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Burger King's Disturbing Games 200

Posted by Zonk from the make-the-lambs-stop-crying dept.
Gamespot reports on Burger King's disturbing foray into gaming. From the article: "Finally, Sneak King takes the stealth action genre and puts it to a friendlier use than usual. Instead of tiptoeing behind enemy guards to silently snap their necks, players will sneak up on hungry people to surprise them with offerings of Burger King food. Gamers will have to sneak up on people in a logging yard, a construction site, downtown, and the suburbs, and they will be graded on their performance 'based on how elaborate the delivery is executed.' This is not the King's first visit to the world of gaming. The genuinely off-putting monarch of meat appeared in Electronic Arts' Fight Night Round 3 as an unlockable manager character to accompany your boxer to the ring. " Some screenshots will assist you in understanding how deeply distressing these games are.
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Burger King's Disturbing Games More

Burger King's Disturbing Games

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  • Very disturbing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @10:48PM (#16300635)
    Sneaking up on someone and giving them food. How disturbing. Now if you excuse me I have to finish beating this hooker to death with a bat. Thank God GTA doesn't have any questionable material like giving food to hungry people.

    • Re:Very disturbing (Score:5, Funny)

      by fossa ( 212602 ) <pat7.gmx@net> on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @10:59PM (#16300701) Journal

      Define "food". Perhaps the King is using the wonderful cuisine (sic) to off his unfaithful subjects.

      • I can find plenty of things far, far more offensive than games like this.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Monkelectric ( 546685 )
        Seriously. Informal Poll: Does *ANYONE* here like Burger King?

        It seems to me the easiest way to sell more burgers would be to make burgers that didnt taste like crap. But I'm not a marketing exec... so what do I really know?

        • I convinced someone to eat a whole Quad Stacker the other day

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by DeadChobi ( 740395 )
          I like Burger King. The meat is ginormous! I'm gonna walk the mile or so to get me a value meal and a copy of the sneaking game even though I don't own an Xbox. Even if you hate the food, it's a steal for such an awesome piece of memoribilia.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Have Blue ( 616 )
            And if you absolutely cannot stand to eat Burger King food because your stomach will explode or something, just throw the food away or give it to a homeless guy or something. Think of it as a $10 game and it's still a steal.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by Walt Dismal ( 534799 )
          Not only do I find the Burger King character creepy to the max, but I just KNOW it's Mark Foley behind that mask. I've seen him sneaking up to some Congressional page's patio window in the early morning to offer him a fried egg. Can't get much weirder than that.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by gomoX ( 618462 )
          I'm in Argentina and Burger King is better than McDonald's in every single way except for fries. The burgers are way bigger, tastier and cheaper. I'm not going back the M place.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Mr2001 ( 90979 )
          They're better than McDonald's, but they're no Wendy's or A&W.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
            Wendy's burgers suck. It's like eating a tasteless piece of cardboard with a decent bun. Their fries are good, though.

            For burgers, no one can touch Burger King and White Castle/Krystals.

            -Eric

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by mgblst ( 80109 )
              Agreed, Wendys taste weird - they are the square ones? BK, Maccas - they aren't much different, with Mcdonalds winning the award for the same taste and consistency no matter what burger you order, or what part of it you eat. All these joints are desigined to offend the least number of people, rather than to actually appeal to anyone.

              The best is Fudruckers, how can anyone argue.
        • Much more than McDonalds. Obviously neither of them really resemble a real burger or indeed real food, but BK are considerably closer.

          *shrug* then again I'm in the UK, perhaps they serve up completely different fare over there (it's not unheard of).
        • Burger King is waaay better than MickeyD's. I'm going to guess you're one of those White Castle freaks. /shutter

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by orasio ( 188021 )
          I live in Montevideo, Uruguay, and we have plenty of MacDonalds, just one Burger King, and no more foreign fast food franchises (well, one Subway, but does it count?).
          Given those choices, Burger Kings double whopper is the only franchised stuff I actually enjoy. We are used to eating more beef around here.

          Aside from that, I would much rather have a "chivito", that is the same kind of sandwich as a whopper, but made with "lomo", that is the highest quality beef you can take from a cow, instead of the mistery

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by glittalogik ( 837604 )
        Want to off someone with food? Can't go wrong with a Luther Burger [wikipedia.org]!

