Britain in videogames

[Zantos]

I think the use of the SAS in Modern Warfare was pretty cool. In fairness I can't think of any games where we're portrayed badly, we show up well in all the ones I've played with main characters that are British. All, what, four of them?

Erm, we shot a man tied to a chair when we were done interrogating him, no matter how much of a tosser he was, that's questionable.
OT: Most of the Imperial Guard in WH40K games are British none of them (excluding the Commissars) are unlike able.

Wasn't he the evil dictator who was in line with the Russian arms dealer and at one point nuked his own country? If I'm remembering correctly then he had it coming.

If not, it makes a good excuse to play through again.

 

[StBishop]

Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent is English.

I think Professor Layton might be as well (although you could just as easily argue he exists in another universe).

Lara Croft is British, Cammy and Birdie from Street Fighter, the protagonist of No One Lives Forever was British, Everyone in GTA: London 1969...

A harder challenge would be some Australian characters. With the exception of Under a Steel Sky (which was set in a future, distopian Australia where everyone speaks with an American accent), there aren't many other games set in Australia, or featuring Australians.

There were Aussies in Army of T.W.O. the 40th Day. They even wore Akubras!

Also what about Chloe Frazer, the Aussie love interest from Uncharted 2?

Vanelle FF13, Miranda ME2, Fang (correct name? I don't know/care) FF13.

 

[ImmortalDrifter]

As for the reason, I would have to say it's due to the relative lack of British development studios. Splash damage is the only one i can think of right off the bat.

 

[TStormer]

As a Brit I'll say this:

All the best villians across all media are British or voiced by a brit.

 

[Zantos]

also ive yet to see a single game made outside of the UK that has Welsh accents

Dragon Age 2. Merrill is voiced by Eve Myles.

Fair enough but i will only be satisfied when i see Fallout: Barry Island

Heh i think we will be seeing Fallout: Hull or Fallout: Glasgow first

I don't think you'd even need to wait for a nuclear war to make those. They're pretty desolate apocalypse ridden places anyway. Other acceptable places to make fun of are Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool and the south.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Well, to be fair, there are very few countries in the world that are regularly represented in games. Still, when playing Medieval 2, I usually play as England.

 

[Iwata]

It's not that, they're just never shown at all in my experience.
Always the americans.
And just the americans.
With COD being exempt, that had the Russians too!

Yeah off the top of my head I can't think of many games that have British characters, the CoD series is the easiest but I'm sure there must be plenty of others.

And like I said the Imperial Guard are commonly portrayed in W40K games with British accents.

How many WW2 games have actually had the british feature in though?
I can't even think of one!

Play the FIRST Call of Duty. There's an entire campaign in single player for the British.

I've already pointed out that there's an entire WWII FPS series based on the British, "Hidden & Dangerous", but apparently that's not enough.

Bloody hell, here, have the first full game: http://www.gamershell.com/news_9714.html

There. Take it. It's free!

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

I've already pointed out that there's an entire WWII FPS series based on the British, "Hidden & Dangerous", but apparently that's not enough.

Bloody hell, here, have the first full game: http://www.gamershell.com/news_9714.html

There. Take it. It's free!

What, oh sorry, i wasn't listen.
Too busy preening myself and whatnot.
But a FREEBIE!?
Hell, i'm in.
It's the human way.

 

[Treblaine]

I'm British and i've always felt that Britain and British people are straight-up ignored in videogames and with these crappy release dates we get it always feels like we're just being lumped in with 'the rest of the world'. Hardly any individuality.
Maybe we just are.
Hell! We're even treated badly by are own countries game studios! (i have reason to beleive, correct me if i'm wrong)
So, what do you escapists feel about this? Do you agree or think that perhaps i should stop moaning and just suck it up.
Perhaps i'm delusional.
Please reply.

EDIT: please stop hating me...

Resistance: Fall of man is set entirely in Britain with lots of British kind of things, looks like an alternate-history blitz-birtain with a lot of steampunk mixed in. You play a yank but he's the silent protagonist type and it's mostly populated with British characters who are fairly well represented.

the British are also pretty well represented in COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 where they are the actual protagonists in an american focused war. Even COD2 did give a lot more attention to the British campaign than the American one. And not forgetting Lara Croft and all the tomb Raider games.

And of course fantasy games, British accents are much much more common than American or any other accent.

Rattle off a few more off the top of my head:
-Demoman in TF2 (you try telling him he isn't Scottish)
-Brute Splicers in Bioshock 2
-No one Lives Forever
-Perfect Dark

Brits are hardly the most marginalised European nationality, what about the French? I mean Ubisoft is a huge presence in the video games industry yet they are there almost entirely as a snooty/perverted ally who doesn't contribute that much.

