Remember that “Bike Hero” video from the other day?  Well, as a few commenters initially speculated, it was not shot by a guy named Kevin in Ft. Wayne, Indiana as the YouTube profile page indicated.

“Bike Hero” was shot in North Hollywood by a production team called Droga 5. That team has pulled off other viral stunts like the apparent graffiti-tagging of Air Force Once for Marc Ecko’s clothing company. This time, Activision was working with them.

“We shot all through the night,” Brad Jakeman, Activision’s newly appointed chief creative officer. “We wanted it to feel gritty and of the medium.” The shoot took place about four weeks ago, and while it did involve a real bicyclist, those lights on the handlebars are the product of “some filmic magic.”

“This was always created and put out there to engage the creativity of our gamers. It didn’t take people very long, as we expected it to, for them to unlock the first of the codes, if you like,” Jakeman said. “We wanted people to first figure out that it was something in the marketing realm and then dig in and have more of the conversation that we’re having about how it was done, have people figure out where all the cutting points were, where there was potentially CGI, and engage with that. It’s not meant to be deceptive. It’s meant to be fun.” [via MTV Multiplayer]

It’s a little bit deceptive, but who cares?  It doesn’t really matter if it’s a kid in Indiana or a production team in L.A. that made it, the point is that it was a clever idea.  And if you have a production team that can make something this cool, why is the ad where Brett Ratner tries to turn pro athletes into his gay fantasy getting all the press?  Hmm, let’s see, what’s gonna make me wanna play the game, a guy going over sweet jumps on his bike, or Michael Phelps writhing around on a couch?