Using Pre-rendered footage in games

Was reading an article today through my Rojo.com feed reader on Activision's use of pre-rendered footage in video games.

I remember when I saw the TV spots for these games that it looked to good to be true. I am not saying that the game doesnt have impressive graphics, but to imply that your average user is going to experience graphics like that when they buy your game is reprehensible.

I understand that it's human nature to want to show your product in it's best possible light, but if the average experience of your consumer is far less than that, you are going to have a major trust gap, and it will come back to haunt you. I used to be fairly big into computer gaming in high school, spending all of my $400 bi weekly paycheck from my internship on computer parts and games. It was a really expensive hobby. When you look at the price of an XBox 360, even the $500 doesnt look so bad, because you are getting a reference platform that developers can target. When you buy a game, you know it's going to perform just like it did in the video game store when you played it on a test system.

I dont know if it's still common practice, but the gamestop in my area will let you return a console game if you dont like it. A much better deal than most returns on computer game software. You are paying a larger price when you go pick up a console title, almost $10 more in my experience on average, but you are paying for the extra reassurance of knowing it's going to work on your system.

I could be called a software cheapskate. I hate buying software unless I know it's going to run flawlessly, but when a good product comes out that fufills a need I have no problem spending money on it. A form of one of my favorite lines goes like this "I'm not paying for broken, I can get broken for free."