Innovation in Marketing pt 2: The Fast and the Furious

Remember the link I tossed off a couple weeks back where an Evil Megacorporation threatend a Plucky Development Studio with the Forces of Lawyerly Darkness? No? Well, that’s why they have links and stuff. Anyway.

So along with the game I bought this week that wasn’t Halo 3, Gamestop saw fit to throw in a demo CD of Fury. Cool! I like new MMOs.

But wait! I flip the demo CD over to see just what this game is besides a big glowing F, and we find…

Hm. Something doesn’t look right.

Wow! You mean that I can fight in huge battles alongside my countrymen storming castles?

Uh, no. Auran uses the term to describe cross-server deathmatches. Which even Fury’s designer admits isn’t really described by the term “realm vs. realm” at all. 

Huh. Suddenly Evil Megacorporation’s flying into a legal tizzy makes a bit more sense. “Using a phrase when discussing something on your forums” is a touch different from “a point on your demo disc’s punchlist with no other explanation”. I guess the only thing left to wonder is, who would engage in such blatantly misleading marketing?

Oh. Well, then.