A Cut Above
Just as there are many ways to make movies, there are many ways to make cutscenes: full-motion video, animations, flash-animated sequences, prerendered cutscenes, puppet shows, and scripted events.
- Full motion video (or FMV) cutscenes were popular when video games were first being published on CD media. Titles like Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (Origin, 1994), Command and Conquer (EA, 1995), and The Horde (Crystal Dynamics, 1994) employed live-action cutscenes featuring Hollywood actors and production values. An outside production company usually produces FMVs because they require all the resources of a motion picture production.
During the mid-1990s, FMVs became so popular that several systems dedicated to playing interactive movies were produced. Early game systems like the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, PlayStation, Philips CD-I, and Sega Mega CD (as well as PCs) specialized in games with extensive or playable FMV sequences, such as Night Trap (Sega, 1992), Sewer...