‘GRAND THEFT AUTO V’ hype machine begins with viral ‘Epsilon Program’ site dogging Scientology.

Vroom! Vroom! That’s the awful-pun sounds of Grand Theft Auto V‘s marketing campaign kicking off. Ain’t never been no sacred cows in the line of this franchise, and now it appears that Scientology will be getting dragged through the mud in the fifth installment. Fantastic.

Joystiq:

A Twitter account for something called the “Epsilon Program” has materialized in the past few days, linking off to a freaky (and annoying) website for a pseudo-religion called “KIFFLOM”, registered by Take Two Software.

The site features a thinly-veiled parody of the real-life Scientology organization and includes such hilarious “facts” as: “If you have a birth mark, you may be descended from Kraff, the famous Emperor of the 4th Paradigm.” Considering that the next iteration of GTAis set in a faux Los Angeles and that the Epsilon Program was featured in a gags found within GTA: San Andreas, odds are good that we’re looking at an early viral campaign for Grand Theft Auto 5. Good timing, since only yesterday investors were asking why the hype train for GTA 5 had not yet left the station.

What does it tell us about the game? Nothing at all. But investors were wondering where the marketing was, and Take Two appears to have answered right away.

Awesome.