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Sony screws pooch by decapitating goat [UPDATE]

7:22 PM on 04.28.2007, Nex 108 comments

Sony screws pooch by decapitating goat [UPDATE] photo
     United Kingdom

Sony has always been known for their bizarre, provocative PR stunts, but they've always stopped short of actual corpse desecration. Until now.

Sony recently held a launch party in the UK to promote the wicked awesome God of War II, and in reverence to the ancient Grecian cultures celebrated so vividly in the title, they filled the party with topless girls, pits full of snakes, and a decapitated goat, whose stomach had been filled with offal (not his own) that guests were invited to sup upon.

Of course, animal rights groups immediately came to the aid of the exsanguinated livestock, dubbing the event "outrageous", and asking if they provided a comparable decapitated soy alternative.

Sony, being Sony, continued blissfully down the path toward actually murdering children to promote the PSP, by printing pictures of the entire event in the Official PlayStation Magazine. They have since released an apology for exposing such a large, public audience to an accurate portrayal of an ancient Greek orgy, but you just know they had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they issued it. 

[UPDATE: Kotaku has word that the event wasn't exactly as Bacchanalian as The Daily Mail made it out to be. Apparently the goat itself was just a decoration, which was kept away from guests at all times, and the "offal" was a traditional greek meat soup, served vaguely near the goat, but not actually from within it. The most intriguing part is that Sony claims the article itself was written by someone not in attendance at the event, and that he, himself, was a cyclops.

So, who are you going to believe? Crazy ol' Sony, or crazy ol' media cyclops?] 


Next page: More God of War stories




ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar
ArrestedDeveloper at 04/28/2007 19:41
Damn you're fast Nex, I was about to post about this in the forums.
JLarkin's Avatar
JLarkin at 04/28/2007 19:55
Ewww... I hate dead things.
Colette Bennett's Avatar
Colette Bennett at 04/28/2007 20:00
Jesus fuck. That's disgusting.
Ninjajuice66's Avatar
Ninjajuice66 at 04/28/2007 20:00
LOK! I'M A COOL KID!!!
MusashiX2's Avatar
MusashiX2 at 04/28/2007 20:02
i don't see how it is all that bad. according to the article, the goat was not slaughtered for the event and was purchased from a local butcher. people were not eating the goat's intestines, it was stuffed with warm offal. so it seems that the goat was probably put to use like it should be at the butcher, and then the remains were sold. it's supposed to be something the recreates the actions of the Ancient Greeks, and as a fan of history i do not see any problem with reenactment.

they could make a game about an Aztec warrior and perform a human sacrifice, and i bet people wouldn't go as crazy as long as it wasn't an animal. animal rights activists go over the top 99% of the time.

besides, it could've been worse... there could have been Ancient Greek-style sodomy.
Oxybeles's Avatar
Oxybeles at 04/28/2007 20:03
Topless girls feeding peopole grapes ain't that bad, however!
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar
deiga-the-semivaliant at 04/28/2007 20:04
Overreaction FTW!

A little gross? Maybe.

Warranting outrage and animal activist bullshit? Hell no.

Go for it Sony. KILL ALL THEM LIL' ANIMALS!
Aaron Linde's Avatar
Aaron Linde at 04/28/2007 20:05
They could've just kept it at the topless chicks. When you're surrounded by breasts, nobody's going to say "Hay! Hay hay hay, wait a minute, this is nothing like an ancient Grecian celebration -- seriously, you assholes, where's the goat?"
Aaron Linde's Avatar
Aaron Linde at 04/28/2007 20:05
Deiga, animal rights aside, Sony UK has a long and illustrious history of taking the batshit-fucking-insane route in their PR extravaganzas.
sushi111's Avatar
sushi111 at 04/28/2007 20:07
Nice naked chick. Any more pics?

Oh and about the goat? What the hell? Thats disgusting...

Now does anyone have any more pics of the naked chicks?
subnet6's Avatar
subnet6 at 04/28/2007 20:12
Nice move sony. Let's drag gaming a little deeper through the mire of perceived depravity. Nothing like fueling the anti-gaming lobbies with photographic fodder of decapitations.
WTF were they thinking? Maybe they could have included a white chick kicking the snot out of a black chick WHILE eating the goat as a little nod to the PSP, or maybe some squirrels that sounded mexican INSIDE the goat, or a rootkit installed in its intestines or something. Jesus, does it ever end?
JamesSorensen's Avatar
JamesSorensen at 04/28/2007 20:15
wait, so it was a real goat??

sushi111's Avatar
sushi111 at 04/28/2007 20:16
Maybe then then can post a picture of the KKK murdering babies wile eating goats.
JamesSorensen's Avatar
JamesSorensen at 04/28/2007 20:18
hmm sounds like it fits the game...


so wait if it wasn't for a video game it would be art then....


