David Cage Awarded the Legion of Honor

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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David Cage Awarded the Legion of Honor


Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls creator David Cage will receive the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, in March.

David Cage founded French game studio Quantic Dream in 1997 and helmed the development of Omikron: The Nomad Soul, Fahrenheit (better known to U.S. gamers as Indigo Prophecy), Heavy Rain and, last year, Beyond: Two Souls, starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. It is perhaps not the most prolific oeuvre imaginable, but his work has been well-received critically and France has decided to recognize his contribution to culture by awarding him the Legion of Honor, the nation's highest decoration.

It's likely that the honor has been bestowed on Cage not just for the success of his games, but for his loyalty to France as well. A September 2013 article in Le Figaro [http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http://www.lefigaro.fr/jeux-video/2013/09/20/03019-20130920ARTFIG00001-david-cage-le-francais-qui-revolutionne-le-jeu-video.php&usg=ALkJrhivA82Hw3tJKfQWL7hX-hUf7_k0fg] noted that while many other developers had opted to move to nations offering more generous tax credits, Cage stayed put, keeping Quantic Dream "first and foremost a 100 percent French studio."

Cage will be the first member of the video game industry to earn the honor, which was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. He will join the order as a Chevalier (Knight), which requires 20 years of public service or 25 years of professional activity and "eminent merits," according to Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Honor]. The decoration will be presented by Fleur Pellerin, France's Deputy Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Innovation and the Digital Economy, in a ceremony on March 13.

Source: Le Figaro (Google translated)


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Osaka117

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Feb 20, 2011
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I can't wait to see Matt, Pat, and Woolies reaction to this! I'm more interested in that than the award itself.
 

LysanderNemoinis

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Nov 8, 2010
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While I know that there's going to be a ton of swipes at David Cage, I for one still like the man and the games he makes (though I haven't played through all of Beyond yet). I'll also say that this is the first time in a very long time where I'm not going to make fun of France, because they're actually doing something right and worthwhile for a change. I'll get back to my usual France-bashing tomorrow, but for today...hat's off to you, France.
 

dragongit

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Osaka117 said:
I can't wait to see Matt, Pat, and Woolies reaction to this! I'm more interested in that than the award itself.
by now they probably already recorded their podcast so unless they make a direct video about it we may not hear their reaction for a week or so.
 

PrinceOfShapeir

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Are you kidding me? France's highest honor? Please no, that'd be like Britain giving Patrick Stewart the Victoria Cross. Please someone.tell me that a video game dev isn't seriously getting the French equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
 

CriticalMiss

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CriticKitten said:
I'm sure he has lots of emotions running through his head right now after winning this prestigious award.

If only his face were made up of enough polygons to express them all.
Gah, you beat me to it. I have so many emoshuns right now!

I wonder if the Queen will read this and think 'Damn those French! We'll one-up them by knighting our own crackpot game developer. Summon Peter Molyneux!' Because the Queen definitely reads the Escapist.
 

zerragonoss

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CriticalMiss said:
Gah, you beat me to it. I have so many emoshuns right now!

I wonder if the Queen will read this and think 'Damn those French! We'll one-up them by knighting our own crackpot game developer. Summon Peter Molyneux!' Because the Queen definitely reads the Escapist.
Actually France has already knighted peter. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/70330-Peter-Molyneux-Knighted-in-France Sorry seems England needs to be quicker on the take.
 

Compatriot Block

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I guess this is the reward you get when you make video games where the female characters get put into creepy attempted rape scenarios on a regular basis. I think the count for Beyond was three times? I'm not really following the logic that leads to a national honor for Cage.

Remember kids, receiving undeserved awards is a failure of the game designer.
 

DrRockor

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...why? Just why? Are the panel that chose this all fans of Ellen Page and he gave them the weird nude model or something? It can't be for any of the games
 

CriticalMiss

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zerragonoss said:
CriticalMiss said:
Gah, you beat me to it. I have so many emoshuns right now!

