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Yeah, I'm getting tired of seeing prerendered stuff. I'm fine with the ones with real humans in it, as I doubt you would think that was the game...unless you are weird.

NAG wrote:

Yeah, I'm getting tired of seeing prerendered stuff.

Well, keep in mind that "being tired of it" doesn't mean it should be banned.

The commercials would be boring as hell if they had to use the game engine. The game only has so many built-in animations. Don't these commercials always show a few seconds of gameplay at the end?

I wonder why they can't get away with disclaimers (if they dont' already) in really tiny print at the bottom of the ad stating that "some or all scenes depicted may be pre-rendered blah blah blah  <insert lawyer speak>" like the car people do.

Have you seen that truck commercial where the meteor slams into the vehicle & it comes out unscathed? There should be a way for the software guys to do the same thing - they're basically showing concept footage to get across the selling points of the game, so it should be legit given the right verbage to tell consumers what they're seeing. Hope they put up a fight at least.

i lke that uk seems to actually hold companies acountable for what they promise(or try to imply)

Last edited by gozer (2006-02-25 12:22 pm)

Using only pre-rendered scenes in the ad is like having all car ads show the top of the line sports car (sorry for the car analogy). I guess I'm fine if it is an in game cinematic and is actually in the game, but I would like them to maybe show the actual game if it uses rendered scenes in some way (especially with all the "scandals" lately).

I think that someone just didnt have a high def connection to their TV and decided to play CoD2.....it DOES make a big difference....

imikedaman wrote:

Uhhhh... game companies have been doing it for years, for every game commercial I've ever seen.

Not here they haven't.  If you're advertising a game for a particular system then the footage has to be from that system.

I can't believe someone was stupid enough to not realize the difference, and powerful enough to cover up for their idiocy by using politics.

That's not how it works at all.  There are certain standards that have to be followed to advertise on UK TV.  If those standards are not followed then the ASA is advised and gets involved.  Surely the US must have some sort of guidelines for advertising products to prevent mis-representation?

Next they're going to complain that in-game cutscenes feature better graphics than the game does. They may as well.

Uh, no.  Those cutscenes would be part of the game, but you knew that anyway, didn't you?  I can't believe someone would be stupid enough to not realise the difference.

The commercials would be boring as hell if they had to use the game engine. The game only has so many built-in animations.

Bollocks.  Unless you're suggesting that there's less than 30 seconds of gameplay that could be shown.

Lew wrote:

Next they're going to complain that in-game cutscenes feature better graphics than the game does. They may as well.

Uh, no.  Those cutscenes would be part of the game, but you knew that anyway, didn't you?  I can't believe someone would be stupid enough to not realise the difference.

Since you admit cutscenes are part of the game, then you're completely okay with companies using cutscenes in game commercials, right?

The last time I checked, the FMV cutscenes look infinitely better than in-game graphics. There are just certain special effects that can be produced more realistically when pre-rendered, and the camera can be much more dynamic and interesting when not confined to the game's limitations. Cutscenes allow for both of those.

Bat wrote:

I think you're a mite confused about FMV, cutscenes, in-engine, prerendering, render-to-spec and so on. There are distinctions, and they do matter.

Are you going to explain why you think that? I know the difference between all of them, so if anything's confusing me, it's you.

My point is that FMV cutscenes are still cutscenes, and if they use those in commercials, it still won't fix the "problem" of people buying the game and realizing the actual real-time graphics aren't as good as the commercial made it seem.

Last edited by imikedaman (2006-02-28 7:21 pm)

imikedaman wrote:

The commercials would be boring as hell if they had to use the game engine. The game only has so many built-in animations. Don't these commercials always show a few seconds of gameplay at the end?

Just because your game is ugly doesn't mean you get to misrepresent it on television.  Imagine if Ford put out a commercial for their Focus car, but only showed a Ferrari with the Ford logo slapped on.

Personally, I'm just confused by ads for games. Unless it is a casual friendly game I don't see the point. In my experience, only super casual game players don't know what is coming out. It is the same for movies...except there are more casual movies than games. (A lot of games are not for casual game players, like Call of Duty isn't.)

I really don't see what you're talking about.   Without ads, you'd have to sit around at game news sites and developers' sites to see what's coming out.  Same as anything else.

imikedaman wrote:

Bat wrote:

I think you're a mite confused about FMV, cutscenes, in-engine, prerendering, render-to-spec and so on. There are distinctions, and they do matter.

Are you going to explain why you think that? I know the difference between all of them, so if anything's confusing me, it's you.

Simple, then. You tell me what you understand these terms to mean, and I'll tell you what the literal meaning is.

My point is that FMV cutscenes are still cutscenes, and if they use those in commercials, it still won't fix the "problem" of people buying the game and realizing the actual real-time graphics aren't as good as the commercial made it seem.

I'll start. FMV per se has been on the wane since its heyday in the mid-late '90s, as exemplified in the later Wing Commander games and the first Jedi Knight- real actors, sets, recorded video using cameras. It came into vogue when the then-huge storage capacity of the new CD-ROMS offered much room for prerecorded live cutscenes. Very different than in-engine cutscenes which have basically replaced recorded full-motion video.

Your turn.