Killzone 2 E3 2005 trailer "not false"

By Robert Purchese Published 28 February, 2008

Guerrilla adamant it served a purpose.

Guerrilla Games has hotly defended its infamous Killzone 2 E3 2005 trailer by saying it served a purpose and was not intended simply to build hype.

The developer responded to "false" accusations on the "Ask a Dev thread" on the US PlayStation boards, suggesting Sony PR had confused things at the time.

"The E3 2005 trailer was not false. One confused Sony rep claimed it was a movie from the game engine - one guy blitzed out of his mind on fatigue, jet-lag and the madness that is E3. One guy not at all affiliated with Guerrilla Games - probably with a head full of 30 different titles," said "EON", a member of Guerrilla Games.

"Everyone else named the E3 2005 video for what it was - a target render of what we thought would be possible on the PS3. Something we would be aiming for. Then, during E3 2007, in front of the majority of the gaming journalist press, we released a trailer of Pre-Alpha code running and demonstrated a playable Killzone 2 that stunned the industry."

The developer went on to play down the hype around Killzone 2, suggesting we will not see a "definitive" game on the PS3 for some time to come - if it is rational to expect one at all.

"The truth is that nobody is releasing the definitive game of the PS3 only three years into it's lifespan."

"And no sane person would even try to release 'the definitive game' - because who knows what will make the definitive game definitive?"

Killzone 2 is a first-person shooter that is a bit like Call of Duty 4 in that lots of things happen around you in a war-torn area where your squadron is fighting for survival.

Like Gears of War it has been associated with its exclusive platform since the unveiling of the console in 2005, and picked up a considerable following along the way. A Killzone 2 public beta test is expected this year, although a full release is less certain.

Pop over to YouTube for the E3 2005 target-rendered trailer before comparing it to the E3 2007 real deal.

Or simply pop into our Killzone 2 preview for a much better idea of what to expect.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tricky #1 4 years ago

    /sets up deckchair

    /readies popcorn

  • oceanmotion #2 4 years ago

    Ha, what a load of bollocks. The E3 07 looks awful compared to the Target. You are seriously blinded by the one or two things like the in games characters and weather that take your eyes away from the shitness.

  • lambtron #3 4 years ago

    "And no sane person would even try to release 'the definitive game' - because who knows what will make the definitive game definitive?"

    Sweet lord its like something out of The Day Today :D.

  • Dizzy #4 4 years ago

    "demonstrated a playable Killzone 2 that stunned the industry"

    I guess I missed that.

    Also STFU about that trailer Guerrilla.. you guys already look like total frauds. Go ahead... make it worse!

  • the_dudefather #5 4 years ago

    /kicks over Tricky's deckchair

    /steals popcorn

    /throws popcorn in gutter

    /leaves thread

  • The-Bodybuilder #6 4 years ago

    hehe

    LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE.

  • drumbaby #7 4 years ago

    Seeing as they pretty much matched the target, why the popcorn selling thread?

  • Tricky #8 4 years ago

    /looks around in a dazed fashion

    Did anybody get the number of that donkey cart?

  • McLovin85 #9 4 years ago

    I want that one...

  • Tricky #10 4 years ago

    I believe the four quotes that followed mine show why I was preparing the popcorn.

  • Eighthours #11 4 years ago

    Of course the trailer was false. Who is he trying to kid?

  • killest #12 4 years ago

    The E3 2005 trailer was not false...

    What does that mean? not false? so its TRUE?!?!

    Omg i cant believe it.... the trailer was TRUE!!!!!

  • Velios #13 4 years ago

    That demo falls a LONG way short of what was promised. a long long way. Quite disappointed tbh, is the PS3 capable of the target render visual quality? or are we just seeing some shoddy development here?

  • Dizzy #14 4 years ago

    "Seeing as they pretty much matched the target"

    Well it looks like it worked for at least one person. \o/

  • Freek #15 4 years ago

    I really feel sorry for those guys, Sony PR mouthed off allot of nonsense and now they're stuck with the consequences of having to live up to that.
    When it all could have been avoided by having simply state what a target render is to begin with. It's a pretty common method used allot simply to get everybody involved with the game on the same page. To show what you want the game to be.

