A cut scene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has little or no control, often breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, present character development, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue and clues. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Historically the term " gamer " usually referred to someone who played Role-playing games or wargames. Cut scenes can either be animated or use live action footage. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames

The earliest video games known to make use of cut scenes as an extensive and integral part of the game were Enix's Portpia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken, released in 1985, and Lucasfilm Games' Maniac Mansion, created by Ron Gilbert and released in 1987, which was also renowned for several other innovations as well. The was a company that produced Japanese Video games and Manga. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is an American Video game developer and publisher. Maniac Mansion is a graphical Adventure game originally released in 1987 by Lucasfilm Games (now known as LucasArts) Ron Gilbert is an American Computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Since then, cut scenes have been part of many video games, especially in the RPG genre. A computer role-playing game ( CRPG) is a broad Video game genre originally developed for personal computers and other home computers

Cut scenes are sometimes also referred to by other terms such as cinematics or in game movies. Cut scenes that are streamed from a video file are sometimes also referred to as full motion video or FMV. Full motion video based games, usually abbreviated as FMV-based games, are Video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV -quality movie or

Live-action cut scenes

Screenshot of a live-action cut scene from Command and Conquer: Red Alert. Command & Conquer Red Alert is a Real-time strategy Computer game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios

Live-action cut scenes have many similarities to films. For example, the cut scenes in Wing Commander IV utilised both fully constructed sets, and "name" actors such as Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell for the portrayal of characters. Wing Commander IV The Price of Freedom is the third direct sequel in Chris Roberts ' Wing Commander Science fiction Space combat simulator An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American Actor, Comedian and Voice actor. Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943 is an English Actor.

Recently, some movie tie-in games, such as Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars games, have also extensively used film footage and other assets from the film production in their cut scenes. The Lord of the Rings is an epic Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Another movie tie-in, Enter the Matrix, used film footage shot concurrently with The Matrix Reloaded that was also directed by the film's directors the Wachowski brothers. Enter the Matrix is the first Video game based on ''The Matrix'' series of films The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 Film, the second installment in ''The Matrix'' trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers Biography Andy and Larry Wachowski were born to a Polish-American family in Chicago.

However, many gamers enjoy live-action cut scenes for their often poor production values and sub-standard acting. The cut scenes in the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy games are particularly noted for often hammy acting performances. Command & Conquer (often abbreviated as C&C or CNC) is a Video game franchise, mostly of the A real-time strategy ( RTS) Video game is a strategic game that is distinctly not turn-based.

Live action cut scenes were popular in the early to mid 1990s with the onset of the CD-ROM and subsequent extra storage space available. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable This also led to the development of the so-called interactive movie, which featured hours of live-action footage while sacrificing interactivity and complex gameplay. An interactive movie is a Video game presented using full-motion video of either animated or live-action footage

Increasing graphics quality, cost, critical backlash and artistic need to integrate cut scenes better with gameplay graphics soon led to the increased popularity in animated cut scenes in the late 1990s. For the television channel see GamePlay HD. Gameplay includes all player experiences during the interaction with game systems especially formal Computer graphics are Graphics created by Computers and more generally the Representation and Manipulation of Pictorial Data However, for cinematic effect, some games still utilise live-action cut scenes - an example of this is Black, which features interviews between Jack Kellar and his interrogator filmed with real actors. Black is a First-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Games (also the developers of the

Animated cut scenes

There are two primary techniques for animating cut scenes. In-game cut scenes are rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics in the game proper. A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of computer and video games These are frequently used in the RPG genre, as well as Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, Spider-Man (2000 video game), and The Legend of Zelda games, among many others. is a stealth-action Video game directed by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published Spider-Man is an Action game based upon the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, mostly upon his incarnation on the 1994 animated series is a High fantasy action-adventure Video game series created by Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published Pre-rendered cut scenes are animated and rendered by the game's developers, able to take advantage of the full array of techniques of CGI, cel animation or graphic novel-style panel art. Computer animation Computer-generated imagery (also known as CGI) is the application of the field of Computer graphics or more specifically 3D computer graphics Traditional animation, also referred to as classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation, is the oldest and historically the most popular A The Final Fantasy series of video games, developed by Square, are noted for their prerendered cut scenes, which were first introduced in Final Fantasy VII. was a Japanese Video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. is a Console role-playing game developed by Square (now Square Enix) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the

