It appears as though the journalist is not exactly clear on the meaning of "pre-rendered footage" and, as such, it is difficult to discern the actual implications of the article. Is the issue here the pre-rendered footage or the fact that it was pre-rendered footage not present in the game?
From the article:
"The ASA noted that the ads did not include any indication that the images shown did not reflect the quality of graphics of the games. While the scenes used communicated the themes of the game, they were not accurate representations of the graphics in the games themselves. We considered that this was misleading."
It has been common practice to use FMV footage as cut scenes for years now and, more often than not, the ads contain a disproportionate amount of such. Despite being annoying, it was never really much of an issue before. I somehow doubt that these particular ads are being pulled now for something that has been going on for years.
It seems to me that the actual issue here is using new scenes created separately from the game for the sole purpose of advertising. If so, this is an entirely different animal than the article would lead you to believe.
I bought a new HD projection TV a little while back, here are the things I realized once it was here: Depending on the size you get, make sure that the room you plan on putting it in is big enough. If there isn't enough space between your primary viewing location and the tv, you're going to be overwhelmed. Mine is 50", my living room is ~12' wide. I ended up having to rearrange everything in my living room so that the tv was against one wall and the couch against the opposite wall. I could still use a few extra feet.
Make sure you can block most of the sunlight coming into the room that you can put it in. My tv will auto adjust the picture based upon the ambient light in the room. Even still, the image looks the best when the room is fairly dark.
A projection tv can cause problems depending on your viewing habits. If there are typically one or two people watching the tv from directly in front of it, you're fine. If you typically have friends over, you may have trouble with your viewing angle, depending on how the furniture is set up.
Widescreen HD projection screens are still projection. That means they still have some problems with burn in. Normal signals will appear with a black band on either side of the image. Apparently, these black bands can burn into the screen. This means you have to do some type of morphing of the image to make it full screen. This degrades the image of most broadcast stations. The tradeoff is natively formatted widescreen. However, many DVD's don't have the same ratio as the TV. This means you will still have bands, albeit smaller ones, on the top and bottom.
Check your area for HD offerings via digital cable. It is far cheaper to pay ~$10 extra on your cable bill a month than buying an expensive over the air tuner. My cable company offers a few channels (about 6), but there are more coming online all the time.
Also, some regular broadcast stations end up looking worse on my 50" HD than my 27" normal tube. This depends on the resolution of the cameras and the broadcast. Any deficiencies become exaggerated. Last year's Super Bowl was hyped that it would be done in all HD. For the most part, everything looked fine. Fine until they switched to their low-res on the field cameras. The images were terrible and almost unwatchable.
Make sure you do your research before buying. Research brands and models and look for any reports of problems with the ones you are considering. I did this before buying mine as was shocked at the number and severity of things being reported. The model I ended up buying had no negative reports, and I've had no problems, although your mileage may vary.
From what I recall, RIT created the first degree program specializing in software engineering. I knew a few people who were in the first graduating class (undergrad) a few years back. I was absolutely amazed by how good of programmers/designers they were.
Throughout their 5 year program, they are required to spend something like 3 semesters doing internships. My company hired one of them during their first internship period. Next time around, he hired every one that would accept the position.
Slashdot Mirror
It appears as though the journalist is not exactly clear on the meaning of "pre-rendered footage" and, as such, it is difficult to discern the actual implications of the article. Is the issue here the pre-rendered footage or the fact that it was pre-rendered footage not present in the game?
From the article:
"The ASA noted that the ads did not include any indication that the images shown did not reflect the quality of graphics of the games. While the scenes used communicated the themes of the game, they were not accurate representations of the graphics in the games themselves. We considered that this was misleading."
It has been common practice to use FMV footage as cut scenes for years now and, more often than not, the ads contain a disproportionate amount of such. Despite being annoying, it was never really much of an issue before. I somehow doubt that these particular ads are being pulled now for something that has been going on for years.
It seems to me that the actual issue here is using new scenes created separately from the game for the sole purpose of advertising. If so, this is an entirely different animal than the article would lead you to believe.
I bought a new HD projection TV a little while back, here are the things I realized once it was here:
Depending on the size you get, make sure that the room you plan on putting it in is big enough. If there isn't enough space between your primary viewing location and the tv, you're going to be overwhelmed. Mine is 50", my living room is ~12' wide. I ended up having to rearrange everything in my living room so that the tv was against one wall and the couch against the opposite wall. I could still use a few extra feet.
Make sure you can block most of the sunlight coming into the room that you can put it in. My tv will auto adjust the picture based upon the ambient light in the room. Even still, the image looks the best when the room is fairly dark.
A projection tv can cause problems depending on your viewing habits. If there are typically one or two people watching the tv from directly in front of it, you're fine. If you typically have friends over, you may have trouble with your viewing angle, depending on how the furniture is set up.
Widescreen HD projection screens are still projection. That means they still have some problems with burn in. Normal signals will appear with a black band on either side of the image. Apparently, these black bands can burn into the screen. This means you have to do some type of morphing of the image to make it full screen. This degrades the image of most broadcast stations. The tradeoff is natively formatted widescreen. However, many DVD's don't have the same ratio as the TV. This means you will still have bands, albeit smaller ones, on the top and bottom.
Check your area for HD offerings via digital cable. It is far cheaper to pay ~$10 extra on your cable bill a month than buying an expensive over the air tuner. My cable company offers a few channels (about 6), but there are more coming online all the time.
Also, some regular broadcast stations end up looking worse on my 50" HD than my 27" normal tube. This depends on the resolution of the cameras and the broadcast. Any deficiencies become exaggerated. Last year's Super Bowl was hyped that it would be done in all HD. For the most part, everything looked fine. Fine until they switched to their low-res on the field cameras. The images were terrible and almost unwatchable.
Make sure you do your research before buying. Research brands and models and look for any reports of problems with the ones you are considering. I did this before buying mine as was shocked at the number and severity of things being reported. The model I ended up buying had no negative reports, and I've had no problems, although your mileage may vary.
Hope this is useful to someone...
From what I recall, RIT created the first degree program specializing in software engineering. I knew a few people who were in the first graduating class (undergrad) a few years back. I was absolutely amazed by how good of programmers/designers they were.
Throughout their 5 year program, they are required to spend something like 3 semesters doing internships. My company hired one of them during their first internship period. Next time around, he hired every one that would accept the position.
Definately worth checking out.
Requiring people to get permission before citing sources in bibliographies?
Won't one of the microsoft acronyms work: ODBC, ADO, DAO?
No Y2K problems? Think again. This one looks rather serious to me: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-0 1/02/135l-010200-idx.html