EA giving away booth girls as Comic-Con swag

by Randy Nelson { Jul 25th 2009 at 12:00AM }

We thought we'd try and come up with some clever way to convey the following information, but figured that sometimes it's just best to let the facts speak for themselves. That said:

EA is holding a contest during Comic-Con to promote Dante's Inferno, whereby one attendee will receive a "night" with two of EA's booth girls. There's also a limo ride, "paparazzi" and "booty" of an undisclosed nature.

Photos of the booth girls and their potential "dates" can be found on the Dante's Inferno Facebook page. Our faith in humanity can be found in the corner, curled up and mumbling something to itself.

[Via ArsTechnica]

Tags: booth-babes, booth-girls, dantes-inferno, ea, electronic-arts

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Saria the Cat @ Jul 24th 2009 8:42PM

Okay, I'm all for good clean fun and the "spirit of Comic-Con," but this shit is ridiculous. Talk about playing up the undersexed gamer stereotype while simultaneously alienating girls from gaming. EA responded to this criticism saying that the "hot dates" were chaperoned, but this whole thing is a sexist mess. Rewarded guys for harassing booth babes with dates with those same sexualized women? Jesus.

berval @ Jul 25th 2009 12:08AM

Arrrggh...Facebook!

berval @ Jul 25th 2009 12:09AM

oops, didn't meant that as a reply.

WINterfang @ Jul 25th 2009 12:14AM

Dammit Saria you got me!!

That's one of the most clever rick'rolled yet...they always get me.

HeXeN @ Jul 25th 2009 12:16AM

Why am I not surprise you said that.Anyway is pretty pathetic of EA's part;They are trying so hard to promote Dante that it makes me wonder if the game is any good.

F1: Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu @ Jul 25th 2009 12:17AM

GOD DAMNIT SARIA!

Reuben @ Jul 25th 2009 12:23AM

One of the most brilliant Rick Rolls I have ever encountered

Bravo, bravo.

Also, I agree with your point.

WINterfang @ Jul 25th 2009 12:33AM

There was no point, only her passing out as a feminist concerned woman, she did that because we expect that from her and then she rick'rolled the shit out of us.

My hat is up to you Saria but I swear never to be fooled again. * shakes fists*

m3hl @ Jul 25th 2009 1:00AM

WOW so true... honestly i would be more embarrassed to be the loser who goes through the trouble to win that prize. everyone leaves insulted.

gamersadvocate @ Jul 25th 2009 1:05AM

You put sex and women in the same sentence, dammit, how could I go for that. XD

Vcize @ Jul 25th 2009 1:47AM

Fucking. Brilliant.

obo @ Jul 25th 2009 1:55AM

The comment ensures feminists upvote her. The rickroll ensures everyone else upvotes her. Everybody wins!

EA needs _you_ working their promotions, instead of the whoever they've got now. David Mikula, I think it is?

Einhanderkiller @ Jul 25th 2009 2:17AM

Just testing.

[url=http://joystiq.com]Joystiq[/url]

Joystiq

Saria the Cat @ Jul 25th 2009 2:23AM

Sorry, Einhanderkiller, magic is required for what you are attempting...MAGIC!

finnith @ Jul 25th 2009 2:37AM

Can you tell us anyways?

ArchiGamer [thephilosophyofgames.wordpress.com] @ Jul 25th 2009 2:52AM

You are too awesome, even though I hate being rickroll'd. ;)

The Dark Wayne @ Jul 25th 2009 2:58AM

hey at least they recognize it as sin! Also, rick rolls are the one unforgivable sin

Robot Overlord @ Jul 25th 2009 3:01AM

how the hell did she do that

The Dark Wayne @ Jul 25th 2009 3:06AM

she used her womanly charms to beguile the internet into allowing it

Dave @ Jul 25th 2009 3:14AM

Uh, Saria? Could you repost that link? I ended up on a Youtube video I don't think was related to the topic. Thank you.

The Dark Wayne @ Jul 25th 2009 3:18AM

facepalm

Solace (Only on PSN) @ Jul 25th 2009 3:20AM

@Dave

+1 haha good one

Aaron @ Jul 25th 2009 3:25AM

I agree with Saria the Cat. I feel EA has gone a little too far with some of the ways they have been promoting Dante's Inferno. So much so now that it has soiled the good name of the poem by associating it with shallow sex appeal and demeaning of people's morals.

pibs @ Jul 25th 2009 5:08AM

Never read "Dante's Inferno" but im guessing it was just a depiction of all the misery he had to live through for not being able to marry the love of his life "Beatrice". I think I will pass on this game and just pick up the Devil May Cry series. This game is just becoming all about the jibba jabba .

AMEN Already! Let's wrap it up, I got some sinning to do. - Jim Gaffigan

placebo @ Jul 25th 2009 8:32AM

I see nowhere in the rules where it says that females cannot participate.

Talk about playing up the self righteous woman while simultaneously alienating our lesbian gamer friends. This is only a sexist mess because you make it out to be one. This will reward either gender for harassing booth babes.

PR0F3TA @ Jul 25th 2009 10:16AM

FUUUUUUUUUUUU-

on a serious note (if you were serious) why does it matter, at least to you.

example,. say we saw you along side a booth babe... do you honestly think we would not be able to tell what kind of people you are by standing next to each other. One is a girl whos getting paid to model and promote, and the other is a gaming girl who enjoys the occasional frag.

plus, i want a date so don't ruin it!

The Baron @ Jul 25th 2009 11:06AM

It sounds like a horrible prize though. A 'night' with a model who probably shares none of your interests or has any interest in you. It'd just be like the Raisins episode of South Park.

j.howlett @ Jul 25th 2009 1:09PM

i hear this is the place to get a rick roll

BigD145 @ Jul 25th 2009 1:53PM

Butch lesbians will love this contest.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 25th 2009 2:09PM

@placebo: "This is only a sexist mess because you make it out to be one. This will reward either gender for harassing booth babes."

