Video-gaming in the nude... now that IS one way to get noticed: 'Documentary' of new U.S. craze becomes online hit (but is it real?)

A documentary film has revealed the latest craze to sweep the U.S. - video-game contests in which the players are... completely naked.

A clip of the film depicts a nude 'video-gaming gathering' in New York's SoHo, where dozens of enthusiasts meet up with nothing but a games console to cover their dignity.

But it turns out the 'craze' is the invention of an advertising agency plugging a new product - and the fly-on-the-wall documentary is in fact a staged spoof, using more than 30 actors and friends who were reading from a script.

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Naked video: The hoax hoodwinked viewers into believing that naked video-gaming was a new craze

And it seems the strategy has worked. The 90-second clip has had more than 500,000 hits since its release this week, and prompted a storm of debate.

Its creators believe most viewers are unaware they are watching an advert for the Xtendplay video-game accessory - a stress-reducing device covering the video-game controls. Yet website traffic for the company that designed the accessory has shot up since the clip's release.

James Percelay of marketing firm Thinkmodo, which came up with the hoax, told the New York Daily News: 'If it were a typical ad, you'd have this filter on and then you'd look at it a certain way.

'But if it's content that's seemingly un-sponsored, then people are fully engaged and then are really open to exploring it.'

Cover-up: The 'gamers' were in fact actors and friends reading from a script

The company has previously produced spoof documentary clips for shaving products and the film Limitless.

Mr Percelay denied that the adverts take advantage of uninformed consumers.

'The art form is progressing where people presume now that these videos are hoaxes,' he said.

'We're entering into an understanding that, it's kind of the implicit agreement now where the audience just wants to figure out how we did it.

'It's almost the way you go to a magic show. You know it's not real, but you still want to sit down and figure out how that guy pulled a car out of his briefcase.'