There's a lot of games that are complicated on a first read, which are almost better learned from the author or a person who has played before. I'm thinking games with lots of "manipulation elements" like Blood and Bronze, Grey Ranks (the Chart!), Spirit of the Century (tho the Youtube Review Guy just posted a mini-demo), Dogs in the Vineyard, Mortal Coil, etc.
I'd personally love it if, for games like these, either they themselves or fans of the game were to make a cheap and cheesy 5-minute demo of one or more of the elements of play, based in a simulated game environment.
Jason did one or two for ideas he's been rolling around. But I'd love to see more folks do this sort of thing, too. It's much more visual and visceral than reading about how complicated elements work from the book.
Doesn't need high production values or professional editing, just a steady hand.
Could someone who has done this kind of thing offer advice for how to get started? Like how to do title overlays, good (free?) software to get, etc?
I filmed those Medical Hospital things with my digital camera. The "what's cool at Gen Con" thing got edited in half an hour with the stock software that ships with Windows. It's nothing complicated at all.