Long before loot boxes and horse armour, there was a different kind of gaming scandal engaging forum goers: was the Killzone 2 reveal trailer real or not? E3 2005 was a different time for the industry, with Sony’s hubris about to bite it in the buttocks, and the whispers behind-the-scenes were that the PlayStation 3 was a bit of an over-engineered mess. But we’re all suckers for pretty graphics, and Guerrilla Games really brought out the big guns with the first footage of the sequel to its sci-fi series.
Naturally, none of it was real.
To be fair to Guerrilla, it had no idea Sony was even going to show the clip on-stage – it was created as an internal target render, designed to showcase what the Dutch studio believed it could achieve on next-gen hardware. In fact, at the time, Killzone 2 wasn’t even planned for the PS3 – it was going to be a PS2 title. But that didn't stop the Japanese giant from introducing the target render as real-time footage.
“We were watching this back home, going, ‘No!’” producer Angie Smets told NoClip in a brilliant new Horizon: Zero Dawn documentary. “What did he just say? It’s not true! Then we figured, nobody will believe that, because it's obvious that it’s all [pre]-rendered. Then we went online, and we found that lots of people believed it.”
Fortunately, the firm eventually came good with Killzone 2, arguably surpassing the target render with the final product in 2009. And the developer’s gone on to become one of the most technically proficient outlets in the industry, continuously pushing the envelope – as evidenced by its new Decima Engine, which is being leveraged by Death Stranding.
It’s nice to know the truth at last, though, eh? The mid-2000s must have been a crazy time at Sony headquarters.
[source youtube.com]
Comments (23)
I remember that trailer so well! 2005 me really believed that was real
"the firm eventually came good with Killzone 2, arguably surpassing the target render with the final product"
That's why I never gave it a second thought, and was always puzzled by those who did.
Killzone 2 was awesome. You did just fine guys and girls shadowfall on the otherhand left me very cold.
Man, speaking of the early/mid 2000s, does anyone still remember the "Giant Enemy Crab" meme?
what the heck sony
@Rob_230 Nice to hear i bought my PS4 and then Killzone i was really dissapointed it did not go near the wowfactor i had with Killzone 2 and 3. I did platinum Killzone 3 love that game its my favorite Killzone.
Killzone 2 was damn close though and it was a blast. But somehow i liked the Killzone 3 multiplayer way better it has my favorite mode ever Operations so no COD did not create a new mode.
@Flaming_Kaiser yeah i completely agree. Killzone 3 was ace too (another plat holder here ) And even mercenary on vita was a brilliant game and imo so much more engaging than shadow fall. I think because the story on shadow fall was just not coherent, and simply existed to move the player from one set piece to the next. The game looked stunning mind.
You created Horizon so of course we forgive you.
In 2005, I can understand people believing that the reveal trailer was real, as the graphics tech'/style looks very similar to the original Gears of War on the X360, which came out only a year later, in 2006.
At least it seems they didn't do it on purpose.
Guerilla in general have been the scapegoats for controversy in the medium for a long time, remember the idiotic lawsuit brought against them because they shoudn't choose to do conventional methods to achieve 1080p for Shadow Fall?
@viciousarcanum
Yes, that was ridiculous.
@Rob_230 If they make a new Killzone make it like 3 please. 😀
And somehow the graphics dissapointed a little maybe i was expecting to much. Because Killzone 2 and 3 where looking so great.
Nice video, I wonder if they will ever go back to Killzone. Shadowfall was a mistep after the excellent KZ 2 & 3.
@Flaming_Kaiser yeah, id agree. I liked the 'weightyness of kz2' but it was just a little too slow. I feel that kz3 got it just right
this is old news, guerrilla admitted this years ago. it kinda got forgotten about because the final product is actually an improvement - this had the old style aiming system from KZ1 which was replaced with the more modern ADS. there was other footage that showed combat in tanks which never made it, which could have been good though.
KZ2 is awesome, particularly the multiplayer, though i agree with a couple of the guys above, i think the slightly faster movement and more fluid aiming controls in KZ3 actually work better - KZ3 is great too though, i just feel warzone in KZ2 plays better due to a better class/ribbon system. shadow fall is a disappointment, not because the gfx didn't wow as much (personally i thought it looked great when it was first revealed), but because it was just plain naff. the campaign fell apart not knowing exactly what it wanted to tell/show, and the multiplayer just felt so un-KZ-like it could have released as a new IP.
But still an awesome game. That and Resistance were Bangers.
Colour me brown, grey and surprised. But mostly brown and grey.
I loved Killzone 2 & 3 and I also really liked Shadow fall. I thought the music was great in Shadow fall also.
@Neolit I wasn't even mad when I got them, I loved them
I don't see why is there any fuzz about this... The purpose of a trailer is to show us a glimpse of what is to come... and in that case the actual game surpassed this target render, so yeah, in a way, you could say "it's the actual game ! Or... What it's gonna be. When it will be finished."
Killzone 2, what a game. I'm not a suker for FPS in general, but this one... Never again I felt so strong that I was litterally in HELL. In the hell of the battlefield. The graphics were awesome, sure, but the art direction, man... The neverending darkness, the fury of the battle, scene after scene... The most intense gaming memory I have.
File this under 'Obviously.'
A lot of trailers you see at E3 are target render's vertical slice's etc, 2014 Watch Dogs is a very good example of that.
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