Should HD gameplay replace gaming screenshots?

While we fully understand the need for in-game screen captures when dealing with printed media, the onset of HD gaming consoles has placed game developers in quite a predicament when it comes to accurately showing off their forthcoming titles. Particularly with Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, many of the 1080i / 1080p games require pixel shaders and particle effects to be on when the game is in motion, but snapping a still of said effects tends to yield less-than-attractive (and oftentimes misleading) results. Some producers are being forced to disable shaders and doctor photos up a bit before they hit the printing press to give a more truthful look at what the game actually looks like; forthermore, many are recommending high quality video clips be sent out in place of snapshots whenever possible to give a more realistic view of how the game looks in motion. While most game trailers and video reviews are offered in very compressed formats (the free ones, at least), bigger pipes and more demand could lead to 1080p content being more widespread in order to faithfully demonstrate certain titles, but until then we suppose hitting up a demo kiosk is our best bet.

[Via Joystiq]