These days, video game announcements and news are generally only a few clicks away, but it wasn't always so easy. The way players first discovered a game was often via commercials--yes, the kind on actual TV--and they needed to get your attention in only about 30 seconds. Not all of them succeeded, but there have been some absolutely fantastic video game commercials over the years, including some for less-than-fantastic games. GameSpot has rounded up our picks for the best video game commercials and advertisements of all time, ranging from the early days of the Atari 2600 to a game that just came out recently.

Halo 3: "Believe"

One of the most effective video game commercials ever didn't feature any gameplay or pre-rendered cinematics. In fact, it barely even featured any movement. Dubbed "Believe," this commercial for Halo 3 consists of panning shots across a miniatures display, with terrified UNSC marines awaiting their fate as an enormous swarm of Covenant surrounds them. On top of a hill, their leader holds the Master Chief, thinking the Spartan has been defeated--but the plasma grenade in the Master Chief's hand lets us know that this battle is just getting started.

Gears of War: "Mad World"

Before Halo 3 released on Xbox 360, Microsoft had another stunning shooter franchise to keep players happy, and its trailer has stuck with us for more than 16 years. Gears of War's Mad World trailer paints a bleak picture of Earth, with much of the world destroyed as the Locust horde and humanity continue their devastating war. The song--a cover that first appeared in Donnie Darko--does suggest the game will be a little bit more… reserved than it ended up being, but chopping an enemy in half with a chainsaw gun still sends us back to this trailer.