Sony Promotes PS2 Game With Worldwide Archaeological Find
In an elaborate marketing hoax, it appears the Sony PlayStation2 game Shadow of the Colossus is being promoted with sitings of giant, unexplained archaeological findings around the world. Three large, prehistoric entities have, reportedly, been found - one in India following the tsunami, one in the Sulu sea and one in Bam, Iran following an earthquake. There's even video news footage from the Indian finding to go along with the hoax.
Fueling the notion this is all just a big marketing ploy - albeit a grand and intriguing one - Joystig points out all this information appeared at the same time just this week, an anonymous tip pointed them out, there's the predictable blog (with a podcast) and two of the site's follow that tired, Geocities-like, "this site is so bad it has to be real" design strategy.
One has to admit, it is quite admirable the lengths to which a company with boatloads of money will go to get its products talked about. One also has to question the potential backlash of such an elaborate lie.
Comments
I love it - why must everyone complain when a company tries to advertise in a medium other than the 30-second spot?
When someone with better long distance access than I calls the hidden number (below), let us know what happens...
ARKADY: TELEPHONE 44 7962 837 318
Reminds me of...
1) the bizarre archaeological finings opening scenes from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
and/or
2) the similarly bizarre scenes of various present-day global biblical disasters in the movie "The Seventh Sign"
and/or
3) the X-Files episode about the mysterious Navajo text relics that appear to have originated from some other planet, tracing back to a huge abandoned old alien ship found embedded (and thereby only known to locals) in the coastal tidepools of the West African coast.
Definitely a good tease, presenting an itch that begs to be scratched.
It's very obvious that this is about the video game but still - long time since i saw such a ambitious underground campaign. there's tons of video clips from other "sightings" aswell... i went through most of them, knowing from the first sec it was marketing. it's fun! don't have to have a backlash...
My question is this... it's supposed to promote the video game, right? So if I come across one of these fake news clips and watch it, how has that promoted the video game? Even if I decide to visit the URL plastered on the video, where's the connection?
I'm not dogging this... but aren't these the questions the client is asking?
HEAVILY inspired by the xbox hex 168 initiative.
Ilovebees.com to launch Halo 2 was much better, although much nerdier. It is funny that this title is a 1st party game too, just like Halo, and both console makers spend these kinds of dollars on games that they derive all the profit from.
"the X-Files episode...in the coastal tidepools of the West African coast."
Check please. Thank you. That's exactly what I thought too, only the X-files version had a little more mystery to it. But I still like the discovery angle. Almost like the first time in Alien when they discover the mother ship on the planet for the first time.
The only problem I have was the tsunami reference. Even a year later, I think bringing up that event and associating it with a video game launch like it was just another flood is too soon. Certainly they could've made the discovery due to other 'natural events' like a generic earthquake or something less specific to that part of the world.
I'm really not trying to be overly sensitive, but think what would happen if Namco launched a new Air Combat game where this time, you get to save the Twin Towers! They'd be crucified. And that was almost five years ago with a fraction of the death toll. Although, the PR alone... (jk)