Yes, because the sexism I was referring to had to do with what gender could enter into the contest. And, just re-read that last sentence you wrote and ponder a while.

@Pr0feta: My beef (and any other self-respecting gamer woman) isn't with whether or not people will confuse me as someone else or confuse me as another booth babe. You're missing the point.

And, I really wish I could understand why certain men think that lesbians, since they prefer women, also have the same exact preferences and tastes as men. Most of the lesbian women I know would not touch those models with a 12-foot pole, and most lesbians don't bother with lipstick, period. That includes "butch lesbians." That's because most real lesbians aren't lipstick lesbians, contrary to what your porn might be tellin' ya.

PedoJokerBear (aka Deeznuts) @ Jul 25th 2009 2:11PM

my love for you has grown by +1

Bryan @ Jul 25th 2009 3:51PM

SHUT UP.

Ashitaka @ Jul 25th 2009 6:39PM

@ Saria
Ahah, apparently I wasn't rickrolled because "This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions.".

@ Einhanderkiller
Just check this page's source code. Apparently, this is the way to do it:

-less than- a href="LINK" -greater than- WORDS -less than- /a -greater than-

I'm sure you know it, but I'll say it nonetheless: I wrote 'less than' and 'great than' because if I couldn't use the symbols.

Dave @ Jul 26th 2009 6:15AM

I can tell you in my porn, lesbians have been classified as bisexuals.

Ashkental @ Jul 26th 2009 4:22PM

So saria knows how to use HTML right? it's not that hard, really

For Sexualized Women click here :D

Ashkental @ Jul 26th 2009 4:23PM

aww... that didn't work? dammit!

NoughtSoClever @ Jul 26th 2009 9:06PM

Want to see some sexism in action? Had a guy rick-rolled everyone with the same comment, he would have been down voted.

Saria the Cat @ Jul 26th 2009 9:24PM

@NoughtSoClever: Why would he be?

And, I think you are confused about what sexism means. You're talking about a double standard, not sexism. Sexism refers to actively discriminating against one sex, or the idea of one sex being more valuable than another. Though I really don't see why a guy would be down-voted for that anyway.

Either way, a poor complaint to make, kind of like complaining that white people can't say the N-word.

NoughtSoClever @ Jul 28th 2009 2:04PM

Granted, it's not sexism so much as favoritism. I'm just saying that you got up votes because you are a girl on a forum of mostly guys. Not a complaint. Mostly just an plausible assumption. If anyone would like to test the theory, sometime in the not too distant future, someone pick an anticipated game and set an appropriate youtube bait that is really a rickroll. And lets see what happens. Come one! For science!

Cameron @ Sep 9th 2009 8:30PM

HA, this is unbelievable. EA is putting on a promotion, and businesses need to address the MASSES. That means, what is the largest demographic of people who you can market too, so promotions are in turn going to be geared towards that target market. Anyone outside of the target market should not whine and complain that they haven't been included.

Believe it or not, casual girl gamers actually make up a large percentage of the population of gamers, some 20 to 30%, however Dante's Inferno is NOT a casual game, its a poor man's God of War ripoff, which is a hardcore game, meaning your target market as a company has shifted from 20 to 30% women to somewhere around .0001% women. Lets face it, hardcore female gamers are RARE, and it would be stupid for any company to promote a videogame marketing campaign towards them, spending all that money, and the mass target audience gets alienated. So don't get all hot and bothered, marketing campaigns need a target audience, take business in college or university and you'll learn all this. If you don't target to the appropriate market you're going to fail.

And how is it that getting your picture taken with a hired booth babe considered harassment? What kind of puritanical view of men and women do YOU have? If you were hired to look good and attract people, as booth babes obviously are, getting your picture taken with someone comes with the territory, you see them all over the internet for nearly every convention that includes them. So how is that harassment? Is it SO bad that someone wants to get their picture taken with you? I mean, that is if you're good looking enough that you don't mind being in a photo. For all you girls who are ugly and ashamed of yourselves I have sympathy for your unwillingness to be included in a photo opportunity, leave that to girls who actually work out, take care of themselves and know how to make themselves look good.

D dogg @ Sep 10th 2009 12:37AM

Our of curiosity Saria, who do you think the target demographic of this game is? Is it possible that the marketing / PR department isn't being sexist but actually going after the target market as intended?

I honestly don't think EA is alienating female gamers as much as the game itself is.

Are you interested in the game personallly? If so, do you represent the general female gaming population?

This promotion can be considered sexist if the game was target for ALL gamers but I honestly think this game is targeted to males, 18 - 34 as is this promotion.

Just my opinion, no different than your original post.

D dogg @ Sep 10th 2009 12:41AM

Umm, I guess I could've just posted, "I agree with the first 2 paragraphs from Cameron".

Oh well, I have a post as well :)

WINterfang @ Jul 25th 2009 12:13AM

I have dated hotter girls.....what the hell is this XD...this is weird is highlarious.

WINterfang @ Jul 25th 2009 9:35AM

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

DBuck_Eye @ Jul 25th 2009 11:59AM

We don't hate you because you're (not) a player. We hate you because you're a giant tool.

el serpiente @ Jul 25th 2009 1:26PM

People still say tool? I never got that. Tools are usually pretty useful. I wouldn't characterize WINterfang as useful.

Perhaps a more traditional insult would be suitable here, such as 'turd'. There are no positive attributes to associate with the word 'turd', other than the successful expulsion of it from one's body.