So remember waaaay back in January when Deep Silver announced the “Zombie Bait” edition of Dead Island: Riptide which included the lovely torso of a bikini-clad woman? And remember how the internet blew up over the next few days talking about how reviled and revolting it was to release something like this? Then, in response, Deep Silver issued a statement which went kind of like this:
“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.”
Yeah, so fuck all that, they released it anyway.
Why you may ask? Hell if I know. Now I do think the bust is on the tasteless side and to release it anyway after vehemently apologizing for it months back makes the matter even worse. Maybe Deep Silver thought enough time had blown over since January or forgot the internet existed. They may need as much cash as possible after parent company Koch Media purchased Volition for $22 million.
Of course you could just think of the bust as a man that has had a sex change operation after a lifetime of feeling wrong with himself and finally was enjoying his/her first trip to beach and things went awry.
And with one announcement, Deep Silver appears to be in deep sh**.
This morning, the developers announced the Dead Island Riptide Zombie Bait Edition, a collector’s set that would only be made available in the UK and Australia. And as soon as this picture was released the internet was set on fire with a host of head scratching and disgust towards the main attraction, a mutilated torso wearing a Union Jack bikini.
Instead of posting random tweets I think it would be easier just to suggest going on Twitter and search #deadisland.
I understand the knee jerk reaction to this “piece” and it did catch me a bit off guard when I first saw it this morning. I first thought it had to be a mock up by some fan since there has already been a Collector’s Edition announced a few days ago. Some may see nothing wrong with it, but there are plenty out there who are now refusing to buy the game because of this, so I would not be surprised if Deep Silver does a 180 and does not release this.
As we have seen with [amazon_link id=”B007MS5B6Q” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Walking Dead Season 2 set[/amazon_link] there is a way to market the zombie craze without alienating a portion of your fans.
UPDATED:
Deep Silver has heard the fan outcry today and released an official statement and apology:
“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.”
Good idea for the guys at Deep Silver to post an apology quickly and not let the internet fire get out of control. The statement does not say if the special edition is being put on hold or not. You would assume that could be read in with the apology but there is no way to know until they have officially said.
Continuing the tradition of “if it’s a game, it must have a collector’s edition”, Deep Silver revealed the Dead Island Riptide Rigor Mortis Edition. Housed in a handy replica suitcase complete with travel stickers from around the world, the collector’s edition will come with the game (duh), a zombie hula bobble figurine, key with Dead Island keychain, and bottle opener that looks like a severed zombie arm.
All of this will cost you $79.99, so be very sure of how much you love bobble figures and fake keys that open nothing before you spend the extra 20 bucks.
[amazon_link id=”B00886WO7A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dead Island Riptide[/amazon_link] releases on April 23rd.
Developer Deep Silver has announced today that the sequel to the best selling game Dead Island will release on April 23, 2013.
Dead Island: Riptide will have two special editions available at launch. The Pre-Order Edition is available to pre-order now (hence the name) and will give players a new set of mods for their weapons. The specific mods have not been announced yet. The second special is the Special Retailers Edition which will have a special character skin and packshot. It will be available at only certain retailers which have not been named yet.
Sounds like Deep Silver is making available to all players what every game does now and calling it special editions. What do you think?
Who could ever forget the trailer to the first Dead Island? The played in reverse story of how one family met their end on the tropical island resort was something truly different and had the video game world talking about the game. It proved a success with the first game selling over 3 million copies.
Dead Island: Riptide was announced a few weeks back and only a few screenshots have been shown but now the developers at Deep Silver have released the first trailer for the game and it tries to convey the same sense of emotion as the ill fated family from the first game. Take a look below and let us know what you think.
Dead Island: Riptide releases in 2013 for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Deep Silver has released the first images from their follow up to 2011’s Dead Island.
Called Dead Island: Riptide the game sees the four survivors from the first game caught in a monsoon that wrecks their rescue vessel and strands them back on the island they thought was in their rearviews. Now if that sounds like a bit of a cop out for a sequel the developers are the first to tell you that this is not a sequel to Dead Island. It is a full game but it is more of a massive full game add on to Dead Island.
That’s not to say that you will just be able to run around the island you knew. The monsoon has completely change the layout and environment of the land. This gives you a chance to play in the new weather system in the game’s engine. Weather will adversely affect what you are doing with flood areas and boat missions complete with swimming zombies. If zombies really can swim there is nothing we can do!!
Also there will be a bit of tower defense action going on with defense missions where players will have to build fencing areas, place turrets and set traps for oncoming zombie hordes. Check out the new images below.
Dead Island: Riptide will release sometime in 2013 and has already been announced to have a $50 price tag.
