Not to take anything away from them but other than not being on an official YouTube channel I did think this was a brand new game given it says 'official'. A bit deceiving.
In addition to what others have said (all those examples are equally misleading IMHO), given that its the 25th Anniversary of Half-Life, a lot of us are primed to hope for news of a new game from Valve.
Without any prior knowledge if a trailer for Portal: Prelude were released today it would be equally as confusing. The flash version wouldn't be since it would be strange for Valve to make a flash version of anything officially, so that'd set off flags, the Half-Life ones likely would be confusing as well, purely from a "released a trailer with a very clean logo and the word official in the title" standpoint, not really a general product naming standpoint, but that series is more dormant, so maybe it's less likely to be confusing.
It having official in the title has nothing to do with whether it's a Valve game or a mod, though. It just means that it's a trailer released by the developer themselves and not some random person, that's all that official means.
They probably could've just made a more honest title like "Portal: Revolution - Official Trailer for the fan mod". The title is longer and more unwieldy, but at least it'd be very clear
In your example where literally every detail has been changed, including the type of product being produced, that makes sense.
The video says, "Portal Revolution Official Trailer." What that says to me is "This is the official trailer" presumably released by the creator of Portal Revolution (which is a community mod).
Even in the worst possible way I can try to interpret that, calling it "manipulative" seems like a huge stretch.
If Valve somehow thinks it's the same thing as your Pokemon example, I'm sure we'll see some action taken.
Exactly: and it says "official trailer" — separated from the rest by a fancy hyphen just like what I have used. The context is quite clear that it's the trailer that's official, and thus the meaning is quite clear as well.
Not my job to make your argument for you. I made my response based on what you said. If you want to reword or emphasize something relevant go ahead. Otherwise it just sounds like "No, you, um totally misunderstood me! Ya, that's it! I'm not going to tell you how though, just keep re-reading it until you agree with me!"
The fact that this thread has more up votes on the "remove the official from official trailer" posts baffles me. The first line of the description says it's a mod.
The title and thumbnail is quite clear that it's the trailer that's official. Nowhere does it says it's a Portal from Valve. Even more there is no reason for such assumption: Valve does not hold copyrights or ownership over the world "portal" on the dictionary.
What we are seeing here is a failure to follow elementary school education.
Trademark is not ownership of the word. Anyone and everyone can use the word "Portal" to speak about the game, its mods, its lore, fan content, likes and subscribes, etc.
The video was originally titled in the already common pattern across all industries in the media: "Work title: Work subtitle - Official Announcement". It's honestly not hard to parse, and it does not constitute in itself any judgment on whether it's Valve's Portal or the Portal of anyone else who can and is allowed to use the name (think eg.: I write my college thesis and announce it as "Portal: Why the Game is Good - Official Announcement").
I do be fair and mention I come from the Pokémon fandom, where (until the series went into Yearly Crunch) the amount of fan content more than 7x-ed the amount of "official media" so one learns to parse announcements and titles faster. I guess I'm trained by a different internet than yours. However I don't get why you think I'm somehow "flinging insults", but I guess that just strengthens my point that elementary education should be revisited.
I really miss the times when mods actually were encouraged by the gamedevs.
Yes there are games that still encourage modding but it's still not as widespread as it was so a couple of years after Half-life was released.
A fan made mod.
Not to take anything away from them but other than not being on an official YouTube channel I did think this was a brand new game given it says 'official'. A bit deceiving.
It also uses the name "Portal" in a way that feels official, too. If it said "Revolution: A Portal mod" it'd be fine.
How does it “feel official”? It’s just what a lot of mods do:
These are just a few I can think of, you can find more on Steam and ModDB.
In addition to what others have said (all those examples are equally misleading IMHO), given that its the 25th Anniversary of Half-Life, a lot of us are primed to hope for news of a new game from Valve.
