Edgy PR to sell games
By Shalini Singh

While more women are playing video games, the men still dominate the demographics. Recently, a survey in USA showed that 85 percent of the characters in video games were male and at least 80 percent are white. The average age of a video gamer is between 30 to 35.

But many of the most popular games are designed by men for a young male audience.  Needless to say these games have a fair share of action, cars, gore and sexy women.

Advertising companies in USA have realized that you have to create edgy campaigns to attract these young men.

How edgy? Well, nothing is too sacred to sell a game.

Arstechnica has just done a detailed report which reads in part

“
Video Game Company EA has been courting controversy and blogger outrage with its marketing stunts for the upcoming Dante's Inferno, but what many are missing is that the complaints and negative reactions are feeding directly into the game's hype machine.

The first showpiece took place at E3, where a number of "Christian" protesters showed up holding signs telling showgoers to trade their PlayStations in for "Pray Stations" and other catchy slogans. Our favorite? "EA = Electronic Anti-Christ." A few gaming blogs ran the story of Christians upset over the content of the game, but it was quickly revealed EA had in fact staged the protest via a viral marketing agency.

It gets even better. During Comic-Con, EA ran a contest where show attendees were invited to "commit acts of lust" by taking a picture with one of their booth babes. The best image will be rewarded by a "date" with two models, a limo, and an awkward night of strained conversation.
“

The Arstechnica article is recommended reading on how the media and public are played to sell more games.