough bodies to do a trailer in the same vein as you're used to.
Keep your eyes peeled for the average gamers.
Nothing's broken, it's just functioning differently.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
yeah, right!
bastards!
I, Gamer!
ӝNirach
Worrying is about as effective as chewing gum to solve algebra
Personally, I think that not pandering to the masses with trailers is a good thing. It might mean that they're making the game actually worth a damn rather than a series cash-in.
Keep your eyes peeled for the average gamers.
Nothing's broken, it's just functioning differently.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ӝNirach
Worrying is about as effective as chewing gum to solve algebra
Unless they're actually using that for their cinematics..
Keep your eyes peeled for the average gamers.
Nothing's broken, it's just functioning differently.
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
I, Gamer!
ӝNirach
Worrying is about as effective as chewing gum to solve algebra
Keep your eyes peeled for the average gamers.
Nothing's broken, it's just functioning differently.
ӝrotane
Retro Gamer
But in general I absolutely agree with you on the high quality of Blizzard's cinematics. My god, I almost dumped a load (or two) in my pants when I first saw the StarCraft II cinematic! But already back with WarCraft II (yes, 2), the ingame movies were breathtaking - considering the time. What was it.. 1995. And I've been waiting, patiently, for every new one since.
Let's hope there will be more breathtaking stuff from Blizzard, at the latest with the StarCraft II release. I say "let's hope", because we can't be sure what will happen with the soon-to-be Activision Blizzard..
"The heat of the decomposition from an explosion of rotane is quite substantial (3426±87 kJ/mol ?)... So yeah, i think i can be suspicious of you" -- ɤswordhorder
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
If they want to put out an engine based trailer for WoW, than sure. They have already built the biggest MMO in the world on top of a cartoon engine. I don't mean that to sound negative, just honest. The art style in WoW is very low-res cartoony. So a low-res trailer fits very well with the _feeling_ of WoW already.
Now, look at the gameplay footage from SC2. It's highly detailed, and highly polished. When you watch the trailer you will see what I mean. It cuts from the 'cinematic' to the gameplay and the quality jumps by like 500% at least. They two don't FIT together, and Blizzards trailers have always FIT perfectly. FLOWED flawlessly.
It's just a disappointment.
I, Gamer!
ɤArchaicStigma
Won The Internet
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Moar - The provided level of material relevant to my interests is insufficient to meet my personal required needs
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ɤsausageson
Hears The Tetris Theme During Nightmares
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ӝspot
Chief Instigator
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ɤHoobatsch
Aggro Monkey
I wouldnt say its a theatrical trailer. I'd say this is the new way theyre bundling gameplay vidz. At least, I HOPE so.
Heresy grows from idleness.
ʊchalkley3
I go where I please, and I please where I go
I suppose it has to be able to run on the millions of Korean boxes though, but even so.
Prince Phillp to a Nigerian diplomat in traditional Nigerian garb: "You look as if you’re ready for bed."
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
But to use something that low-rez for cinematics in a trailer for something as high-rez as SC2 is just wrong.
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ɤHoobatsch
Aggro Monkey
Heresy grows from idleness.
ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
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ɤphotofroggy
Remembers What Arcades Are
ʊchillinvillain
Is In Your Base, Killing Your Pokemans
"We aren't allowed to say brainstorm where I work because it's apparently offensive to people with cerebal palsy (bullshit)." --Chalkley3
ӝspot
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ѻdxd
is a level 50 Demon
God knows why.
Such a beautiful lie.
ӝspot
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ʊCei
Played Final Fantasy Games Before FF7
I'm an OS X fag at heart
ӝrotane
Retro Gamer
"The heat of the decomposition from an explosion of rotane is quite substantial (3426±87 kJ/mol ?)... So yeah, i think i can be suspicious of you" -- ɤswordhorder
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
Took me five hours to download the 800meg gameplay video
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ӝrotane
Retro Gamer
"The heat of the decomposition from an explosion of rotane is quite substantial (3426±87 kJ/mol ?)... So yeah, i think i can be suspicious of you" -- ɤswordhorder
ӝspot
Chief Instigator
Download it while you're asleep.
I, Gamer!
ӝrotane
Retro Gamer
"The heat of the decomposition from an explosion of rotane is quite substantial (3426±87 kJ/mol ?)... So yeah, i think i can be suspicious of you" -- ɤswordhorder