According to the complaining parties, Activision's advertising was misleading because "the graphics used in the [advertisement] were superior to that of the game itself."Source: IGN
Now there is a revelation! You mean video game commercials show footage that looks better than actual game play? No shit sherlock!
Get ready for jaggies in your commercials folks. Especially if groups like the Advertising Standards Authority starts to scare publishers the world over.
Comments (6)
Of course it's common, but that doesn't make it any less misleading. I'd rather see actual footage of the game than pre-rendered high-res antialiased versions of it.
Posted by LKM | February 23, 2006 3:03 AM
Posted on February 23, 2006 03:03
I would tend to agree with you - most of the time. There is a place for pre-rendered CG in video game commercials.
But it would be a paradigm shift in game advertising to show mostly game footage. I just don't think that is going to happen.
Think how boring E3 would be without all the pre-rendered stuff.
Posted by Ken Edwards | February 23, 2006 3:31 AM
Posted on February 23, 2006 03:31
I don't think pre-rendered graphics by themselves are the problem. The problem is that the pre-rendered graphics are made in such a way that the viewer could assume that they're in-game graphics. So it's misleading CG that is the problem.
If the CG is made badly enough that the viewer could mistake it for in-game graphics, it's misleading advertising, and that's illegal.
Well, if they're getting sued if they show misleading CG, they're going to stop showing misleading CG :-)
Posted by LKM | February 23, 2006 7:50 AM
Posted on February 23, 2006 07:50
Oh, and I just read that on slashdot:
Those ads ran in the states with the words "Actual Game Footage" on the screen.
It seems they were actual game footage - from cutscenes. Really, they deserve getting sued for such a stunt.
Posted by LKM | February 23, 2006 7:52 AM
Posted on February 23, 2006 07:52
I don't remember seeing the "actual footage" statement, I saw a lot of those ads. I had a real problem with them showing the same trailer when advertising the PS2 version which isn't even the same game. I have no problem with them being fined this instance though, statement or not.
On the other side, there are NO cinematics in the game like the ones included in the ad. NONE. I'm assuming they were created just for the ad.
Posted by Matt Paprocki | February 23, 2006 11:45 AM
Posted on February 23, 2006 11:45
From the source, it sounds like they were created just for the ad. And I was going to say exactly the same thing as Matt. I have seen these ads many times, and do not remember seeing "actual footage" anywhere, even in 2 point type at the bottom of the ad.
Posted by Ken Edwards | February 23, 2006 1:50 PM
Posted on February 23, 2006 13:50