I wonder if the Queen will read this and think 'Damn those French! We'll one-up them by knighting our own crackpot game developer. Summon Peter Molyneux!' Because the Queen definitely reads the Escapist.
Actually France has already knighted peter. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/70330-Peter-Molyneux-Knighted-in-France Sorry seems England needs to be quicker on the take.
Those cunning devils! We'll have to go all out and give everyone at Zynga a knighthood or something.
 

Kuala BangoDango

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PrinceOfShapeir said:
Are you kidding me? France's highest honor? Please no, that'd be like Britain giving Patrick Stewart the Victoria Cross. Please someone.tell me that a video game dev isn't seriously getting the French equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
You seem to have misunderstood what the Legion of honor is for. Perhaps you are doing a direct comparison based on the name alone..."Legion of Honor" and "Medal of Honor"? Just because something sounds similar in different countries does not mean it's the same thing.

The Medal of Honor is a military award. The Legion of Honor is for either military OR civilian actions. The best comparison to an American award would be the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is a civilian award usually given to civilians but sometimes given to military personnel.
 

james.sponge

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Compatriot Block said:
I guess this is the reward you get when you make video games where the female characters get put into creepy attempted rape scenarios on a regular basis. I think the count for Beyond was three times? I'm not really following the logic that leads to a national honor for Cage.

Remember kids, receiving undeserved awards is a failure of the game designer.
It's called French logic obviously and it involves emotions! Something people not made out of polygons will never understand.
 

Hero in a half shell

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Dec 30, 2009
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Hopefully this will soothe his ache from finding out Ellen Page is gay. Although considering his creepy fascination with her he probably knew before she did...

PrinceOfShapeir said:
Are you kidding me? France's highest honor? Please no, that'd be like Britain giving Patrick Stewart the Victoria Cross. Please someone.tell me that a video game dev isn't seriously getting the French equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
Well as far as I know David Cage has never surrendered, so technically he's done better than any other French soldier.
 

Lt. Rocky

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I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume not much happens in France, for a game developer to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

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Jun 21, 2009
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PrinceOfShapeir said:
Are you kidding me? France's highest honor? Please no, that'd be like Britain giving Patrick Stewart the Victoria Cross. Please someone.tell me that a video game dev isn't seriously getting the French equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
Yes and no. The Légion d'honneur is an order of merit, not strictly a military decoration, unlike the Victoria Cross or the Medal of Honor. It's more equivalent to the British orders of chivalry like the Order of the British Empire (which Patrick Steward holds btw). Victor Hugo and Georges Méliès have received the Légion d'honneur, but so did Celine Dion and Clint Eastwood.
Hero in a half shell said:
Well as far as I know David Cage has never surrendered, so technically he's done better than any other French soldier.
The 'French surrender monkeys' joke is getting really old. It's also quite wrong considering their military history.
 

Casual Shinji

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Hero in a half shell said:
Well as far as I know David Cage has never surrendered, so technically he's done better than any other French soldier.
Ooooh that's a good one! That's pretty good.

Anyway, I'm sure every French celebrity gets one of these. Just as everyone and there's grandmother's dog gets a ribbon over here in Holland.
 

LysanderNemoinis

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Nov 8, 2010
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Hero in a half shell said:
Hopefully this will soothe his ache from finding out Ellen Page is gay. Although considering his creepy fascination with her he probably knew before she did...

PrinceOfShapeir said:
Are you kidding me? France's highest honor? Please no, that'd be like Britain giving Patrick Stewart the Victoria Cross. Please someone.tell me that a video game dev isn't seriously getting the French equivalent to the Medal of Honor.
Well as far as I know David Cage has never surrendered, so technically he's done better than any other French soldier.

That took a while for someone to make that joke. Though just for the sake of adding to it (and making me a damn liar): What's the three step battle plan for French soldiers?
Step One: Retreat.
Step Two: Surrender.
Step Three: Collaborate.