[VOICEOVER] Any press is good press, unless you do any of the following.
[RAPPING] #All I want for Christmas is my PSP,
[RAPPING] #Tell my Mum and Dad, get one for me.#
[VOICEOVER] Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we'll be counting down...
...our picks for the Top 10 Stupid Video Game Publicity Stunts.
We're here to protest 'Dante's Inferno'.
'Dante's Inferno', the game by Electronic Arts, "Electronic Anti-christ".
[VOICEOVER] For this list, we'll be looking at video game publicity stunts that make you wonder,
"Who thought it was a good idea?" and "Who got fired for this one?"
Once here, you can sample edible human limbs, including hand, feet and even a human head.
[VOICEOVER] We're only looking at things that were approved by the game company in question,
so as terrible and tragic as that radio station's deadly 'Hold your wee for a Wii' contest was,
it wasn't endorsed by Nintendo, thus it didn't qualify.
Yeah, I feel sick right now.
[VOICEOVER] 'Officer, we swear we didn't realised we we're speeding,
'oh I guess it's OK, because Acclaim is covering the ticket?'
At least that's going to be the case on Burnout 2's launch in the UK.
We understand that Burnout is a racing franchise,
but did Acclaim really think that covering the cost of someone breaking the law...
...was a prime promotion opportunity?
Especially if breaking said law could lead to the disastrous crashes that,
let's be honest, Burnout is known for.
Fortunately for UK motorists, these plans were cancelled.
We can all use some extra cash, how does $25,000 sound?
Zynga was generous enough to grace the pavements of San Francisco with big bucks,
Except the money was fake, and by 'grace', we mean 'glue'.
[GUNSHOTS]
Since when was littering a good idea?
Spoiler! It's never a good idea, because the advertising company responsible for the stunt,
had to pay $45,000 in fines.
At least it wasn't the 10,000 red balloons being released into San Francisco for 'Homefront',
drifting into the bay and creating hazards for wildlife.
(COUGH, COUGH) THQ (COUGH, COUGH)!
[INTERVIEWER] Did anybody er, spot you? Did they get any funny looks?
[SPEAKING AT THE SAME TIME] We got followed.
[INTERVIEWER] You got followed?
[CONTINUE SPEAKING AT THE SAME TIME]
[VOICEOVER] Hey Mojoholics, would you like a free trip to Africa?
All you have to do is collect the most dismembered limbs in London.
You take them over to Westminster Bridge and shout "Ki Juju!" at the top of your voice,
and you could win a holiday for two in Africa...
[VOICEOVER] The really bizarre part? Capcom couldn't find the remaining parts after the contest ended,
We're sure those two torsos are going to turn up somewhere, right?
Uh, but so far, there's signs.
[VOICEOVER] Oddly enough, Sega attempted a similar stunt with 'Madworld' months later.
At least the promotion for 'Resident Evil 6' was regulated to one spot,
if you don't mind eating meat, made to look like human flesh,
while drinking a stool sample cocktail at 'Wesker & Son', Delicous!
[OFFSCREEN NEWS REPORTER] Irresponsible or irresistible? It certainly made an impact.
[VOICEOVER] You know when you watch 'The Price is Right' and they offer a contestant...
...free fuel for a year? That's nothing compared to what EA did.
Hundreds of drivers queued in Stroud Green in North London this morning,
hoping to get their hands on free fuel.
[VOICEOVER] In an attempt to promote 'Mercenaries 2',
the company decided to offer free fuel to all drivers, about $34,000 worth.
Few beeps. [LAUGH] It's been alright, though.
[VOICEOVER] Well I guess maybe that will work if they organised it with the authorities,
or spread it across several petrol stations but, oh no, it was actually one station in Northern London.
[REPORTER] Do you think it cause a bit of problems?
[DRIVER] Of course it has (laugh).
[REPORTER] You think...
[DRIVER] I'll have an empty tank by the time I get there.
[VOICEOVER] ...and they didn't give the police any warning,
that probably explains why the locals were less than thrilled,
especially since the queues of cars lining up for free fuel caused a string a traffic jams...
...across all of northern London.
[REPORTER] You give police advance warning of this?
[EA'S DONALD PARISH] Um, we didn't give them advance warning,
but they've known about it since early this morning.
[FAKE PROTESTER] Game is some sort of thing that the world should never see,
that you should never play 'Dante', you never play.