people should just grow up.
some_dude's Avatar
some_dude at 04/28/2007 20:19
Well, Sony has officially gone bat-shit insane. I guess the pressure finally took it's toll. I'm no prude, but goat head and offal? Topless chicks, cool, dead animals, lame, and a little scary.
sushi111's Avatar
sushi111 at 04/28/2007 20:21
Agree withs ome dude. More topless chicks, less goats.
DannyBoy's Avatar
DannyBoy at 04/28/2007 20:28
Hedonism Bot would approve.

comradetrotskii's Avatar
comradetrotskii at 04/28/2007 20:33
I am officially declaring Sony as the most fucking awesome company in the world for this. If anything they didn't go far enough.
brad drac's Avatar
brad drac at 04/28/2007 20:49
-> Musashi: While I'm not an authority on the matter, I don't think decapitating livestock just for a laugh was a big part of greek culture. Also, your analogy about the aztecs lacks any semblance of logic. If they tried to publicise said game by actually sacrificing a human, I'm not quite sure people would be okay with it. I'm really quite baffled by how you could think that was a valid argument.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who thinks this was an okay thing to do is a goddamn jackass, to put it more politely than I could. It really was an unfathomably appalling decision on their parts.

DannyBoy's joke however, I must give credit to.
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar
ArrestedDeveloper at 04/28/2007 20:51
I'm sure animal rights activists don't view any decapitated animal as art whether its for a video game or not.
BluDesign's Avatar
BluDesign at 04/28/2007 20:51
For the release of Manhunt II, you just know they'll kill some willing and co-operative Sony fanboy live at the party.

It's getting to that point...

Or the party for little big world has them tilting the building over on the guests.

PS Home's party will involve a bunch of people breaking into your house and standing around, wanting to see your trophies.
Farktoid's Avatar
Farktoid at 04/28/2007 20:58
Call me back when they start sacrificing some of these PETA assholes. This party sounds like it would have been a blast.
YARLY's Avatar
YARLY at 04/28/2007 21:03
I saw an art exhibit in London with a preserved bisection of a cow or something in a glass case filled with liquid. That disgusted me. So I don't really think that buying a goat carcass and filling it with warm entrails is really anything special. People are overreacting.
MusashiX2's Avatar
MusashiX2 at 04/28/2007 21:04
@brad drac

the Aztecs reference was meant to exaggerate the point that animal rights activists are just too militant. i must remind myself that saying stuff in that fashion does not translate to text.

you have to remember that they did not slaughter the goat for this event. they got the goat's remains from a butcher. it says so in the article.

and yes, both the Greeks and Romans had animal sacrifices. the Romans even had people stand under the flow of blood coming from the animal. these were the public displays in Rome, not even the mystery religions that did this.

essentially all they did was take the carcase of a goat and put it on display. i think if you oppose this, then you better also oppose the Bodies exhibit in NYC. they're not that different. the Bodies exhibit is for science, this is for history (i know the real reason is for marketing, but it has a historic background to it). i mean, shit, they held this event in Athens. this is the ancient culture of the people there.
masterchief556's Avatar
masterchief556 at 04/28/2007 21:12
@ Nex if they make a game about Queen Catherine then why not. It was a bad idea to bring the goat, but why aren't people of having pretty much a greek style orgy sans the gay boy love?
pkhilson's Avatar
pkhilson at 04/28/2007 21:14
@ musashi:

"as a fan of history i do not see any problem with reenactment."

Soooo... They should totally reenact the holocaust for the next WWII FPS? They could get the remains of people from the local morgue and stack them all on top of one another. It's not like the corpses have any other use anyway, right? They would have just been wasted by burial. Every one wins!!!
R Riley's Avatar
R Riley at 04/28/2007 21:20
I don't see why this matters. It's just a fucking goat.

All of the bitches that balk at the thought of a dead goat should be forced to work on a farm for a month.
MusashiX2's Avatar
MusashiX2 at 04/28/2007 21:26
@pkhilson

yeah... go ahead... blow it up way out of proportion and replace the one goat with millions of humans who were killed because one man thought it to be his "Final Solution," not because goats are used at a butcher's for meat to feed people. since when is ritual sacrifice equivalent to mass genocide?
YARLY's Avatar
YARLY at 04/28/2007 21:32
Indeed, goats used to be sacrified all the time.
pkhilson's Avatar
pkhilson at 04/28/2007 22:01
Musashi dude, kidding lol
Tubatic's Avatar
Tubatic at 04/28/2007 22:02
Also, at the end of the article is a nice little list of violence related events connected to PS2/Rockstar titles.

