Maddie reference spotted in Bungie trailer Comments by Ellie Gibson

“I think people really need to take into account that outside the UK and Portugal, this story hasn't been pounded into everyone's consciousness.”

When dealing with what could and will be a millions of pounds project not doing research from a marketing perspective is suicidal! Bungie are idiots for doing that no other word for it. If it was intentional and my suspicions are that is. I’m glad I’ve not bought a Bungie product since Halo 2. YOU TATESLESS STUPID CXNTS!

"When dealing with what could and will be a millions of pounds project not doing research from a marketing perspective is suicidal! Bungie are idiots for doing that no other word for it. If it was intentional and my suspicions are that is. I’m glad I’ve not bought a Bungie product since Halo 2. YOU TATESLESS STUPID CXNTS! "

And award for OVER-REACTION goes to...

I think you should reread my comments more thoroughly, SpaceMidget.

For one, it's far too big a coincidence - unless someone would actually like to provide a link to the text where a lost Maddie is mentioned in the Halo universe, which nobody has. Even then that's overlooking the point. The point being that this is marketing and PR, and you have to be very careful when dealing with the public - particularly on an international level. This trailer has gone through more hands than you'd care to think before it reaches Europe and nobody thought to point it out - after all, whilst it might not have hit the giddy heights of hysteria in America, MS employees covering such a large geographical area would have seen this and it still went to press.

Personally, I think it was most probably a well meaning accident by an employee with knowledge of the case who may not know entirely about the Maddy storm of press over here and its sensitivity. It's preceded by a sad smiley face after all. It's incredibly naive to think all Americans don't know about the Madeleine case, or that in a company with employees that consist of multinationals as well as Americans don't know about it. Then again, it may also be an obscure reference to Moonlighting (a google search of the character Maddie hasn't revealed much about her being lost, however).

What I do see is a dozen fanboys rushing to the defense without thinking and only seeing the small picture. I have no particular affiliation with Bungie, they're a solid developer with titles I've enjoyed. As I said before, I do care about the naivety the games industry seems flaunt every week at some point or another through these errors of judgement. Also, news is news - this is news. If a large multinational has potentially made a serious marketing blunder then it's necessary to point it out so such mistakes don't occur again in future. Whether you like it, or not.

Oh and Occams Razor has cropped up again. It's the new internet meme for people who like to throw big words around without much backup.

And a p45 for a Bungie employee goes to....

@SEVQA - I don't know, but I'm suprised after the EA incident they're allowing mods to handle PR. :P

+1 simakperrce

I've seen a few references in comment form on various gaming sites/forums where apparently there is a brief mention of 'maddie', but it's pretty superfluous - "master chief is talking to Linda (one of the other spartans) and he accidentally refers to her as Maddie"

I'm not sure this warrants enough attention to become a major factor in this new campaign, so it's a pretty obscure reference, however, who knows?

Yossarian: I'm surprised at EG running this story at this stage, especially as they are always harping on about the sensationalism of the tabloids using controversy in videogames to sell papers. Or, in this case, hits.

I was going to post the very same thing. Unless the Eurogamer staff truly believe that Bungie are including the name on purpose then the only other explanation is simply pure coincidence.

If they're making the former assumption then I'd imagine they better be damn sure of the ground they're standing on - I don't think Bungie et al will be liking that tone. If it's the latter then posting this story is poor journalism at best and gutter-level hit-seeking at worst. Either way it really shouldn't be on the site.

Even reporting on a coincidence such as this is irresponsible given the nature of the fucking awful British press.

Bungie's community lead has already written it's a coincidence. Why would an American company even be aware of some Scottish kid who was abducted in Portugal? How many of us here can name even one American missing person?

Gah! Come on Eurogamer, don't give the tabloids anything to work with.

Madonna's gone missing?

I'm with squarejaw on this one.

