A frame in Bungie's new Halo 3 'Keep It Clean' trailer is being taken as a reference to missing British child Madeline McCann.
Amongst various messages flashed across the screen during the trailer, one reads 'MADDIE, WHERE ARE YOU?', sparking controversy on internet forums - including this thread on the official Bungie site.
Four-year-old 'Maddie' disappeared from a resort during a family holiday in May 2007. The campaign to find Madeline has raised millions of pounds and spread worldwide.
As nobody really knows anything about Bungie's campaign expansion, or the characters that will appear in it, speculation has begun as to whether it's referencing someone from the Halo universe or Madeline McCann.
If anyone with super hardcore Halo knowledge is reading this, please enlighten us.
But if there is a character in the game who's gone missing, it's probably not the best idea in the world to call her Maddie.
We've left a message with Bungie to clear up the situation.
Even if it is, what's the big deal? It's Rockstar-esque marketing. Kick up a stink in the tabloids, sell an extra few hundred thousand copies.
And it's not like we've not all seen the videos on YouTube anyway, so it's not like it's something nobody is asking. Also, I'd have thought anything that drew attention to the appeal is a good thing because it keeps the girl in people's minds. If I had lost her, I'd take any attention people were willing to give.
But let's not get started on the whole case, because that's a whole other kettle of fish...
Dajmin, are you kidding? You think having a reference to a childs kidnapping in a computer game trailer would be good publicity and might draw more attention to the case?
It wouldn't be good publicity for either the missing child or Halo. There's no way this is in anyway linked to Maddie, it's just more idiots spouting nonsense and jumping to stupid conclusions.
Rockstar might have used shock tactics to sell their games in the past, but there's no way in the world any company would use the case of a missing child to advertise their games.
Dajmin, are you kidding? You think having a reference to a childs kidnapping in a computer game trailer would be good publicity and might draw more attention to the case?
It wouldn't be good publicity for either the missing child or Halo. There's no way this is in anyway linked to Maddie, it's just more idiots spouting nonsense and jumping to stupid conclusions.
Rockstar might have used shock tactics to sell their games in the past, but there's no way in the world any company would use the case of a missing child to advertise their games.
Clearly you've never heard the old age, "there's no such thing as bad publicity".
if this is the fuss kicked up by one millisecond reference to maddie, then the world is gonna burn when Frankie Boyle steps into the spotlight for the Golden Joystick.
Dajmin, are you kidding? You think having a reference to a childs kidnapping in a computer game trailer would be good publicity and might draw more attention to the case?
Well the article mentions it, and everyone in this thread is talking about it, as will the general press when they catch on. Case proven, I think.
In one of the Halo books, master chief is talking to Linda (one of the other spartans) and he accidentally refers to her as Maddie, it has absolutely nothing to do with the missing child.
In one of the Halo books, master chief is talking to Linda (one of the other spartans) and he accidentally refers to her as Maddie, it has absolutely nothing to do with the missing child.
Who is, as we all know, buried in some woods in Portugal.
Madeline McCann has been fitted with a pair of concrete boots by her mum and dad who have used the fund created by her disappearance to go swanning off around the world and to pay off the mortgage for their home. I forgot that she is the only child to have gone missing in history
Dajmin, are you kidding? You think having a reference to a childs kidnapping in a computer game trailer would be good publicity and might draw more attention to the case?
Well the article mentions it, and everyone in this thread is talking about it, as will the general press when they catch on. Case proven, I think.
People...
Some of you don't show the slightest notion of what good PR or bad publicity works like. This really is very, very bad PR, and no professional PR man would have harmed the brand like this on purpose.
Stating otherwise only shows you have no clue of what generating publicity is about.
To be honest, hundreds of children go missing all over the world. Me not caring about one who got way more publicity than she should of is not particularly low in my book, then again i am pretty cold
Stating otherwise only shows you have no clue of what generating publicity is about.
I never said it was good publicity for the game, I said it was for the case, which it is. Every time someone mentions it, someone else thinks about it, bringing it back to the limelight.
