Sony's unveiled a preorder bonus for LittleBigPlanet Karting: an add-on pack featuring the company's own ostensibly-fictional marketing VP, Kevin Butler, in adorable Sackboy form. The character, who's gained cult popularity as elaborate in-joke between Sony and its customers, will be available to early purchasers of Media Molecule's spinoff – bundled with his own executive golf kart, no less – when it's released later this year.
This is far from the first instance of a marketing mascot making the jump to in-game appearances: the PS3 version of Street Fighter X Tekken featured Japanese Sony mascots Toro and Kuro, and back in the day, logo-to-game crossovers like Titus the Fox were de rigueur for many companies wanting to establish the prestige of their brand. Who'd you like to see step from adverts into games next? We'd pay good money to throw down against Cousin Pete or any of his co-stars from our list of The Top 7 PR disasters.
A 29-year-old PC racing game going cyberpunk anime with Troy Baker, Initial D drifting, and cutscenes from the Metroid: Other M studio sure wasn't on my Game Awards bingo card
A speedrunner just beat Need for Speed: Most Wanted's world record by 90 minutes - by using Half-Life's Gordon Freeman instead of a car