I find EGs gutter-sensationalism disgusting, yet I evenm more appalled of the "defence" (if you call it that) of bungie to the point where people feel the need to talk about thier hate for maddie and the mcCanns. Gamers really are idiots (most of the time).

I would wager and guess that this is intentional, but was meant to be good-intentioned. Anyone who thinks bungie are just some isolated hillbillies with no connection to the outside world are niave. Even if NOT A SINGLE PERSON at bungie doesn't know about the maddie case (highly unlikely), do you think they just handed over some CD to a bunch of guys at MS PR, told them to run it and put it on LIVE, and they just did it, without looking at it? Do some of you people know how marketing work.

Like I said, probably intentional, with good nature.

"Like I said, probably intentional, with good nature."

You plank!

How would you like it if that was your kidnapped and maybe raped and murdered kids name, used for marketing out of ignorance or (how that could be good natured) no matter what!

Yes some of us do know about marketing, and Bill Hicks had it spot on! People in marketing are SCUM putting a $ tag on everything and lying to everyone. If you work in marketing your sucking Satan’s cock on a daily basis!

"Oh and Occams Razor has cropped up again. It's the new internet meme for people who like to throw big words around without much backup."

For starters Occams Razor is very relevant to this discussion. You also nothing about, me, my age or my education but feel it necessary to just assume I'm some 4Chan idiot who's found a 'meme'. No doubt just like your use of the term meme eh? What backup would you like?

Secondly I don't own a single Bungie game and have played Halo 2 MP a couple of times. That's it - no fanboyism here.

I'm simply saying that between the choice of:

Bungie have put "find Maddie" into a trailer as reference to Madeline McCann when it has nothing to do with the game and would OBVIOUSLY cause upset amongst Sun readers, thus publicising their game - because all publicity is good publicity.

or

Some poor young worker added a Madeline McCann reference for SOME reason (???), and yet EVERYONE who saw it didn't ask why.

or

Maddy is major character in the new campaign and they've added that as a teaser.

That's my stance. That's all I'm saying.

And your comment about Maddy not being a popular name. My son has two friends called Madeline, as is his cousin.

EDIT: Spelling again!

"Occams Razor" is rapidly becoming a meme whose use didn't do you too many favours. Regardless, please reread my comments in context and come back if you want to discuss further.

Bungie have to disprove the connection, but that still doesn't get the PR department out of the woods.

Regardless of the topic, you guys are doing exactly what EG want...post in these comment threads. Every page refresh is money in their pocket.

dward missing the delicious irony there.

I've got my ad blocker off for EG, as they deserve the money to be frank.

"Even if NOT A SINGLE PERSON at bungie doesn't know about the maddie case (highly unlikely), do you think they just handed over some CD to a bunch of guys at MS PR, told them to run it and put it on LIVE, and they just did it, without looking at it? Do some of you people know how marketing work."

It really isn't highly unlikely. This isn't a news story of any note outside of the UK and Portugal. The number of missing children in America probably numbers in the thousands. How many faces on milk cartons can you name? Bungie are American. The Microsoft guys who looked over this teaser are American. Even if they noticed a single frame flickering a cryptic message (and it is a flicker that is effectively unnoticeable unless you watch the video back frame by frame), it is actually 'highly unlikely' they would know what it could suggest to a certain audience.

This is a European site staffed and populated primarily by people from the UK, who of course are looking at this with a certain perspective. It is not a perspective the wider world, or game developers/publishers in Seattle, halfway around the world, will necessarily share or understand.

in the context of the trailer, there doesn't really seem to be any real reason for the words 'where's maddie' next to a sad face to appear on screen. Maybe this wasn't intentional, but there is no doubt In my mind that someone somewhere must of flagged this up at some point, and I find quite easy to believe that it left in to create the attention it's now getting.

I really hope I'm wrong....

@squarejawhero

"Bungie have to disprove the connection, but that still doesn't get the PR department out of the woods. "

I'm was never debating you on that point.