        Some versions of the Luther Burger are made with two donuts. At other times, a single donut is cut in half and grilled after the meat has been cooked separately; the donut halves are placed around the meat glazed-side-in, and the whole sandwich is flattened on the grill and cooked briefly to allow for somewhat less messy consumption. They often include cheese and/or bacon but normally no vegetables or condiments such as ketchup, mustard,

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Sneaking up on someone and giving them food. How disturbing. Now if you excuse me I have to finish beating this hooker to death with a bat. Thank God GTA doesn't have any questionable material like giving food to hungry people.

      It does if you use the Hot Burger patch.

      But I've said too much.

    • Re:Very disturbing (Score:4, Interesting)

      by I Like Pudding ( 323363 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:23PM (#16300851)
      > Thank God GTA doesn't have any questionable material like giving food to hungry people.

      Have you seen any Burger King commercials? I'll take ultraviolence over depraved food wanker w/ supersized frozen visage any day of the week.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      After taking a look at the nutritional values of Burger King food I think your victim would be better off getting the bat. At least they would get a quick death instead of years of obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes. Oh, and having to eat food that is completely unsatisfying to the soul. Which one is really the most humane way to go?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by exley ( 221867 )
      Sure, but at least you can understand beating a hooker to death with a baseball bat. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but at least it's a plausible scenario. On the other hand, running around dressed in that outfit and force-feeding unsuspecting people... Yeah, that'd happen.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
        Wait a minute, you mean hookers DON'T deserve to be killed?!?!

        Damn you, voice inside my head!! YOU USED ME!!! YOU USED ME!!!

        -Eric

    • Someimes I wish real life was more like games. Especially now I'm hungry.

      *silently prays*

  • Bad Idea (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @10:51PM (#16300651) Journal
    This will draw as much traffic as giving away free AOL disks.

    360 users can get new pop-cap, low-end games (and some pretty good ones, too) for free or pay $4 for full versions on Live. These games, however, aren't good enough to give BK three Michellin stars ('worth a special trip') - they should give the games for free on XBL Marketplace to boost brand.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by The PS3 Will Fail ( 998952 )

      "These games, however, aren't good enough to give BK three Michellin stars ('worth a special trip') - they should give the games for free on XBL Marketplace to boost brand."

      You're judging the quality of these games on some screenshots and nothing more. You have not played these games so you really don't know if they are good or not.

      "360 users can get new pop-cap, low-end games (and some pretty good ones, too) for free or pay $4 for full versions on Live."

      So the exact price that BK is going to charge in

      • Re:Bad Idea (Score:5, Funny)

        by crazyeddie740 ( 785275 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:21PM (#16300833) Journal
        People don't RTFA, you expect them to PTFG?
      • Actually, I saw three screen shots and descriptions of the game posted on a more reliable gaming news site here [joystiq.com].

        I'm not saying these are going to be awful games, just that they won't rate a kid going to visit BK when they have XBL.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DingerX ( 847589 )
        Actually, Burger King had three stars for several decades. It was only when the story leaked that Subservient Chicken was taking bribes in exchange for favorable selection of Idaho spuds that the King lost his star. Since then, he's been sneaking around, trying to catch the leaker who flame-broiled his glory.

  • Burger King masters viral marketing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by generic-man ( 33649 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @10:54PM (#16300669) Homepage Journal
    Once again Burger King's ad agency has drummed up publicity by getting the media (including the non-mainstream independent therefore more trustworthy blogomedianetsphere dot org) talking about Burger King. The number of people who will boycott BK forever is vastly outnumbered by the number of people who are more aware of BK. Kudos to them.
    • Is there anyone who isn't aware of Burger King at this point who will suddenly see this and say to themselves "hmm, the creepy guy sneaking up on people makes me want to buy a burger from a multinational chain"? Then again, I doubt it will make anyone boycott Burger King either, so it really doesn't matter. For the record, I don't like BK because I don't enjoy fast food burgers (or most other kinds of fast food).

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by kestasjk ( 933987 )
      It beats offering plastic garfield toys, that's for sure. Too bad their burgers are so disgusting.

  • Keep advertising out of regular games... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ConfusedSelfHating ( 1000521 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @10:56PM (#16300681)
    I had the misfortune of playing Rainbow Six: Lockdown on the PC. A third of the walls in the game were covered in advertising. And it was the same ad! First it was the DVD release of Silent Hill and then it was an Audi ad. But it would be the same ad for the entire level, you would literally see it 50 times.

    Make all of the Burger King, Goldman Sachs or Astroglide games you want. Just keep the advertising out of the regular games!

