Assassin's Creed Exec Accuses Game Journalists of "Subtle Racism"

[4173]

Did Bayonetta get praised for its story? I certainly don't remember that.


Regardless, comparing across genre and intention lines is always a tricky business and usually obscures the point one is trying to make, because assholes like me make statements like this instead of addressing the actual point in question: preferring a narrative style is not the same thing as judging the merits of a particular work in that style.

 

[GenGenners]

He should have started his statement with "I'm not racist but.....".
No one brought race into it except him.
Also, in regards to story and plot, hypocrisy much??????

There are a few more things I can rip on, like his typical western attitude, or his game's neutrality towards different cultures and beliefs which he lacks, but honestly, there's no point.

He just knocked AC3 a few notches down my list. Congrats /sarcasm.

 

[ckam]

This is ... really ironic. How fun.

 

[teebeeohh]

Bayonetta has you punching god into the sun. You argument is invalid

 

[Falseprophet]

I'm a huge fan of Assassin's Creed. It might be my favourite franchise this console generation.

But seriously, Mr. Hutchinson? The stories in the AC games are patently ridiculous. Most of the characters have a lot more personality than your average shooter or God of War wannabe, but the AC plots just wallpaper over their own nonsense with art history and byzantine conspiracy theories done better in World of Darkness tabletop games 15 years ago.

Granted, it's possible that AC III's writing will raise the bar a few notches, but I wouldn't hold up your past work as a masterpiece when it has more in common with The Da Vinci code than an actual Leonardo.

 

[MatsVS]

OP: I do believe he has a point we do give the japanese game industry alot of slack. For example:

"Big brash full of life black man steps into japanese game where he is the only black man" Awe look at that SOOOOOO TOOOOOKKKKEEENNNNN!!!!

"Same Black man steps into english game where hes the only black man" This is clearly blatant racism, The developers hate everything good including blacks and gays. THEY SHOULD HAVE MAINTAINED AN EVEN COLOR SPECTRUM OH MY GOD WHY OH WHY WERE THEY RAISED BY THE KLAN!


lmao

There is such a thing historical context, you know, hence how two superficially similar situations can end up having dramatically different connotations.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Okay... is there any Nintendo franchise that releases yearly installments? Certainly not Mario. Not Zelda either. Metroid? No sir. Star Fox? Haven't had one of those in years.

Actually, and I was really surprised to find this out, there's been a game with Mario's name in the title every year since 1983. Pretty crazy.

And while he phrased it like a dumbass, he does have sort of a point. I was pretty shocked when Mario Galaxy 2, a full-priced level pack to the last one, kept getting rave reviews. A game without a plumber on the cover probably would not have gotten so warm a welcome.

And yeah, Bayonetta is kind of stupid (Another game I was surprised did well, considering how trashy it looks, combined with pretty dull combat).

Yeah... but most of those are spinoffs. I agree that there shouldn't have been a Mario Galaxy 2 but you can't blame, say, Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart and Paper Mario for being to similar. I agree that the Mario games have gotten a bit lesse varied during the last few years but still not to a degree as some other games are.

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

Bah, this man is a fool and hippocrite. Assasin's Creed is known for it's highly convoluted and "gibberish" plots. Maybe I'm bias, I know for a fact I tend to slide more to buying Japanese titles then any other, but seriously?

As someone who's played nearly all the Assasin's Creed games, barring the portable releases, I felt Revelations was... Lackluster. However I feel that III might make up for it, though I remain cautious.

 

[McGuinty1]

I don't think a single word he just said made sense.

I've read his statements about five times over now, trying to get to the bottom of his feelings, and I just don't understand it.

'Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do.'

And what do they do? What is it exactly that Japanese Developers are doing? Because I have to say I don't think I'd ever put Square-Enix and Capcom and Konami all in the same basket and say they are all the same.

And aren't sweeping generalisations about what races do something like not-subtle racism? And where exactly is this bias in the journalistic world? Mass Effect has been hailed as one of the best series ever (ending notwithstanding let's not start fights) Valve of course, as well as Bungie, Bethesda and even Activision (regardless of what you think about them, the journalists are usually pretty complimentary of Call of Duty)

So maybe if journalists are nice to everyone unless they put out a bad game, and they aren't being nice to Ubisoft, then maybe the falt doesn't lie with the journalists if you catch my drift.