Without any prior knowledge if a trailer for Portal: Prelude were released today it would be equally as confusing. The flash version wouldn't be since it would be strange for Valve to make a flash version of anything officially, so that'd set off flags, the Half-Life ones likely would be confusing as well, purely from a "released a trailer with a very clean logo and the word official in the title" standpoint, not really a general product naming standpoint, but that series is more dormant, so maybe it's less likely to be confusing.
Dont forget Hunt Down the Freeman... Remember that dumpster fire? Pee-yew.
It having official in the title has nothing to do with whether it's a Valve game or a mod, though. It just means that it's a trailer released by the developer themselves and not some random person, that's all that official means.
"official trailer" for the mod - I don't see the problem here.
They probably could've just made a more honest title like "Portal: Revolution - Official Trailer for the fan mod". The title is longer and more unwieldy, but at least it'd be very clear
I wouldn't say worthless, that's hyperbolic, but it is far beyond necessary, just saying that it could've been clearer, definitively.
In your example where literally every detail has been changed, including the type of product being produced, that makes sense.
The video says, "Portal Revolution Official Trailer." What that says to me is "This is the official trailer" presumably released by the creator of Portal Revolution (which is a community mod).
Even in the worst possible way I can try to interpret that, calling it "manipulative" seems like a huge stretch.
If Valve somehow thinks it's the same thing as your Pokemon example, I'm sure we'll see some action taken.
Exactly: and it says "official trailer" — separated from the rest by a fancy hyphen just like what I have used. The context is quite clear that it's the trailer that's official, and thus the meaning is quite clear as well.
You think they're trying to trick you into
check notes
playing a free mod?
Implying being creator of a popular mod doesn't open a lot of doors.
I like how you replied without actually addressing what I said, nor emphasizing what it is I "missed". Seems kind of pointless, no?
Not my job to make your argument for you. I made my response based on what you said. If you want to reword or emphasize something relevant go ahead. Otherwise it just sounds like "No, you, um totally misunderstood me! Ya, that's it! I'm not going to tell you how though, just keep re-reading it until you agree with me!"
I changed it, thanks
This is all you failing to understand something very simple.
It's the official trailer for the mod, that's all it means.
The fact that this thread has more up votes on the "remove the official from official trailer" posts baffles me. The first line of the description says it's a mod.
Again, it's the official trailer for Portal: Revolution. I'm really not sure what's confusing about this.
The title and thumbnail is quite clear that it's the trailer that's official. Nowhere does it says it's a Portal from Valve. Even more there is no reason for such assumption: Valve does not hold copyrights or ownership over the world "portal" on the dictionary.
What we are seeing here is a failure to follow elementary school education.
Trademark is not ownership of the word. Anyone and everyone can use the word "Portal" to speak about the game, its mods, its lore, fan content, likes and subscribes, etc.
The video was originally titled in the already common pattern across all industries in the media: "Work title: Work subtitle - Official Announcement". It's honestly not hard to parse, and it does not constitute in itself any judgment on whether it's Valve's Portal or the Portal of anyone else who can and is allowed to use the name (think eg.: I write my college thesis and announce it as "Portal: Why the Game is Good - Official Announcement").
I do be fair and mention I come from the Pokémon fandom, where (until the series went into Yearly Crunch) the amount of fan content more than 7x-ed the amount of "official media" so one learns to parse announcements and titles faster. I guess I'm trained by a different internet than yours. However I don't get why you think I'm somehow "flinging insults", but I guess that just strengthens my point that elementary education should be revisited.
I was surprised to see another Portal game being announced, but finding out it's a fan-made mod actually has me more interested.
Fan-mods are where you can see some neat shit because they're not trying to maximize profits, they're just trying to make something cool.
This is not made by (or in association with) valve.
It's effectively a mod built on portal2
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in
I'm always amazed of what passionate people can achieve. It happens that i also love this game. Nice !
I really miss the times when mods actually were encouraged by the gamedevs. Yes there are games that still encourage modding but it's still not as widespread as it was so a couple of years after Half-life was released.
Actually just started another playthrough of Portal still alive! I just hope the cake is real this time.
mmmmmmmmm cake
https://store.steampowered.com/app/601360/Portal_Revolution/
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