The flipside is that every time that happens, someone also thinks about the game, pushing it into the spotlight as well. As Rockstar will tell you, each time someone bitches about game content, they sell more games. Jack Thompson pretty much sold a million copies of GTA4 and I bet Manhunt 2 wouldn't have shifted that many copies without being focused on by the media.
Look at the numbers and tell me I'm wrong. There IS no such thing as bad publicity. That's how the media works. You can hate the people or things involved as much as you like, but it still gives them free attention.
The fact that an innocuous screen, taken out of context, could be construed as a cheap reference to the McCann case smacks of precisely the tabloid reactionism which has carried public interest in the case this far. The "controversy" is no surprise - if the aforementioned tabloid reactionism didn't exist, most people wouldn't even remember the name Madeleine McCann, and they DEFINITELY wouldn't be referring to her as "Maddie".
So how long did it take CVG to jump onto this bandwagon believeing that any reference to someone called maddie saying "Where Are You?", blatantly must be Madeline McCann. Get out of town, this is a load of tosh.
I have to be honest, I doubt that news story got even close to the US shores. It's just a coincidence - one that Bungie will (sadly) probably have to act upon.
Well i certainly don't think that it was done on purpose.
I'm not being an ass, it was a real tragedy what happened to that little girl and her family, but i don't think that it was done with any intention at all, i think it's just one of those things.
Are we just never, ever going to use the name Maddie again just because of what happened to her?
In one of the Halo books, master chief is talking to Linda (one of the other spartans) and he accidentally refers to her as Maddie, it has absolutely nothing to do with the missing child.
Who is, as we all know, buried in some woods in Portugal.
Madeline McCann has been fitted with a pair of concrete boots by her mum and dad who have used the fund created by her disappearance to go swanning off around the world and to pay off the mortgage for their home. I forgot that she is the only child to have gone missing in history
What is wrong with you two? Can you honestly be that heartless to be so flippant about the sad disappearance of that innocent little girl? You both should be ashamed.
For the record, I don't believe this is about Maddie McCann - throwing this in to a trailer is just insane. The backlash would have been horrific, in the same way saying 'Diana, watch out for that bridge' would have been...
That said, I bet Bungie knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they added this in. It might not be a direct Maddie reference, but I guarantee they knew it might be interpreted that way. They almost certainly have a defense planned already for the inevitable conclusion jump.
Madeline McCann has been fitted with a pair of concrete boots by her mum and dad who have used the fund created by her disappearance to go swanning off around the world and to pay off the mortgage for their home. I forgot that she is the only child to have gone missing in history
Woah there matey. I dont think anyone is saying that Madeline McCann was the only child to ever have gone missing, but she is a child and she did go missing. And if anyone wants to make cheap comments about that then that is their perogative, Im not saying that you cant laugh and joke about things, hey I think anything is fair game to have a laugh at but there is a time and a place and some of the comments on here (a Computer Related Website) show that this isnt the time or place.
I hope something like this never happens to you or anyone you know, if it did im sure you wouldnt want to read flippant throwaway comments when you come on to read some news about Gaming.
CVG, with some of the trolls on here you should have known better.
The fact that an innocuous screen, taken out of context, could be construed as a cheap reference to the McCann case smacks of precisely the tabloid reactionism which has carried public interest in the case this far. The "controversy" is no surprise - if the aforementioned tabloid reactionism didn't exist, most people wouldn't even remember the name Madeleine McCann, and they DEFINITELY wouldn't be referring to her as "Maddie".
Tell me about it. I live in Leicester and the papers have been full of it, the local rag being the worst.
If it had been some Chav who'd left her kid in a Spanish hotel while she'd gone boozing on holiday social services would have been called in anf the kid taken into care, but because the McCanns are both in the medical profession there's not a word about social services, or abandonment charges.
If it had been some Chav who'd left her kid in a Spanish hotel while she'd gone boozing on holiday social services would have been called in anf the kid taken into care, but because the McCanns are both in the medical profession there's not a word about social services, or abandonment charges.
