Beating Volvo’s insane, completely self-parking car to the And Finally spot this week, is a hark back to the olden days of the internet. Back then, one of its key uses, a raison d’être even, was to find video game cheats. Few gamers of the 90s will deny otherwise.
And one of the more famous cheat codes belonged to game creators Konami. Across their suite of published titles, tapping the code Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, b, a, could unlock a feast of hidden treats and bonuses; level-ups and weaponry. So it came as something of a surprise this week when several Condé Nast websites, most notably Vogue.co.uk, began reacting to the famous cheat code… with dinosaurs bopping across the screen, dressed in fancy hats. If you haven’t already, go and [Play].
The stunt by the website coders (some initially wondered if the site had been hacked) taps cleverly into the nostalgia of millions, and will undoubtedly have caused a huge spike in traffic as the fun went viral. Perhaps more interestingly, maybe this is the start of a renaissance of the old ‘cheat’ culture, for which many brand websites could find some fun and even compelling uses…
