Game Adverts

[v85rawdeal]

I am getting fed up with adverts on TV for forthcoming or newly-released games showing footage that is not 'actual in-game footage'.

Why can't they show actual game clips so people can see exactly what the game DOES look like.

What do other people think?

[Demon Cleaner]

They should definitely include in game material in their adverts, at least you can get an overview of what it really looks like.

[Harrison]

I agree. I think they should show actual in game footage as part of the advert. They do it when you get internet adverts online that have video clips running, so why not do the same on TV?

A good example was the Xbox 360 trailer shown on TV and in cinemas for Gears of War. The advert showed a huge boss attacking the player, but that enemy isn't in the Xbox 360 version of the game! It had to be removed due to DVD size limits and other "technical reasons". You could therefore say the game wasn't representative of the actual gameplay. It is however in the PC version. ;)

[Sharingan]

Well, you know ... CG video clips are just that more impressive to the casual gamer, while we know that things that look too good to be true, probably are. I figure that as hardware keeps getting more advanced, and graphics start to approach CG quality in realtime, they'll start to show in-game footage as well. Probably won't be until the next generation, at least.

[Demon Cleaner]

The same problem is often with the screenshots they put on the back of the game box. Often there are no in game screenshots, or the screenshots are all optimized, and later when you play it, you're quite disappointed (not that I ever buy a game ;))

[Harrison]

This has always been the case, but it's not as bad as it used to be. Remember the old days when you bought a game with some great looking screenshots on the back, but they were for a better system's version of the game? So when you loading it the actual game looked nothing like the screenshots. This happened towards the end of the 8-bit era where their boxes would instead contain the 16-bit version from the ST or Amiga. The difference was huge.

At least with the power of current systems the screenshots between system are not that different.

The thing I disagree with is as I mentioned about with the Gears of War example. Showing game footage that isn't actually in the game. Showing CGi footage is fine in my view as it is a trailer to entice the buyer, but showing in game footage that doesn't actually exist isn't and should be against the law.