Zombie paradise action game Dead Island may have been out since early September, but it's only now that the Germans at the wonderfully-named Federal Department of Media Harmful to Young Persons have got around to banning it.

"This isn't unexpected," Techland, the developers of the game, told Eurogamer. "Germany has its unique regulations regarding video games and violence and the industry can only comply.

"Both Deep Silver and Techland were aware of such a possibility from the very beginning."

The game has been put on the organisation's "List B", which is normally where you find games featuring "extreme torture or Nazi content".

The exact reasons for the game's belated banning have not been made publicly available, so I'm just going to assume it's for the worst intro song ever forced upon mankind.

You can read Crecente's Dead Island review here.

Techland not shocked by Germany's Dead Island ban [Eurogamer]

ElMangosto's special lady certainly knows the way to get him to pull his weight around the house: Dead Island and boobs.

If it doesn't look entirely familiar to you, this chores list is built like the quest screens from recent zombie paradise death simulator Dead Island.

Well, except for one of those payoffs.

Crecente reviewed Dead Island last month, and thought it was pretty good!

She's Got me Figured Out [Reddit]

For a game that, when it wasn't paying big bucks for moody trailers wasn't afraid to use rotting chicks in bikinis to sell it, this Dead Island concept art is surprisingly free of buxom walking corpses. Sorry.

What it does have, though, is a glimpse at a far more ambitious title, one that looks more Just Cause 4 Dead than the more (relatively) claustrophobic game we ended up with.

I'm not saying that as a knock against the developers. Plenty of games change tack between an artist's pen, a designer's notepad and the finished product.

But this is the zombie game I wanted when I first heard about Dead Island, and it's still the zombie game I'm hanging out for. Sweeping vistas, enormous, empty landscapes, and the threat of a zombie lurking somewhere, hidden, around every corner.

These great environment shots were done by Artur Sadlos, whose personal site you can check out here.

To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on the "expand" icon on the main image above and select "open in new tab".

Sept. 30 has come and gone, meaning "Bloodbath Arena," the multiplayer DLC due to those who preordered Dead Island (and those willing to pay $10 after the fact) is officially delayed. It

Originally, the game's publisher said it would be out later in September. Subsequent comments to Kotaku suggested Techland was more focused on fixing the main game with a patch than supplying pre-order bonuses. A post on Techland's Facebook page says they expect an announcement of a new date in the next week.

It doesn't get any more official than an announcement from Lionsgate motion picture group president Joe Drake; there will be a Dead Island movie, and it sounds like it will be the first major motion picture based on a video game trailer.

We've been hearing rumblings about a Dead Island movie since that damned trailer debuted in in February of this year, but today's Lionsgate announcement makes the project official. They've got a producer in Sean Daniel (producer on The Mummy, Tombstone, and Dazed and Confused), studio folks assigned to oversee, and a vision that stems not from the game itself, but from the trailer that launched a little girl zombie out a window and into our hearts. From the official press release:

Like the trailer that will serve as its primary creative inspiration, the film Dead Island will be an innovation of the zombie genre because of its focus on human emotion, family ties and non-linear storytelling. Said Drake of the property's acquisition, "Like the hundreds of journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about the Dead Island trailer, we too were awestruck." He continued, "This is exactly the type of property we're looking to adapt at Lionsgate – it's sophisticated, edgy, and a true elevation of a genre that we know and love. It also has built in brand recognition around the world, and franchise potential."

I sincerely hope they decide to call the picture Dead Island Trailer: The Movie.

Intrepid videographer HazardHeresy noticed that when leggy survivor Xian struggles to her feet in Dead Island, you can get a glimpse of her landing strip. No, really, she's going commando. Fast forward that video past the stupid-long preamble to 1:53 and you'll see what he's talking about—helpfully zoomed in close-up.

As grateful as I am for this particular bit of research I don't think this rises to the level of scandal, certainly not "Hot Coffee," which involved actual sex-having fucking. This is an M-rated game. Know what else was M-rated? Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned, and that featured full-frontal nudity. Male nudity, as in, actual wiener. So, no, even if the ESRB hall monitors missed this, it's not gonna get the game pulled.

