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Posting on the official Halo forums, Bungie writer Luke Smith (Lukems) assured everyone that the “Maddie, where are you?” slogan in yesterday’s teaser was pure coincidence as far as any relation to the 2007 Maddie McCann disappearance goes.
“As always, all of the characters in our games are fictional,” he wrote. “Any similarities between real life and the characters in our games are purely coincidental.”
“That said, this is both an unfortunate and untended [sic] coincidence,” he added.
In yet another rebuttle, Bungie’s Brian Jarrard, aka Sketchfactor, has posted a note over at fansite Halo.Bungie.org: “This is an unfortunate coincidence but there is no connection between Bungie’s game and the tragic disappearance of that little girl.”
That’s that then.
By Mike Bowden
Viewing 23 responses
Blerk said:
Well, that’s that then. Except it won’t be once the British press get hold of it. Duck and cover!
onyxbox said:
Disappointing response from Bungie :/
I find this a bit hard to swallow and I suspect this is a cheap bit of attention grabbing by someone at Bungie.
morriss said:
ridiculous really. But there you go.
Robo_1 said:
“That said, this is both an unfortunate and untended [sic] coincidence,”
Whilst I can’t for the life of me, fathom why they would intentionally want to kick up the shit storm of negative publicity that this move could provoke, I find it even harder to believe that nobody saw that and put two and two together.
Surely this sort of stuff has to pass through numerous internal approval processes, just so that this sort of thing can be avoided?
It’s either gross incompetence, or one of the most tasteless PR stunts the industry has ever seen.
Hero of Canton said:
I agree, Robo_1. Surely it would have been flagged up at one point during the approval process?
I know it wasn’t such a big story in the States, but surely someone at Bungie must’ve been aware of the case?
morriss said:
Listen, children go missing every day, all over the world. Some never turn up, their families in tatters. do we ever hear about them? No.
Just because we’re from Europe and this seems important to us, on the other side of the world they don’t even know it exists: A few column inches in a newspaper under the “international” section.
To suggest “gross incompetence” etc. is ridiculous. The Halo Bible was written years and years ago, and this is most likely one story from it.
Blerk said:
Bungie I could understand - quite why someone at Microsoft didn’t pick this up is slightly more puzzling. Surely their PR people go over stuff with a fine-tooth comb as well?
deftangel said:
What morriss said.
There is a very fleeting reference to a character “Maddie” in one of the Halo books. From about the same timeline as this trailer as well.
patlike said:
It *is* pretty daft, though. The McCanns appeared on Oprah. They met the Pope about the disappearance. There was a picture of Maddie in literally every single airport I went to last year, US and Europe. It was front page news in the UK for months on end. I really think they’re going to regret this.
morriss said:
I think MS UK are going to regret it, yeah. Shame though. I mean, can’t we just all move on? It was tragic, yeah. About 18 months ago.
patlike said:
I think you may be underestimating quite how big it was, to be honest. You couldn’t move for it at the time. I’m very surprised they’re even prepared to chance an association.
morriss said:
Fair enough. If you were there, you were there.
I’m wrong. Again.
Robo_1 said:
I’m not disputing that the media circus which surrounded the disappearance of Madeline wasn’t a disgusting show of hypocrisy, when contrasted with the horrors which occur across the world on a daily basis, but come on.
As Pat has just said, this was a huge media story, the name “Maddie” has been used in connection with the tragic disappearance of a little girl for so long, it’s pretty much a given that the press are going to latch onto this and misconstrue it into a tasteless PR gimmick.
It’s gross incompetence because either MS screened this stuff and didn’t see an obvious PR problem, or because MS were never made aware of the exact contents of the trailer.
I’ll be absolutely amazed if this doesn’t blow up. Games are already held in little regard by the mainstream press, so this sort of story will be a complete gift for them.
patlike said:
morriss - There is not wrong or right, glasshopper.
morriss said:
I suppose I just think the very fact that we’re having the conversation is a bit pathetic.
David said:
Bored of the Madeline thing. Fact is if any child isn’t found within a certain space of time there just never going to come back. I hate how they still to this day get press for what ?
For being horrible parents and leaving their children alone in a foreign country ? They were and still are just as much a reason for her disappearance than the person that took her.
Shatner said:
As Blerk says, it’s likely to go ballistic once the mainstream press get hold of it. Then again, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Whaddya know! The media often oversensationalises stuff and shift the context of what they’re reporting to make more juicy reading.
Mmm. That’s some good irony.
onyxbox said:
“Games are already held in little regard by the mainstream press, so this sort of story will be a complete gift for them.”
This will be the most disappointing aspect this ‘coincidence’.
Newbie101 said:
It’s all about PR, think of the PR they got cos of it…
cachucha said:
dude this is ridiculous, not about halo bible, dont be such a queer, they could easily change that name before that, something fishy is going on, viral publicity in my opinion.
And dont talk as a child lost (and who knows what they did to her) doesnt matter, could be anybody of your family and its a heartbreaking situation.
Bungie was just stupid there.
Psychotext said:
Oh give me a break. If you were to worry about using the name of any lost, murdered, kidnapped, abused etc kid in the world you’d have no names left.
Quiiick said:
As I said yesterday: pure coincidence! It was not intentional.
Outside of the UK, nobody would even have made a link to this crime.
The Maddie-case was just a short blip on the (news-)radar some (2?) years ago in most other countries.
wickedman said:
can we all be friends !!!