Sony Decapitates a Goat: Daily Mail Gets Upset

right, I'm moved to comment.

1) this was beaten up by a tabloid
2) it is deceptively meant to be about a dead animal
3) it is really an excuse for the mail to have justification for getting more boobs in their paper
4) the mail wins - publicity + boobs = profits

Y'know, I hate the Mail's videogame scare tactics as much as the next gamer, but you've got to admit this agency's attempt at a game content-related launch was in pretty poor taste, and does bugger all to dispell the myth that the industry and products are all about fullfilling the fantasies of violent, sex-starved adolescents. I love God of War and am looking forward to playing the sequel, but all the tits and OTT violence in the original made me a wee bit embarrassed to play it. Why do "adult" games consistantly deal with their adult themes in such an immature way? The launch party is in exactly the same mould. I'm sure if you took a poll and asked fans of God of War if they'd enjoy it just as much without the fountains of blood and the "sex" mini-games, the only ones who would answer "no" would be the kiddies...

In Ancient Greece they never had PlayStations, yet they regularly slayed goats and whatnot at feasts.

Why shouldn't we do it today? I for one want to see more dead animals used in such ways.

Seriously though, while the PR stunt was childish and in poor taste, the fact that Middle England's favourite Sunday tabloid picked up the story as front page news does a huge amount of harm to non-gamer's perceptions of the videogame industry.

If it was a fashion industry party or a music industry party, this would not have been front page news. I would be surprised if it would even be worthy of a two-paragraph mention deep in the paper.

It's just a sad reality that the games industry has to police itself more carefully than other industries, as the non-gaming moral minority that read and believe the Daily Mail are out for our blood. Ironically.

"Clearly the newspaper’s editor was of the opinion that it was a fairly slow news day and perhaps was not aware of other things going on in the world. Perhaps, for instance, he had missed the fact that there had been a major earthquake in Kent where hundreds of peoples lives were irrevocably damaged."

"Irrevocably damaged" "major"? By an earthquake that lasted under 5 seconds and killed no one? I think a story exposing how one of the biggest companies in the world is setting the example that it's ok to decapitate animals to publicise one of their products is a bit bigger than an earthquake that happened earlier this week and has already been covered extensively...

but it was a pre-dead goat; and as someone here has mentioned, probably treated a bit more humanely than other goats that day because it had to be ready for a party.

/me smells the smell of fear of realising where food comes from

While the Daily Mail may have written about it poorly, I do think having a decapitated goat carcass as entertainment is pretty sick.

So. Let me get this right. Slaughtering an animal for food is OK. As long as we don't enjoy the slaughter.

But what if we enjoy the food?

C'mon, why the f**k is the Daily Mail getting wound up about the slaughter of one freaking goat when they have nothing to say against the slaughter of 65,000 Iraqis?

This was a disgusting and tasteless PR stunt and Sony should know better. For once I'm on the Daily Mails side. The earthquake was minor, nothing was seriously damaged, no one was seriously hurt so yes this story deserved to be where it is.

but.... at the end of the day, it was the Mail, known for scaremongering and alarmist journalism to catch attention and thus improve circulation.

It all boils down to this:
- they had a photo with 1) boobs 2) boobs near a dead goat
- a target scapegoat (the games industry) linked to the photo

I would love to have been in the editorial meeting, they must have been so close to running with:



I for one welcome our new pre-dead goat wielding semi naked overlords.

This story deserved to be in the front page of a national newspaper? My arse!

The only thing that excuses this is the fact that the Mail is now less of a newspaper and more of a joke. I can only imagine that it now serves no purpose other than than to pimp the stocks of companies the editor owns shares in. All those front pages about fad diets and youth potions. It's a joke.

What is this now? Slashdot? Are we to see Natalie Portman covered in hot grits jokes from now on?

why not?

as for the goat;

will it blend?

Let me count the reasons. How long have you got?

I could go for some goat right now :D People freak out over crap like this all the time, its not even a big deal..

Yeah I heard that, goatmeat makes a damn good curry.

Mmmm....wonder what that would taste like with next doors dogmeat instead.

Lol. I kid, I kid.