Deep Silver Apologizes for Mutilated Dead Island Torso

[Earthmonger]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

As a stand-alone retail item? No.

As part of a multi-faceted collector's edition? Yes. It's definitely unique.

It certainly beats the factory bent-up pewter Ordinator figurine I got with Morrowind, back in the day.

If it were a male torso, I'd rather it be a plushie, so I could use it as a pillow.

 

[Baresark]

Not getting this. What's wrong with it?

There is nothing wrong with the piece, the thing that is wrong is people. The sensitive sensitive internet got all up in a tizzy about nothing at all. Just like it usually does.

 

[Dr Killpatient]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

Yes, I would, if I was a fan of zombie games/movies/books. I would totally buy it.

The thing is that Dead Island was to me mildly entertaining experience, and one that I'm not that much interested in revisiting again. But if I was a zombie fan and had really enjoyed the game, I wouldn't mind having this little "piece" in my collection of zombie memorabilia.

Would I buy it if it were a male torso?

What a silly question to ask.

Deep Silver obviously knows its audience and the fact that most of them are men or teenage boys. Market dictates the demand, and having this female torso with well-formed (probably silicon filled) breasts as an incentive makes absolutely and totally sense.

Is it sexist? Yes, probably.
Is it misogynistic? No. I like my women without heads - they talk less (now THAT was misogynistic, and also a joke).
Is it good taste? It's a zombie game. It's meant to have bad taste.

What continues to amaze me is a small populace of vocal whiners, who were most likely not from UK (remember this was for UK collection only), who managed to whine and complain and thanks to that, in the end, deny something from others that they were not interested in themselves in a first place.

Now that's what makes ME upset.

 

[chadachada123]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

Yes and yes, depending on the price.

It's just a severed torso, big deal. You'd think we, as gamers, would be mature enough to handle a statue of a dead body, eesh.

And (in response to accusations of "sexism") since it takes place on a TROPICAL ISLAND RESORT, you're going to be pretty likely to find a torso with breast implants, just like you'd be likely to find a male torso with chiseled abs. Neither of these are "sexualized," just, well, realistic.

In short, I think the people accusing the marketers of "being stupid," are, themselves, rather immature. The marketers probably figured that gamers were mature enough to handle some gore, but were clearly mistaken.

The sole concession is that they probably should have anticipated the sexism comments and made them for both genders, with "sexy" features for both (breast implants/chiseled abs).

Side note: For people essentially saying, "I don't like it, so no one should have it," or, "Why would someone want this disgusting thing"...What exactly has your knickers in a twist? If some dude wants this on a mantle with all of his other limited-edition swag...so what? Just because it's a torso in a bikini doesn't mean sex is the appeal. The appeal could easily be the absurdity or the gross factor.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

So if it was a DUDE, folks wouldn't be up in arms?

Damn sexists!

Is this a pun on her lack of arms? If so, well done. If not, good attempt at deflecting the discussion with the age old "What if it was a dude?!?!?!" question.

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

No and no! No chance in hell I'd pay money for a torn apart model of a torso, male or female.

I must add though; Zombie Bait? Bait? A half nekkid lady is now bait? Really?!

I enjoyed the first game a lot but I'm not getting this one.

 

[theultimateend]

"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.

I will admit I'm wierded out by it...

Not because I don't think they should be allowed to do it, just (as you mentioned) I fail to see the relevance >.>...

Not getting this. What's wrong with it?

There is nothing wrong with the piece, the thing that is wrong is people. The sensitive sensitive internet got all up in a tizzy about nothing at all. Just like it usually does.

Yeh, its more weird than anything.

Surprised they didn't just go with a scale model of a zombie girl in a Bikini? Since there were plenty of those in the game.

Still wouldn't want it, but fits it better.

So if it was a DUDE, folks wouldn't be up in arms?

Damn sexists!

You know who's been considered a trophy, a thing to look at, a lump of primary sexual characteristics, a faceless object with no agency, to be sold throughout history?

