"Sin to Win" flyer posted by "danteteam" at TwitPic
To promote the new game “Dante’s Inferno” at Comic Con this year, EA launched the contest “Sin to Win.” The contest consists of “committing an act of lust” with a “booth babe,” and showing proof of that encounter on Twitter. The winner will receive “a sinful night with two hot girls, a limo service, paparazzi, and a chest full of booty.” I’m guessing the paparazzi are so you can post pictures of this lovely evening to every one of your online profiles—I’ll refrain from guessing what is in the “chest full of booty.”
In one fell swoop, EA has managed to alienate any women who might have played the game, and any men who do not act like 14-year-olds on hormone overdrive. The majority of tweets tagged with the EA sanctioned #lust are also tagged #EAfail.
The promotional site for the game only goes as far as the second circle of hell. But, it looks like this little excercise might put EA a bit farther down. Lets see just how deep they might go:
Circle 1—Limbo: Poets and philosphers, not coders and gamers.
Circle 2—Lust: EA is very aware they (and their potential consumers) qualify for this.
Circle 3—Gluttony: I would say the “chest full of booty” counts.
Circle 4—Greed: A profit-based company automatically qualifies.
Circle 5—Anger: Game play might induce bouts of swearing, and they have certainly annoyed many Comic Con attendees, but for this excercise they are free and clear.
Circle 6—Heresy: Making a video game about hell and then asking people to commit mortal sins probably means you don’t buy Dante’s poem, so welcome to the lower levels.
Circle 7—Violence: The game includes a lot, but were only talking about the promotion here.
Circle 8—Fraud: There are lots of folks in this one, including flatterers and seducers. EA qualifies for both since they will be procuring the “hot girls” for the evening and making the poor guy (or gal) think this is really a date.
Circle 9—Treachery: Looks like they are safe from hanging out with Satan.
