By John Walker on September 4th, 2009 at 10:04 pm.
Ubisoft have clearly gone bonkers, but in a splendid way. In the spirit of PAX, they’ve created a very silly teaser to promote Splinter Cell: Conviction, containing possibly the worst piece of photoshoppery in the history of the world. It’s a fun time, see below.
This is possibly the last time a large scale Keyboard Cat joke is going to be acceptable, so they just got in, barrel-rolling under the descending door there. But most importantly, what in the heck is this supposed to be? Did they run out of time?
04/09/2009 at 22:06 Dan says:
….what?
04/09/2009 at 22:12 ChaosSmurf says:
:awesome:
04/09/2009 at 22:13 pirate0r says:
I don’t know why but, I think i just died a little inside.
04/09/2009 at 22:14 skizelo says:
And suddenly my interest-levels have spiked. Every stealth game needs a piano playing decoy, but only a few deserve that decoy to be a cat.
04/09/2009 at 22:16 Dracko says:
ROFLMAO XD
04/09/2009 at 22:16 Kanakotka says:
It was just so unexpectedly silly, i laughed hard, and then i watched it again, and then i chuckled.
04/09/2009 at 22:17 Tei says:
The only keyboard is QWERTY, not X[]O/\ , not DVORAK! or anything alien like that.
DON’T WATCH THIS VIDEO!!.. IS CONSOLEISM PROPAGANDA!.
04/09/2009 at 22:21 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Well, they do have past form in this regard.
04/09/2009 at 22:45 Leman says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-S0mFaPh-A
For those unaware of this shitty meme.
04/09/2009 at 23:14 yhancik says:
“Pulling out a Stalin-vs–Martians”
04/09/2009 at 23:20 Serondal says:
@yhancik = Pulling out never works, ask my kids, wakka wakka
04/09/2009 at 23:29 IvanHoeHo says:
@Leman:
Man, that video was almost as bad as the meme itself.
Always wondered how Rocketboom got so big… First found ‘em out from ze frank, who just so happens to be a thousand times better than anything they can come up with. Except for the parts where it gets very weird.
On topic: I hope you can play this with an actual keyboard and not some gamepad that only 1 in 500 PC users own.
04/09/2009 at 23:38 LionsPhil says:
Oh god. And the escape of Duckrolling into the wider world was bad enough.
The concrete shell around the chan-obyl must be wearing thin.
05/09/2009 at 00:11 Bhazor says:
Still not convinced about this game.
But it appears the box art shows Sam punching a dead man in the face. Extreme!
05/09/2009 at 00:26 Markoff Chaney says:
That was brilliant! I’m still laughing.
Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes:
How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
FISH!
05/09/2009 at 00:52 Novotny says:
New marketing guy(s), I knight thee. Played.
Now for god’s sake go work for someone worth your talents
05/09/2009 at 00:58 Smurfy says:
Ubisoft…
You fucking rock, man.
05/09/2009 at 01:48 Fenchurch says:
Wait, so it has a cat meme in, and so it’s furry, now? =-P
BAN THIS SICK FILTH
05/09/2009 at 02:08 T-B0N3 says:
haha, that i did not expect
05/09/2009 at 02:16 Chandrose says:
I do hope this game is good. I’ve liked them all so damn much, although DA slightly less than the others. It’s been way too long since the last one for a disappointment.
05/09/2009 at 02:25 AKA says:
Screw you guys, I thought that was funny.
05/09/2009 at 02:47 Hoernchen says:
…what ?
05/09/2009 at 02:51 LionsPhil says:
@Fenchurch: Learning from Hitman: Contracts’ clown disguise, in this game Sam Fisher can don a variety of fursuits to seamlessly blend into crowds with a minimum of fuss. Featuring real-time dynamic tail inverse-kinematic physics, the newly renamed Splinter Cell: Yiff In Hell is a groundbreaking new triple-A next generation product continuing the reputation for excellence of the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell franchise. Participate in a multi-way international convert war between the Furluminati, Anonymous, and the Church of [REDACTED]ology, and watch the adaptive narrative system customise the inevitable damnation plot outcomes to generate a unique game experience. Face up against dangerously smart new opponents powered by Thetans™ technology, written by Ubisoft’s top hackers on steroids, who do not forgive, do not forget, and do not like dog curtains. Coming Fall 2010 for PC, X-Box, and P-p-p-powerbook.
05/09/2009 at 03:57 Psychopomp says:
So Bad, It’s Good
05/09/2009 at 04:10 Wooly says:
AKA says:
“Screw you guys, I thought that was funny.”
Me too… =/
05/09/2009 at 04:22 army of none says:
Damn that’s awesome.