I have read you initial comment which is what I was replying to:

"Now, whether or not it's unintended or any other such bullshit, it's far too massive a coincidence not to be done on purpose. You're just guessing it's part of the plot, nothing more."

You're saying it was done on purpose and that we're guessing it's part of the plot. That was my whole point in mentioning O R. I think its far more probable that it's just part of the plot as opposed to a purposeful Madeline McCann reference and all the complexities that that theory has with it. I've mentioned them in my post above and will not reiterate them.

@Yossarian

So you’re basically saying, if they didn’t know about it!

The majority of Americans are ignorant idiots including the ones with a lot of money.

"The majority of Americans are ignorant idiots including the ones with a lot of money. "

Let's tarnish a whole country because of the attitudes of a few - your comments get more ridiculous the more you post on this thread...

SpaceMidget - I'll just agree to disagree. So far Bungie haven't said much about it other than a spurious "persons living or dead" claim. We'll see.

squarejawhero: I've got my ad blocker off for EG, as they deserve the money to be frank.

They're using my ad-generated cash to change their name?

"I've read Kotaku and I'm going to have a browse of Frank next"

Nope. Doesn't work for me.

@Yossarion - speak for yourself. Some of us are more worldly than you think.

Well it’s true!

Fucked our economy
War with poor country’s
And a retarded Muppet as President and you question what I said!

"So you’re basically saying, if they didn’t know about it!

The majority of Americans are ignorant idiots including the ones with a lot of money."

I'm saying it's unlikely they would know about it. Are you on top of every news story that comes out of America, let alone Australia, France, Egypt, or the fucking Lao People's Democratic Republic? Or are you an 'ignorant idiot'? I know it's difficult to take off the blinkers after being bombarded with this Madeleine McCann mess for however many months and years it has been now, but this story does not register abroad.

Honestly, I'm sick of anti-American attitudes on this site. It's so cheap and easy, and so utterly unfounded in fact. It is no more acceptable than any other blanket generalizations by race or country of origin.

I'll agree with Yossarian about the anti-American attitudes. They're almost as bigoted as some of the anti-Muslim ones that crop up from sadly literate hatemongers.

But I will contest that it's only UK and Portugal only know about it. For one, "Maddie Is Dead" graffiti was in a far flung part of Spain I stayed at a couple of weeks back and it doesn't take much to find this - http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/...

And you're also working on the presumption everyone in Bungie is American who worked on that trailer, as well as their own worldy opinions. Not that I'm taking a side here, just showing that it is possible for someone to know.

@Yossarian

Considering the economic climate we are in right now of which the USA is greatly responsible for as well as this war on terror, oil and drugs. Which has now shown to do us no benefits other than put us all in the poor house on a global level. So I think its time that America’s administrations and corporate institutions were held accountable for their actions no matter what and dealt with immediately, this debate being a good example. And using ignorance as an excuse is no longer an excuse, how do you think that idiot of President got away with so much for so long, by pleading ignorance most of the time. What was his comments about the stock markets a few months ago, oh yes “I will be long gone before those people on Capitol Hill work out what happened in Wall Street”.

“Honestly, I'm sick of anti-American attitudes on this site. It's so cheap and easy, and so utterly unfounded in fact. It is no more acceptable than any other blanket generalizations by race or country of origin.”

Now is that founded enough for you, and as a free and democratic individual I give you choice to read listen, agree, disagree or fuck off! and stick the race card up your arse!

I dont see the problem, it's not like Bungie hid a refrence to the prophet Mohammed in the video or anything.Wait, whats wrong with that?

Ban this sick filth!

I think the lesson to be learned here is that no names of anyone ever involved in any kind of scandal, upset, furore, broo-ha-ha or skullduggery should ever be used anywhere in the world ever again.

For any purpose whatsoever.

@MrXBob

A little girl being abducted is among the worst things that can happen. Who knows whats happening to her right know. Everything possible should be done to find Maddie no matter what. I have a little girl, i guess you dont.

This one really brought out the wackos.