In a somewhat baffling but technically impressive publicity stunt designed to spotlight the upcoming release of ‘PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventures’, Namco managed to project a 80ft tall image of Pac-Man onto the side of the SEGA Europe headquarters in Chiswick, West London.
“We wanted to be cheeky, create some fun, but obviously do it quietly. Something that’s hard to do in the games industry, but slightly easier at midnight.” Said Lee Kirton, the PR & Marketing Director for Bandai Namco Games UK. “We hope Sega aren’t offended, more delighted”
Bandai Namco’s UK wing achieved this eye-catching piece of prankery by loading a rental van with an incredibly powerful projector (described as ‘the most powerful projector in the UK’) and parking in a vantage point some distance away from the hedgehog-adorned Sega offices at around midnight on Monday.
Sadly the local authorities got wind of the stunt pretty quickly, tipping off the building’s security team. The operation was shut down after a mere five minutes, but not before a number of late-night commuters saw the guerilla advertisement. “I’ve been travelling home on the M4 every night for the last 15 years and the massive Sonic character has always been a marker that I’m entering London.” Said Robert Leney, a passing Data Broker and 37 year old gamer. “I was in complete shock to see it had been taken over by PAC MAN. It’s all good though as I love seeing my two favourite childhood video game characters reunited again.”
PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventures will be (belatedly) released in the UK on the 7th March for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, Wii U and 3DS. It is not yet known whether Sega will retaliate with their own stealth stunt.
