Well this is typical edgy PR bullshit that seems designed to create controversy rather than positive press but its hardly the first time. The godather brass knuckles have been mentioned and there was Sony's decapitated goat

Bah, this kind of PR reminds me why it's so good to be a male.

awesome
they alienate female gamers by dismissing them as potential customers and instead presenting them as prizes.
they alienate devout Christians by presenting them as laughable, irrational fundies.
they alienate fans of the original work by raving about how DUDE!AWESOME it is when Dante gets shoved up Cerberus' ass.
I can't wait for the next episode! Who will they target next? The suspense is killing me.

They still manage to get the game talked about, which is what they were aiming for with this.

PC gamers when it only comes out on consoles and then 360 gamers when its a timed PS3 exclusive like ghostbusters?

the "all publicity is good publicity" shtick is really dated, especially when you're dealing with a cynical, media savvy group like gamers. Gamers tend to assume a game must be really shitty if a company has to resort to desperate measures to draw attention.
Aliasalpha- I like the way you think. They should hire you.

That reminds me of a conversation I overheard in a game store a few years ago.
Customer: "Hey man, how's that Manhunt?"
Sales rep: "It's been banned in three states." (not actually true, I think)
Customer: "Aight, lemme get that."

Gamers? Cynical and media savvy? That's why excrements like Mass Effect or Fallout 3 get hailed as best rpg EVAR? Or why a game like HL2 is considered to have a deep storyline simply because there are holes in the plot?
Yeah, right.

Well, you 're certainly fit for the 'cynical' part. :P

Everyone is a Simon Cowell.

uhhh.... how does any of that contradicts what I said? I never said gamers had good taste.
(and I've yet to play those games so I can't really agree/disagree)

It's been a while since I played HL2, but I don't remember any plot holes.
Care to enlighten me?

While this stunt here might not aim to get people to buy the game, it will bring their attention to the name. All their cynicism and media savvyness won't go between their wallet and EA's bank account.
Not plot holes, more like holes in the plot, like stuff that is left unexplained, like why do everyone believes GF is a messiah, what's the deal with the Combine and the vortigaunts, who's the G-Man and his plans, etc. Some of these elements may not really need to be explained after all, but my point was that HL2 fanboïswill just yell at "genius!" because of it while the whole thing is pretty simplistic and not really told well, despite being cynics and media savvy.

I don't really understand why there is so much butthurt over the way they have used Dante's Inferno to spin an action game out of it. There are plenty of other examples noone cares about. How closely does God of War stick to greek mythology? The Dune games had very little in common with the books themselves except the names and the planet. So how comes the divine comedy gets special treatment?
As far as the competition goes it is very stupid and very likely insulting to some people. but then again noone seems to complain too loudly about the 'booth babes' that will be at the event anyway. Just that EA wants you to send in pics of you with them.

I see where you're coming from.
First of all, my main beef with it is that they stole the commonly used name of the Inferno in order to portray their bastardization of it. If they had a title like, say, (bad example) Hellacious Horrors, I wouldn't have a problem with it, even if they said that it was influenced by Dante's depiction of hell because it wouldn't be essentially saying that it was just a video game adaption of the epic poem.
As far as I know, there's no Greek myth called God of War, and God of War is a quite a bit more applicable to the source material, as Greek myths tend to have violence and gore involving the main character, which Dante's Inferno definitely does not.
The Dune game which, admittedly, I have not played, seems to be similar in tone and is supposed to be loosely based upon the story. However, if I had been older than three at the time, familiar with the books, had access to a location where I could be "butthurt" and people could hear me, and aware that the game was a bastardization of the novels, then I would complain about it as well.