Buzzin Games

Well, hands up if you could see this going wrong? Capcom’s PR people decided to celebrate the imminent release of Resident Evil 5 by discarding realistic looking body parts around central London, and giving a prize to the person who discovered the most and shouted “Kijuju” while holding said pieces above their head on Westminster bridge.

So what could possibly go wrong in one of the most security obsessed cities in England, with leaving ‘realistic looking’ body parts lying around? Well, according to Gamezine a winner was announced – Steve Long, a 26 year old IT consultant, who has won a holiday in Africa – but amusingly only two heads, one torso and six limbs were returned to Westminster bridge, leaving one head, two torsos and six limbs still at large.

Capcom have issued a plea for the missing limbs’ safe return or disposal, commenting that “The body parts are very realistic, and we don’t want people to be alarmed by them. They’ve all been taken from their original positions, but we have no idea where they are. If you have them, please either return them or dispose of them in a responsible and careful manner. In addition, chicken livers were used for added gore, and uncooked they can be dangerous.”

The pieces were so realistic that the winner was reported to police, who were waiting at the bridge – in full view of the houses of Parliament – but no charges were filed.

Add this to the range of creative but misjudged PR stunts made by game developers in recent memory. EA got in trouble for giving away free fuel at a petrol station in London in honour of Mercenaries 2, and Acclaim caused outrage when they offered to reimburse speeding tickets collected en route to purchase Burnout 2 on its day of release.

Actually I think Acclaim were in a whole league of their own with bad-taste PR. Not only was there the speeding stunt, but they offered to pay for adverts for ShadowMan 2 on the gravestones of the recently deceased and put up a prize of $10,000 to any parents willing to name their newborn children Turok.