14 DAY TRIAL // Video games are becoming a big part of our daily lives, as we are literally flooded with a lot of brand new titles each and every week of the year. The multitude of new games appearing makes the marketing department of any big publisher very important, as it is its job to make the title stand out and appear fresh and innovative to all customers.
A part of this effort is sending review copies to journalists and analysts in order for them to get a sneak peek at the title and play it in order for the review to appear simultaneously with the game. Usually, the companies also send a bit of swag, in the form of memorabilia or other items that are related to the title, in order to make a greater impact on the reviewer.
A greater impact is certainly what Electronic Arts had in mind when it sent people in the gaming press a copy of Godfather II alongside brass knuckles. That's right, you read right, EA thought that sending such items, which are illegal weapons in the territory of the majority of the US states, would be a good idea and create more hype around the game that also focused on illegal activities.
Now, it seems that the big company has realized its mistake and has issued a formal demand to all of the press members to return the weapons in order for them to be properly disposed of. Although it would seem that things will go alright from now on, the fact that EA has sent the brass knuckles from its headquarters in Los Angeles, California, means that it can be held accountable for shipping illegal weapons, which is a crime in that state.
A question does arise, though, as the mistake would have been understood from a smaller company, but EA has a lot of legal consultants who have the job of flagging potentially illegal acts from the employees of the company. Hopefully, every recipient of the “unique” package will send it back and EA will avoid any complaints from anti-game militants.