So... quick summary of Britain in video games:
-Lara Croft
-Captian Price/soap, SAS in Modern Warfare series
-Fable series
-Resistance
-Demoman
-Perfect Dark
-No One Lives forever
-Almost every fantasy game ever made

There are more neglected minorities in gaming, like Asians. I mean how many games are made in Japan yet with an entirely white-american cast?

 

[Purplecoyote]

Bayonetta has a british accent, but I'm not sure this actually counts. Otherwise, Daniel from Amnesia The Dark Descent, he lives in Mayfair (actually so does Phillipe from Penumbra).

 

[Treblaine]

The British are portrayed as bad guys in Black ops when the NOVA gas is tested on the russian soldiers you escape and the british come and attack you with sten SMGs. RULE BRITANNIA

More "antagonist" than bad guys. There was just a "difference of opinion", not "bad" per-se.

 

[Iwata]

I believe that the length of this thread and the numerous examples provided prove that Britain has a safe little corner in the gaming world.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

I believe that the length of this thread and the numerous examples provided prove that Britain has a safe little corner in the gaming world.

I agree, i thought this was going to get like 20-30 posts on it, i was saving my 'bigger' topics for different threads.

Bloody hell man, we're not that important
Just do what I do, feel represented whenever Europe is mentioned. That way at least our continent is being acknowledged

NO!!!
We are UBER-IMPORTANT!
Why?
Because we have DOCTOR WHO!!!
...

 

[Harveypot]

Lara Croft, Fable, war games etc...
There are plenty of characters but the release dates really bug me.
Also, one thing that I find weird is that American shows like Family Guy or The Simpsons or whatever show English people as all posh and poncy but drool over the coolness of James Bond. It's just odd.

 

[Canid117]

it always feels like we're just being lumped in with 'the rest of the world'.

Um...is it so unfair if it's also happening to the "rest of the world".

As mentioned last time this came up a few weeks ago, Giants: Citizen Kabuto features a bunch of English space thingies and Scottish aliens. And one French alien.

Precisely.
I only feel it more on britain because i'm british.
But it annoys me that there is America, Japan and then 'the rest'
We all need individual identities as a country, which is why it annoys me when i say i'm from britain and people go 'Oh, you mean europe?'

You forgot to add Australia after "the rest."

 

[baddude1337]

There aren't a great deal of war games that represent us, but they are out there. Call of Duty 1-4, Combat Mission Shock Force, ArmA 2 to name a few. Although It seems a lot of the modern shooters do tend to make the British the as the Special Forces characters if the game, I'd like to see some where we play as a normal infantryman or something.

 

[Thamian]

More important question, does it matter?

Now, I'll admit, I tend to play sci-fi games, often strategy and so on, so I really don't see what it matters. Yeah ok, most of my player characters and NPCs have north american accents but then the games are made there (The notable exceptions to that rule are the Imperial forces in the DoW games, and probably the upcoming Space Marine, who all come equipped with British ones), and more significantly, are often not even from Earth. The one game series which did things slightly differently and which comes to mind was the Lancer games (StarLancer and FreeLancer), but then the division of the Aliiance into it's constituent nations was part of the whole flavour of those games, though once again, most of the characters weren't even born on Earth.

I seem to have gotten off track slightly... Basically my complaint against the concept of asking 'is this country being slighted?', 'is that one being over-represented?', is that ultimately, this is the 21st century. An age of massive inter-connectivity between all nations, where even physical national borders are starting to slowly dissolve.

As such, do such questions really matter?

 

[Thundero13]

Meh, I think Australia has it worse, still I see your point...

 

[Darknacht]

Bloody hell man, we're not that important
Just do what I do, feel represented whenever Europe is mentioned. That way at least our continent is being acknowledged

NO!!!
We are UBER-IMPORTANT!
Why?
Because we have DOCTOR WHO!!!
...

Doctor Who is Britain centric, it treats the rest of the world as secondary in importance to Britain. Which is terribly inaccurate Britain is not even the most important state in Europe let alone the world. Doctor Who should represent every nation equally based on their population and importance.
I'm joking of course I would hate to see Doctor Who change to be more PC, but I'm getting tired of hearing Brits yell "I'm important(cried the dust speck) why is my country not portrayed as I wish it to be." Sometimes I think the BBC must be filling your heads with delusions of grandeur.

All countries represent them selves as the center of the world, if Britain wants to be in games more they need to make more games. Also there are far more important countries that get ignorred way more then Britain. If you want to play games where everyone is represented play stuff like Europa Universalis III: Divine Wind, it does not have everybody but it has a lot.

 

[Ca3zar416]

Now thinking about it I can't think of any British developers. You hear about foreign film and everything and while you may not watch it it's very well known to exist but, with gaming the ONLY countries I can think of that make a largish number of games are the US and Japan.