Movie-style trailers for videogames are raising eyebrows, writes CIARA O'BRIEN

WHAT WAS the last videogame trailer you remember? What were the ones that really stuck in your head? The question of what makes a good – or even appropriate – game trailer has been asked recently, mainly due to the emergence of the trailer for Dead Island.

If you haven’t seen it on YouTube already, the short video depicts a family trying to survive a zombie outbreak while on a tropical island holiday. The controversy stems from the fact that it uses images of a girl, turned by the zombies, falling to her death from a window.

It's a cleverly put-together piece of computer-generated video. Half of it, including the fall, is done in reverse, similar to Coldplay's video for The Scientist, with piano music as a soundtrack. It takes the edge off the horror to a certain extent. Cut into this are scenes showing the child running from the zombies, with the usual horror game sound effects, until eventually, both videos meet in the centre with the father reaching out for his daughter to save her.

In the weeks since its launch, the trailer has polarised opinion. Some love it, hailing it as an excellent piece of emotionally charged video. Other argue that it’s gratuitously violent, particularly because it uses a child as one of the central characters.

The argument over appropriate gaming material has been played out many times, and chances are this particular disagreement won’t be the last. What it highlights is the effort that games firms are putting into producing trailers, including signing up well-known names to push them.

Did you ever think you'd see the day when Ozzy Osbourne and Mr T were promoting World of Warcraft? Or that one of the best uses of Gary Jules's version of Mad Worldwould be in a Gears of Wartrailer?

Some of the ads have gone for shock value. A series of US trailers for Dead Space 2carries the tagline "Your mom hates Dead Space 2" and shows the shocked reactions of a focus group of mums viewing some of the goriest scenes from the game. The ads, which were denounced by parents' groups in the US, have gained a following online, simply by playing on a long- held perception: if your mother hates it, it must be good.

But it’s hardly surprising that so much effort is being invested in pushing video games. With a market that is expected to be worth as much as $73 billion by 2013, games are now big business, and the competition is getting fiercer.