Namco hails Chilean miners, causes offence
Publisher pulls Mr Driller image, apologises.
Namco Bandai has removed an image of Mr Driller from its website that it created to celebrate the successful rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners earlier this week.
The Japanese publisher posted the image on its Twitter feed. It shows its Mr Driller character, some kind of cute puppy, the Chilean flag and a cheery message which translates as "Welcome back!".
Apparently though, some deemed this highly offensive, and Namco Bandai has since removed the image, tweeting, "We would like to offer a profound apology to everyone. It was inexcusable."
We're off in search of a Chilean miner for comment. We'll update if we can dig one up.
Mr Driller's last videogame appearance was on WiiWare last year in a revamp of his classic jewel-excavating puzzle formula.