05/09/2009 at 06:25 ExplosiveCoot says:
This has to be one of the best video game ads I’ve ever seen, right next to the Ozzy Osbourne “Prince of Darkness” WoW ads.
Someone needs to send a copy of this to the Dragon Age marketing department in order to show them how to properly create a promo that has little to do with the game being advertised.
05/09/2009 at 07:10 Wazzle says:
I laughed out loud when I saw this. What were they thinking!?
05/09/2009 at 07:13 Jayt says:
Tbh really over keyboard cat
05/09/2009 at 07:50 Paul says:
This one is my favourite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73pZrd3NDS4
But that SC one was also funny : ).
05/09/2009 at 08:31 PC Monster says:
Oh god, the marketers are now wise to Internet Culture! See how with one crappy video they get you all on their side? We have no-where left to hide, nothing to call our own any more!
The end times are upon us!!!
05/09/2009 at 11:04 Xercies says:
You know what I don’t particularly know much internet culture so this is a What? Meh moment for me.
Anyway the game is clearly not splinter cell since there going for a more action route then stealth. Which is dissapointing.
05/09/2009 at 12:17 Cedge says:
Ugh. I hate when memes go mainstream (then again, it’s not exactly like Keyboard Cat was an obscure 4chan or SA meme).
This made my head hurt, in a bad way.
05/09/2009 at 12:27 The Hammer says:
Ahahaha, what.
05/09/2009 at 12:42 Dreamhacker says:
I could have sworn that was just regular Earl Grey tea I had this morning…
05/09/2009 at 14:12 Dracko says:
so random lmao
05/09/2009 at 15:16 whalleywhat says:
ALL YOUR MEMES ARE BELONG TO UBISOFT
05/09/2009 at 16:04 caramelcarrot says:
i think im getting old
05/09/2009 at 17:47 A-Scale says:
Now THIS is advertising I can get behind!
05/09/2009 at 23:19 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
I was unaware of this meme before this video.
06/09/2009 at 01:05 Adventurous Putty says:
I came.
06/09/2009 at 02:30 Kirrus says:
At last a large publisher like ubisoft knows how to relax and make fun of themselves ;)
Made me chuckle, always a nice change after watching a game trailer
06/09/2009 at 04:02 Cedge says:
@Kirrus:
“Make fun of themselves”? Please. This is no less a calculated marketing ploy (to appear as being hip to internet culture, and get “cred” with that crowd) than your typical viral marketing scheme.
06/09/2009 at 04:31 Kirrus says:
@Cedge,:
At least they’ve more flair than Sony with their Playstation job advert. And, it fits. And it’s vaguely amusing :)
Never know, it might actually be a valid attempt from one of the devs to have fun, rather than a targeted viral attempt. I would be more willing to believe that of Ubisoft than of Sony.
06/09/2009 at 06:09 Psychopomp says:
@Cedge
Translation:I’m a grump.
06/09/2009 at 07:52 Player2 says:
Psychopomp’s translation is spot on. Let’s all take a step back and try not to view every single person in the corporate industry as a child devouring demon from the 8th ring of hell who is rides on a sleigh of greed, drawn by four steeds, each made of incredibly valuable metals. After all, everyone likes to have fun now and then…right?
06/09/2009 at 09:10 MD says:
Wrong.
:-[
Seriously though, I think it’s pretty easy to understand both sides of this — for some it’s just a funny reference, for others the (perceived) cynical element is a turn-off. (And of course others either don’t care or find it unfunny in itself, rather than on principle.)
06/09/2009 at 10:24 The Apologist says:
@Dorian
Thank goodness my wife and I weren’t the only ones staring at the screen going ‘whaaaa…?’
Thanks for link to youtube too. Much was explained….
06/09/2009 at 12:34 Psychopomp says:
Sad story
The cat from keyboard cat died back in 2000 :C
06/09/2009 at 12:46 Heliocentric says:
Yeah… Could have got him stuffed him and kept making the videos though.
06/09/2009 at 14:53 Dracko says:
ITT no one understands viral marketing
gb2/b/ etc
07/09/2009 at 07:13 Kyr says:
facepalm.jpg goes here
09/09/2009 at 03:47 FRIENDLYUNIT says:
Um, yeah. Good in principal, with the using memes thing. Just maybe an unfortunate choice… perhaps even (with the FAIL connotations) a prophetic choice.
Because, for me (a massive fan of SC’s 1 though 3) the original trailer was full of fail.
And I still haven’t forgiven them for SC 4. That trust needs rebuilding before I will consider purchase of SC 5 and I do not know how they would even go about that.