    • Re:Keep advertising out of regular games... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Enoxice ( 993945 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:10PM (#16300769) Journal
      Or, better still, they could make a Burger King AND Astoglide game! You play as the King, and you have to sneak up on people, give them their Whopper, then, as they are distracted by eating the oh-so-delicious food, you have to...well, uh, you get the idea.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hmccabe ( 465882 )
      I believe, in time, the advertising will become less annoying. If a game took place in the modern day, I wouldn't mind seeing an ad for an upcoming movie or a popular band on a billboard. I could also see it being something like the Gap selling clothes for your avatar, and advertising the in-game store on in-game media - in the end, it would still create brand awareness. Some games, great games, will be like Tarantino films which avoid any and all advertisements in them and you'll love them more for it.

      • Re:Keep advertising out of regular games... (Score:5, Funny)

        by freeweed ( 309734 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2006 @07:53AM (#16303149)
        I believe, in time, the advertising will become less annoying.

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA

        *pause for breath*

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

        *choke* *breathe*

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. oh man... wait... *cough* *snort* HAHA *giggle* ... seriously ....

        *chortle*

        Have you actually SEEN how advertising has changed over the years?

        Less annoying? LESS?

        *snicker*

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by festers ( 106163 )
          Seriously. There used to be a time when radio DJs would read the adverts over the air. It would make for a much less jarring experience than the current cacophony of crap we have on today's radio stations. In Chicago, we have one station, the classical music station, that has the DJs read the ads and I don't mind hearing them at all. WXRT will also read some ads (Hello Walter E Smith furnature) and those are always the least annoying ones to hear.

          It seems advertisers have gone out of their way to make t
        • Anecdote: Finally "upgraded" from NCAA Football 2004 to NCAA Football 2006. Now there are in-game ads. "We would like to remind you this Red Zone play brought to you by Red Zone deoderant"

          It is very annoying. I should have stuck with 2004.
    • I think everyone would get something out of Porsche ads in WWII games. Something like "Mein Panzer uber Ford". :P
    • Make all of the Burger King, Goldman Sachs or Astroglide games you want.

      Is the Astroglide game single player or multiplayer? And better yet, is it massively multiplayer?

  • Pardon me, but.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ampathee ( 682788 )
    What the hell does the submitter have against Burger King?

    • Re:Pardon me, but.. (Score:5, Informative)

      by DurendalMac ( 736637 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:02PM (#16300715)
      He is one of the many that was disturbed and creeped out by those commercials with The King waking up in bed next to the poor soul. I'm sorry, but The King is one of the most off-putting ad mascots ever.
      • Count me as another one of the large number of people creeped out by that advertising character. I've often commented that if he showed up in any of those situations with me, he'd gain several pounds worth of steel in the unplesant (for him anyway) way.

      • I'm sorry, gotta disagree (Score:5, Informative)

        by everphilski ( 877346 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:20PM (#16300821) Journal
        The King commercials are a corny kind of funny that is different from the mainstream (mostly lame) humor that is always showing on TV. A king in full rainment doing the craziest stuff - from slapping steelworkers 60 stories up to sacking quaterbacks to cruising down the highway picking up the ladies (I swear, I watch 1 TV show a week and 1 football game ... I must be the target demographic) ... the commercials are offbeat funny, in a Napolean Dynamite or Kung Pow kinda way. Coveted 18-34 male demographic. Guess they can't get all of 'em.

        • That's exactly what's wrong with TV (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          To each his own. I'm a 18-35 male and I don't watch TV -- I don't own one, and don't want one. Somehow I managed to see these ads, probably at a friend's house. But it's stuff like this that drove me away from TV. They're just aiming for the larger-than-you-think demographic of people who like to think they're above the fray because they appreciate campy, off-beat commercials. These ads are just as lame as all the rest, but they have no point and somehow people think that makes them clever.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by mgblst ( 80109 )
            I disagree, I think it is because they are partly disturbing - which is a risky manouvre for such a Mainstream company. I have seen one where there is this guy in a dark alley, and the king comes up to him and gives him a burger, then stand over him menacingly (this was in the UK). Made me laugh.

            Kudos for you for not having a TV, but what has it got to do with these adds? They give you a reason to get up, if you hate them that much, and do something.

        • Re:I'm sorry, gotta disagree (Score:4, Interesting)

          by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2006 @12:12AM (#16301133)
          The main issue with the commercials is how the face design is so disturbing at medium-close range. In the ultra hated, disturbing commercial where a guy wakes up with The King next to him, hes literally roughly 2 feet away from him. With the same exact grin. Its extremely disturbing since The King was obviously designed to be looked at from a distance or in a logo sized image. Not, "I'm about to kiss you" range.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by plover ( 150551 ) *
            Regardless, their "king" commercials are not nearly as disturbing as their commercials featuring the fake angus self-help guru. There's a guy who creeps me out at least as much as the real Tony Robbins.