There are awesome ways to start your morning, but they probably aren't jampacked into just three minutes, like this Dead Island re-enactment from Chris Cropper's Going Nowhere Show.

It gets everything right about the zombie survival game, from the HUD to quest-giving to—wait, can you really blow up an exploding barrel with a plastic coat hanger?

Tipster Jeffrey G. gleaned this piece of wisdom from viewing it: "If you wanna survive any disaster, never choose/trust someone with the name 'Larry.'"

This is the part where I'd try to artfully describe how I meticulously took apart a zombie with an electrified fire axe on a pristine beach, sky-blue waters lapping at my knees.

I even took notes.

I'd probably explain that on my second play-through of Dead Island I switched from the Xbox 360 button-pushing attacks to the game's analog fighting. This more precise form of control requires you to plant your character with a trigger pull, set up a swing with the thumbstick and then follow through with smooth movements.

I'd explain how my first swing neatly cleaved off the zombie's right arm, but that it still sucker-punched me with the other fist. How I moved toward the zombie, blood now jetting from the stump a few inches under its right shoulder, and kicked it in the chest, knocking it slightly off balance. And then I swung again, cutting into its chest, exposing bone. A third swing took off the other arm. Kicks knocked it to the ground and a short hop-and-stomp crushed its head like an over-ripe melon.

That's how I was going to start my Dead Island review, but I realized it doesn't describe a unique moment in the game, it describes nearly every moment in the game. When you're not in one of the half-dozen or so safety zones on the island of Banoi, you're dismantling zombies, carefully, tactically, often awash in copious amounts of blood.

I didn't play Dead Island as much as I survived it. That's not a dig. I love this game. It's got its teeth sunk deep into me and won't let go. In fact, in the middle of preparing to write this review ( a process that involves wasting lots of time not writing a review) I decided I better go play some more just to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

Which is absurd.

Of course I missed things. Dead Island is an unbelievably large playground of hunting zombies, zombies hunting you, scavenging, making weapons, finding survivors, unraveling not just one plot but many stories and exploring a resort, a jungle, a sizable city and elsewhere.

I beat the game in about 17 hours. Then I went back and played another three hours. I've completed more than 60 quests. But I've still missed more than I've seen.

For instance, in the game you can find, upgrade and make your own weapons. I've made a few, but I have plans for dozens of weapons I've never made. And there are quests where you are awarded many more. One quest, for instance, gave me Gabriel's Hammer. Another time, while marauding through the zombies in a cemetery, I discovered a knife called Assassin's Greed. I suspect there are many more amazing weapons to find and make.

And then there are the characters. There are four characters you can play as in Dead Island, each have special skills. Sam is about the blunt weapons. Mei is an expert in sharps. Purna specializes in guns and Logan, who I played most, is a throwing expert. Each has a unique branch of the game's skill tree that allows them to unlock very specialized skills and bonuses.

Even if I had played all four characters, I only played with two so far, I wouldn't have seen everything. The skill tree is big enough to require at least two play-throughs, I suspect, to completely unlock. I haven't for instance, unlocked the ability to pick locks, which means there are a slew of containers I never opened.

And the stories. I figured out the main story because I played through the game. But I still don't know what happened to that commercial airliner. Or that diabetic brother. Or that trapped husband. I'm genuinely interested in finding the rest of the lost recordings made by the journalist.

So I keep playing. But still just alone. Dead Island has cooperative play. At anytime, just about, the game can sense that another online player is nearby and ask you if you want to join up. I rarely did this. Why? Because, in a complete change for me, I wanted to go this game alone.

Dead Island is a survivor's story and I wanted to feel like I survived the game without any help. Playing through the second time, I still feel that way. I still want to figure out all of those mysteries, help all of those people. Maybe on my third play-through I'll be more inviting.

This cooperative play does bring up one of the things that really bugs me about Dead Island. It is a narrative that stars a cast of four. But if you play the game alone, you never see those other three members. Not until you get to a cut-scene and suddenly they're talking like they've been there right by your side all along. It's a disconnect so severe that I began to hope that the game was going to deliver the game's lead up as a schizophrenic by the end. Alas it didn't.

But I still liked the story, I especially liked its unique take on how the zombie infestation began and spread. The ending, the very ending, was a bit much, but not so off-putting to nudge me into dissatisfaction.

