This past Sunday, the standard superbowl advertisements focused on beer, babes and general safe tomfoolery, were briefly interrupted with a stirring glimpse of Hell. Videogame monarch EA tapped Wieden+Kennedy back last spring to create a massive ad campaign dubbed “Nine Months of Hell” in anticipation of the Dante’s Inferno’s launch, which was capped with Sunday’s superbowl ad. Blur was in charge of the production, proving that they are still one of the best when it comes to videogame cinematics. The choice to use the moody classic song “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers as a contrast to the violent imagery was very similar to Joseph Kosinski’s Gears of War trailer, but still effective.
To go along with the massive ad campaign will be a series of nine animated shorts ala Animatrix. Nine different directors will create shorts about each circle of hell that Dante descends through on his journey to save Beatrice (which I’m sure will be very close to Dante Alighieri original text).