  • BooMMooB #16 4 years ago

    That's a load of bollocks. I remember it well, guerialla representatives were asked face to face by several media outlets if this (the video) was ingame from killzone2. And they just wouldn't say a straight no until months after E3.

    A complete washing of hands is nothing more than this is. We still remember that E3 media stunt. oh, we do.

  • zuljin #17 4 years ago

    @Eighthours
    Read the story - he's not denying the footage is pre rendered. He claims the footage was created as a guide as to what they wanted the game to look and feel like. This does happen quite a lot actually.

    Ofcourse whether the whole "it was marketings fault for saying it was ingame" is true or not I guess we'll never really know.

  • Syrette #18 4 years ago

    Still looks decent.

  • mingster #19 4 years ago

    We are trying to downplay the hype so you aren't as disappointed by the actual game when it arrives

  • Raziel #20 4 years ago

    I think this could be good. Well, I hope it'll be good.

    Though, lets not forget that the orginal Killzone was far from epic. Not a bad game, I enjoyed it, but far from what it should/could have been.

  • keyboardmonkey #21 4 years ago

    /sarcasm hat on fishing rod at the ready

    That First game on the E3 2005 trailer looks ace , the second one for the E3 2007 looks like some one made Gears of War on the PS3.

    /off

    Why oh why did they ever show the first video. i believe it's called setting a customers expectations.

    Like Gears of War it has been associated with its exclusive platform since the unveiling of the console in 2005, and picked up a considerable following along the way.

    Unlike Gears of War it's still not released. I hope this does get released and looks as good as the trailer this/ MGS and the play TV add on are all convincing me to get the PS3 in 2009

  • steoc4 #22 4 years ago

    I don't think Killzone 2 was ever meant to be a big title for Sony. If you look at their PS2 portfolio, Killzone was way, way, way down the list. At that E3 it was just shown as one of many games in the middle of a long show reel of many more interesting titles.

    But whoever at Guerilla made the target renders, made something overly ambitious, the media latched onto it, and the whole thing just got ridiculous. I'd say the reason the game isn't released yet is that a game that was once a niche title from a small developer, is now a major matter of pride for the whole PS3 platform and Sony are probably pumping money and resources into trying to get it to match that trailer.

  • DB2k #23 4 years ago

    I think their frivilous trailer should warrant an additional game ban.

  • urban #24 4 years ago

    gotta say rob, i don't like you anymore.

  • ParanoidZombie #25 4 years ago

    Still no release date, then? Since sony PR said that RFOM2 is their answer to Gears2, I guess Killzone 2 will be their answer to halo4.

  • Xerx3s #26 4 years ago

    This fence is a bit pointy, does anyone fancy swapping places?

  • thepiedpiper #27 4 years ago

    what a croc

  • Yaz #28 4 years ago

    "Everyone else named the E3 2005 video for what it was - a target render of what we thought would be possible on the PS3."

    Sorry, but that's absolute rubbish (to the point of practically lying).

    NO-ONE saying that E3 2005 video was pre-rendered could get a confirmation of it! And so arguements raged throughout the WHOLE of 2005 about whether that video was realtime or not, with some believing it was real, some believing it was pre-rendered, and some going with the theory that it was running at 5fps on the game-engine and sped up to 60fps etc.

    Many (like myself) who stated it was a target render were shot down in flames EVERYWHERE for about a year by those refusing to believe it was pre-rendered (including here on Eurogamer..Yes, you know who you are ;)), all because Sony deliberately confused the issue by refusing to clarify it was a pre-rendered target video (check out every interview with Phil Harrison and Jack Tretton when asked about that KZ2 movie).

    Guerilla themselves didn't help matters by hiding behind a NDA at the time.

    All it would have taken was for someone from Guerilla or Sony to say "Yes, it's a pre-rendered target video of what we hope the game will look like" and that would have been the end of the speculation. Instead, they both chose not to do this because they were happy for people to believe it was realtime, especially for all the free publicity and hype it generated.

    Anyway, for what has been shown of KZ2 so far, the cutscenes looked superb (very impressive), but the gameplay graphics varied from looking great at times, to average at other times. Hopefully, the finished game will go someway towards living up to the hype generated for the game.

    We'll see (I wait with fingers crossed :)).

  • MrXBob #29 4 years ago

    Anybody who's played games for more than a year and understands technology should have known that trailer was bull. No game will ever look that good - period. And I mean period. Never!

