what's the difference between a pre-rendered cut-scene and "CG"?
this is kind of where terms become meaningless. "CGI" means "computer generated imagery". to be clear, by that definition, all of this is "CGI". within the context of these trailers and such, "CGI" would usually refer to something pre-rendered, possibly with a different engine and/or different assets
the question should be if what we're seeing is being rendered in real-time on the PS4
game development is my major for the last 4 years so hopefully i can clear this up for everyone, feel free to look up anything i say here
"CGI" is kind of a metonym for computer generated video, extended to game cut scenes. its a term that technically only refers to the movies like pixar movies.
the term technically used to describe the video game cut scenes is "full motion video" or FMV.
pre-rendering means recorded beforehand then imported into the game.
so the comparisons should go: FMV vs game assets and pre-rendering vs real time rendering
cutscenes with FMV - all FMV is pre-rendered. the reason is game assets arent always complete enough for a video. for example game engine lighting may have a specific function. or a character model is only built to do 3 moves. so they couldnt be used in a video. creating a video with video stuff, full and complete animation, animated lighting, etc. you can do whatever you want in video
cutscenes with game assets - can also be pre-rendered, but can be rendered in real time on sufficient hw. if a game engine has a complete dynamic lighting system, character models that can move any way a real human can, complete environments...then cut scenes can totally be built using game assets ("in- game").
naughty dog - first hand, i have no idea what they really do. ive only seen speculation. but for this specific trailer they used game assets, and it was pre-rendered. i say this because 1 - "captured on PS4" has to mean game assets since PS4 is not a CGI or FMV rig. 2 - there is no reason to render a panning camera (for example) in real time. this is something that can be repeated the same way every time. real time would be necessary for something like in UC2 when the building you are standing in is falling. thats something that has to look didfferent every time based on the environment
hope this helps. i havent typed this much since finals a few weeks ago