In a first for EMERGE, we are tooting the horn of our own colleagues over at BSSP, who have created a really fascinating set of promotional tools to generate some viral momentum behind the release of Star Wars Empire At War: Forces of Corruption, the latest in the storied video game franchise developed by LucasArts. Central to the game is a new character in the Star Wars universe, a power-hungry badass a la Tony Montana called Tyber Zann. The viral campaign intends to get people asking "who the hell is Tyber Zann?"

While everybody else is breaking their necks creating heavy, flash-driven websites so overladen with bells and whistles as to completely overwhelm ease-of-use and functionality, Corruptioniscontrol is a bare-bones HTML site, giving the vibe of an ad-hoc underground webpage, a detail reinforced by the small arsenal of renegade viral tools provided to visitors.

The site provides a PDF document called the Underworld Toolkit which contains stencils, preformatted stickers, and a poster of Tyber Zann to be printed and sniped (legally of course!) by the visitor. Reminiscent of Shepard Fairey's iconic OBEY campaigns, the Underworld Toolkit lets users bring Zann's Underworld organization to life here on Earth.

Additionally Corruptioniscontrol invites visitors to call in to live radio shows to wreak havoc by exclaiming "I've been corrupted by Tyber Zann!" Proof will earn a mysterious reward upon delivery to Corruptioniscontrol via email.

The most exciting tool however is a unique web application BSSP created especially for this project. Entitled The Corruptor, which invites visitors to enter any URL and then demonstrates just how Tyber Zann and his shadowy Underworld spread corruption. Simple, easy-to-use and highly effective, The Corruptor is a fascinating viral plaything: disrupting, altering, warping and otherwise distorting any webpage into a bizarre window into Zann's Underworld agenda.

If the game is half as fun and twisted as The Corruptor, LucasArts have a winner on their hands.

It appears you don't have Flash installed.