The game ads they had to ban

Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty: Big Red One were advertised on TV with some impressive footage. But it wasn't taken from in-game action. Take a look at the commercial for yourself:

Do you find it misleading? The ASA sure did. Activision claimed using such pre-rendered footage was "common practice." That was then, of course - now you'll see "Not in-game graphics" or "Images representative of gameplay" written at the bottom of the screen.

We do have to ask, though - when gameplay can look so spectacular straight out of the console's wires, why not show game footage? You know, just for once?

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.