Precisely my thinking since the day I heard they were out at a tapas bar when the child went missing. Fair enough, loosing a child is horrible but like someone said, children go missing all over the world everyday.
And then you get idiots thinking they can cash in as the McCanns have. Shannon Matthews anyone?
The story of Maddie McCann was not a very jolly story at all, everyone agrees on that. It would be the happiest ending possible if she was found alive and unharmed, and I still hope that might happen. But the controversy it's had is ridiculous. Articles about Maddie would plague the covers of every newspaper for around six months and they still appear every now and again to this very day. And not one of these articles really showed that there was any progress to the case. It's been unfair as well that anything referenced to the name Maddy, or a missing child would cause films or books either to be delayed or put in the scrapper. Gone Baby Gone by Ben Afflek was a film I had wanted to see for a long time, but as it happened, it included a missing little girl in it, which caused it to be delayed for much too long. It's not that I don't care about Maddie, it's just by now, the whole thing's seems to be a bit of a joke. The news that was important back then was always overshadowed by Maddie stories and rumors. People have died during the period of time Maddie plagued the press, and too much was focused on her rather than those who were officially killed. So my opinion on this Halo thing is: Leave it alone, nobody cares, even if it has anything at all to be done with Maddy, how does it matter? If the parents have agreed to make a film about her (which is just plain stupid), how on earth could one sentence from a trailer be any worse than that? Everyone in Britain's heard about Maddy, sparking all this controversy isn't fair. An innocent young child deserves better than to have people spewing out conspiracies and non stop rumors towards her.
I can see where Dajmin is coming from. You have to look at the controversary caused by Rockstar with San Andreas and Bully/Canis canem edit, it didn't exactly affect sales in a bad way.
I must admit. We have a Jack Russell at home that goes by the name of Maddie. She is about 5 years old. When walking her and I call her I see the looks I get. It's written all over their faces.
In one of the Halo books, master chief is talking to Linda (one of the other spartans) and he accidentally refers to her as Maddie, it has absolutely nothing to do with the missing child.
Who is, as we all know, buried in some woods in Portugal.
Madeline McCann has been fitted with a pair of concrete boots by her mum and dad who have used the fund created by her disappearance to go swanning off around the world and to pay off the mortgage for their home. I forgot that she is the only child to have gone missing in history
What is wrong with you two? Can you honestly be that heartless to be so flippant about the sad disappearance of that innocent little girl? You both should be ashamed.
For the record, I don't believe this is about Maddie McCann - throwing this in to a trailer is just insane. The backlash would have been horrific, in the same way saying 'Diana, watch out for that bridge' would have been...
That said, I bet Bungie knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they added this in. It might not be a direct Maddie reference, but I guarantee they knew it might be interpreted that way. They almost certainly have a defense planned already for the inevitable conclusion jump.
I'm not heartless, just a realist. The whole thing surrounding the case leads me to believe that she wasn't kidnapped. As somebody put in a post before, if it was a chav couple then they would have been strung up but because it was a couple within the medical profession they get s**t loads of money thrown at them which they've used to pay off their mortgage and go off to America and places like that!Its b******s. Nothing like a missing child to pull on the heart and purse strings.
is there now a monopoly on the name maddie or something? for crying out loud no one seems to complain if someone named their first born son jesus in spain. They got on with their lives.
Personally everyone is making a fuss over nothing. A name is a name. If there was a direct link (ie surname, picture, news footage etc) then there might be an argument. currently its just hype and frankly bungie aren't stupid or were aware at the time that maddie was missing.
is there now a monopoly on the name maddie or something? for crying out loud no one seems to complain if someone named their first born son jesus in spain. They got on with their lives.
Personally everyone is making a fuss over nothing. A name is a name. If there was a direct link (ie surname, picture, news footage etc) then there might be an argument. currently its just hype and frankly bungie aren't stupid or were aware at the time that maddie was missing.
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