While the debacle concerning Mass Effect 3's controversial endings has come and gone, it seems BioWare is once again trying to catch peoples' attention but using some good old-fashioned viral marketing this time around.
BioWare recently posted a message on its official blog that supposedly was left there by a hacker named Bernard Plim.
Here's Plim's message in its entirety:
Top of the line security, huh? Hmph. I don’t think so! I’ve successfully hacked into the Alliance News Network’s terminal, but this isn’t a safe connection and I can’t stay long. I don’t want to reveal my location on the Citadel and give C-Sec the advantage. I must be heard! Go read about everything that Hackett is trying to cover up! I am Bernard Plim and I speak the truth! Conspiracy Accountability League.
Clicking that link will send you to the Conspiracy Accountability League website, where it states, " I reveal the truth so you don't have to/" It's also worth noting that Plim is also the founder and president of the CAL. Mind you, it wouldn't surprise me if he's the only member, too.
Here's the opening blurb, make of it what you will.
I live on the Citadel, but my exact location will not be revealed since C-SEC is constantly tracking me. I am the president and founder of the Conspiracy Accountability League Citadel Chapter. OUR PURPOSE IS TO REVEAL TO YOU THE SECRETS AND COVER-UPS THAT THREATEN YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. I do the research so that you don’t have to!!! I ask the questions. I dig through the evidence, and I present it here for skeptics and believers alike. But if you read my blog you won’t be a skeptic for long. I personally guarantee that the information that I gather is high-quality and guaranteed 100% reliable! And you won’t find it anywhere else in the Galaxy. I am the one brave enough to speak out! This is my job… please support me by sending credits.
Plim also mentions "Task Force Aurora," which he states is a SUPER SECRET TASK FORCE being run by a Dr. Garrett Bryson for the Alliance and it somehow concerns the Reapers. He also mentions that even Admiral Hackett is involved, but that the Admiral won't answer his calls and Plim thinks it's because Hackett's hiding something.
If you scroll near the bottom of the page, you'll see a list of "crucial links." Clicking the links will all send you to one place and that's the Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC page. So, could this all be for a DLC? Possibly so. But this could also be for a series of DLCs for the game where the Leviathan DLC is the catalyst…yeah, I went there.
I admit, it's pretty obvious BioWare is playing Plim as a crazy, paranoid person — the 90's-themed website just adds further fuel to the fire. But what if Plim is indeed sane and what he knows are real? Hopefully, this is but the start of a viral marketing campaign that encompasses a new chapter in the Mass Effect 3 universe and not just for the Leviathan DLC, no?
So, what do you make of all this? Carefully targeteted marketing ploy or does it seem lame? Sound off and let us know.
