Porn links in Rainbow Six III

This week, one man's entrepreneurial instinct is teaching Ubisoft a harsh lesson about attention to detail, thanks to a website URL left unchecked in one of its Tom Clancy titles.

Around about two-thirds of the way into the tactical Xbox shooter Rainbow Six III, a recent holiday success story in the USA and an extremely popular fixture on Xbox Live, one of the levels features a series of posters with a URL at the bottom of each one.

Given the prevalence of website-based in-jokes and easter eggs found in games like Grand Theft Auto, these days players are more than likely to note down the URL and head there later looking for some sort of reward for their efforts.

Except to do so now is to wind up looking at a page stuffed with porn links and banners. "Welcome to Interracialporno!" it proudly greets Rainbow Six III's many fans, before knocking their head off with a well-placed cock.

How did it happen? According to a report on CNN/Money, it's all down to a keen Texan Xbox owner called Tony Ashcraft, who having bought the game shortly after launch ploughed through it and discovered the URL rather early. When he checked the domain on his PC, he found that it was unregistered, quickly bought it and filled it with porn links.

"My intentions were to try and build up traffic and then sell the domain," he told CNN/Money. And apart from a few disgruntled gamers whose morals he's skewed, Ashcraft isn't too worried. "The game is made for people who are 18 and higher," he states matter-of-factly.

As for Ubisoft, they're understandably upset that the URL made it through without alarm bells going off. "We do apologise if this has offended anybody," an embarrassed spokesperson told CNN/Money...

Not so much, actually...