[HTML1]
After debuting with a heart-wrenching trailer early this year, first person Zombie survival title Dead Island jumped from relative obscurity to talks of film rights being sold and “most anticipated game we know nothing about.” Finally in gameplay form, Dead Island is being shown at events like E3 2011, where it has much more buzz surrounding it because of that trailer.
Now people will once again be talking about the Dead Island trailer for having received an advertising award from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Beating out multi-million dollar ad campaigns, the Dead Island trailers receipt of the award proves that video games are viable as a storytelling medium -- or at least their trailers are.
Though Dead Island, the game, might get lost in the plethora of zombie-survival titles that have released in the past few years, the game’s trailer will stand as a testament of video games’ jump further into the mainstream. Now, having won an award from a prestigious institution, the trailer’s street cred has increased ten-fold, making the possibility of a movie adaptation even more likely.
Axis Animation, the company who created the trailer for developer Deep Silver and publisher Techland, had this to say about receiving the award:
"We are overwhelmed to see the Dead Island trailer pick up an award at an event as prestigious as the Cannes Lions. It goes to prove that the dedication shown by director Stuart Aitken and all of the Axis team has really paid off. I also want to give great credit to all the Deep Silver team because without their daring strategy and belief in what we could do, this project could have been so different.”
Only time will tell how strong an impact Dead Island’s trailer will have on the entertainment world, but it, along with several other emotionally moving trailers, has inspired publishers to put a little more effort behind their marketing of a particular title.
Do you think Dead Island’s trailer will have a serious impact on the video game/entertainment industry? What other game trailers do you think would be deserved of a prestigious award like this?
Dead Island releases September 6, 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
Source: EDGE, Cannes Lions