14 DAY TRIAL // Now that we've seen Sony's dark side with the God of War II launch party, hosted by a necked goat with tasty insides, Sony's answering to the criticism (well deserved if any of it had been true). SCEE told Kotaku the true story, dismissing every nasty detail that Daily Mail's editor mixed up. I took the liberty of selecting the "juicy" parts. Just kidding with you:
"The event did take place, in Athens on 1st March. Approximately 20 journalists from European countries attended the event from a variety of gaming and lifestyle media - although none were from the UK. [...] The event was a theatrical dramatisation with a Greek mythological theme and, as part of the set dressing, a dead goat was sourced by the production company from a local butcher." Having a dramatic theme, some hacking and slashing was in order.
"The 'warm entrails' referred to in the invitation and in the Mail on Sunday article was actually a meat soup, made to a traditional Greek recipe and served to attendees in china bowls direct from the caterers," and not some "still-warm" guts/insides as Daily Mail reported. "There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat... The goat was returned to the butcher at the end of the event."
SCEE even apologizes for any misunderstanding and for using a dead goat with its throat slit to emphasize the dramatism of the event: "We recognise that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves"
I have to say I was pretty skeptical about it myself (you could see my surprise that Sony would even consider something like this), but I just let it get to me and thought it was a great subject to write about. And it was... while it lasted.