Chaos as EA Gives Away Free Petrol in London

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  • =98=
    Member
    • Oct 2006
    • 10299

    #1

    Chaos as EA Gives Away Free Petrol in London

    The BBC has reported that with the upcoming release of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Electronic Arts took over a petrol station in Finsbury Park, north London. They allowed drivers to fill up with £40's worth of Petrol/Diesel, but with costs of petrol reaching £1.20/litre ($2.40), they substantially underestimated demand. Here is what they had to say:
    There have been angry scenes between motorists at a petrol station which is giving away £20,000 worth of fuel.

    Electronic Arts has taken over the Last Stop garage in Finsbury Park, north London, to promote the game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

    By 0730 BST, more than 150 customers had taken advantage of the offer, which allows drivers to put up to £40-worth of fuel in their tanks for nothing.

    Security staff are on hand to control the traffic and deal with rowdy customers.

    And they were needed as tempers were starting to fray during the rush-hour. Car horns sounded repeatedly as drivers on the other side of the road got snarled up in the congestion.

    But customers filling up for nothing were very happy. Prince Davis, 37, who queued patiently for a quarter of an hour for free petrol, said: "This is a genius idea, whoever thought of this should be promoted. I'll definitely be buying the game, you're never too old to play computer games."

    Louise Marchant, from Electronic Arts, said the scenes of queuing mimicked aspects of the game.

    She explained: "It's set in Venezuela, you play a mercenary and fuel is used as a currency."

    But one local resident was less than impressed.

    The woman, who did not wish to be named, said: "What an extraordinary thing to do, it's totally irresponsible. I can't believe they've been allowed to do it.

    "This area is usually very quiet but look at it now, there's cars queuing everywhere. It's just creating unnecessary problems."

    Source



    Be sure to leave your feedback in this thread, especially if you were in the queue or filling up!
  • Oli

    #2
    Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

    Finsbury Park is so close to me aswell :awes

    If only I had known sooner.

    Comment

    • AeroTow

      #3
      Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

      What did they expect when gas is $10 a gallon here!

      Comment

      • =98=
        Member
        • Oct 2006
        • 10299

        #4
        Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

        Originally posted by AeroTow
        What did they expect when gas is $10 a gallon here!
        Why are you using American measurements?

        Comment

        • AllFoamNoBeer
          Member
          • Apr 2007
          • 4034

          #5
          Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

          Why not?

          Comment

          • =98=
            Member
            • Oct 2006
            • 10299

            #6
            Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

            Just wondering why a bloke from Scotland was using $ and gallons.

            Comment

            • AllFoamNoBeer
              Member
              • Apr 2007
              • 4034

              #7
              Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

              That Scot is a SPY!

              Comment

              • AeroTow

                #8
                Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                I used the $ because it makes the cost sound more horrific :P Plus americans dont realise how cheap fuel is over there.

                Plus, maybe im an American living in Scotland, maybe im a spy, Ye will never know!

                Comment

                • Eagle101

                  #9
                  Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                  Oh dear, i wonder what will happen if there were a riot over fuel, which i guess one day there will be.

                  Comment

                  • CptainCrunch
                    I am the 1%
                    • Oct 2007
                    • 12976

                    #10
                    Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                    There was an article around here somewhere saying they were going to do that.

                    Im mostly posting because I said it was going to turn ugly EA likes it ugly.

                    Crunch

                    Here it is and it was for LA, not London. They are doing it at a number of locations.

                    Homepage for Total Gaming Network and CS-Nation. Get the latest video game news, previews, and reviews on a daily basis.


                    Dont know how LA turned out. Since there was no news, I guess no one made it out alive.

                    Crunch
                    Twitter: @CptainCrunch
                    Battlelog/Origin: CptainCrunch

                    Comment

                    • Punis[XII]

                      #11
                      Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                      if only i had know sooner :cry:

                      Comment

                      • AvalancheDiode
                        Need more squeezing
                        • Jan 2007
                        • 988

                        #12
                        Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                        Hey! People in Chicagoland need free gas, too. As least Londoners have good (albeit expensive) underground while we only have the lame L-train. :censored:

                        Comment

                        • Stev0esque
                          5t3v0 (I miss leetspeech)
                          • Feb 2008
                          • 6786

                          #13
                          Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                          I wonder how many copies of the game will they have to sell to get back lost profits from this.

                          Comment

                          • TheEn|gma
                            Member
                            • Jun 2005
                            • 5247

                            #14
                            Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                            Originally posted by randomguy114
                            I wonder how many copies of the game will they have to sell to get back lost profits from this.
                            or how large their profit margins are to accommodate for such a large give-away

                            Comment

                            • teetsaar123
                              Random egoistic commenter
                              • Apr 2006
                              • 605

                              #15
                              Re: Chaos as EA give away free petrol in London

                              Don't have a car- don't care.

                              Comment

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