See, I don't get why people seem to dislike pre-rendered storytelling more than in-engine scenes. Comments like: "Animations that were handcrafted in what may have been a really tricky engine to pull off very life-like movement make it seem like the developers went that extra mile" make it sound like there's no creativity or artistic talent or passion in CG scenes. I know that's not what's being said :P but man... it really is just a different type of visual storytelling. And obviously people have their preferences :)

I like them both, very much, but for me there's something more open and flexible with CG scenes - not in technical capability (you can fit much more content time-wise into in-engine scenes than rendered video), but it's like the horizons are much more vast in rendered cg - though my bias comes from the love for more life-like visuals.

I appreciate the work that goes into in-engine scenes, and it's very cool to see the game itself provide that extra dimension to cinematics - without taking you out of the environment, as it were. But man, there's a whole lot of work that goes into rendering - so much more attention to all the little details, and being less bound to engine and fx parameters...

They are both very significant art forms - where in-engine makes more use of the game developers' assets, and the rendering makes use more of the artists' visions beyond the engine parameters. In a sense, it's like making concept art come to life much closer to the way it was visualized.
Perhaps sort of like the difference between stop-motion animation and hand-drawn cartoons. Both are beautiful in their own ways, and both have their own technical limitations, but hand-drawn opens the door to a broader horizon of visual expression without a higher complexity of assets and tools.

I'm certainly not saying one is more 'artistic' than another - I hate debating what is or isn't art. So let me just reduce the topic down to the context of video game cinematics -- both have their strengths and weaknesses. But I personally prefer rendered cinematics unless the engine itself is so powerful enough to produce visuals that don't 'feel' like watching a game script with assets. And it also definitely depends on how smooth the jump from game to cinematic is. Halo did a great job making the transition smooth from game storytelling to cinematic storytelling in-engine, and that's one reason I loved it like a blubbering fool.

Now, with the way Halo is going, I'm very much enjoying and appreciating the re-visualizing of the cutscenes into rendered cinematics. In a sense now it's bringing those scenes to life more than the engine could. But I was super impressed with the quality of many of Halo 4's in-engine cinematics. Many times it looked pre-rendered :)

: It feels like their very own baby in every single way,
: not the consortium that a lot of high-profile titles are developed as
: today. So many games are beautiful in all of their own special little ways
: and it really highlights the talent of game animators, visualists, and
: others by doing in-engine stuff. I think that one of the best ways to show
: off the visual beauty of a game is to take the HUD out, allow the player
: to put down their controller, and be amazed by these feats.

I just want quality visual storytelling. I don't care if it's in-engine or rendered - just make it quality. I wouldn't take in-engine over rendering on principle just because it "highlights the talent of game animators" - rendering highlights the talent of the CG artists! So, I guess it's a question of whose talent do you appreciate more, and is that what affects your enjoyment of the storytelling?

I prefer storytelling first - and through that, I can appreciate the talent of all artists involved, from the modelers, to the texture artists, to the concept artists, to the authors, etc etc.

: Hopefully Halo goes back to these roots more and more instead of spending
: what I'd imagine are millions on neat, visually appealing, but ultimately
: unexciting CGI cinematics.

Unexciting? Yeeshk. I guess our definitions of 'exciting' are very different. /:)

Pre-rendered or in-engine, doesn't matter to me. Just make them as visually appealing and appropriate to the story being told as possible! That's why I like cinematics :)