Deep Silver Apologizes for Mutilated Dead Island Torso

[itsthesheppy]

I really wish I could get hired by major companies to sit in on marketing planning meetings and be paid to just listen and, when they come up with an idea this terrible, just go "Really?!"

I feel it would solve a lot of companies a lot of money. Call me.

 

[SirSodit]

Well I think this shows we've moved on as a society, back in the days of Jack The Ripper you had to make your own mutilated female corpse, now you can get one delivered conveniently to your house. Some people just can't take progress.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Well, at least they're changing it

Hopefully, the new pre-order stuff won't be as stupid as this

EDIT: Wait a minute, this all happened when I made this Taco/Dead Island avatar...

CONSPIRACY!?!

 

[Me55enger]

They scrap these things and EVERYONE will want one.

The irony of a collectors item, eh?

 

[EvilChameleon]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. Nothing. I'd buy 10, and hang them from my Christmas trees.

 

[FEichinger]

Okay, while I usually jump on the board of the "SEEEXIIIIST!" train, this is too huge.

I honestly don't see a problem aside from the sexism part, which I fully agree is bad taste. However, for it being "only" about sexism in games, the PR debacle this has caused feels way too huge. Mind you, this topic needs addressing, it keeps popping up due to sheer stupidity throughout industry and audience alike, but I don't think this sudden massive outburst over what would be fully valid, if it was, say, available in both a male and a female version, or something like that (Although I'm sure then the female version would be "overly sexualized", blargh).

Again, I fully agree that this is yet another display of sexism in games. But I disagree on it getting such an outburst, when other instances were largely handled much more decently than going out yelling "HOW DARE THEY DO THIS!".

 

[Fasckira]

I disliked the statue, but for it to get this far into the process means that they had discussed this at length and decided it was initially a good idea. With that in mind, they should at least have the conviction to stand behind their choice.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

I can see why people got offended but if the boobs were smaller/was a guy's chest instead no one would have said a thing. I don't know what kind of mind it takes to look at that collector's edition and jump to "SEXISM" quicker than "a game about zombies."

 

[Lopende Paddo]

Damn it! All these so called scandals in gaming are actually making me believe in the "feminazi" rhetoric of US tv pundits. (which is completely counter intuitive for me) "OMG SEXY NONS" "OMG MAN TRIES TO RAPE LARA CROFT (and fails I believe) IN NEW TOMRAIDER TRAILER" "OMG DEAD ZOMBIE TORSO IN BIKINI"

If it was Lary Croft people wouldn't be complaining that HE was about to get raped (see Farcy3 and SHAWSHANK!) no then its a plot device. and a zombie torso in bikini can't possibly be seen as something sexy or sexist, its not attractive (unless your a sick bastard) and people on tropical islands don't where sweaters (unless they somehow have a cold) so why all this crap about woman being objectified.

I would have thought woman would have a thicker skin by now but it seems that the better the situation is for woman (and this is a point directed to all groups of people that are a minority, which woman aren't!) the more they complain about nonsensical non-existent "problems".

I'm sure to get some shit for this text but seriously, grow up! The world isn't suppose to be tailored to one group of people and some people just want a bust of a zombie chick torso in a bikini, if you don't want it, don't buy it, but don't ruin it for people who actually do like it and who actually play the damn game.

ZOMBIES ALL OF YOU!

(Disclaimer: I'm not buying this game but in the future when Mass effect special edition comes with a naked Female Turian Bust I WANT IT!)

(PS: capture was "pandora's box", doesn't bode well for me...)

 

[Sonder Saunters]

This was a great idea! The original game was about an expensive resort island infected with zombies, right? This bust captures the spirit of the series way better than some silly action figure would. And have you seen the advertisements for those resort islands? They're full of models. Probably like what the woman on the bust would have looked like pre-dismemberment. The Union Jack confuses me, though. They could have gone for something less iconic, specifically NOT THE FLAG OF A GROUP OF NATIONS.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

"For the limited run of the Zombie Bait Edition for Europe and Australia, a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island."

Except you can't actually do that in Dead Island, you sleazy hack. Don't try and spin this like it was some kind of playful homage to the gameplay.

Yeah you can... on the PC version at the very least.

EDIT: That doesn't make it any less stupid however. Although I have no doubt it will appeal to quite a lot of people.

