Watch Dogs Promotion Causes Bomb Squad To Examine Beeping Safe

[Strazdas]

come on. have they watched too many movies? real bombs dont beep. beeping gives away their positions and they are supposed to be stealthy. this is B-movie level stunt here and they fell for it.

Is anyone else ignoring the whole "bomb scare" thing of this article and instead focusing on how this "PR stunt" is a possible attempt to influence reviews of their game? I cannot possibly be the only one who thinks this.

pretty much every big publisher does this crap, noones falling for it. you should look in youtube at some videos of review copies souvenyrs. they package a lot of crazy shit with it for some reason. mostly in hopes that the reviewer will wear/have the stuff whne doing the review thus free promotion.

In a day and age when even a random movie theater in the middle of absolutely nowhere can be the target of an attack, there's no such thing as "overly paranoid". Especially not when dealing with an unmarked package that alludes to a non-existent voice mail, and has now started beeping. I would almost go so far as to say that they did the most rational thing they could do.

i find it utterly sad the the most rational thing is also one of the most stupid thing done. We have became so paranoid as a species that we will go to any lenght of stupidity to satisfy our paranoia. and the worst thing is, the paranoia is not unfounded.


Capcha: feces are cool

oh come on!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Remember there's no such thing as bad publicity, kids.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

So Ubisoft is paying off press members with safes caring swag such as a copy of the game, beanies, and a baseball cap?


Is anyone else ignoring the whole "bomb scare" thing of this article and instead focusing on how this "PR stunt" is a possible attempt to influence reviews of their game? I cannot possibly be the only one who thinks this.

Why is it so hard for the developers to just send a single copy of their game and state "here's our game, please play it and tell us what you think"? They might not even have to go that far and instead no free copies sent out; basically allow reviewing companies to fork over a bit of their Ad revenue to purchase the games needed to be reviewed. Either way it's far better than the Ubisoft method that smells hell of a lot like stinking herring!

So firstly, it isn't developers who have anything to do with this sort of thing, this is entirely the domain of PR teams. Secondly, paying off? With a beanie and a baseball cap? You seriously think that would influence a reviewer's score?

 

[Simaru]

Well, from a common sense standpoint, they're idiots for doing it because the legal backlash from something like this is potentially heavy. If there was some kind of warning so people knew it was just a PR thing it'd be another story but the lost income from the company having to evacuate the area seems like grounds for a lawsuit. Probably should have just stuck with some kind of digital breadcrumb trail with the game hidden somewhere.

 

[Hyperactiveman]

PFfffthahahahahahahahaaaahhaaaaaaahah

Well done Ubisoft for making a game launch look like a convincing terror plot and well done Australia for assuming the worst and that anyone would actual commit acts of terrorism in Australia. It's Australia for Pete's sake!

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

That said Ubisoft isn't in the wrong nor was this a bad idea, if the voice mail had of been received the thing would have been cleared up.

No, they are in the wrong. When "Make sure to leave a message so that people aren't calling the cops left and right" is part of the plan, it's time to go back to the drawing board on your promotional idea.

 

[Luminous Chroma]

So Ubisoft is paying off press members with safes caring swag such as a copy of the game, beanies, and a baseball cap?

You nailed it. That's exactly what Ubisoft is doing. They are paying off professional game journalists, who rely on their credibility and reputations for their livelihood, with t-shirts and hats. Presumably those shirts and hats are worth a few millions dollars each, because once a journalist is found to have accepted these 'bribes', they'll never be able to work in the industry again. Seems like a fair tradeoff.

 

[Ghadente]

umm... duh. Beeping black box, you are a fool or just out of touch, if not immediately cautious of it.
still not as bad as having 999 different special/collector/exclusive/ultimate editions of a game to pre-order

 

[Jamieson 90]

Wouldn't surprise me if this was deliberate. Think about it, it's a pretty good way of getting publicity.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Oh, this is SO going on Cracked's next list of viral marketing blunders. I don't think this is the first time a Ubisoft game was involved in an advertising cluster*%$

 

[Dragonbums]

So Ubisoft is paying off press members with safes caring swag such as a copy of the game, beanies, and a baseball cap?


Is anyone else ignoring the whole "bomb scare" thing of this article and instead focusing on how this "PR stunt" is a possible attempt to influence reviews of their game? I cannot possibly be the only one who thinks this.

Why is it so hard for the developers to just send a single copy of their game and state "here's our game, please play it and tell us what you think"? They might not even have to go that far and instead no free copies sent out; basically allow reviewing companies to fork over a bit of their Ad revenue to purchase the games needed to be reviewed. Either way it's far better than the Ubisoft method that smells hell of a lot like stinking herring!

It was just a fun little thing man. Nothing to get all up in arms about.


Now it would be a real hitter if it was the Mass Effect 3 strategy where they put one of the reviewers in the fucking game.