            Of course, their ads do seem to work at some level (for some non-standard definition of 'work'.) We all seem to remember them; and even though it's in a negative light I see the self-deprecating humor, which puts them in my grouping of 'not all that bad.'

            Their food, however... Well, let's just say that

        • The last time I watched tv commercials, so long ago that I can't really quite remember when, Hardees was doing a similar sort of bizarro advertising. I still remember one ad that must have gone over the line because the best part was edited out within a week of airing.

          It had the "hardees guy" (I think it had a big head or something) going across the heartland bringing hardees food to the salt of the eart and describing just why hardees food was good for the sale of the earth - there was one line that went

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by eln ( 21727 ) *
            That comment about editing the commercials reminds me of the old Aspercreme commercials. Their little jingle used to be "You bet your sweet Aspercreme," which was incredibly hilarious. Now, though, they've apparently bowed to pressure from their old-folks clientele and changed it to "You bet if it's Aspercreme," which is not funny at all. Damn censorship.
      • The BK King is a 1 on the off-putting scale. The Quizno's "SpongeMonkeys" go to 11.

        http://youtube.com/watch?v=8oRwkPY04qc [youtube.com]
    • That mascot is just... freaky. [ytmnd.com]
    • Apparently, that they can't even give their product away and must employ sneaky, underhanded ninja skills in order to maintain customers?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LoRdTAW ( 99712 )
      Two words:

      Stacker Meal

      Never have I had to shit and throw up after a meal. This game is worse then GTA, giving hungry people poison.

  • Subservient chicken (Score:4, Funny)

    by trinity_definitely ( 944591 ) * on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @10:59PM (#16300705)
    Look, it can't be any scarier than the subservient chicken. Yeesh. If I drink enough and leave a light on, I can almost sleep through the night. http://www.subservientchicken.com/ [subservientchicken.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Gleng ( 537516 )
      I can't believe he actually peed on the couch.

      Although he inexplicably put the cushion on top of the cupboard when I asked him to calculate Pi to 1000000 decimal places.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Alsee ( 515537 )
        inexplicably put the cushion on top of the cupboard when I asked him to calculate Pi to 1000000 decimal places

        With a little experimentation I have an explanation: it is picking up on the single keyword verb "place". So he makes a big deal of placing something somewhere.

        -
    • you're in luck: it looks as though the Subservient Chicken is a playable character in the "pocket bike racing" and "big bumping" games. (or at least makes an appearance)

  • Is it moddable? (Score:5, Funny)

    by chill ( 34294 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:08PM (#16300755) Journal
    This game just cries out for mods.

    Wouldn't BK just be the darling of the media if there was a "Hot Coffee" type of mod, allowing the "King" to deliver his own special meat and dipping sauce to his chosen "Queen".

    A "Godfather" mod could have a dark-suited, Sicilian King making you a Meal Deal you Can't Refuse.

    A "GTA" mod could have the possibility of someone popping a cap in his ass when he jumps out with food.

    The possibilities (for lawsuits) are endless!

  • Better watch out (Score:5, Funny)

    by Y-Crate ( 540566 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:10PM (#16300779)
    Surprising people with free food can land you in court [denverpost.com].

  • Fast food and video games... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bob The Mutant Hamst ( 1005725 ) on Tuesday October 03, 2006 @11:26PM (#16300871)
    ... the two major causes of obesity together at last.
    • "... the two major causes of obesity together at last."

      As funny as that is, it is in fact TRUE. I speak from experience, especially if you are into marathon session gaming. The fact is if you are spending a lot of time gaming that could otherwise be used to exercise.

      And it's not just being "lazy" it's how you've used your time, with some video games (like Civilization series in particular) long segments of time whip by without you really picking up on it, the same goes for other games but when you are eng
  • Silly King can't sneak up on people. He smells like french fries!!
  • BOOYA! I've just been offered food from a guy jumping out of a garbage can at me. How could I possibly turn that down.

  • Ninja Burger (Score:3, Informative)

    by dbIII ( 701233 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2006 @12:30AM (#16301263)
    I'm surprised that no-one has drawn the comparison with the Ninja Burger card game yet.
  • I absolutely love this advertising. It's different and gets people's attention. When's the last time an advertising campaign lasted for two years and maintained this much interest?

