UPDATED: The Makers Of Dead Island Would Like You To Purchase This Woman’s Dismembered Torso (Really)

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 her head and arms chopped off. And so help me god, they’re comparing it to the Venus de Milo. The graphic image is after the jump and probably NSFW. [UPDATE: Deep Silver issues apology. More below]

So…yup. The special edition is a UK exclusive (hence the Union Jack bikini) and runs for around $160. The torso is 31cm X 18.5cm and Deep Silver claims it’s a “grotesque take on an iconic Roman marble torso sculpture.” We can only assume they’re referencing the Greek statue of Venus de Milo here. You know, the one whose arms weren’t meant to missing. How about you not compare your vile excuse for a statue with classic art you don’t even understand? Either way, it’s incredibly offensive and leaves me wondering who approved of this idea. Maybe we should be thankful she’s even wearing a top.

UPDATE: Via Joystiq we’ve learned publisher Deep Silver has issued an apology. The tweet linked to a page with a longer reply:

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.

Missing from this apology? Whether or not they’re actually pulling the special edition and replacing it with another. Notice also how they don’t use the word “woman” at all.

(via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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