EA uses Xbox 360 graphics to sell Wii game, gets caught

by Alexander Sliwinski { Dec 17th 2008 at 8:20AM }

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told EA to stop broadcasting a misleading ad for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. In the commercial, Woods is swinging a Wii controller, but a complaint to the agency accused the ad of using footage from the Xbox 360 version of the game. Which it did, as confirmed by EA. The publisher's excuse for switching the footage: the Wii images wouldn't be of "broadcast quality."

EA's ad agency stated that, in the future, it would make sure that the images and format being promoted match.

[Via Gi.biz]

Tags: advertising-standards-authority, asa, britain, tiger-woods-09, tiger-woods-pga-tour-09, uk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Danny F. @ Dec 17th 2008 8:31AM

Ouch... minus 1 for EA's bait and switch technique.

Then again I'd do the same since it was inevitable for a game to look graphically worse on a wii :-x.

Mike @ Dec 17th 2008 1:24PM

EA also stole a no-cd crack from [I believe] RELOADED and passed it off as their own. Then got caught, and still haven't commented on it.

- 5 billion for EA. I used to love them, they made wicked games, and they still do. But now I hate them, because they're complete sellouts.

Mike @ Dec 17th 2008 1:27PM

Oh no wait, that was Ubisoft, my bad.

Memory isn't what it used to be.

Danny F. @ Dec 17th 2008 1:29PM

I thought that was Rockstar? I might be off to I remember hearing about that with one of the GTA PC releases.

thegamer200519 @ Dec 17th 2008 8:34AM

For shame EA for shame

Sam406 @ Dec 17th 2008 8:33AM

*sigh* *shrug*

CaptainProtonX @ Dec 17th 2008 8:39AM

ruh-roh!

Mr Khan @ Dec 17th 2008 8:44AM

Then make the wii version look good enough to show...

JJ Rooster @ Dec 17th 2008 9:09AM

I know Christmas is a time for miracles, but come on!

It's the Wii.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 17th 2008 11:09AM

Funny, four years ago I said the same thing about the dems. Show what a difference 4 years can make.

J.Goodwin @ Dec 17th 2008 11:17AM

Seen the Call of Duty World at War ad?

It's nearly unwatchable.

Killjebus @ Dec 17th 2008 11:19AM

"Show what a difference 4 years can make."

And all it took was the collapse of the WORLD economy, 2 Wars, high gas prices and a doubling of the National debt in 8 years to get people to care about IMPORTANT things and not GGG.

Gays, Guns, and God.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 17th 2008 11:33AM

Yes, and if it took that much going wrong to get people to vote democrat, what does that Really say about how relevant the dems really are?

Killjebus @ Dec 17th 2008 11:42AM

"what does that Really say about how relevant the dems really are?"

I am not a fan of the Dems or Repubs, or as I like to call them Republicrats. I long for the day of a true democracy where parties from all parts of the political spectrum are represented. The most concervative party in Canada is MORE LIBERAL than the most liberal party in America.

Maybe it's not the case of the renewed relevancy of the Democratic party, maybe it just shows that for 20+ years a 19th century mentality has been in control of this country has finally come to an end.

I laughed when Ralph Reed (founder of the Christian Coalition) said in a time magazine interview back in the early 80's that he and the Christian right will rise to power and bring back morals to this country, I said whatever Reed, you are dreaming. Well his dream became MY and the World's nightmare that we are just waking up from.

KeenCommander @ Dec 17th 2008 1:29PM

So what, the entire last console generation was unplayable?

Come on folks, let's get real here...the graphics aren't bad when done properly. Developers are just slackers.

iofthestorm @ Dec 17th 2008 2:05PM

Umm, take your politics somewhere else, kthx. KeenCommander is spot on though, Wii graphics are not so bad if done right, see Twilight Princess (which only uses one duct-taped Gamecube) and Mario Galaxy for examples of Wii games with good graphics. Most developers are just too lazy to do anything like that though.

Little Big PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Dec 17th 2008 2:32PM

iofthestorm

I agree that there are lots of Wii games with solid graphics (Wario Shake It, Galaxy, Metroid, Brawl etc) but the problem when comparing those graphics is there is no frame of reference. They are exclusive so there is nothing similar to compare them to except maybe Gamecube games that were similar (Sunshine).

It's not so simple when you have HD versions of Tiger Woods, Call Of Duty WaW, Facebreaker and all the other multi-platform titles that make it to the Wii. The difference is much more noticeable when you have that HD frame of reference. After seeing the COD WaW commercial I couldn't believe my eyes.

The Wii is capable of some stunning graphics but it requires allot of optimization and that never happens with multi-platform titles. I think when Monster Hunter 3 comes out it will give you a great example of what the hardware is capable of. What I am saying is that the Wii graphics are good enough in most cases but not when put side by side to PS360 versions of the same game.

BadassSailor @ Dec 18th 2008 4:12AM

Killjeebus, you're dead on, the Republican party has no way to become relevant again, however; they constantly violate the 11th commandment, and when they resorted to the same tactics dealing with Ron Paul (IE: shouting down anyone who mentioned his name as an anarchist) that they accuse the "liberals" of using against any conservative speaker, they lost me for good. Hopefully they lost enough others that a real conservative will have a chance sometime in the future.

Mike @ Dec 17th 2008 8:48AM

You can't blame EA for having to work around the Wii's graphical shortcomings. ;) It's funny that they got caught though.

ScottG13 @ Dec 17th 2008 8:58AM

If I was in EA's marketing dept, I'd want to show current gen graphics for my games, too.

But I wouldn't be so sloppy, either.

spyyder @ Dec 17th 2008 9:28AM

If that was the case they would have used the ps3. After all the 360 is the king of marketing, not gaming.

fred @ Dec 17th 2008 10:58AM

You're both idiots.

