March 21, 2011
According to an IGN report, the North American boxart proposed by publisher Deep Silver has been censored by the ESRB. The rejection was due to a zombie / corpse hanging from a palm tree that represented the "I" in "Island." The approved box art simply uses a standing zombie as the "I" and removes the noose / hanging scene from the equation.
The in-game logo will remain unchanged and the boxart and in-game logo for Dead Island in Europe will remain unchanged, according to the IGN report. Dead Island is currently scheduled for release for an undetermined date in 2011.
Thanks to Andrew Eisen for the tip.
Source: IGN
Comments
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
I prefer the hanging one, but I can see how such a strange fruit could be construed as racist and why the ESRB voted it down.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
The most likely explanation for a person to be hanging from a tree is suicide, which is common for any zombie story. Does anyone know if the ESRB has a rule against showing death, suicides, or anything not rated E on the front cover? I vaguely remember a problem with the Left 4 Dead 2 cover art where they originally had the non-extended fingers cut off instead of folded.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
"Does anyone know if the ESRB has a rule against showing death, suicides, or anything not rated E on the front cover?"
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp
Repeated blows or gun shots inflicted upon people/creatures, violent blows to the head, guns/weapons pointed at head, impaling, exploding body parts, guns/weapons pointed toward reader/audience, depictions of fatal injuries and/or suicide, strangulation/choking, inflicting wounds with swords/knives, kicks to the groin
Andrew Eisen
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
Thank you.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
They've taken all the fun out of killing zombies anyway. It used to be that you only could kill one by shooting it in the head. Now you can take 'em down using any kind of kill shot.
All lynching does is keep 'em off the ground. Eventually the rope will rot away and the zombie is freed.
Oh, and I represent all the criminals, who were all innocent of course, who were hung for their crimes over the centuries. We find the symbolism of hang a "bad guy" offensive and insensitive and it must stop being glorified!
And beheadings too! Do you know how many of my fellow brothers had their heads chopped off by various execution devices over the centuries, nay, THOUSANDS of year?! You insensitive, evil, evil gamers!
Oh, and dismemberment too! Do you know how many of us "bad guys" were pulled apart by horses as punishment for crimes? Or how many rebels were dismembered and spread across kingdoms as a "message" to others to not stand up to the tyrannants... er, kings of the lands we opposed? Horrible, horrible gamers!
Oh, and all your flamethrowers and flaming arrows and torches used to burn those poor, defenseless pixels! Do you know how many of my poor, lost souls were burned at the stake?!
Oh the inhumanity! :: Whimpers and runs off, whacking Zippy in the head for good measure! ::
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
http://www.facebook.com/nightwing2000
Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
:: Whimpers and runs off, whacking Zippy in the head for good measure! ::
Lol, then you all complain about how he is.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
Yeah, but at this point, it can help him just as much as it can potentially harm him.
(Btw, I mostly enjoy his posts, so this post is still in on the joke, not serious, before anyone asks.)
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
I like the second boxart better anyway.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
Stupid. Oh no, they are lynching that zombie! Better call the NAADP, or the National Association for the Advancement of Dead People.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
I propose a reversible cover!
Andrew Eisen
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
personally, I like the zombie one. while the hanging corpse could signify an element of despair, I can see how someone who has no info on the game could see it as a lynching. (as I was writing this, I immediately recalled an instance of a hanging early on in System Shock 2, but the context of suicide by despair was very clear)
岩「if Phyllis Schlafly wants to undo Women's Rights, she should lead by example and get back in the kitchen」
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
You can't tell the race of the person being hanged, and nothing in title alludes to race at all. OS I think that's a bit of a stretch.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: ESRB Censors Dead Island Boxart
I love how you immediately jumped from lynching to race. You know lynching is the act of hanging someone to die and has been performed by plenty of communities toward plenty of others for various reasons, right?