What is the biggest game advertising fail you have ever come across?

[NinjaDeathSlap]

As we all must have experienced at some point, advertising has its highs and its lows, and nowhere it seems is this more true than in the video-game industry. On the one hand there are cinematic masterpieces like the Dead Island trailer, which in some cases far surpass the game they're advertising when it comes to quality, and on the other we have piss-poor efforts like the infamous Dead Space 2 ad, which can in one move set the image of the gaming community back several spaces, again with no help needed from the game they're meant to be selling.

Or sometimes you just get examples that are just so unintentionally goofy that they're hilarious. For example, passing my local Gamestation in town today my eyes were drawn to a big, bold poster advertising the new Resident Evil: Revelations. The gimmick for this game being that it's a Resident Evil game on hand-held consoles, and thus the poster bore this slogan...

'Now you can sh*t yourself on a bus!'

Now, obviously, I see what they're intentions were here, but how the hell did no-one marketing this notice how that slogan could backfire? It's not really offensive and it's not hurting anyone, but the sheer fantastic stupidity of it has earned a special place in my heart. I very nearly collapsed in the middle of the street laughing!

So Escapists, care to share your anecdotes? What examples of terrible video-game advertising made you laugh or rage more than anything else.

 

[FinalDream]

The gimmick for this game being that it's the first Resident Evil game on hand-held consoles

Erm... Fact check.

Resident Evil Gaiden - Game Boy Colour

Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D - Nintendo 3DS

Resident Evil 1: Deadly Silence - Nintendo DS

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

The gimmick for this game being that it's the first Resident Evil game on hand-held consoles

Erm... Fact check.

Resident Evil Gaiden - Game Boy Colour

Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D - Nintendo 3DS

Resident Evil 1: Deadly Silence - Nintendo DS

My apologies, I will edit.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Well the Ivy chest pic for the upcoming Soul Cal 5 is pretty bad but I'd say the biggest ad fail would be anything to do with Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[ResonanceSD]

EA! With Dante's Inferno!

To mix it up, EA! With Dead Space 2!

 

[Soviet Heavy]

"Call of Duty is this generation's Star Wars."

No Activision, it is not.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Call of Duty is this generation's Star Wars."

No Mr. Kotick, it is not.

I'm sorry, but, wat?

When did he say that?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

"Call of Duty is this generation's Star Wars."

No Mr. Kotick, it is not.

I'm sorry, but, wat?

When did he say that?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102233-Activision-Exec-Call-of-Duty-is-This-Generations-Star-Wars

Actually, it was Eric Hirshberg, but they actually had the gall to make that comparison.

 

[Aris Khandr]

My friends, the advertisement for Daikatana. Not familiar with the name? It's essentially the "Superman 64" of the PC.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

"Call of Duty is this generation's Star Wars."

No Mr. Kotick, it is not.

I'm sorry, but, wat?

When did he say that?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102233-Activision-Exec-Call-of-Duty-is-This-Generations-Star-Wars

Actually, it was Eric Hirshberg, but they actually had the gall to make that comparison.

Nono- they were talking about these:

 

[Soviet Heavy]

"Call of Duty is this generation's Star Wars."

No Mr. Kotick, it is not.

I'm sorry, but, wat?

When did he say that?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102233-Activision-Exec-Call-of-Duty-is-This-Generations-Star-Wars

Actually, it was Eric Hirshberg, but they actually had the gall to make that comparison.

Nono- they were talking about these:

Hey, that's not fair....... even the prequels had some good bits in them!

 

[smearyllama]

The "Your mom hates this" campaign for Dead Space 2. Now, I get that they wanted to show off how INTENSE and TWISTED and DARK their game is, but the only people those ads would appeal to are kids under the age limit to buy Dead Space 2. EA's marketing department seriously thought it would be a good idea, both for their image and the image of the games industry, to market and adult game to the 9-13 demographic (the only people who would probably buy a game just to revolt their mothers).

Seriously. That was probably some of the worst marketing for any product.

 

[XMark]

Came here to mention the Daikatana ad but I see that's been covered already

Although, really, if Daikatana had turned out to be an awesome game, the ad wouldn't have been as bad.

More recently, I would say the usage of the song "99 problems" in a Battlefield 3 ad was pretty weird. I guess the thought going into was, like, war means facing lots of problems (numbering 99 or perhaps even more), none of which are a *****?

 

[Andy Shandy]

Has to be Dead Space 2's "Your Mum Will Hate This" advert
Smart move EA, using an advert that will appeal to children (the only people who would instinctively buy stuff that their mother wouldn't want them to), who just so happen to be under the age limit to buy your game. Oh, and thanks for the "It's violent, it's revolting. It's everything you love in a game" bit. It's not like we're trying to get rid of the angry, violence addicted gamer stereotype, EA. Thanks a big huggy bunch.

 

[octafish]

Came here to mention the Daikatana ad but I see that's been covered already

Although, really, if Daikatana had turned out to be an awesome game, the ad wouldn't have been as bad.

More recently, I would say the usage of the song "99 problems" in a Battlefield 3 ad was pretty weird. I guess the thought going into was, like, war means facing lots of problems (numbering 99 or perhaps even more), none of which are a *****?

I think the thought process was JAY-Z has sold a metric fuck-tonne of records, his music is very popular, 99 Problems is a very popular song by Jay-Z with a killer driving beat, it came in at number 2 of The Rolling Stone's top 100 songs of the 00's, why not try and broaden the appeal of game by associating it with a popular song by a superstar.

I've got to go with Diakatana on this one.

 

[Wayneguard]

I think historically the biggest fail is Daikatana.

 

[Aussie502]

Such a terrible advertisement, how can Blizzard possibly believe this will bring them more customers? Terrible humour and a really vague reference.

 

[Cyrus Hanley]

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction [http://www.1up.com/news/splinter-cell-promo-stunt-results].

/thread