REDWOOD CITY, CA — It’s a complex business, this apologizing. Often, the goal is an “I’m sorry” without necessarily acknowledging fault or precisely explaining the infraction in question. Such certainly seems to be the case with game development giant Electronic Arts and its latest apology to an allegedly injured gaming fan base.Ranked as the second most popular game in Europe today, AE’s Need for Speed: Pro Street has done the unspeakable during its promotional tour: it used porn models for a topless photo shoot.

According to the company, these images somehow “slipped through proper approval process;” a process which presumably would have preferred… what? Non-porn models posing for a topless photo shoot – or no topless photo shoot at all?

The motivation for the apology of sorts are images of topless babes decorating a Ferrari that are festooned with the AE logo and Need for Speed branding that appeared on Page3.com, the official sofcore site for the UK’s The Sun tabloid.

Further muddying the “what exactly are they apologizing about” question is a quote on GamesIndustry.biz by a company representative, stating that “We regret that these images slipped through the proper EA approval process.”

Now it’s not the images themselves, but the fact that they slipped through that’s the problem.

Or maybe it’s just that the decision to take the photos in the first place isn’t considered consistent with the game’s reputation? Perhaps that’s what the unnamed rep meant when s/he said of the images that “They are not appropriate for our brand,” adding that “The original site has been taken down this morning,” presumably making the world safer for those who wish to pursue the game’s laudable goal of becoming, “the most notorious and elusive street racer.”

Regardless of website availability, video footage of the photo shoot circulates throughout the internet, although sans official AE or Need for Speed affiliation.