An Intel executive was caught trying to pass off a video as a realtime demo of Intel's Ivy Bridge processor's graphical capabilities at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Semi Accurate reports that Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel's PC client group, claimed he was playing a game running in DirectX 11 on an Ivy Bridge CPU, but was exposed when, shortly after the demo began, the control panel for PC media player VLC briefly appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Realising the jig was up, Eden claimed the game was being played by staff backstage, but few were fooled and he and Intel have since been strongly criticised for falsely portraying Ivy Bridge's graphical capabilities to a room full of media and analysts.
It's further embarrassment for a company which is struggling to make good on promises it has made in advance of the launch of Ivy Bridge, which is due in a few months. The company's claim that the processors can run DX11 games on ultrathin notebooks has been wide of the mark, Semi Accurate notes, with neither hardware nor Intel's software drivers currently up to scratch.
"We used a video in the DX11 Ivy Bridge-based Ultrabook demo simply for expediency at today's Intel press event at CES," an Intel spokesperson later admitted. "We were extremely limited for time and didn't want to lose any time by getting in and out of the game."
Source: Semi Accurate
Comments
3So why not concede this up front instead of treating your audience like idiots.
Why is this a big deal when most publishers publish shots that are either touched up or simply don't represent the game at all (ie third person shots for the Halo series).
The whole industry has issues with being honest with consumers.
You have a point, but come on there is a world of difference between what you describe there and what Intel did. Intel are not trying to show off a game, which can be a subjective thing at the best of times - story, art, mood etc. They are supposed to be demonstrating the capabilities of their hardware, something which is much more objective.