Is there a tag for the games industry finding ways to have media outlets trudge up their dirty laundry?
uptonogood's Avatar
uptonogood at 04/28/2007 22:06
jesus christ, you dorks are overreacting. this is hilarious. this game is meant for adults. who cares about black eyes for the video game industry? by now, everyone should have some vague idea that not all video games are for children. the few who are vocal about it still being for kids and being a bad influence on said children are in the minority. this is a promotional stunt that fits the game and its intended demographic. and they pretty much hit the mark spot-on.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 04/28/2007 22:07
Hooray for Sony UK acting like attention whores to get more media coverage! Hooray for Animal Rights organizations acting like attention whores to get more media coverage! Everyone wins!
zaqu's Avatar
zaqu at 04/28/2007 22:08
im impressed, bravo sony, i hate when the world sticks to peaceful happy euphemisms i like the bleeding edge hardcore approach sony finally scored a point in my book after losing so many
gomeja's Avatar
gomeja at 04/28/2007 22:08
Makes you wonder what they'll do for the Chains of Olympus launch party.
MusashiX2's Avatar
MusashiX2 at 04/28/2007 22:10
@pkhilson

JOKING?! where were the cat pictures?! (other than your avatar)



LOL
Crunshii's Avatar
Crunshii at 04/28/2007 22:52
Please... Sony did not kill any animals or anyone... (cept prob our wallets) That goat was bought dead, so If those stupid activist are going to bash someone, should be the poor butcher person who sold it.

And come on, that party was in UK, so expect UK culture to be a tad different from yours. I have UK friends and their like Girls-Gone-Wild-Country 24/7.

Let me ask you this, when oh when will it ever happen in NA or Japan, a Video Game PArty with naked breast chicks? When and where please? Nintendo? hah thats a joke, Xbox? nothing original there, but I wouldnt be surprised if they mimic something like this and throw a Leasure Suite LArry party with also half naked chicks. (Gates, if u make wut i just said ill sue u).

I applaud sony for being fucking original and doing something that relates to the Culture mixed with Video Games. Fek them Animal rights activists, their suing sony while eating a Tender Loaf Beef Jerky. Friggin hipocrits that have no right to say anything.
MusashiX2's Avatar
MusashiX2 at 04/28/2007 23:16
after reading up a bit on the news source for this story, The Daily Mail, i now wonder if this is fake? many people in comments sections on other sites are saying that The Mail is notorious for bull shit stories. one person said they wrote an article on how HDTVs should be banned for using too much power, and something about Bill Gates drinking blood. they are an out and out tabloid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Mail

it was especially interesting to read the part about them supporting Mussolini and Hitler in the 1930s...
Rezbit's Avatar
Rezbit at 04/28/2007 23:39
Oh, Sony!
bigbro2004's Avatar
bigbro2004 at 04/28/2007 23:45
show them how it was Sony, and how it is...

It is part of our past as humans. Why is anyone complaining? It is bad enough our schools dont teach the truth about greek and roman times. They pretty it up to make it "family friendly" instead.

I prefer the cold hard truth.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 04/29/2007 00:32
I thought Kutaragi had left already. I guess he’s not responsible for all their bad PR after all...
tudo-legal's Avatar
tudo-legal at 04/29/2007 00:55
While I was living in London, I met a reporter for the Daily Mail -- he was over at a friends house for some drinks. Biggest asshole I ever met. Seriously. More than the gangster that tried to mug my mom and little sister recently. More of an asshole than the GTA III guy.

My tuppence.
William Haley's Avatar
William Haley at 04/29/2007 01:03
What happened?

*keeps playing God of War 2*
Odysseus's Avatar
Odysseus at 04/29/2007 01:05
Yes, Daily Mail is a tabloid.


perri's Avatar
perri at 04/29/2007 01:06
I really thought this was a joke... I never would have thought things were going to get worse with Kutaragi gone...

It's a stupid move, doesn't matter if your PETA or somebody who doesn't care. To bring that into public forum is just desgusting and while, as art, it may have merit. It doesn't mean its acceptable, especially for a huge corporation like Sony. How incompetant can one company be?
BahamutZero's Avatar
BahamutZero at 04/29/2007 01:13
sony is like gods. they do whatever thay wants. barcade and drinks FTW. goat decapitations FTW HAPPITY BDAY KARIOMARTS
tazarthayoot's Avatar
tazarthayoot at 04/29/2007 01:30
Some Sony PR rep must've been watching Caligula.

If you could promise me a Greek Orgy at every game launch I would go buy that huge black brick and be a proud PS3 owner. Next time they should invite Malcolm McDowell.
eRectangler's Avatar
eRectangler at 04/29/2007 01:30
I've been a vegetarian and an animal rights activist for about 5 years now, and I find it really hard to people are being offended by this. The animal was already dead, and it had been slaughtered the same way as every other animal that's killed "humanely." Anyways, the carcass would have been destroyed regardless, I really don't see why people can get their panties in a bunch. And consuming and bathing in the blood of animals was very much a Greek tradition, not universally popular, but common among the military. Also, yeah for once I think Sony's decadence is actually pretty hilarious.
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