Update: Dante's Inferno Continues Marketing Fail

It looks like the promoters for EA's upcoming Dante's Inferno realized just what an epic fail the "Sin to Win" contest was and are attempting to buy back their reputation and morality.


According to Joystiq, EA sent checks for $200 (in some pretty fancy packaging) to gaming site editors complete with this little catch-22:

by cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality

In the same tradition of PixelPoet who was a runner-up in "Sin to Win" and provided EA with some suggestions as to what would put the prizes to better use, Joystiq's editor-in-chief Christopher Grant came up with a pretty awesome idea:

... how about this? How about we cash it, and donate all $200 to The White House Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization "that aims to advance women's leadership in all communities and sectors – up to the U.S. presidency – by filling the leadership pipeline with a richly diverse, critical mass of women"? Of course, we'll make the donation in EA's name. It won't make up for Sin to Win, but the road to redemption's got to start somewhere, right?

Christopher Grant, you are my new favorite gaming blogger and this lady gamer has officially subscribed to your RSS feed.

In other gaming news, for everyone who rushed out to buy Beatles: Rock Band, if you download "All You Need is Love" from XBox Live for $1.99 proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders. Small change, but they are also auctioning off Beatles themed consoles. As of today at noon, the bid for the first console stood at $7,500.

Photo from Joystiq.com

PS: It seems you just can't stay on top of awful gaming marketing. Codemasters (no, really) decided to promote Dirt2 with a nice little flash game that involves tattooing a woman's dismembered torso, particularly her breasts. Your mamas are so proud.