Kotaku: "Every time, in everything that's been shown, the half-British/half-Native-Ameri can hero Connor assassinates redcoats. Every time, he sheds not a drop of blood of the men in blue. He attacks no Colonists. He kills no Patriots. Why not? It seems that someone at Ubisoft has decided that gamers—American gamers, presumably—can't handle it."
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Some obscure local news channel will run a 20-second blip and all of a sudden "[insert network here] is biased against gamers!" etc.
Controversy = more hits all around, so both sides love to stroke the flames...
I've got news for ya....statistically, if you're an American citizen, your ancestors probably did NOT come over on the stinkin' May Flower, alrighty?
Fact is, it's KOTAKU that's creating a stink over nothing. I've seen ZERO substantial or collective controversy on this game until Kotaku suggested that there was. Kotaku is the FOX news of gaming.
It's not even possible to get a nip slip in Mass Effect 1 either.
Believe it or not 12% of Americans have an ancestor that traces back to the mayflower..
Well to be honest Connor is the only true American and he's killing later generations of European colonists.
Probably the game is also focusing on the fight of the natives against the colonists and suddenly people think twice about the red coat vs blue coat discussion. As already said, the game also includes the time after the war.
Collectively kill yourselves by actually stepping outside in the sunlight, breathing fresh air, and by seeing an actual woman NOT made by a computer.
Signed,
Gamers who can read.
Almost every game that is out there which bears some semblance to reality where there is a villain will never feature an antagonist who is American and a protagonist who happens to not be an American.
In every game where there is a clash of nationalities at some level (whether it be the accent or outright identification of nationality), the main character, the hero always is American or has an American accent and the opposition is almost always British / Arab / Chinese / Russian / German / etc. Even Killzone has the main characters with American accents and the enemy having British accents.
Ubisoft is not to blame for this. The general American public is, which is the reason that Ubisoft probably didn't show Connor killing Americans. A lot of us who are here posting online don't care if Connor did or didn't kill Americans but guess what? Most Americans do. Otherwise, Fox News wouldn't be one of the most watched channels and there wouldn't be such a large group of people who think of the word "Europe" as being equivalent to fringe nutjobs.
Hell, not just America but almost every country where Newscorp has its tentacles has this issue, including the UK and France, with their own right-wing groups (BNP, NF) making a huge deal out of nothing.
whole thing seems pretty stupid to me. you're a bipartisan assassin.
Our pride and joy, the American Media.
I don't know. Maybe being African American and realizing what Americans have put us through along with the Native Americans, the Irish, Middle Easterns puts me in a spot where I just can't respect how America came to be America of today.
I wan't to visit different countries to see how they operate. I wonder how I would be treated.
Ignorant comments like yours show why we are so slow in growing as a nation.
Everyone feels the need to bitch about their ancestors being treated wrongly. My ancestors came over way after slavery but because the color of my skin I am made to feel the blame of what happened to the african slaves. I think it is horrible what happened but I guarantee you that every single person has an atrocity that has happened to their ancestors.
Try dropping your racial thumb sucking and make your ancestors proud of how successful you are instead of them looking back and skipping over any thought of you because you can't get out of your racial despair. There are many African Americans, asians, hispanics, Irish and every other nationality and race that come here for the ability to have a wonderful life. All have a reason to bitch about something but instead make something great out of the opportunity that is provided by living in this country.
Open your eyes and do something with your life instead of bitching.
africans sold other africans into slavery. so if anything blame africans for selling their own people to the white people. oh and slavery has been going on forever man all over the world. slavery is still going on in africa today with children smh. how would you be treated in africa, the place of your origin? youd either be enslaved, have to fight, or most likely live in bad conditions. is america that bad now? sorry, had to drop some knowledge lol
We are not the bad guys, regardless of what euros want to believe.
Whether you believe the Bible to be true or not is your opinion, but the book itself actually is a historical document.
herp
World isn't centred around America... If they are templars then yes they should be killed! And couldn't you call the founding fathers 'British'? British who didn't want to pay there taxes? And you're 'proud' of these 'racist' founding fathers... Who made there Money out of slave labour and taking over Indians territories and land and murdering them. Battle of wounding Knee? Heard of that?
If you choose not to believe the events described in the bible that's your choice. You end up looking like an idiot though by saying it's not a historical document.
Like it or not there are real people, places and locations that can still be seen today through documents, archelogical sites, etc.
I think it's more intelligent for someone who doesn't believe in the miraculous events to say just that. I think you sully yourself by denying that these locations are fabricated, the Jewish history in the Old Testament is fabricated and that somehow despite the fact of overwhelming evidence that New testament churches existed and received letters by a guy named paul... somehow that is all made up too.
