A study published in the U.S. Pediatrics journal this month finds that giving a video game a mature rating makes it "unspeakably desirable" to children.
—Chicago Tribune
Then at the bottom was the biggest line of all, which said: LADIES AND CHILDREN NOT ADMITTED "There," says he, "if that line don't fetch 'em, I don't know Arkansaw!"
Deep Silver's marketing department have pretty much earned their bread for all of 2013 in just 12 short hours.
In a stroke of ruthlessly cynical advertising genius, they announced a special edition for the game almost no-one was asking for: Dead Island Zombie Bait Edition. The catch? It comes with a lifelike statue of a woman's bloodied and dismembered torso, wearing nowt but a Union Jack bikini!
Cue the predictable, nay inevitable, shitstorm of faux outrage as game journos everywhere rise to the quite literal bait and the "story" does the rounds on every major gaming outlet. Instead of just, you know, ignoring it.
Deep silver then, just 12 hours later, issue a heartfelt apology and vow to pull a special edition I seriously doubt they ever actually intended to produce anyway.
And that is how you get a game nobody cared about to be the biggest gaming "news" story of 2013 thus far. Sam B would be proud.
— "Dead Island Riptide: Journo Bait Edition" by Teh-Dave