[VOICEOVER] Didn't we just talk about EA?
Gotta go for those 'three strikes', I guess.
At E3, they staged a fake religious protest against their own game,
because... hell is not a game or something.
[FAKE PROTESTER] Eee... Hell is a real place, yeah?
[VOICEOVER] Surely pretending to be infuriated Christians wouldn't anger real Christians...
Later in the year for the same game, attendees at comic con were encouraged to commit acts of lust...
...by taking pictures of booth babes.
The person with the most pics will win a night with the, and I quote,
"Hottest girl at comic con, booty and more".
Surely that wording couldn't upset anyone, right?
[VOICEOVER] Companies want to promote their games in a way to get people excited,
you know what really get people excited? Being held at gunpoint!
No wait, that's... that's how you terrified people.
Yeah, definitely scared s***less,
that's how drinkers at a bar at Auckland, New Zealand felt, when a man wonder in...
...and pointed a gun at them, because... it happens in the game, maybe?
[SHOOTING / PANIC]
Jeez, didn't the bar patrons realised that this was an attempt to build hype...
...for the upcoming 'Splinter Cell' game? Well the police didn't either.
Can you imagine if they tried this in an open carry state?
Acclaim gave expected parents some extra incentive to name their newborn after a dinosaur hunting franchise,
$10,000! Well $10,000 in savings bonds, but still.
To be fair, kinda, the company may've gotten the idea from the fact, that residents in the UK...
...had responded to their previous offer: $766 and an Xbox console,
if they are willing to change their name to 'Turok'.
So, perhaps this 'Baby Turok' thing was the "natural evolution" of their plans.
Hey listen, that pun wasn't as nearly as bad as this publicity stunt.
[VOICEOVER] Lot of these publicity stunts are several years old,
so they may get away with not knowing any better, but not really
This particular incident is surprising, because it happened in 2014,
so you think that Ubisoft would've known better than to send a ticking 'black safe' to an unsuspecting news site.
As expected, the police were called in and the building was evacuated.
To the officers surprise, inside the safe were copies of 'Watch Dogs' and promotional items.
The kicker? The news site in question, NineMSN, doesn't even cover video games,
and, depending on who you asked, 'Watch Dogs' really was a bomb.
Oh Sony, we want to experience decapitation and blood via video games, not in real life.
[KRATOS] I will make you suffer!
[VOICEOVER] It may have sounded cool to have such a risqué launch party...
...and competition for 'God-like Status',
but outrage ensued when pictures of said party, were featured in the UK official PlayStation magazine.
Say what you will about Capcom's scavenger hunt and butcher shop,
but Sony definitely unsettled everyone with the topless women serving drinks...
...around a real decapitated goat.
The 80,000 magazine issues were recalled, and Sony officially regretted sending out those party invitations.
[KALLE] Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun, even though the last part was a bit disgusting.
[VOICEOVER] Before we end this PR nightmare,
let's raise an eyebrow in confusion over these dishonourable mentions.
[GAME DEVELOPER] 'Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings' is quite possibly...
...the most realistic game that involves whip cracking that I've ever seen.
[RAPPING] #PSP, PSP, PSP, PSP, PSP...#
[NEWSREADER OFFSCREEN] The NAACP says it's 'another stereotypic image of whites...
...being dominated over blacks', but Sony say the ad 'is simply meant to highlight...
...the contrast between the two colours'.
[VOICEOVER] No one can beat Acclaim at bad publicity stunts, believe us.
The speeding tickets, the baby naming and now, advertising on tomb stones?
Not the Halloween shop ones, we mean actual graves of the deceased.
This totally wasn't what they meant by 'Experience your dead side...' was it?
They even had the gall to say that the offer might appeal to "poor families",
who could use the extra money to cover burial cost.
[ZOMBIE] What is this s***?
[HUNTER] This s***'s the beginning of the end.
[VOICEOVER] A moment of silence please, for Acclaim's historically bad publicity stunts.
[UNKNOWN CHARACTER] Ah, deadside, no place like home.
[VOICEOVER] Do you agree with our list?
[ALL] KI JUJU!
[VOICEOVER] Which video game company has advertised their releases...
...in completely ass-backwards ways?
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[VIDEO GAME CHARACTER] You should do what you came here to do and go home.
[LEAD VIDEO GAME CHARACTER] Yeah, they really roll out the red carpet for us Americans.