Metroid Prime 2 Buzz Begins

Amidst all the hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto and Halo, Nintendo's big hitter seemed to have disappeared into the background. With Metroid Prime 2: Echoes only a mere 14 days away for release in the US the marketing machine seems to have really kicked into gear. Halo gamers will no doubt remember the whole ilovebees.com fiasco earlier this year, a site designed to hype up Halo 2 indirectly under the farce of a site about Bees, Nintendo and Retro seems to have taken Halo's campaign and pulled a Metroid satire over it.

With 32 websites rhyming with http://www.ilovebees.com/ like http://www.ilovebeams.com/, http://www.ilovekeys.com/ and http://www.iloveflees.com/ clicking on the links you'll see the phrase "ALL YOUR BEES ARE BELONG TO US. NEVER SEND A MAN TO DO A WOMAN'S JOB.". Veteran gamers will no doubt see the joke there with a twist on the Sega Mega Drive game Zero Wing's poor translation. The second sentence is more than likely a shot at the Chief himself.

Late last month websites Channel 51 and Orbis Labs were set up, the first being a website dedicated to the paranormal and is supposed run by someone named Samantha Manus which co-incidentally sounds a lot like Samus Aran; the heroine from the Metroid series. The second website is all about scientists whom are developing warfare technology to allow soldiers to morph into "battle spheres" much like Samus can transform into her Morph Ball.

It's interesting to see the subtle and indirect advertising hype up a game so much, even moreso than say a website actually dedicated to the game! We can be sure to see a lot more of these websites pop up in the future to tie in with other hot titles. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is currently slated for a December 3rd release here in New Zealand with a Recommended Retail Price of $119.95. As always hop (or double-jump) on over to our forums to share your thoughts!