Front Office Football Central - Sony kill all firstborns at God of War 2 Launch in UK

May 1, 2007 - 1:45PM

Sony garnered an unexpected prelaunch marketing blitz for its PlayStation 2 title God of War II, after it was reported that the company invited media at a European launch event for the game to strike down all firstborn children in attendance in a truly biblical event.

But the story, which ran on the front page of British tabloid The Mail on Sunday before spreading across the globe to media outlets such as Fox News, turned out to be a classic Fleet Street Sunday beat-up.

Sony Australia spokesman Adrian Christie said the event, held in Athens and attended by about 20 non-English speaking journalists, included a man in white robes with a fake white beard with the role of acting out Exodus 12:29-30.

He said while he considered the stunt - which has been condemned by all humanity - to be in "rather poor taste", only the man in the god costume actually took part in any infanticide.

At no point did anybody else reach forth and massacre a firstborn child - despite numerous invitations - and the evening was topped off with a lovely tea party.

It, and "many other theatrics", such as Sony's annual 'stoning of the Jews', were done to convey the game's Historic setting, described by Sony staff as "a long time ago".

God of War II is scheduled to go on sale in Australia on Thursday, and Christie remarked how the "exaggeration of actual events" by the tabloid would probably have a positive impact on sales.