LOOK INTO OUR EYES...
Buena Vista Games Hypnotises Official Xbox Magazine In Groundbreaking PR Project
In a video game magazine first, Buena Vista Games successfully hypnotised the Deputy Editor of the Official Xbox Magazine, Mark Robins, and age-regressed him to ten years old in a groundbreaking project that saw Mark review the Xbox release of Disney and Walden Media Presents The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe through the eyes of the game's intended market.

Taking place in Future's London offices and lasting around 45 minutes, the hypnosis session was undertaken by Mark Howe, a professional and seasoned hypnotist, and will appear as part of a four-page feature in the April issue of The Official Xbox Magazine, on-sale 16th March. Video footage of the hypnosis session will also appear on the Official Xbox Magazine's covermount disk.

"The idea of hypnotising someone into believing they're a ten year old to review a game was so unique that I simply had to get involved, even if it was just to see how it would turn out," commented Mark Robins, Official Xbox Magazine Deputy Editor. "Luckily I've come out the other end mentally unscathed and I even had my fear of flying cured to boot. I'm amazed it worked so well: I can't usually remember what I was up to last week, let alone twenty years ago."

"The Chronicles of Narnia is a computer and video game aimed at 8-12 year old boys and girls and finding anyone in that age bracket that has both the journalism experience and gaming skill to articulate a full and fair review has been impossible, until now," commented Mark Ward, on behalf of Buena Vista Games. "I had to promise that we wouldn't plant any other suggestions while Mark was 'under' and I've stood by my word. That said, he's been clucking like a chicken ever since."

Developed by UK-based Traveller's Tales, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is out now for PS2, PC, DS and GBA and will be published by Buena Vista Games for Xbox and GameCube on 31st March 2006.

Ok, it's a fun gag... a nifty PR stunt, but they can't be freakin serious, can they?!? I mean, god forbid you let the target audience actually see if they like it.
(Sarcasm alert) Because you know, it would be totally unreasonable to let a bunch of kids in the target age bracket play it, develop an opinion of it, relate their opinions to to a journalist who can write the story in a fashion that's acceptable to be printed in the magazine...Heck, what am i saying, this is a brilliant idea! You see, when i thought about attempting to get a PHD, i always thought that i'd have to actually go through the bother of a case study with interviews of a wide range of individuals. But, thanks to Buena Vista and XBox Magazine, i see that this isn't the case at all. I can just be hypnotized into believing that i'm different people to get the research results that i want! What a great idea! H3ll, maybe i'll just hypnotize myself and i won't even have to leave the house. I'm sure that will go over well with the academic establishment. :crazy: (end sarcasm)