You may not have noticed, seeing as gamers barely watch TV these days, but publishers have been told to stop using CGI footage in their ads. Yes, finally enough people have noticed that the movie quality graphics on show are not exactly what you get when you start playing. And it seems that those naughty publishers have been relying on the ignorance of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre to do this.
"If you're saying that a large number of them use CGI footage generated just for the ad, that's at odds with what advertisers are telling us", said copy group manager Matthew Baily.
Personally I'm surprised this is only coming to light now. Today's pre-rendered stuff at least bares some resemblance to the actual game, especially on 360. Compare this to TV spots for the N64 or PSOne with their promise of Toy Story quality graphics and you wonder how they got away with it for so long.
Of course, veteran gamers are well used to these distortions of the truth. 1980s print ads - TV wasn't an option for most publishers then - were quick to promise "arcade quality" graphics. The reality was somewhat less glamourous, unless you squinted when visiting the arcades. It didn't take Spectrum and Commodore owners long to get immune to ad claims, though enough people were suckered in by Rise of the Robots a few years later to suggest that pretty pics still appeal.
