So marketing material can be a bit of a double-edged sword, and videogame trailers are no exception, as putting together a piece of media that both creates buzz around a title that doesn’t set false expectations can be a challenge – never mind the fact that closer to release these trailers may contain reveals or spoilers for content I don’t want to see. That said, I love watching trailers for upcoming releases, but there are some older trailers that just live rent-free in my brain.
the nostalgia for a specific era in gaming plays a big part in my enjoyment of the trailers.
Perhaps it’s because they released in an era where videogame expos such as E3 where still the primary reveal for these, as news around new titles wasn’t as readily available on-line as it is today, so a trailer drop was always exciting. I’m looking at you Halo 3 E3 2006 Trailer… More likely it’s because they are also from games I enjoy, but the nostalgia for a specific era in gaming plays a big part in my enjoyment of the trailers. Going even further back, when accessing content on the internet was limited, getting these videos was only really possible through media discs included with monthly gaming publications. Also, there are trailers from studios like Blizzard Entertainment, such as the first Diablo II Teaser which could only be viewed as an extra on the game discs for their other titles. Speaking of Blizzard, they have amazing trailers, like the epic scale of the WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos E3 2001 Trailer.
Some other recent favourites include the Tom Clancy's The Division E3 2014 Cinematic Trailer, the Batman: Arkham Knight Launch Trailer and Dragon Age: Inquisition Trespasser DLC Trailer, but if had to pick a trailer that my brain automatically thinks of when someone asks about them, it’s the Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer:
