Sony is hot water again this week after featuring a freshly slaughtered goat at the European launch of its latest game, God of War II, last month in Athens.

Characters decked out in furs, topless chicks and others gathered around the grisly centerpiece where launch attendees were invited to fish around in the goats stomach for offal to eat. In other entertainments, attendees got to throw knives at targets and yank live snakes from pits with their bare hands.

The images of the event appear in the latest issue of the official Playstation magazine but the uproar has led to many copies being withdrawn from circulation. Animal rights groups and others have been up in arms, so to speak, ever since the event.

A spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare said:

“We are always opposed to any senseless killing of an animal and this sounds like a gruesome death. We condemn Sony's actions. It is stupid and completely unjustified.”

Sony issued the following statement:

“Sony does not condone or sanction any inappropriate behaviour by its staff or sub-contracted staff. 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. We are conducting an internal inquiry into aspects of the event in order to learn from the occurrence and put into place measures to ensure that this does not happen again.”

It seems highly surprising that Sony management could be that clueless about the launch plans for one of its biggest titles.

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