Watch Dogs promotion goes horribly wrong, brings out the bomb squad

When you're making a video game about a cyber terrorist, you might want to be extra careful about how you promote it.
Police in Sydney sent the bomb squad to the offices of a major online outlet after the site received an anonymous black safe that began beeping when staffers tried to open it.
The black safe arrived at the offices of Ninemsn Tuesday along with a letter telling the recipient to "check your voicemail." That voicemail message apparently held a PIN code that would open the safe. Except when the code was entered, the safe began to beep.
That's when the newsroom was cleared and the bomb squad was called in. When the safe was opened, police found it contained a copy of Ubisoft’s open-world action romp Watch Dogs, an embargo reminder, and a pair of tchotchkes tied to the game.
Ubisoft officials quickly apologized.
"Our team in Australia sent voicemail messages to some local media alerting them that they'd receive a special package related to the game," the publisher said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the delivery to Ninemsn didn't go as planned, and we unreservedly apologize to Ninemsn's staff for the mistake and for any problems caused as a result. We will take additional precautions in the future to ensure this kind of situation doesn't happen again."
Nice sentiment, but this is hardly the first time a promotional effort by a video game company has gone awry.
Last year, police in Connecticut rushed to a local GameStop when they received reports that a man was walking around the area with a gun. He was later found to be hired for the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts. Back in 2011, THQ managed to anger pretty much every environmentalist in San Francisco (a not inconsiderable number, mind you), when it released 10,000 red balloons in the city to promote their shooter, Homefront. Bad weather deflated the balloons, which quickly settled in the bay.
Note to game makers: maybe just settle on a keychain and a hat?

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