VIDEO games, part 2.

Spreading out from the first VIDEO games blog and holding tight to the analogy of two media continents converging, let's take a closer look at the strange islands that are appearing between these two vast mediums. There is a precedent being set by the true juggernauts of the gaming world. These huge franchises have the finances to greenlight non-traditional marketing (having ticked all the mainstream marketing avenues many times over) and this is where the interesting experiments happen.

First up, we have the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer:

When these live action game trailers started appearing, I was at odds with the idea of promoting something without a reference to the original medium. But then again, you barely know it's a McDonalds advert until the jingle catches you unawares. The Call of Duty franchise is all about the multiplayer and the interesting angle here is that you, as the player, are fully represented. The trailer isn't aimed at the recruitment of new players, it is deliberately playing into your canon knowledge as a Call of Duty fan and making that into, effectively, a short film.

We have a beginning, middle and an end. Characters are forever changed by their experiences. Big shot actors. Unlimited FX budget. AND it is showcasing the player experience. The contact area for involvement is huge.

Even further into this idea of player as character, as boundaries between the two are broken down, is the release of the next "There's A Soldier In All Of Us", the Call of Duty Black Ops trailer, which goes a step further, spawning it's own island chain that is spreading towards us as the user, rather than standard audience:

Or what about the Mass Effect 3 Live Action trailer?

It's a great showcase of world building and this is where the current power of cinema lies. Once you move away from the direct player experience and into the realm of side story, cinema can flex its traditional muscles. But are we relegating film to the banalities of the cut scene?

On the flip side of all of this are the future gen consoles, where we'll have our real time faces mapped onto the characters and the (multiplayer) gaming experience will step up a notch. These boundaries are only beginning to blur. If we're not sure how to categorise Jonah Hill playing you, then hold on tight. Like I said in the previous VIDEO games blog, we are living in a golden age of gaming, but we are at the beginning of it. Yes Elite was great and Silent Hill was scary, but in the next decade or two, we are going to see a wild synthesis of film and gaming, where these islands we're talking about are going to become landmasses and become stranger, bigger and more labyrinthine.

Stay Cautious.

Tom of Cautious Train.