UK's The Sun, the world's most highly-circulated tabloid, has attacked Sega's latest marketing stunt promoting the release of Platinum Games' Wii-exclusive stylised gorefest MadWorld which saw bloodied prosthetic limbs scattered across London.
The prosthetics, coloured to match the game's signature monochromatic style and each clutching a copy of MadWorld, have apparently "sickened" the general public, according to The Sun. A spokesperson for Sega Europe, however, was only too happy to defend the promotion:
Sega is delighted to be leading the way with adult games for the Wii, and we are sure that gaming fans will see it as a breath of fresh air.
The arms used were very clearly black and white to reflect the comic-book nature of the game.
We had a team of people carefully monitoring reaction to the arms, if anyone at all found them offensive we removed them immediately. But we have had no complaints from the public at all.
Even at the best of times one should take anything printed in The Sun with a generous helping of salt, but considering that MadWorld and the two other games mentioned in the article, Resident Evil 5 and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, have been reviewed favourably by the paper themselves, one can only wonder where their priorities really lie. Let me know when Ubisoft starts dismembering ponies to promote its next DS game, then we'll talk.
The article in full, as well as a picture of the promotional prosthetic, can be viewed here. Stay tuned to Nintendo Life for more news, reviews and inane rambling on all things Nintendo.
[source thesun.co.uk]
Comments (11)
The sort of "outrage" as expressed by gutter press like The Sun is exactly what the PR guys for MadWorld will have been aiming for. Any publicity is good publicity right?
Haha nice caption BTW, it is indeed a mad world!
wow that is extremely great publicity, even more reason for Madworld to be nominated for game of the year or something
Tell me why "adult" means violent or sexual content in video games?
To be honest I'm never suprised by bad press from the media regarding video games, I'm suprised however that they haven't managed to link brain training to some foul desease that makes people do sums well and read nicely.
I'm playing MadWorld at the moment and loving it. Yay for Sega!!
But please fix Sonic
Resident Evil 5 did exactly the same thing last week and I bet the Sun didn't have a bad word to say about it.
@Prosody: why would they - after all, the Wii is a "family" console.
Oh yeah, it's the console, not the advertising campaign they're complaining about. Derr!
Strange how the press seems to forget that adults are usually a pretty big part of most families...
Great caption there!
I sometimes wonder if this 'bad press' is really bad press at all. Take Manhunt for example: when it was banned the demand for it became insane, and its sales picked up once the 'ban' was lifted. I find it all reminisce of these celebrity love stories - all designed to increase hype. Could be the cynic in me, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sega were happy at the Sun's 'bad press'.
You're bang on the money Nanaki - you can't buy this kind of publicity, and when Platinum and Sega have gone totally over-the-top with the violence the more people know about it the better. It takes what was an event in one city and turns it nationwide - well worth it from Sega's point of view, surely.
Yeah, but I wouldn't say this was really over the top - just a bit of 'armless fun!
I'll have to go out on a limb and agree with you!
Tap here to load 11 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...