    Personally, I find the King to be less creepy than Ronald McDonald.

    • I absolutely love this advertising. It's different and gets people's attention. When's the last time an advertising campaign lasted for two years and maintained this much interest?

      I don't know, how long have the Enzyte ads been running? Or the guy in the dollar bills suit who seems to be a meth-based lifeform? "THE GOVERNMENT IS GIVING AWAY FREE MONEY! MY BOOK TELLS YOU HOW TO GET IT!!!"

      Personally, I find the King to be less creepy than Ronald McDonald.

      Yes, Ronald is creepy, but I've never seen him wa

      • Or the guy in the dollar bills suit who seems to be a meth-based lifeform? "THE GOVERNMENT IS GIVING AWAY FREE MONEY! MY BOOK TELLS YOU HOW TO GET IT!!!"

        That would be Matthew Lesko [wikipedia.org], but it's question marks, not dollar bills.

  • It's a shame that such a wonderful mascot is stuck with such shitty food. I love the King, but I'll choose the other big headed mascot's food any day.
  • Many of the comments in the linked article are people all excited about getting achievement points from these games. I've never used an xbox, so can someone explain why getting these achievement points is such a big deal? My Google search just brought up tons of web sites telling how to get points from various games, and I found a page on the xbox web site that only seemed to indicate to me that it's just bragging rights. Like "w00t! I have 50,000 points! I am so 1337!"

    Is that truly all there is to i

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I don't know whether the points are actually worth anything, but I fear you are greatly overestimating humanity.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
      Why climb a mountain? Why have a hobby? Why do ANYTHING? Why even live?

      Because they can? Because they want to? Because it's there?

      -Eric

  • Why not just make a Burger Time 3D? An updated Burger Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_Time [wikipedia.org] using a modern graphics engine like Doom3? Maybe a grittier version. I mean, if American McGee reinterpreted Alice? They can do it with Burger Time.

  • Burger King Gets It... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TobyRush ( 957946 ) on Wednesday October 04, 2006 @02:11AM (#16301735) Homepage
    ...or at least their ad agency does. The running theme in all their PR material is "we don't take ourselves seriously." The King's vacuum-formed head. The Whopperettes. The tray liners which currently have NFL-like referee calls for various dining-related fouls. The Subservient Chicken. None of these try to be real; they are all laughably NOT real.

    McDonald's could instantly get a lot more street cred if they did the same thing with Mayor McCheese. Or had a big "What in God's Name is Grimace?" campaign. Or had the Hamburgler hanging out with mafiosi, committing white-collar crimes or something. Except now they'd just be copying BK. And really, they take themselves too seriously anyway.

    Good grief, it's after midnight and I'm posting on slashdot about fast food advertising. I think I'm going to go to bed.
  • Burger King's Underground 2: Skateboard off of dumpsters and drive-thru window awnings while you throw french fries at customers and tag their cars with ketchup.
  • Like.. umm.. little black kid and his friend go shooting green ooze on things using Super Soakers?

    Or was that McDonalds?

  • One other poster mentioned it, but didn't provided the link [subservientchicken.com] to The Subservient Chicken [wikipedia.org]. Alternately creepy, and at the same time addictive ! Try making it moonwalk or do yoga :)
  • Last night I went to bed hungry and I had a nightmare that I was racing midget bikes against The Burger King, Brooke Burke, a giant Chicken, and a Whopper Jr., and then today I see THIS! [kotaku.com] Spooky.
  • I'm getting this game. I predict right now that nothing will be more fun than drinking heavily and multi-player Pocket Bike Racer. At any rate, I'm sure it would keep annoying people away if all you wanted to play was Sneak King whenever "that guy" shows up.
  • A bit off-topic, but still...

    While I may or may not agree with BK's ads and marketing techniques, it doesn't change the fact that only three fast food chains offer soy burgers:
    - Burger King (good)
    - Harvey's (good)
    - A&W (weird taste)

    McDonald's doesn't have it anymore (didn't taste good anyway), and other fast food chains aren't in my area (Wendy's, etc).

    So, questionnable ads or not, I only have two fast-food options for a vegan meal when I'm on the road. When you're on the go and in a hurry, burgers and

  • Where is your God now? [encycloped...matica.com]

    The Burger King is an evil homosexual man with a plastic face who runs around terrorizing the Burger populace. It is speculated that he took control of the Burger underground by viciously murdering long-time crime boss The Hamburglar with nothing but a spork and a smile. ... His favorite pastime is sneaking into other mens' hotel rooms at night and penetrating them in their sleep.

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