Dead Island Riptide - This box is pretty tame compared to the Zombie Bait Edition.I like horror driven games a lot. Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space 2 are two of my favorites, and the terror is a big factor. I can handle the massive gore, I can deal with the barrels of blood being spilt. However, I've never been keen on promotional materials that cross the line into violent sensationalism. For example, this piece (violent acts follow! The squeamish should not click!). I got this "lovely" render of hero Leon S. Kennedy being ripped apart by one of the chainsaw maniacs in the game on a poster with the Resident Evil 4 strategy guide. Needless to say, I was disturbed by it greatly. Why would I want a massive shot of Leon being cut in twine by Dr. Salvatore (maniac's name) tacked to my wall? I don't want that to actually happen in the game! That's counter-intuitive! Not to mention gross!
With that in mind, seeing the UK Dead Island Riptide "Zombie Bait" edition (pictured at this link, which, again, is NSFW and violent) caused a similar yet more chilling reaction. For those wondering what the issue is without wishing to click, it is of a decapitated, dismembered bust of a woman in a Union Jack bikini top that is included as the key gimmick of the package. It is apparently meant to be a "satire" of the Venus De Milo statue, and from what I've read and seen in screenshots, it's quite in line with the bloodletting shenanigans that occur within the world of Dead Island. I haven't played the first, so this article will go off of my reactions to the bust itself.
I don't believe you play DIR as a woman in a bikini; from what I saw, the playable women are not clothed in revealing swimwear and, for all I know, could be rather good designs (although Purma, one of the two women, had a "Feminist Whore" bonus that was mistakenly left in the code for the first game; the developer and publisher were adamant that it was one particular person who created the sexist definition. Make of that what you will). So one may never have the Leon dilemma I posited above ever occur in Dead Island Riptide. Still, it comes across as rather crass and tasteless to me to give out imaginary corpses as promotional items, particularly ones rendered like this. Now, I'd have similar reservations if they had a nude male torso (or Speedo-covered crotch, to make it a more apt comparison) versus a female's barely covered one, too. I will quickly admit that I think that the deliberate choice to use one of the bikini-wearing women for the bust is sexist; I have seen other female zombies wearing more clothes than that in the game's screens. This bust, simply put, is a faceless set of boobs minus any identification or personality. Those were literally cut away, leaving the piece with a macabre aesthetic. Also, said breasts noticeably lack any bit of damage or blood, which is highly suspect. What other purpose could this bust serve beyond misogynic exploitation?
Ultimately, though, it's the principle of the thing. It's a gore-soaked showcase of human flesh (no matter the sex or gender) that has been torn apart and chewed up; the end results of which are exquisitely rendered in plastic meant to showcase in a collection of gaming memorabilia. In fact, Deep Silver wanted it to be a "striking conversation piece" according to Eurogamer. However, what's most surprising about this whole situation is how Deep Silver handled it. They unleashed their announcement, sat briefly on their laurels (save dev member Maurice Tan, who felt compelled to add more fuel to the fire by using a crude euphemism for a penis in regards to the sex of the bust in a poor attempt at lightening the mood), and then issued an apology within 24 hours. Yep. Here's the official line:
A statement on the Zombie Bait Edition:
We deeply apologize for any offense caused by the Dead Island Riptide “Zombie Bait Edition”, the collector’s edition announced for Europe and Australia. Like many gaming companies, Deep Silver has many offices in different countries, which is why sometimes different versions of Collector’s Editions come into being for North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
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.
We sincerely regret this choice. We are collecting feedback continuously from the Dead Island community, as well as the international gaming community at large, for ongoing internal meetings with Deep Silver's entire international team today. For now, we want to reiterate to the community, fans and industry how deeply sorry we are, and that we are committed to making sure this will never happen again.
Key things to take away from this: 1) No reference to the statue's cancelation and/or replacement, 2) No gender or sex pronouns relating to the "zombie torso", 3) This sort of thing will never happen again. But this one will! To that end, they did succeed at creating some conversation, I suppose. I am compelled to ask Deep Silver, why this? Why not a figure or bust of one of the cast members? Why not a diorama of a pivotal scene in the game? Why would you select a headless, armless pair of breasts so viscerally depicted?
Just to be clear, I'm not calling for censorship or anything. I think this is an appalling and absolutely terrible idea that managed to be manufactured. However, it made it this far; Deep Silver ought to just embrace their poor decision making and run with it. Their apology was remarkably half-hearted and didn't really address anything at all beyond a very pale attempt of an appeal to not judge them too harshly. Now is not the time to wallow in self-pity and ask for forgiveness. That time has passed. This morbid thing exists; now live up to it.
So, to sum up, this horrific concept of over-the-top, offensively violent depiction is most certainly not for me. If EA issued a Dead Space 3 CE with Isaac's torso issued in a similar fashion, I wouldn't buy it. And I really LIKE that series. It's just too much, and it's another footnote in the continuing saga of over-the-top violence driving our industry. Utilizing such imagery, even in a game dripping with blood and guts, in such an exploitative fashion to market a product just feels wrong to me.
I will now turn the microphone to you. What do you think of Dead Island Riptide's zombie bust, or any other promotional materials relying heavily on violence and gore as pieces of household decoration? Am I overreacting? Let me know in the comments!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 9:01PM | 
This one scene means so much to me that I don't think a caption can summarize it.
