Game videos so good while game is not

What does a pre-rendered video have to do with a game that is not pre-rendered? The artistic value of those videos is not to be questioned. Some of my favourites include Warhammer’s trailer 2, SWTOR Hope, SC2 The Betrayal and Deus Ex trailer; and that is just off the top of my head.

These videos are amazing and have often provokes comments of why are these people not making a feature length film, they are just that good and I have also wished for these artists to go and make a film.

However, these films have nothing to do with the games other than being set in the same game universe. For instance, all the videos of SWTOR show lightsaber combat as we see it in the movies; it’s a dance of hit attempts and defensive moves because a lightsaber strike is almost always lethal. SWTOR actual combat though is nothing like it. A lightsaber hit is just a hit that removes hitpoints from a total pool. A grenade in the videos kills 5 or 10 enemies. In the game is only takes away a portion of their health pool (because it would otherwise be unbalanced). In Warhammer’s trailer, the Marauder never hits the Shadow Warrior when they fight close up. In game, this does not happen, as the player with the Marauder would be pissed off. And when did a Ghost ever have that high of a rate of fire?

So, if the videos have nothing in common with the games but are only a nice piece of art, why are they being made? Do they help with PR that much (and ultimately sales?) that the cost is justified by the company? Some of these videos are so unbelievably beautiful (art direction, complexity of scene, detail, music, voice over, render quality, etc.) and so high-end that I would expect them to cost quite a bit of money, even going so far to compare them to Hollywood special effects cost. Are they really affecting players that much to justify it?

Of course, you may ignore the above if you think these are made to satisfy artistic expression and are targeted to the viewing pleasure of the audience for the sake of art and not promotion…

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