ScottG13 @ Dec 17th 2008 2:54PM

What did I ever do to you, Fred? Besides eat your vitamins. They're so delicious.

JoeTheBlow @ Dec 17th 2008 8:59AM

LOLz at the excuse.
Yeah, i bet it wouldn't!

Readme @ Dec 17th 2008 11:07AM

Yes, what an excuse that was! "Well, the marketing team felt it would be less profitable to market the product in accordance with its graphical limitations, therefore we decided it would be prudent to just fake the sh*t."

Hilarious.

bm @ Dec 17th 2008 9:12AM

Well of course it's unfit for broadcast. It can't even do color (see MadWorld)! Which just proves once again the Wii is technology from 1960.

bm @ Dec 17th 2008 6:07PM

I can't figure out if that was downvoted by people who didn't get the sarcasm, or by people who did but don't agree with my point. :P

Ethan @ Dec 17th 2008 9:16AM

They're marketing to Wii owners, who have already expressed less concern for graphics, what's the point?

Dan @ Dec 17th 2008 9:24AM

Owning a Wii doesn't necessarily imply that you have less concern for graphics, but rather that you're willing to put up with worse graphics for a different gameplay experience.

Here they're essentially saying "Hey look, we have the Wii gameplay -and- sweet graphics" which obviously makes it more enticing.

Shagittarius @ Dec 17th 2008 12:23PM

A new controller is not a new "Gameplay experience" christ its the same old gameplay just with a new controller. How many times must we go over this?

bm @ Dec 17th 2008 5:54PM

Haha shaggi, I'd quote your post and replace "a new controller" with "new graphics" or something, but the irony of your comment really speaks for itself.

Shagittarius @ Dec 17th 2008 6:08PM

No irony there, there's nothing any platform manufacturer can do to insure new gameplay elements. That's up to the software.

bm @ Dec 20th 2008 6:27AM

You're right, it's up to the software. But at least with the remote, there's the potential for it even though some just don't make use of it. The same can't be said for graphical power (above anything the Wii, or dreamcast for that matter, can provide anyway), which is inherently unable to provide any new gameplay experience.

Maulok @ Dec 17th 2008 9:27AM

It's funny, when your Wii game's graphics don't look like complete ass, you don't have to bait and switch your commercials. See Call of Duty World at War's Wii commercial for reference.

Blazur @ Dec 17th 2008 1:47PM

Saw it, and consequently was repulsed at how bad it looked. That game may end up being fun but playing it would make me feel like I'm going back in time.

Darkbhudda @ Dec 17th 2008 9:45AM

Maybe they need to do cinematis and just broadcast that, worked with other games on other platforms before.

ToRo @ Dec 17th 2008 9:48AM

People still watch TV?

Neuromancer @ Dec 17th 2008 3:07PM

Does that answer your question?

ToRo @ Dec 18th 2008 12:02AM

lol Sorry Joystiq TV watchers. I just didn't think people still watched TV when they are told. So many websites out there that stream pretty much every show on TV (and you can see them whenever you want without having o pay for Tivo) it's a wonder to me why so many people still watch TV.

mietha CAG @ Dec 17th 2008 9:50AM

If there's anyone out there stupid enough to think that the Wii can look like the 360, they almost deserve to get bilked.

tmacairjordan87 @ Dec 17th 2008 10:08AM

You'd be surprised how many stupid people there are. A non gamer friend of mine just got a wii and rock band 1. When I told her that she wouldn't be able to download new songs like I could on the 360, she goes "Why not? Wii can do a lot of things and has a lot of memory in it".

I snickered and walked away. You can't win an argument after hearing something that ridiculous.

bm @ Dec 17th 2008 11:05AM

Well, tmac, now you know how people usually feel when they try to argue with you on joystiq. ;)

Easo @ Dec 17th 2008 12:42PM

You gonna jump in a pool for that BURN!

Blazur @ Dec 17th 2008 10:13AM

Hahaha! This is embarrassing for both parties involved (EA and Nintendo).

Killjebus @ Dec 17th 2008 10:44AM

Exactly, the FACT that EA felt it was neccassary to dupe the public into thinking the Wii version looks like that show again just how grossly UNDERPOWERED the wii is and why I will say again that the wii is NOT in the same generation of hardware as the 360 and PS3.

Face it, stop blaming developers for the quality of wii games. Maybe, just maybe the wii is NOT capable of what you think it to be. Maybe, just maybe it IS a re-packaged GC after all.

T @ Dec 17th 2008 10:59AM

Did you ever stop to think that EA trying to dupe the public has more to do with EA being run by unethical people?

You know...just saying. We've had scenarios in the past where "inferior" footage was used in place of the real graphics in an attempt to discredit the 360/PS3.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 17th 2008 11:16AM

Because mario galaxy looks exactly the same as the titles people complain about. Dude, people bitch at developers for shitty looking wii games because there are wii games that look absolutely gorgeous by comparison. Oh wait, its killjebus. Nevermind, its impossible to reason with a fanboy like you.

BigFat @ Dec 17th 2008 12:41PM

Why didnt they just say it was a cutscene?

j @ Dec 17th 2008 12:46PM

"Face it, stop blaming developers for the quality of wii games."
If it isn't the developer's fault, then why does it seem that EA's ashamed for showing the actual graphics to a market that supposedly doesn't give a crap about?

"the wii's hardware is a pile of re-hashed old GC parts."
The PS3 and the 360 are piles of outdated, inferior PC hardware. Look, I can do this crap, too.

BadassSailor @ Dec 18th 2008 4:15AM

Killjeebus,

Explain why it was ok for sony to run PGR4 pics as a PS3 game but not ok for ea to run pics that are at least from the SAME FUCKING GAME in their ad?

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