IO Changed Hitman: Absolution Following Nun Controversy

[cerebus23]

Now, if they make Kratos into a quivering little boy for the God of War prequel

I don't know. Based off of the whole 'Kratos will be a golden child who does not inflict horrible violence on women' thing, he may very well be.

Unlike those two games, the Hitman series has never been an over-the-top, Refuge-in-Audacity satire. A big part of the reason the fetish nun outfits got a backlash is because the Hitman series considers itself a serious game with a certain level of realism--e.g., you can't just charge a dozen armed opponents in Hitman, you will die. World-class assassins who wear skimpy PVC and stiletto heels while wielding assault weapons are ridiculous, and more importantly, charging into such a heavily-armed group with just a pair of handguns is suicidal and doesn't fit the tone of the Hitman series. Or in other words:

You've obviously never watched me play through Blood Money. Practically every mission in the game involved me running into the middle of the level, shooting people in the face with a handgun. A particularly defining moment was at the tutorial where they tell you that there are too many enemies in the next room and you have to use a bomb. 'Screw you, lady' is what I said, right before I jumped off the balcony and murdered everyone on the way down. And then I set off the bomb afterwards to kill the prostitutes, because that's just how Agent 47 rolls.

But yeah, Hitman has always been a ridiculous over the top game. I wish I could remember specific events, but there were definitely some 'What the eeeeeeeeef' inducing moments in the series.

I made it my mission to kill everyone on every board, oh the terror. think i got psychopath on just about every board in blood money, except one or two.

 

[Rellik San]

But yeah, Hitman has always been a ridiculous over the top game. I wish I could remember specific events, but there were definitely some 'What the eeeeeeeeef' inducing moments in the series.

Like chaingunning down all your clone brothers in the first game?

As an aside, I'm a feminist and... I agree with what 47 did, yes, I would punch a woman, if she did something I'd punch a man for. Luckily I'm not a violent or aggressive person ever, at all, full stop. So I never punch anybody.

HOWEVER! The thing that did shock me most about the trailer was just how GODDAM impractical those nuns costumes were, I mean c'mon, they are meant to be elite assassins, who know their target, so they should be in body armour and/or stealth suits made of matte material... not to mention how cold it must have been for them in the first place.

As an aside; I'm not saying the trailer wasn't in poor taste, but it wasn't out and out offensive.

 

[anthony87]

Wait, they're changing a part of the game and providing more context and information based on a bad reaction from fans? Sounds familiar. So where's the shitstorm directed at the people causing IO to change their "artistic integrity" and whatnot?

 

[anthony87]

I'm fed up to see so many people getting offended for stupid reasons. 20 years from now we'll live in a bland, sanitized world where everybody thinks the same way (probably from low-grade reality shows and stupid movies).

If you are Christian and offended by half-naked gun-wielding nuns, you really are missing the point of your religion.

I don't think religion has anything to do with it. The world just seems to be getting a metric fuckton of sand in it's collective vagina lately over every single little goddamn thing.

 

[Phuctifyno]

I hope they change it so that you can rape a nun as a qucktime event - but with context.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I wonder if their logic behind making it was:

Developer 1: "Okay, so we want to get lot's of young adult males buying this, so what do they like?"
Developer 2:"Women in skimpy costumes!"
Developer 3: "People getting beaten up!"
Developer 1: "Okay guys, I have an idea..."

that's been the logic for years, if not months. Just this time it didn't work.

 

[Phuctifyno]

...(after further consideration, better leave this here)

*SARCASM*

 

[Drauger]

The "impractical costume" thingie again, its a game ok?, i can't understand how people can accept the whole im an assasin with clone brothers and can kill waves enemies, but can't accept the fact that there are some some enemies wearing "impractical costumes".

 

[Nurb]

Context probably won't help with the people who condemn the trailer for the girls being needlessly sexy...

Some people actually think that gamers seeing attractive women dressed in tight clothing is making them force women into dressing like booth babes 24/7. Some go so far that it makes male gamers more likely to rape.

It's really no different than the fantasy of sexualized supernatural teenagers fighting a war over a girl, but that doesn't get seen as destructive while any fiction involving male fantasy is wrong, and harmful to women.

