Just before this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Sony lifted the lid on its newly-modelled Playstation 3 console.

While many of us were hoping for even a tiny snippet of news on the next generation of consoles, Sony is still busy squeezing the few last drops of juice out of its multi-million-selling game machine, and, in an effort to cut production costs and shift a few more units before going next-gen, has somehow managed to shave a few more inches off the console’s size, giving it a facelift in the process.

Eager to show off their newest toy, a brand new ad campaign for the console hit Japanese TV late last week, drawing consumers’ attention to the machine’s snazzy new lines and bragging about its smaller size.

And then something a little bit unexpected happens.

For those of you living outside of Japan or who haven’t had chance to catch the commercial live on the air, here’s the video in full.

Be sure to turn your speakers up to experience the ad as it was originally intended!

Just as the ad is coming to an end, the console’s horizontally-sliding disc tray flies open, and a menacing zombie hand shoots out to grab the unsuspecting viewer.

While it’s not a particularly graphic image –especially considering that the game it advertises, Biohazard 6 (Resident Evil 6 to westerners), is pretty hardcore– and is unlikely to scare many people old enough to buy one of the consoles for themselves, the soft, bouncy background music playing from the start of the ad does a great job of luring the viewer into a false sense of security.

One moment we’re being treated to close-ups of the console from a multitude of angles, learning all about its generous disk space and reduction in overall size… and then, with that menacing shriek, a zombie is trying to grab our faces.

Rounded off with the word “deru!” (“It comes out!”), the ad  has proven to be quite a hit online, and is likely to stick in consumers’ minds for some time.

“So, the new model has things in it that will periodically grab me!?” laughed one internet commenter. “Marketing consoles with monsters inside won’t be easy for them…” joked another.

Sony have something of a reputation for creating commercials that shock or simply confuse consumers, with many of their ad campaigns being removed from our screens after just a few days of going live. While the company’s newest ad isn’t quite as shocking as some we’ve seen down the line, airing it during the daytime might well result in the ad being pulled, as many netizens are already suggesting.

“Scaring little kids- that’s one way to get noticed!”

Thankfully, I only own the “regular” model of the console that was released a couple of years ago. Nothing evil could possibly crawl out of that slim disc slot to get me.

Could it?

Source: Itai News