Are CG cutscenes a thing of the past?

[CptGreedle]

Here is the error of your reasoning. In a CG cut scene, the PS3 does no processing. A PS2 could play the same file. It is something that has been pre-rendered. Therefore it does not showcase any of the actual power of the PS3. The game-play cut scenes are the amazing ones not because of the awesome graphics, but because it is all live-rendered. That allows for seamless transitions and faster load times, as well as consistent graphics.

CG cut scenes DO look better than game-play cut scenes... no doubt about that... but sometimes that is not always better for the game. There are usually smoother transitions and instant game play when it is live-rendered. I agree CG is better visually, but look at the CG scenes from FFXII, now look at the game play of the best PS3 game cut scenes (like MGS4 or Uncharted)... the difference is not as great as it could be (in that they are closer than you'd think). There are only 2 things that these games still suffer from, some more than others.... Anti-aliasing (they can afford to smooth out those edges a little more in some games, like Folklore) and Blocking shadows (Heavenly Sword has this bad, where all the shadows look like soft 8 bit graphics). Once these are solved, I suspect even more games would use game play cut scenes.

I guess what I'm saying is that yes CG is still more visually impressive than game play cut scenes, but that game play cut scenes have come SO FAR, that games like MGS4 and Uncharted do not suffer in the slightest by not having CG scenes, and this trend is bound to grow.