There are other problems, problems developer Techland is working to fix, we're told. The game sometimes can't keep up with everything going on in a moment and suddenly zombies will look like they've been sanded down into smooth, moving sculptures.

I ran into one bug near the tail end of the game that permanently stripped me off all of the weapons I had collected, modded and upgraded and dropped me in a mess of high-level zombies with a person to protect.

Fortunately, that's also when I discovered another bug that allowed me to quickly dupe items. I used it on the single low-level item I found in the area: A machete. After perhaps a hundred deaths, I managed to squeak through the level. It was infuriating, but not enough to make me stop playing, or loving the game.

Played with simple button mashing or the more precise analog controls, fighting in Dead Island is the game's biggest strength.

What really sells the combat is that you can target specific parts of a zombie and the game knows how to deal with that. If you take a zombie's leg or legs off, it will fall down, but then crawl after you. If you cut off both of its arms, it will run into you. If you light it on fire, it will engulf you. Break an arm, and it will still disjointedly swing at you.

This makes for some amazing combat, as does the fact that sharp weapons can be thrown into zombies. I've faced off against zombies porcupined with the blades I've thrown into them. And when they finally shambled up to me, I've pulled those blades free and killed the zombie with them.

Initially it's almost funny. But that wears off over time and then it becomes tactical. I paused only briefly when a lucky toss firmly planted a fireaxe into the crotch of a zombie. Then I set about taking the thing down.

While I haven't managed to dig as deep as I'd like in the game, I have been able to get a shallow taste of the entire experience. According to the game, I've seen about 90 percent of the places Dead Island has to offer. That's impressive, especially considering just how massive this game is.

It's so big that even the fast travel offered in the game doesn't shave much time off your experience. The eclectic mix of settings amplify the experience, making sure you don't get worn out fighting zombies on the white sands of a beach, or in the run-down remains of a depressed city, or in the jungles or in a fortified prison.

Each setting is huge and most bring with them new forms of zombie infections. I was surprised how far into Dead Island I had to play to experience everything new in the game. Not just new settings, new zombies, new characters, but new ways of playing.

It wasn't until the very end, when I was confronted with killing other people, not zombies, but innocent people, that I felt I had touched on everything Dead Island has to offer.

Dead Island may not be everyone's favorite, but its deft combination of role-playing, action, horror, gunplay, driving and exploration makes it the sort of game that everyone should at least sample.

I've got to go now, I only paused the game and I really do go want to level up my fury skill.

Dead Island's expansion packs, both announced and not, may be hitting later than planned as developers refocus their energy on fixing the game, Deep Silver tells Kotaku.

"Right now the Dead Island development team's priority is working on fixes and updates across all platforms so that we can take care of all of the fans who have been so supportive of our game," a spokesperson said "There is some awesome DLC content planned for Dead Island, but first we have to put all our focus on the base game experience."

Techland released a new version of the computer game and a patch last week to deal with some pretty serious issues. Earlier this week the developer released a patch for the Xbox 360 version of the game. The team is currently working on a PS3 patch. All three patches are meant to fix multiplayer connectivity issues, autosave issues, and a bunch of other minor problems.

The team doesn't have a firm release date for the PS3 patch, but are working to get it done as soon as possible, we were told.

While Dead Island has some major, teeth-gnashing bugs, some of the oddities people run into seem to be more along the lines of the craziness occasionally spotted in Kotaku fave Red Dead Redemption. Personally, I love the game. I'll be writing up my review this week.

In the meantime, do you have any favorite bugs? We'd love to see them in comments.

This is sort of known, but I thought still worth talking among you fellow (few?) Dead Island fans.

In this screenshot of the game's menu we see three bits of unlockable content. The Ripper Mod is the weapon blueprint you get with a pre-order of the game. The Bloodbath Arena is a $10 downloadable pack already announced by Techland. So what is Ryder White's Campaign? It sounds like, knowing the story, it could be a vastly different way to play through the entire game, or at least a complete Act of the game.

What do you think? Personally, I'd love to play through White's pre-game story. I'd REALLY love to play his campaign through till the end of the entire game. If you know what I mean. WINKIE!