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Earlier this week, we got an e-mail about Mass: We Pray, a Wii-like game where you Church at home. The Web site and video for the "game" was pretty outrageous, and pretty much bordered on heresy. Well it turns out the whole thing was a viral for the Heretic section in Dante's Inferno!

Reader patty n. went back to the Mass: We Pray Web site today to see if the pre-order link would work. Instead, patty got the above trailer showing off the Herectic level. After the trailer finishes playing on the Mass site, a link comes up for you to damn your friends on Facebook with this app. It's neat in a "I have five minutes to kill" kind of way, I guess.


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28 comments | showing # 1 to 28

MrSadistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:03
MrSadistic
I figured it was a fake.

I remember on the article discussing the video, someone mentioned the video possibly being a viral clip. I thought to myself "Oh hey that would be pretty funny if it was for Dante's Inferno." The only thing that made me doubt it was the fact that the game in the video was for the Wii.

Oh EA PR, you silly bastards.
Jon B's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:07
Jon B
To be honest, I wasn't expecting this. One, it's for the Wii, two, this is the kind of crazy shit that actually sells these days.
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:14
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask
Still not into the game itself, but the marketing for is nothing short of gold.
VGFreak1225's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:15
VGFreak1225
Just as I expected. I don't think a Christian game would go that far. Plus that trailer was far too poorly created. Still, this is my second favorite stunt they've pulled yet, next to the package they sent Yahtzee.
Turtlehermit's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:30
Turtlehermit
This game may turn out shitty, but its already won a slight victory in my book just for their sense of humour.
KingSigy's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:41
KingSigy
The video was a funny satire of how developers treat the Wii like crap, but it being a viral video for a stupid game makes me think it was just in bad taste. Is it really necessary to poke fun at church when your game is essentially taking people to hell?
beardenvier's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:49
beardenvier
Wow this is awesome, good job indeedy.
TheDirtyHobo's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:54
TheDirtyHobo
That's pretty fucked up, to be honest. I can just imagine some devout family that actually wanted the game and went to pre-order it. Instead of wholesome religious family activities, they get a trailer about Hell.
ArcticFox's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:54
ArcticFox
Clever marketing. I wonder if the product will actually play some role in the game/the overall story. Dante's Inferno's marketing is actually doing a pretty good job of taking a game I initially said "Meh." to and making it seem a bit interesting.
johnnykamikaze's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:58
johnnykamikaze
Perhaps the site is a way of EA giving a huge middle finger to Nintendo because they aren't getting the sales that they had hoped for with Dead Space Extraction on the Wii?
Shadowiii's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 17:59
Shadowiii
Holy ass! I totally called it! When I saw it, I told my friends, "I bet this is another stupid Dante's Inferno PR stunt from EA"...and I was right!
Man I feel really smart right now for some reason.
Fanatism's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 18:10
Fanatism
Did they ever mention the Wii? They just kind of...referenced it somewhat. That's the biggest proof of falseness I think.
Electrium's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 18:11
Electrium
I've lost some respect for that game. I still think it's a really dumb marketing scheme.
Mikular's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 18:17
Mikular
Wow. I read that as:
"Mass: We Pray is really a Dante's Inferno rival"
atlasBR's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 18:33
atlasBR
Not only they are not realising this game on the wii(while even the psp is getting a version) and now they are mocking it? strange, last time i checked was the 360 who where receiving a online bible...

i guess thats viceral revenge for the poor sales of DC E
DustyBlue's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 20:03
DustyBlue
Should've known...
Hawks's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 21:47
Hawks
Thats too bad, I wanted to see how much money that Church game was going to make. I mean I figured it was probably fake, but that would have been awesome if it was real.
Tet's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 22:26
Tet
Lotta sand in vag here. Taking a wild guess they probably picked the Wii because the name is similar to WiiPlay, and the fake game they're advertising isn't making fun of churches, it's pretty much the definition of heresy.
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2009 22:32
Xzyliac
Even thought everyone said it was this I didn't believe it. Of course it was fake but this? Well...nice job EA.

Also was the link new? Did nobody actually follow that preorder link?If I had visited that site and saw a link to preorder I would've clicked on that instantly.
Mockingbird's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 00:04
Mockingbird
"That's pretty fucked up, to be honest. I can just imagine some devout family that actually wanted the game and went to pre-order it. Instead of wholesome religious family activities, they get a trailer about Hell."

That's why it's funny as shit.
hpv's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 02:53
hpv
TheDirtyHobo: It'd serve them right for being idiots.
secondthumb's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 03:16
secondthumb
Yep. I'll never buy the REAL game. Ever.
MCChampaignMillionaire's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 04:36
MCChampaignMillionaire
WTF? What is up with EAs Marketing :D
Cowboy TTop's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 05:22
Cowboy TTop
Frankly, I think that EA's marketing for Dante's Inferno, will not be topped for some time. While some simple folk will dub all they've done folly and stupid, you should be looking at it all within context of the game they are trying to sell, to see how creative it is.

Only other marketing campaign that comes close, was the God of War 2 fake goat sacrifice. This was genius, because sacrifices to the greek gods, were a key part of ancient greek life. Sure, it sounds crazy now, but it got God of War 2 noticed and talked about more.

It's a shame more game advertising and marketing teams can't be more creative. Can you guys really name marketing teams that you love or even know of, who help get games to us?

Nothing wrong with EA having a pop at religion, as nothing in life should be beyond good or bad criticism. Deal with it.
ThorsteintheStaffstruck's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 09:03
ThorsteintheStaffstruck
Did you guys figure that all out on your own, or did your mommy have to show you how to diddle yourselves?
TheJesusNinja26's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2009 13:31
TheJesusNinja26
hmmmm... I didn't see that coming.

These stunts are a bit dumb. I think there is a much better way to get people interested in the game. I for one am interested in the game, but these are turning me off. A better way would be to show someone living their life and then committing one of the 7 deadly sins, the flash to the level in the game. These current ones are tacky and are purely out to seek controversy.
Davoidbot's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/22/2009 12:47
Davoidbot
It's funny how EA can just insult people with their previous stunt by saying that most Christians want to censor games and act like they are being oppressed by Christians, when it turns out to be a viral marketing campaign. Their marketing is just trying to appeal to those who go with the most trendy beliefs, which right now is the "douche bag atheist"( the specific group of people who say the are atheist but have put no thought on why or why not they should be one and like to act like they see stupid Christians EVERYWHERE in America stupiding it up, and actually go up to people to tell them to stop forcing their beliefs on them; these people usually talk in fake British accents and are as bad at arguing as the Christians they say annoy them so much). This game makes me mad, not because it's Sacrilegious, but because it's using a book as its source material while completely ignoring it original intent, and they act like it's supposed to be okay because the author is dead (I never read the book, but I base this off of other people who have).
ikiryou's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/24/2009 11:17
ikiryou
Well, the move up three pews "gameplay" footage was a bit of a giveaway. I mean...Pew pew pew. I found it somewhat entertaining.
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