Sunufabeeoch.

If you haven’t heard, the wackjobs over the PR department responsible for Dante’s Inferno got me.

My article last week about a Boston-based developer coming up with the “church simulator” Mass: We Pray scheduled to release on Easter 2010, was nothing more than yet another elaborate viral marketing ad for the upcoming release of Dante’s Inferno.

But then again, let’s face it: with the Wii?  I wouldn’t be surprised if someone over at Nintendo headquarters is looking  to tap into the uber devout Christian market and now has a great idea on how to do so.  Good job, EA: call off your marketing dogs before they further screw up the Nintendo game market.

If you haven’t seen it, I’ve got the Mass: We Pray trailer after the jump.  I probably would have called foul if I’d have seen it first, but what can you do?

If you’re into the gaming community, then you’ve heard about Dante’s Inferno. Scratch that.  You haven’t heard of the game; you’ve heard of their insane marketing strategy they’ve taken to sell the game.

EA has gone out of it’s way to market the hell out of this game, and we’re not talking about the usual TV spots or press events.   They are mimicking the Divine Comedy’s (you know, the epic piece of literature the game is based on) nine circle’s of Hell.

First circle of Hell: Limbo.  EA’s press team staged a fake protest outside of E3 as a fake indignant Christian group protesting the game for religious issues.

Second circle of Hell: Lust.  Now we’re talking.  EA decided that sexually harrassing booth babes for a controversial contest “Sin to Win” at ComicCon this year.

Third circle of Hell: Gluttony.  Uh, EA sent a bunch of press journalists a cake…in the shape of a severed arm.  Bwuh?

Fourth circle of Hell: Greed.  Easily the most clever of the scheme’s so far, game journalists were sent a check for $200 in a crazy, over-the-top treasure chest, citing “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.”  Well played, EA.  FYI, most sites either destroyed the check or donated it to charity…or so they claimed.

Fifth circle of Hell: Anger.  A strange box that Rickrolls people until they destroy it, sent complete with hammer and goggles so you can turn the Rick Astley song off through glorious destruction.

And now we’re up to six, with our Mass: We Pray mock up being the sixth circle of Hell: Heresy.  For the people who failed out of high school English class, the remaining rings are Violence, Fraud, and Treachery.   So we’ve got three more crazy stunts that EA will pull before February 9th 2010.  Consider yourself prepared.

All I know is that if an EA official is arrested for beating a prostitute to death with a baseball bat, I really won’t be able to tell if it’s not in fact just more viral marketing for the Violence circle of Hell.  I’m just saying.

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