Blizzard Entertainment is also a notable player in the field. Blizzard Entertainment is an American Video game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine California. The company has a department created especially for making cinema-quality pre-rendered cut scenes, for games such as Diablo II and Warcraft III. Diablo II, sequel to the game Diablo, is a Dark fantasy -themed Action role-playing game in a Hack and slash and " Warcraft III Reign of Chaos ( War3 or WC3 or RoC) is a Real-time strategy Computer game In 1996 Dreamworks created The Neverhood, the first and only game to ever feature all-plasticine, stopmotion animated cut scene sequences. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) DreamWorks LLC, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, or DreamWorks Studios, is a major American Film studio The Neverhood (released in Japan as Klaymen Klaymen) is a 1996 PC CD-ROM Claymation

Pre-rendered cut scenes are generally of higher visual quality than in-game cut scenes, but have two disadvantages: the difference in quality can sometimes create difficulties of recognizing the high-quality images from the cut scene when the player has been used to the lower-quality images from the game; also, the pre-rendered cut scene cannot adapt to the state of the game: for example, by showing different items of clothing worn by a character. This is seen in the PlayStation 2 version of Resident Evil 4, where Leon is seen always in his default costume because of processor restraints that were not seen in the GameCube version. Resident Evil 4, known in Japan as, is a Third-person shooter Video game and the sixth installment in the Resident Evil The, often abbreviated as GCN, is Nintendo 's fourth home Video game console and is part of the sixth generation console era.

In newer games, which can take advantage of sophisticated programming techniques and more powerful processors, in-game cut scenes are rendered on the fly and can be closely integrated with the gameplay. Scripted scenes are also used that provide the benefits of cut scenes without taking away the interactivity from the gameplay. Some games, for instance, give the player some control over camera movement during cut scenes, for example Dungeon Siege ,Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Dungeon Siege is a Computer role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. (commonly abbreviated as MGS2) is a stealth action Video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Kane & Lynch Dead Men is a cooperative Action game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for the Others require button inputs in the midst of cut scenes in order to successfully continue, as in Sword of the Berserk: Guts Rage, Resident Evil 4 or Shenmue 2.

The "interactive movie" is also making a comeback as is seen in Quantic Dream's Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the US and Canada), where the entire game involves real-time cut scenes which are played out depending on the player's actions. Quantic Dream is a French Video game developer based in Paris, France, founded in 1997. Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the United States and Canada) is a Video game that was released in September Decisions are integral to the game's story, and players are constantly involved in the cut-scenes in some way.

Interactive cut scenes

Interactive cut scenes involve the computer taking control of the player character while buttons appear onscreen, requiring the player to press them in order to continue or succeed at the action, similar to the "Quick Time Events" from Shenmue. is an Adventure game developed by Sega-AM2 and published by Sega for the Sega Dreamcast, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. Games with these include Spider-Man 3, Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage, Resident Evil 4, God of War I and II, Tomb Raider: Legend, and Fahrenheit. Spider-Man 3 is a video game loosely based on the ''Spider-Man 3'' film. Sword of the Berserk Guts' Rage, released in Japan as, is a video game for the Sega Dreamcast based on the popular Berserk Manga Resident Evil 4, known in Japan as, is a Third-person shooter Video game and the sixth installment in the Resident Evil God of War II is a Hack and slash action-adventure Video game and the sequel to the 2005 game God of War for the PlayStation Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the United States and Canada) is a Video game that was released in September The dubbed "cineractives" in Spider-Man 3 were sometimes criticised due to having no warning when they were about to happen, often leaving the player having to re-do the event.

No cut scenes

A recent trend in video games is to avoid cut scenes completely. It was popularized in Valve's 1998 video game, Half-Life, and has since been used by games such as Bioshock and all of Valve's other games. Valve Corporation is an American video game development company based in Bellevue Washington, USA that was founded in 1996, and made famous Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) BioShock is a video game by 2K Boston/2K Australia —previously known as Irrational Games Instead of viewing cut scenes, the player retains control of the character at all times, and the player's face is never seen. This is meant to immerse the player more in the game, although it requires more effort on the part of the developer to make sure the player cannot interrupt the scripted actions that occur instead of cut scenes. The Nintendo 64 version of Spider-Man does not have cut scenes, unlike the Playstation version, which does. The, often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo 's third home Video game console for the international market Spider-Man is an Action game based upon the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, mostly upon his incarnation on the 1994 animated series The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console

See also

• Computer animation
• Machinima
• Intro
• Outro
• Scripted sequence

References