Well, it was also called “the coming surprise”, and, you know, ew. Alright, that was lifted out of context for a cheap laugh. Here’s the verbatim post on Mass Effect 2’s official fan page on Facebook:

Man, so much time tied up today in meetings and “secret stuff” I didn’t get any time with ME2 at all. =( Still with the coming surprise for next week on the ME2 website, I’m sure fans will forgive me for no update. Did I, Evil Chris Priestly, just drop a hint? Yes. Yes I did.

Read literally, that could mean it wasn’t Chris Priestly dropping a hint, but in fact it was Evil Chris Priestly his palette-swap nemesis from planet Zantrar 5.

Mass Effect on Facebook [via Hot Blooded Gaming]

But marketing it is, the latest in Electronic Arts’ attempts to drum up interest in Visceral Games’ Dante’s Inferno, due early next year. We’ll just have to wager a guess that the spot, the website, the cross controller and kneeler accessory were the work of ad firm Wieden + Kennedy, responsible for some of EA’s previous viral and non-traditional ads, like the Tiger Woods “Jesus Shot” and Spore campaign.

Mass: We Pray ties into the Heresy circle of Hell, but also lets Facebook users “damn” their friends and acquaintances.

Hey, it’s Nozomi Ohashi, that girl who sings the Ponyo song! And she’s wearing some sort of tutu, sitting in some sort of abstract white environment and playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

That’s how Nintendo is selling the game in Japan — roping in Japanese celebrities to play the game. Not the most exciting ads, but they’ll probably do the trick. Oh, and here’s the Ponyo music video!

I rock Adblocker, so I actually haven’t seen these in a while. Which is a pity. If ever an ad was going to make me reach for the “disable” button, it would be these more recent Evony ones, what began as an attempt to cash in on Lord of the Rings having obviously become a rush to secure the services of girls appearing on porn movie box art from the 1990s.

And no, I didn’t make that last bit up.

LazyGamer have posted a great gallery (recently updated to encapsulate the game’s recent offerings) charting the “turn” of Evony’s ads, from their humble beginnings in the Tower of Gondor to the boobs smorgasbord they offer today. Sad/fun reading awaits.

A History of Evony Ads – The insanity continues [Updated-Again] pLazyGamer, via JeffGreen]

I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet, so I will be purposefully vague. This is exactly the sort of trailer that makes me want to pick up a game that I normally would have no interest in whatsoever. Way to market outside of the embed window, Capcom.

Experience The Darkside [GameTrailers]

Skateboard controllers aren’t born of the brilliance of executives and market research firms. No, like the Tony Hawk Ride skateboard controller seen in the above video, they’re the product of inanimate objects having sex with each other.

Or, so the above video, a Tony Hawk Ride “love story” would lead us to believe. Just a warning that there is some raw, uncensored skateboard riding on Xbox 360 controller action — and vice versa — in this here video plus some rather graphic birth footage. It’s more instructional than overtly sexual, but you might want to shoo the lil’ controllers and boards out of the room before watching.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Tero Virtala, the RedLynx CEO, said that the pirated version his team sent out did not include leaderboard support, which Virtala called the “soul” of the game. In other words, the pirate version functioned as a kind of demo without being a demo, encouraging downloaders to grab the fully enabled version if they enjoyed the illicit one.

“Piracy is here, so how can we take advantage of that? What we did actually, on day one, we put that game immediately on all the torrent networks ourselves,” Virtala said at the Develop Liverpool conference.

The 150,000 copies the game has sold since its launch matches the number of users with access to the leaderboards, Virtala said, so if the gambit didn’t work, at least it didn’t hurt. “At least people have not cracked our leaderboards yet,” he said.

RedLynx: We put Trials PC Game on Torrent Sites [GamesIndustry.biz]

I preferred the footage in this TV spot back when it had story and context to it, but the original version was far too long for the TV audience. No, slice that puppy up, toss in some catchy music and the TV-viewing public will be cemented to the screen for all of 32 seconds.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is just around the corner, and retail giant is kicking off a series of ads for the title that feature dudes talking about MW2.

The Wii version adds a host of motion control techniques to the game, with the Wiimote used to bat, bowl and even shine the ball.

“It’s always refreshing to see new and unique ways of bringing the game of cricket into lounge rooms across the country and being accessible to families,” says McGrath. “Being involved in the game at the highest level is a truly amazing experience and being able to assist in letting fans of the game simulate this is fantastic.

“After playing this game I almost feel like pulling the bowling boots out again and having another crack at the Poms.”

When we reported the Wii version delay back in August, we predicted an endorsement would follow. We went for a revival of Shane Warne Cricket. We were close.