Kirby knits up London borough

London is no stranger to outlandish video-game-themed publicity stunts. The British capital was the target for Capcom in August of last year, when the Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality (CURE) descended on the Houses of Parliament to promote zombie awareness in aid of Dead Rising 2. Then, a month later a jet-powered Halo trooper flew into Trafalgar square to promote the launch of Halo: Reach.

Nintendo was the latest publisher to appeal to the people of London today, with its campaign to brighten up the "grayest area in the UK in aid of Kirby's Epic Yarn. The publicity stunt involved guerilla knitting group Knit the City, who re-created Kirby and friends out of wool and dropped them into Elephant and Castle roundabout. The publisher also gave away 20 copies of the game to members of the public who attended.

In a survey Nintendo commissioned from pollsters YouGov, 32 percent of Londoners voted Elephant and Castle, which sits in the borough of Southwark, as the grayest in the UK. Kirby's Epic Yarn finally reaches Europe this week, with the game launching on Friday 25 February on the Nintendo Wii. The game has been available in the US since October 2010. To find out more, be sure to check out our full review.