Not dudes.

Ehhhhh.

I would say "Usually not dudes."

There are a lot of instances of young men being sold into the sex trade to be just that. This shouldn't be a competition of which gender has been abused more.

The issue of the sex trade and the act as a whole needs to be addressed as being wrong no matter what.

 

[RicoADF]

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...)

Someone replies with some common sense and realises the figure is about fitting the theme of the game not being sexist (seriously that and the racism card are called so often they have no meaning people! ).
I take my hat off to you mate and offer you a cookie....... if I had one to offer.

 

[Oskuro]

Yeah, it is tasteless, yeah, it is exploitative.

But, know what? I can buy pretty gruesome statues and figurines from Toy Stores. And no one is flipping out at that. Guess toys representing movie slashers, or a Gears of War character splitting a Locust in two are perfectly acceptable on our desks as long as there are no boobs involved. Heck, I'd even bet a few slasher/horror/gore movies have had similarly gruesome extras as part of their own collector's edition.


I could even point out that the senseless and gory killing of beautiful women has been a staple of horror for as long as the genre has existed, precisely because it irks most people greatly, and this game is part of said genre... But that'd be defending this shameless marketing stunt which I have no intention of doing.


I just want to poke fun at how monumentally stupid is to get worked up over this.

 

[Simple Bluff]

Being offended is the in thing to do in the gaming community these days. It really shows how young we are as a community and a medium. You know that one teenager on the playground that acts all pretentious and mature hoping the big boys and girls, the books and movies and TV will think we're part of the cool kids group?

We're that pretentious kid. While books, movies, TV and other forms of art have already accepted themselves as human, the good and the bad, we as a community refuse to accept that there may be some bad within us and try to sugar coat everything about ourselves as dandy and mature.

Books and movies willingly tackle heavy themes like life, death, gender, sex, rape, murder, philosophy, suicide, grief and so on, what do we tackle? The most effective way to mow down a dozen enemies with your chainsaw bayonet before running on to the next set piece. We are the equivalent of Saturday morning action cartoons because of it and we will stay that way until we as a community can do some growing up and stop considering ourselves moral guardians.

That was a pretty insightful thing to say, but I think you're romanticising the marketing department's intention a bit. When they announced this content, they weren't spreading some deep message about gender or sex or whatever - they were pandering plain and simple.
That said, however, I still think this thing was blown way out of proportion. I mean, combining horror and sexual exploitation has been done in slasher/stabber movies for a million years. Roughly. /hyperbole.

Oh... LOL. Rather than work up a new post I'll just quote one I just finished making in Discussion on the same subject before I read this.

"... it just reinforces my opinion that too many game developers are so lacking in basic social skills and sensibilities they should never be let out of their coding cubicles, because it's just embarassing for the rest of us when they are."

Really, some of these studios need to hire a fully functioning sane person to give an opinion on things like this before it ever gets this far.

That's unfair. The people who marketed and advertised this wouldn't have the same people who actually developed the game. For the most part, at least. The same could apply for most short-sighted ad campaigns (Dante's Inferno, anyone?).

 

[mattaui]

I'd love to have been in the room when this was discussed and they decided it would be a good idea. It makes you wonder what they thought was too over the line?

Not sure why they didn't just go with a zombie girl in said bikini. It would be disturbing and wrong, sure, like zombies are supposed to be, but it wouldn't evoke, I don't know, bomb blast victims? This is just unidentifiable gore.

 

[Frezzato]

The internet came down on this harder than a little girl falling from a forth story hotel room window hits the ground.

You know, I never played the original Dead Island SPECIFICALLY because I knew there was no way they could match the emotional impact of the trailer. Your reference was almost lost on me there. Almost.

 

[Kargathia]

What on Earth were they thinking?

It isn't because it's sexist, it's because how stupid and untasteful this thing is.

