Having been the one to plaster the trailers at the bottom of the game reviews you’ve been reading on PopMatters for the last year and a half or so, I’ve had the privilege to watch hundreds of these game trailers over that time. Given the increasing prevalence of YouTube, Google Video, and more specialized spots like the aptly named GameTrailers, the videogame trailer has become as important as the movie trailer in their respective media arenas.
As it turns out, they have awards (“Golden Trailers”) for game trailers! This is a fact of the industry that I had no idea existed until I got an e-mail announcing the winner of this year’s award:
Yes, “Medal of Homer” actually beat out the Halo 3 “Believe” ads, which is actually pretty incredible for the folks at Hammer Creative, who made the thing.
The leading contender so far this year? I’ve seen some excellent trailers for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, GTA IV, and even Persona 3, but the leader in this particular race right now has to be Metal Gear Solid 4, for a trailer that’s less than 48 hours old. The reason? The mere presence of Don LaFontaine, a.k.a. “The Movie Voiceover Guy”, elevates pretty much any trailer to must-watch status (a fact not lost on Sega, who actually hired him for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games), and the sheer drama of Metal Gear Solid 4 only adds to the weight. Here it is:
Hell yes! Whoo! When the end of it — that “…but Courage is SOLID” part — happens, I want to get up and cheer like a 14-year-old who just watched Saw. It’s so, so cheesy, but it’s so earnest about it as to actually be kind of endearing. And AWESOME. Have you seen anything better? Pop it in the comments. I wanna see.