it's like the venus de milo of zombies, because it's a lady's torso lacking arms! right? right?!

[spiffynamehere]

"Dead Island: Riptide is the sequel to Dead Island, the survival horror video game that has players stranded on a tropical island with a zombie outbreak. To promote the game, publishers Deep Silver are offering a special “Zombie Bait Edition” which includes the console game, artwork, a weapons pack, and a statue of a woman’s bikini-clad torso with

Comments

[jadedissola]

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/kngs7f

They've sort of apologized for the statue, but it reads like, "But fans do this in game all the time and you're calling us out unfairly!" Also, I can't find a link, but someone else told me on Twitter the PR Twitter account initially responded with a transphobic "lol she might have a penis" tweet when initially called out for the statue.

[madwitch]

Here.

https://twitter.com/helloitsdan/status/291200979813163008/photo/1

[nextdrinksonme]

I dunno. I feel like, if you're going to be bothered by a dismembered body in the promotional materials, you probably shouldn't be playing a game about zombies in the first place.

[miss_sassy]

But the issue isn't that it's a dismembered body. The issue is that it's a woman's torso, with a skimpy bikini and big boobs. It's clearly meant to be sexy, while a dismembered zombie is not.

[kaelstra]

GOD THIS.

It's saying "The only part of a woman that matters is her tits."

[spiffynamehere]

On a side note, this also reminds me of the posts Sociological Images does every now and then of people who do their fashion shoots themed on dead/injured women.

[littlepunkryo]

I am not even remotely surprised that it took exactly 2 comments for a white knight to show up here. But this is the same company who labels skills things like “feminist whore” in their code, so they're consistent with their constant grossness, too.

[redstar826]

where is the line between "white knight" and "just having a difference of opinions"? Just wondering because I see that term used and it isn't clear to me exactly what it means

[spiffynamehere]

Hmm, good question. I think it usually refers to defending something on excuses that don't really address the problem, like "well X said something shitty but they're normally a lovely person!" (not addressing the shitty thing they said). Or, in this case, excusing the company because other companies have done shitty things, too.

[nextdrinksonme]

No, I'm excusing it because of the context of the genre of game, itself, namely that it's a game where you dismember people. If it were a bust of any other type of game, I'd be just as horrified as you guys are. But being that, while playing the game, you're going to be chopping off women's heads and arms and legs, it doesn't bother me that they're using this type of thing as promotional material. I only pointed out other games because someone said that zombies in other games aren't sexualized, which wasn't true.

[darkmanifest]

Oh, Christ. I entreat anyone who doesn't see the problem with this to imagine a statue of a man's mutilated torso and pelvis paired with a skimpy bulging Speedo and arse. This kind of shit is weird, unless the game is rife with twisted dark humor and we're supposed to find this comically inappropriate?