It’s a reminder that you should always ask questions about the claims made by companies, especially those trying to sell you something. Computer chip maker Intel passed off a pre-recorded video as a live demonstration at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Before a gathering of the press and industry representatives, the company's Manager of PC Client, Wooley Eden, used a racing game to demonstrate the prowess of their new Ivy Bridge graphics for Ultrabook computers. The game suffered a noticeable pause at the beginning and a closer look at a video of the event taken by BrightSideOfNews.com reveals that Intel’s Manager of PC Client Wooley Eden merely pretended to play the game, playing a video of it instead. Eden openly joked at the end that his driving wasn't real and was actually being controlled "backstage" although that wasn't very clear. 

 

Intel's Wooley Eden suring his CES Demonstration. 

Intel has yet to comment on confusion or the commotion it's now causing online, but they are likely to pass off the unusual demo as a shortcut taken to hide their representative’s bad driving skills while many in the industry might wonder if they were trying to hide the performance of their chipsets instead.

With more than 3,100 companies showing off their latest innovations at the show in Las Vegas, the competition is immense. Headlines from the show can affect stock prices while crowd reactions will sway retail buyers as to where to spend their money. Companies push themselves to include any devices that might impress, often displaying early prototypes that are unfinished. Usually when a company takes such a short cut, they are transparent about it. When Sony first unveiled the PlayStation 3, for example, they admitted to using non-functioning mock-ups in their first press conferences.

The temptation to out-right fake a product can prove strong. When Microsoft learned that Sony was going to unveiled a special webcam for the PlayStation 2 at an industry showcase in 2002, they gave their own competing webcam demonstration with a Playboy model. The head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, J Allard, later admitted he whipped up the fake demonstration at the last minute to downplay Sony’s announcement.

More than 20,000 new products are currently on display at this year’s CES. Experienced visitors to the show will tell you that while many will go onto to be sold in stores are real products, some will disappear without explanation, and may never have been real in the first place.