    It's a technical impossibility. Even for a team with a million employees and the worlds fastest processors and GPUs, a full game (as we know them today) looking like that cannot and will not be made.

    The thousands of seperate animations in the trailer alone are too intense even just to be rendered in realtime on a static black screen, never mind adding all the particles, textures, audio, lighting... and even if technology could handle it, people couldnt. It would take something like a whole year to create just one level looking that good.

    Just look how long it takes to make CGI movies, and you're not even half way there. That's all static. Making a game looking like that means you need to add all of the AI, store all the animations in memory so they're ready for use whenever the player does certain things. I could write an essay about how impossible it would be, but I'll stop there.

    All I say is - if you truely believed that trailer when you first saw it, you deserve to be disappointed when you go and buy it. You're clearly mental.

  • Calgon #30 4 years ago

    Yes its already had a longer than normal dev cycle(compared to other Sony exclusives except maybe GT5 which also benifits from that) and you can bet most of that time has been spent on the visuals(so that trailer looks nice... anything special? nah), if it comes out no better than a normal 360 title which was done in half the time? Thats going to backfire and make all involved look bad, this is Sony's own doing, they are known for these practises its how theyve always operated. I expect it will be a good looking title at the very least, maybe even a benchmark on the PS3(although they arent the most technically proficient Sony dev team you can bet Sony have sent a bus full of Sony engineers pretty soon after they were rumbled) I think Sony now feel it has to be but if it comes out looking nothing special it will be a slight embaressment for Sony and their bots.

    Im not sure it even matters anymore, since it will be too obvious and they will also lose one of their signature playing cards the untapped potential card... "lots of untapped potential left, it may have took us 2-3 years but this is like 2% right here wait untill next year... truely the most powerfull peice of hardware on the planet or something like that, its all just around the corner".
    Edited by 1 at 28/02/08 @ 13:10

  • SBfistfun #31 4 years ago

    "we released a trailer of Pre-Alpha code running and demonstrated a playable Killzone 2 that stunned the industry."

    No

  • muftak #32 4 years ago

    @ulov3

    and i guess uncharted is a below average ps2 kinda game ,

    if the devs on multi format games learnt to program the ps3 properly it would be a different story.

  • septimus #33 4 years ago

    Xbots ahoy!

  • Eighthours #34 4 years ago

    But whoever at Guerilla made the target renders, made something overly ambitious...

    Guerrilla didn't make the thing. It was sub-contracted out to an animation company, whose name escapes me. The head honcho of whichever company it was spoke at Animex about it a while back.

  • Les #35 4 years ago

    "Seeing as they pretty much matched the target, why the popcorn selling thread?"

    Exactly. Can't believe the developer actually responded to a pointless flame bait. He's not going to convince the people that don't want to be convinced and the sensible people just wait till the game is finally released and then judge whether or not it's worth their money.

    To me it's often hard to understand that the video games industry is so much reliant on hype: If you look at it objectively, previews are rather pointless, still probably more than 50% of video games websites and magazines is devoted to news about stuff you can't yet buy.

  • Royal Fool #36 4 years ago

    Then, during E3 2007, in front of the majority of the gaming journalist press, we released a trailer of Pre-Alpha code running and demonstrated a playable Killzone 2 that stunned the industry."

    Funny story, since the game almost completely fell off the radar afterwards. Maybe it was just too stunning?

  • Arwin #37 4 years ago

    "in the first three years ... "

    Considering that the PS3 has been out 1 year and 4 months in the US, did he just let slip that the game won't be out in 2008? It sure does sound like it, probably letting Resistance have Christmas?

  • Les #38 4 years ago

    "Funny story, since the game almost completely fell off the radar afterwards. Maybe it was just too stunning?"

    Or maybe they didn't feed the hype machine anymore... There's only so much even the most dedicated video game journalist can get out of a single E3 showing.

  • Meho #39 4 years ago

    The thing is... I have played Guerilla games before and they were... not very good to say the least. Original Killzone, their first FPS ever, was largely underwhelming, Shellshock was AWFUL. Killzone on PSP was OK but I wouldn't call it stunning by a long shot. Their GBA games were far from smash hits or even fan favourites. Which begs the question why would ANYONE care about Killzone 2? I mean anyone interested in gameplay, not just pretty graphics. As MrXBob pointed out, a game like the E3 trailer is impossible to make, not because of the technology, but because of the principle - you just can't have that level of freedom and detail and make a product that will earn enough money to pay for itself. There's probably not enough gamers on Earth to pay for it.

