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Australia Bans Dead Island Riptide TV Ad
The game is still on shelves, but the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau yanked a TV spot for the upcoming zombie-infested adventure from the airwaves.
The scene found objectionable (view the ad below, if you’re of an appropriate age) shows two young people choosing to immolate themselves rather than be overrun by an advancing undead horde. In addition, the final image of the ad depicts the silhouette of a dead man hanging from a tree.
The statement from the Advertising Standards Bureau reads, “The issue of suicide is a very significant community concern and considered that the use of images which are strongly suggestive of suicide is not appropriate in the context of a television advertisement for a computer game.”
Deep Silver had previously gotten in trouble for the collector’s edition bloody-torso figurine, which was in extremely poor taste and for which the company ultimately apologized.
Publisher Deep Silver and local distributor All Interactive Entertainment expressed their regret over the board’s action, but have replaced #mce_temp_url#the advertisement with a new video.
Read Tim Turi’s full review for more on Dead Island Riptide, and read up on Techland's next-gen zombie game, Dying Light.
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