Intel’s new push for their Ultrabook laptops got off to a rocky start on Tuesday, when an executive was caught faking a gaming demo at the CES in Las Vegas.

Mooley Eden, head of PCs for Intel, was introducing their new line of ultra-thin computers when he set up a racing game called F1 2011. Laptops have infamously left gamers wanting, as gaming’s rapid response times and dense graphics tax the abilities of all but the most expensive and highest-end gaming laptops; so giving a live demo of even a common program would be impressive for Intel’s new product. Just one problem: as the demo stalled for a moment, a playback bar appeared at the bottom of the computer screen, signaling that it was in fact playing prerecorded gameplay.

Towards the end, Eden clearly makes a joke about not actually playing the game, but he says someone “backstage” is driving, still insisting that the gameplay is live.

Intel is betting a lot on their new Ultrabooks, giving them the company’s largest advertising budget since 2003. And with all eyes in the tech world on the influential trade show, this was a high-profile introduction.

Anshel Sag at Bright Side of News first caught the gaffe, and the blogosphere has since lit up with gaming and tech fans crying foul.

Some sources claim that the demo was a quick fix for technology that has been successful demonstrated elsewhere; but others say that’s not good enough, and question why Eden didn’t clearly state that he was running a video.

“The fact is that, if you don’t have the balls to play with your technology on a stage, then your tech is not really ready for deployment,” wrote Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo.

What do you think?

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