    Having said that, the E3 07 Killzone 2 footage looked pretty nice to my eyes. I like the graphics, it looks like a cross between CoD4 and Gears of War which is fine and dandy. But the gameplay? I am very much unconvinced by Guerilla's track record to date.

  • J.C #40 4 years ago

    I knew this shit storm would start again soon! that bloody trailer lol. it looked 100 times better than crysis ffs!
    I cant wait for the final game. and the EG review for it will be legendary.

  • malteaserhead #41 4 years ago

    with rumours going around that this may be the most expensive game ever to produce (est. $60m) it would need to be better than ok ;)

  • asphaltcowboy #42 4 years ago

    @malteaserhead

    Er! Not sure about that (surely DNF would be ahead?)! I'm pretty sure it's the biggest media project that's come out of the Netherlands though.

  • adcworks #43 4 years ago

    talk about being creative with the truth - what a desperate wind up. if it turns out to be that good, i'll eat my words and even buy a ps3. but it won't, so i'll wait for gears 2.

  • malteaserhead #44 4 years ago

    @asphalt
    didn't DNF just really exist in someones head though? ;)
    Point taken but I'm just passing on the rumour - What are the most expensive games that actually came out? Shenmue. Halo 3?
    Edited by 1 at 28/02/08 @ 14:20

  • sanctusmortis #45 4 years ago

    Guys guys... as long as you don't look at the blocky shadows, missing textures etc, they did match it!

    And then they woke up, and remembered what it currently really looks like, and went back to work with a sigh.

  • monkie_king #46 4 years ago

    When did they stun the industry? I must have been on holiday that week and missed it.

  • sharpfish #47 4 years ago

    Hope it's not like COD4 - COD4 (singleplayer) is extremely boring and holds your hand too much (uber-linear). Seriously, if you want to progress Shooters look at Crysis and copy that (and I don't mean it's stunning graphics, I mean it's psuedo freedom and immersion/physics). COD4 makes me cry, even the frigging shirts hanging on the washing lines are completely STATIC.. they even block your movement... what year did they make COD4 in 1997? jebus h overated games.

  • monkie_king #48 4 years ago

    COD4 isn't the kind of game where you're supposed to go exploring and poking at things, though: you're essentially being funnelled through a series of well-orchestrated set-pieces with the pace kept high throughout. It's designed so you don't have a chance to look too closely and realise you're on a movie set. And it's good at what it does, so I'm willing to cut them some slack on the static environments. The 60fps and sheer chaos is a good trade-off (and you can be pretty confident that KZ2 won't run in a frame).
    Edited by 1 at 28/02/08 @ 14:41

  • GamesConnoisseur #49 4 years ago

    Recall the other video at E3 2005 that wowed everyone to PS3 and MS's X360 get apparently overshadowed by its 'so obviously much more powerful rival console'.

    Motorstorm.

    Remember feelings of the wow at seeing the muds being slinged everywhere from the all the various vehicles crossings each other and bumping off rivals, feeling the fear of that motorcyclist as after he jumped the bike off the top of the car he was due to hit that...

    And now the reality of Motorstorm is as we know it, a good game but not exactly the same as advertised!

    Killzone 2, I ll keep my mind open and will see how that turn out, anything else is just guessing.

  • VMerken #50 4 years ago

    They talked the talk, now they have to walk the walk.

    Simple as.

  • Retroid #51 4 years ago

    Oh dear.

    Perhaps they should release a reviewers guide for the trailers? Seemed to work for Factor 5! >__>

  • Widge #52 4 years ago

    Not really holding up much hope for this. On the one hand, the trailer looks amazing, but I cast my mind back to the original. Preview after preview of 'look at these graphics! and they move too!'. The game turned out to be awful. I headed back to Halo 2 in that instance.

    We're also in an era where FPS games aren't rare on consoles anymore. You've also got RFOM2 on its way which is building on an already solid foundation from a company that is already knocking out quality games.

    If this comes out and is a turkey, I don't think my hopes are going to be particularly crushed.