I mean come the fuck on, it is truth that male torso wouldn't bring such an uproar, but do you really think that guys that made this had thoughts like: "Well equality you see! These kind of things happens to girls too!" -No. Of course not. It was if anything on the level of: "Hey! Look! Blood & Gore & TITS!".

I dunno, this is the first time I hear of the whole thing, but honestly... this is wrong on so many levels I can't help but want one.

One can say it definitely crossed the line twice. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrossesTheLineTwice]

 

[ShirowShirow]

This collector's item was bad and it should feel bad.

I love how the logic for some people will always be "I wasn't offended and therefore anyone who was is stupid."

 

[Notsomuch]

I wouldn't have bought it and I don't particularly like it. I love the silly outrage, though.

 

[ZLAY]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

Yes and yes, depending on the price.

It's just a severed torso, big deal. You'd think we, as gamers, would be mature enough to handle a statue of a dead body, eesh.

And (in response to accusations of "sexism") since it takes place on a TROPICAL ISLAND RESORT, you're going to be pretty likely to find a torso with breast implants, just like you'd be likely to find a male torso with chiseled abs. Neither of these are "sexualized," just, well, realistic.

In short, I think the people accusing the marketers of "being stupid," are, themselves, rather immature. The marketers probably figured that gamers were mature enough to handle some gore, but were clearly mistaken.

The sole concession is that they probably should have anticipated the sexism comments and made them for both genders, with "sexy" features for both (breast implants/chiseled abs).

Side note: For people essentially saying, "I don't like it, so no one should have it," or, "Why would someone want this disgusting thing"...What exactly has your knickers in a twist? If some dude wants this on a mantle with all of his other limited-edition swag...so what? Just because it's a torso in a bikini doesn't mean sex is the appeal. The appeal could easily be the absurdity or the gross factor.

We ARE mature enough to handle this and that's the thing, we did handled it maturely. We called them out on their childish bullshit.

They made it thinking that most of the gamers will just accept it as "awesome" and "mature" and some other shit, but what it actually got is negative response because most of us recognized how fucking IMMATURE this is.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

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.

You just described my thought process exactly.

I'm not insulted to my very core or anything, but I guess its a bit tasteless? I wouldn't want it on my shelf, but Ive seen worse things pulled out of a box before.

 

[Frezzato]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

I wouldn't buy it regardless of gender. I think it just goes to show that a dismembered torso isn't just bad taste in terms of violence, but also bad taste in terms of how it relates to the game. This was just lazy.

I think the best comparison would if the collector's edition of Fallout 3 came with a model severed head (obviously that happens a lot) as opposed to the Vault-Tec bobblehead. The collector's edition bobblehead was the perfect symbol which echoes your efforts within the game.

Even Duke Nukem Forever had a relevant collector's edition [http://cdnl.complex.com/mp/620/400/80/0/bb/1/ffffff/1e1bc724ba2ab5992dc042c6a09a1847/images_/assets/galleries/2011/10065/9.jpg], and that game is almost universally despised.

I've never played Dead Island (and probably never will), but I'm going to make a wild guess and say that they would have been better off using a plastic first aid box as part of the collector's edition. Include a large novelty (or real) Band Aid that looks like a zombie bite mark on the outside. There you go, Deep Silver, I fixed it for you in about five minutes.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

No. Also, if I was given it for free I wouldn't keep it.

Nothing about it says "zombie". If it was a zombie in a bikini I still wouldn't buy it but at least it would have meaning. It would be tied to Dead Island and most people, even if they didn't know the game, would generally get the idea behind it. As it is, it's just a mutilated female torso. Hooray! Now I can display my love of dismembering women and having sex with their corpses with something that won't decompose. Thank you Deep Silver!

 

[ThePS1Fan]

Ok, I have a question for you folks:

Would you buy this? And if so, would you still buy it if it were a male torso?

I'm not judging anyone, I'm genuinely curious.

Not this no.

If it wasn't just a torso and had a head and maybe at least one arm I think it would be a cool collectors item regardless of the gender.