 

[Daft Ghosty]

Really? This is an issue? If you don't like it then don't buy the collectors edition. Move on and stop getting your shorts in a bunch ( i would have said panties in a twist, but the overly sensitive nature of some, would have taken that as some kind attack on woman *roll eyes*). It's pretty easy to see what happened here. They wanted to add a different gory bust as a bonus for the collectors edition, and didn't want to go the normal full on body route. Most of the players of these kind of games are men, so they chose a female bust. It's not some sinister plot to attack woman. Grow up. You are adults now.

Fighting for women's rights is a great issue to pursue, this here isn't an attack on those rights. It's a statue meant for young men who like zombies and boobs. If woman were the main group for this game, it would have likely been a male bust.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Is it wrong I think the torso is cute and I want one?
I don't really see a problem with it except maybe people in Britain might get upset that their flag is a bikini.

 

[IanDavis]

...a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island.

Ah, so it's just our fault, then. Sorry about that.

 

[Lopende Paddo]

Is it wrong I think the torso is cute and I want one?
I don't really see a problem with it except maybe people in Britain might get upset that their flag is a bikini.

People from Britain wear union jack bikinis...

 

[TilMorrow]

"For the limited run of the Zombie Bait Edition for Europe and Australia, a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island."

Except you can't actually do that in Dead Island, you sleazy hack. Don't try and spin this like it was some kind of playful homage to the gameplay.

Umm... It actually is possible to do that in Dead Island or I found it does happen when using the Ripper mod or a Machete. Though you usually don't end up with the top half of a torso afterwards or wanting to spend time chopping dead zombie bodies into teeny tiny bits as it takes ages to get anywhere on foot as it is and the thought of doing so turns the stomach. And then the god awful glitches... They are worse than the zombies!

OT: I hope they at least change the model for something else as it still hits me as being a bit sick. Though I wonder if they actually already had a bunch of the models made already. If they did then walking into the offices of Deep Silver won't be a pretty sight.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Is it wrong I think the torso is cute and I want one?
I don't really see a problem with it except maybe people in Britain might get upset that their flag is a bikini.

People from Britain wear union jack bikinis...

Well then I can't see any problem with it. It's a cute torso that fits the theme perfectly.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

No clue what the problem is.
It's pretty ugly and mediocre, for sure.
But why the outrage?

Sexist? Pretty sure most zombie games let you re-kill massive hordes of undead people regardless of sex.
Gore? You see this stuff in the Walking Dead and every zombie movie made ever...

Its mainly that this takes such a huge step back as far as games go. With all the talk about how violent and misogynistic games are, I doubt a dismembered, over-sexed up corpse will make things any better. I imagine someone from marketing is going to be fired by the end of the day because of this, especially if it took them less 12 hours to apologize for the announcement.

The fun part: I imagine that Techland and Deep Silver already had a large portion of the materials already gathered, if not several busts already produced by the time they made this announcement. Its satisfying to know that they're now sitting on a warehouse full of this stuff with most likely no intention of selling them.

 

[Susan Arendt]

"For the limited run of the Zombie Bait Edition for Europe and Australia, a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island."

Except you can't actually do that in Dead Island, you sleazy hack. Don't try and spin this like it was some kind of playful homage to the gameplay.

Umm... It actually is possible to do that in Dead Island or I found it does happen when using the Ripper mod or a Machete. Though you usually don't end up with the top half of a torso afterwards or wanting to spend time chopping dead zombie bodies into teeny tiny bits as it takes ages to get anywhere on foot as it is and the thought of doing so turns the stomach. And then the god awful glitches... They are worse than the zombies!

OT: I hope they at least change the model for something else as it still hits me as being a bit sick. Though I wonder if they actually already had a bunch of the models made already. If they did then walking into the offices of Deep Silver won't be a pretty sight.

Ok, I shouldn't have said "can't", rather "don't". It's not the point of the game, any more than filling a room with cheese is the point of Skyrim, although you can do that if you want. Spinning this as "oh, hey, this how people play Dead Island" is a transparent attempt to deflect this clearly bad decision. If they want to apologize, then apologize. And if they don't, then don't. This mewling middle ground is just gross.

 

[Little Gray]

Sometimes I wonder if I don't offended enough. I saw this and thought, "oh yeah, a torso because, y'know, zombies." And then I moved on.

No it just means that you are one of the few rational people out there. There is nothing wrong with this at all.