Was Sony's 'God of War' Promo Too Much?

Sony's party last month in Athens promoting its new game God of War II is now getting lots of attention for its featured centerpiece -- a decapitated goat.

The resulting fallout from the company's decision to print photos of the event, complete with unedited pictures of the headless animal, in its magazine will likely mean the recall of the entire run of the official PlayStation magazine.

Details from the bizarre event said it included the opportunity for partygoers to reach inside the freshly decapitated goat to eat offal from its stomach, and topless girls with nothing more than red paint covering their breasts.

However, scantily clad models were not the focus of public outrage. Instead, animal rights activists have zeroed in on the goat as an "outrageous" show of animal cruelty, and opponents of violent video games use the promotion as a way to point of the depths video game makers will sink to in order to market content to youngsters.

"We are always opposed to any senseless killing of an animal and this sounds like a gruesome death," the International Fund for Animal Welfare told The Daily Mail. "We condemn Sony's actions. It is stupid and completely unjustified."

In its promotions for the game, Sony does not spare any details, calling it "an adult-rated, fast-paced bloodbath - and enormous fun to boot," mentioning it has far more violent than its predecessor. Yet when approached by the Daily Mail, its story changed.

"It has come to our attention that at the God Of War II launch showcase, an element of the event was of an unsuitable nature," it said in a statement, blaming the spectacle on a third party. It also said that it had little knowledge the pictures would appear in its official magazine.