So IO won't make them happy because the women are still dressed provocatively. I guess the lesson is killing women in games is ok so long as they aren't attractive?

 

[Rellik San]

The "impractical costume" thingie again, its a game ok?, i can't understand how people can accept the whole im an assasin with clone brothers and can kill waves enemies, but can't accept the fact that there are some some enemies wearing "impractical costumes".

DAMN SKIPPY!

If the game is stylised, that's fine, I can accept outlandish costumes, but when it's a game pushing for grimm hyper reality, certain things need to be practical.

 

[Phuctifyno]

But seriously, folks. It wasn't the violence or the sexism that got Hitman fans' panties in a bunch, it was the dumbness.

The "What's the point of wearing a disguise if you're just gonna use a rocket launcher?", "Why wear a disguise just to take it off as soon as you get there?", "Why bring a whole crew if you're just gonna use a rocket launcher?", "Is he putting coins on their eyes becasue they think that all Hitman fans are Boondock Saints fans?", "Seriously, none of them can get a shot off on this guy while he's dancing around? They're all armed, right?", "Is there any fucking stealth in this stealth game, please?", dumbness.

 

[Jobbie]

I personally thought the trailer was awesome...and I will be looking forward to purchasing absolution.

 

[Furioso]

The trailer really bugged me, not because of the scantily clad women nonsense, but because it made no god damned sense. What the hell were nuns doing walking down a lone street to that hotel, just silly

 

[nexus]

I'm getting really, really tired of the political correctness pervading games journalism as of late. Really sick and tired of it.

People need to grow up.

Not everything is "misogynist". If the PC-brigade had their way, then video games would turn into all American sitcoms. The ones where every male is a blabbering, useless, cowardly idiot who is lucky to have found the matriarchal beautiful genius he currently lives with. Equality =/= Misandry ?

To be fair, gaming is the only medium outside of literature that portrays realistic characters, both male and female. It doesn't mean every game needs to be politically correct however.

 

[Drauger]

The "impractical costume" thingie again, its a game ok?, i can't understand how people can accept the whole im an assasin with clone brothers and can kill waves enemies, but can't accept the fact that there are some some enemies wearing "impractical costumes".

DAMN SKIPPY!

If the game is stylised, that's fine, I can accept outlandish costumes, but when it's a game pushing for grimm hyper reality, certain things need to be practical.

Well if you want the game to be practical lets add all the things an assasin would need to be like 47 in the end we end up wiht splinter cell like character:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb57886/splintercell/images/f/f6/Splinter_Cells.jpg

Why do they dont add all that stuff?, well because fictional world were a bald clone can pull out all that stuff without wearing all those pockets and stuff on..... like the nuns pull out the rocket launcher and other weapons out of god knows where

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I wonder if their logic behind making it was:

Developer 1: "Okay, so we want to get lot's of young adult males buying this, so what do they like?"
Developer 2:"Women in skimpy costumes!"
Developer 3: "People getting beaten up!"
Developer 1: "Okay guys, I have an idea..."

I wouldn't even go that far.

Developers: "Boobs, guns, and fetish wear! Let's DO THIS!" ... Release of trailer ... "Wait... not all gamers are teenage boys with warped sexual views on women? Really? ... Huh."

Wasnt there a whole level in Hitman: Blood Money about two night clubs (heaven and hell) that featured scantily clad women as well?

 

[Trishbot]

How did The Escapist resist the urge to make the headline "IO tweaks lingerie-clad fetish nuns"?

 

[Dogstile]

Wait, so is he saying the characters in the game didn't originally have context before this trailer?

Because what I get from this is that in the game the nuns would have been nothing but scantily clad women you beat up/killed, and now there's going to be a reason to do this.

Does this sound a bit odd to anyone else, or am I just reading this wrong? Why the fuck didn't they give it all context in the first damn place?!

They didn't in blood money either. You had assassins that tried to sleep with you, if you accepted, they'd kill you while your guard was down. Its not exactly a new trick for them.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I first read the article as "IO Changed absolutely nothing following Nun controversy". You know, I think I would have preferred that. A company sticking by its guns - its stupid, stupid guns - is probably better than homogenized for-the-masses grey sludge. And isn't that Absolution in a nutshell.