Mafia II Accused of Racism, Take-Two Responds

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Mafia II Accused of Racism, Take-Two Responds



Unico National has accused Mafia II of racism for telling the story of an Italian-American organized crime syndicate.

Italian-American service organization Unico National has spoken out against Take-Two Interactive's Mafia II [http://www.amazon.com/Mafia-II-Xbox-360/dp/B000ZK698C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1282229034&sr=8-1], saying that the game is "a pile of racist nonsense" that perpetuates stereotypes of Italian-Americans as mobsters. Unico's Andre DiMino has demanded that Take-Two halt the release of the 2K Czech-developed game entirely so it can be "cleansed" of all references to Italians and Italian-Americans.

DiMino wrote to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick saying Mafia II was an "inappropriate and insulting perpetuation of the pervasive and denigrating stereotype of organized crime being the exclusive domain of Italians and Italian-Americans." He believes Mafia II will "indoctrinate a new generation into directly associating Italians and Italian-Americans with violent, murderous organized crime, to the exclusion of all of the other 'mafias' run by other ethnic and racial groups," and that it is "unfairly discriminating and demeaning one group to the exclusion of all others."

So he'd be fine with the game if it included gangs of other "ethnic and racial groups?" Are we seriously at the point where our videogames have to be politically correct in the way organized crime is portrayed? Should games like Mafia II become the equivalent of a Sunny Delight commercial [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFmYU_4JzoY] so that the nation's youth can all feel like they have a chance to join a criminal syndicate when they grow up?

Zelnick has responded to Unico's attack with this statement: "Mafia II tells a compelling story about organized crime in America -- a subject that for decades has been featured in movies, television shows and novels. Neither Unico nor any other organization purporting to represent Italian-Americans has seen or played Mafia II." He also points out that Mafia II is rated "M" for mature audiences and not marketed towards young people. Zelnick says that he stands behind his studios and products "fully and completely."

What confounds me is how Unico doesn't seem to acknowledge that the Italian-American mafia is something that actually existed at a point in history, and should be fair game for exploration by any form of media including videogames. Mafia II is based around a topic set in reality, not something that someone dreamed up one day to defame Italian-Americans. I understand that Unico wants to prevent stereotypes from being perpetuated, but it's an unreasonable request for videogames to ignore a topic just because the organization doesn't like it.

Source: Gamasutra [http://gamasutra.com/view/news/29991/ItalianAmerican_Group_UNICO_Takes_Issue_With_Mafia_II_TakeTwo_Responds.php]

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Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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[small]"And we'd like to thank Woodsey for bringing this to our attention."[/small]

But seriously, as I've said this is ridiculous.
 

TerribleAssassin

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Apr 11, 2010
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It reminds me of that nanny thing surrounding Dante's Inferno for some reason.


OT: Another ridculous claim, targeted at gaming for no apparent reason. I can see why he want's to stop stereotypes, but it's been explored in all different kinds of media, so why choose to complain about the game?
 

Diligent

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Dec 20, 2009
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Why can't Italians or Italian-Americans accept the fact that the image being perpetuated here is BADASS.

I'm kidding, but what a silly thing to be upset about.
 

Royas

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Apr 25, 2008
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Fer crying out loud, get a life, people! The mafia was/is real, it's not like the game is saying anything completely false. Exaggerated, maybe. But the mafia existed, deal with it. Unico doesn't like it? Then they should work to shut organized crime down, not whine about how they are portrayed in a frakkin' video game.
 

The Undoer

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Sep 13, 2009
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I played the Demo and didn't go thinking "ZOMG MUST KILL PEOPLE" or "ITALIANZ ARE ALL CRIMINULZ".

Why can't people accept that most of us are not that dumb...
 

Jonci

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Sep 15, 2009
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Maybe Take-Two should take the South Park approach to these things: "Don't worry. We'll get around to offending the rest of the ethnic/religious groups eventually."
 

crotalidian

and Now My Watch Begins
Sep 8, 2009
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Ok this game is set in the mid 50s right in some imagining of NY, Chicago-esque city. Who else in that time was involved in organised crime?

Are they arguing because its about Italian americans? Or because it wasn't made by Italian Americans (see Godfather, Goodfellas etc.)

i think this is just one of those groups trying to get publicity by making noise about a big release before it comes out. Next we'll have the divers union complaining about the depiction of diving suited monsters in Bioshock!
 
Sep 13, 2009
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While we're at it, why not attack Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, for writing and directing the Godfather respectively?

Seriously. I haven't heard any complaints about games revolving around the mafia until this point. Besides, it would be inaccurate if anyone BUT Italian-Americans were part of the mafia cast in this game. You had to be 100% Italian to be a made man back in the day. Really, are we going to start changing history because of a video game?
 

Canadian Briton

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May 1, 2010
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And of course they have never heard about any other media that has a work which includes criminal italians or italian-americans as a focal point
 

MurderousToaster

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Aug 9, 2008
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Steps to a better life for this man:

Step One: GTFO.
Step Two: STFU.
Step Three: Actually pay attention to the world around him and realise that there are far worse things than being stereotyped as a mobster.
Step Four: Watch Goodfellas and the Godfather films.
Step Five: Return to normal life.
 

Kollega

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Jun 5, 2009
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So people from Unico National are in favor of "equal opportunity evil" then?

But seriously... "racism" my ass. [footnote]It's only a figure of speech, please don't actually do that.[/footnote] In the first half of XX century, Italian Mafia was the most widespread form of organized crime throughout the USA. It's a historical fact, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Well, except for time travellers, but they have more important things to do.
 

itf cho

Custom title? Bah! oh wait...
Jul 8, 2010
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Sorry, Mr. Goldman - but you got scooped. There is already a lengthy thread on this exact topic somewhere in the community forums. :)

However, apparently the only group it's okay to 'pick on' now is the Nazis. We usually don't hear many people getting upset when another WWII shooter comes out, and we're plinking Hitler's goons.
 

Dr. wonderful

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Dec 31, 2009
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crotalidian said:
Next we'll have the divers union complaining about the depiction of diving suited monsters in Bioshock!
I take Offense at that one, those things are not as bulky as the ones we used back in 1919 son!

Anyway, when did it became a crime to talk about Cosa Nostra? I don't really associate Italians with crime, Maybe Food and being hot blooded, but not crime. It seems the world is getting too PC.
 

mattttherman3

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Dec 16, 2008
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And people say that gamers need to grow up... I want to smack this guy for being so sensitive. Although it's probably just some ploy to get national attention, wouldn't be surprised if this ends up on Fox.
 

Flankhard

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Mar 28, 2010
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"DiMino has demanded that Take-Two halt the release of the 2K Czech-developed game entirely so it can be "cleansed" of all references to Italians and Italian-Americans"

Or what? You gonna send a couple of guys over and take care of it poisonally?

Sorry, but no, seriously, I don't associate Italians with organized crime. However, I do see "Mafia" as the face of Italian organized crime. So a Mafia game without Italians would be realy silly.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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Zelnick's response has my respect, Unico has not played the game a single bit so they cannot judge, the game is rated M for Mature so it's not marketed for the youngins, and movies, books, TV shows, etc... all take on subjects of the Mafia and many times the Italian-American Mafia. Why should video games be excluded?