This right here is the main problem with Mr. Creative Director's argument (bolded emphasis is mine). Apart from the sweeping (and deliberately vague) generalization about the tendencies of Japanese developers, I find the fact that he described Japanese games' stories as being "gibberish" to be pretty racist in and of itself. Perhaps most Japanese games that he considers incoherent got that way during an awkward translation and localization process? Or maybe it is his own Western-biased perception in some cases?

Also, journalistic bias is something that I usually hear paraded around by extremist reactionary political whackjobs to defend the unpopularity and downright distastfulness of their veiws. Hmmmmm...

 

[gim73]

Well, let's look at how each ass creed game stacks up:

Assassins Creed 1: Okay game with a few control problems and a good story that keeps you playing.

Assassins Creed 2: Great game that fixes most of the control problems from the first game, has a large cast of interesting characters in a great storyline that keeps you wanting more.

Assassins Creed Brotherhood: Great game with some good new additions from the second. Large cast of interesting characters in a great storyline that keeps you wanting even more.

Assassins Creed Revelations: It's a fair to okay game at best. Very few interesting characters. Everyone else is pretty flat and dull. A few really interesting level designs, but overall it was lacking.

Oh, and I don't really want to have to add anything about draconian DRM.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

I don't let Nintendo off the hook for it, just like I don't let COD off the hook, I despise the companies that release yearly titles.
And Brotherhood and Revelations were both pretty poor "sequels". But I will judge AC3 on it's own merits, just like how he wants. I hope I am not disappointed.

 

[Artemis923]

I haven't played a good 'Sin's Creed since II.

You've got a lot to prove, Hutchinson, before you start shitting on other people.

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

Okay... is there any Nintendo franchise that releases yearly installments? Certainly not Mario. Not Zelda either. Metroid? No sir. Star Fox? Haven't had one of those in years.

you are right, sir, i dont think there is a nintendo franchise that has yearly installments. however, i think what mr. hutchinson meant to say was that even when a new zelda or mario game comes out, its basically the same damn game with a different skin.

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

This guy is an ass. The last time I tried playing Revelations, Ezio killed himself twice in two minutes by jumping in directions that were as much as 90° off of where I told him to jump, and did it a couple more times without killing himself right after that. Game disc became a frisbee after the fourth time, where somehow he jumped in the opposite direction of where I told him to. It's still sitting where it landed; don't much care whether it gets damaged or not, because playing it more consistently creates frustration than fun.

If you make a game where a player's input is so inconsistently interpreted, you're simply bad at your job. Revelations may as well be a movie for all the influence I feel I have on the character at times.

If he wants to not have the quality of his games questioned, then all he needs to do is produce quality work.

i hate to be a bit of an ass, but is it the games fault you jumped in the wrong direction, or is it your fault?

 

[weirdee]

He's probably butthurt about how everybody uses gears of war as the archetypal "popular game with terrible story" every single time, instead of other games like...the metal gear solid series. It does come up consistently when we talk about anything remotely related to games and art discussions.

to be fair, people should be more diverse with their selection of bad writing examples

 

[cobra_ky]

While some gaming franchises release yearly installments without major complaints from the industry, the Assassin's Creed series hasn't been so lucky. Assassin's Creed III Creative Director Alex Hutchinson feels that some people unfairly questioned the series' ability to maintain quality in yearly releases, stating in a recent interview, "We were reading reviews about Revelations and a few people were asking whether this was the end of the franchise." When asked why Nintendo could get away with yearly installments while Revelations was criticized, Hutchinson stated, "I think there's a subtle racism in the business, especially on the journalists' side, where Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do."

Ok, now explain why EA Sports gets away with releasing the same line of games every year.

Please, as if "reverse racism" wasn't ridiculous enough already.

 

[jecht35]

. Case in point, the bullshit excuse for a story that was FFXIII.

It was actually quite clearly the best one with the best story.

http://i.imgur.com/CVene.png

Really glad that at least someone else though XIII had a great story, maybe a bit to many cut scenes but I had fun