I'm not going to do your homework for you but if you are going to speak out about something at least know what you are talking about and if you oppose a position use logic and reason.
Example: "Ok that Jesus guy existed but I doubt he raised people from the dead"
The most intelligent atheists on the planet aren't disputing that Abraham, Issac and Jacob were real people. Or that Jericho was a made up location (fyi it exists).
except the founding fathers were pretty much as british as anyone living in the british isles then and now.
pioneers of freedom and equality rofl. the colonists rebelled because of taxes! not oppression ffs
@ phantomexe who beat the british? native americans or british colonists not wanting to pay taxes with the help of the french?? history can teach you things if you read it...
"On Thursday, December 12, 1799, Washington spent several hours inspecting his plantation on horseback, in snow, hail and freezing rain—later that evening eating his supper without changing from his wet clothes. That Friday he awoke with a severe sore throat (either quinsy or acute epiglottitis) and became increasingly hoarse as the day progressed. Sometime around 3 a.m. that Saturday morning, he awoke his wife and said he felt ill. Following common medical practice at the time, he was bled—initially by an employee and later again by physicians".
Directly from Wikipedia basically saying he fell ill. Could mean Connor poisons him without Washington realising.
"the patient, yielding to the anxious looks of all around him, waived his usual objections to medicines, and took those which were prescribed without hesitation or remark".
Who's to say Connor may not have tampered with those medicines to guarantee Washington death? Bearing in mind Ubi has said you will be part of events after the war sooo... Washington a templar all along??? =0
This is all speculation but i think my theory has some logic to it :)
He is after Templars, and there were some on both sides of the Revolutionary War.
Don't know why everyone is getting bent out of shape.
Same with the Last of Us and people calling it scripted, even though the devs PROMISE IT ISN'T
AC3 is getting flack because people think its pro-american.
I loved the AC franchise since 1... due to the fact of its unique settings and concepts, and great main characters.
If the guys at Ubisoft PROMISE you fill fight against both sides... don't you think we should give them the benifit of the doubt?
Do we really need Ubisoft to release a demo or montage of him only killing blue coats?
Im Canadian and I honestly could care less, I love the story AC tells, and I doubt they would sacrifice it for Americans.. seriously, I don't think people are going to be attached to their fake no name ancestors.
People need to grow up. AC3 looks amazing, and its my most anticipated game of the year. The fact people are calling it pro-merica/ anti-british is ridiculous
HE SAID THE GAME ALSO TAKES PLACE AFTER THE WAR.... THE BRITISH LEFT AMERICA AFTER THE WAR.... WHO DOES THAT LEAVE TO KILL?
THATS RIGHT THE AMERICANS!
People need to learn to trust devs... (sure Bioware lied, and I was disappointed as hell with them for doing it) but still.. GIVE DEVS A CHANCE, BEFORE THINKING YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THEIR GAME!
"Oh not this crap again"
"It's just a video game"
"Why bring this up"
"I'm not bothered"
When in fact if Connor was killing nothing but Americans then those same people would complain.
The problem isn't that Brits are being killed, it's the fact that for a game which is supposed to show both sides of the war and a person fighting those both sides, Connor seems to be leaning to one side and is killing no Americans, probably because Ubisoft are scared shitless that it's going to effect sales.
Brits probably can just accept criticism for (or fiction about) their country in a more mature way.
I fail to see how Ubisoft's decision (not even an American dev) on how they portray their game means that all Americans are arrogant and immature. I didn't fucking ask Ubisoft to advertise this way, but now I'm an immature American? This whole issue with who's killing who AC3 is asinine.
Brits are always portrayed as the bad guy in films. If there's one thing Hollywood has taught me it's not to trust anyone with an English accent.
Plus British people are the first to insult their own country. We like to say were crap before anyone else gets the chance lol
I think the main targets will be the British in ACIII and I think no one will care. If it was reversed I think the American media would focus a lot more negatively on the game. So it could be argued that it was a conscious decision to at least not show Americans being killed in the gameplay up to this point (maybe the whole game won't be like that but I get the feeling it will...)
You can ring the bell of fox news but these guys are blowing whistles that aren't even there. They said Connor will play both sides against each other depending on what suits him best. But I'm sure any american that gets killed will be the exception and not the rule. Americans killed the British in the Revolutionary War. British killed Americans.
Seriously, people need to get over it. These things actually happened and no amount of Connor killing Americans can change that.
I never hear the russians whine this much in all the Modern Warfare games where the main villain is russians.
divide n conquer.
/s
Seriously, where does all this hate come from? Why all of a sudden do people want to see the founding fathers getting murdered? The US was the first modern democracy and it has always been on the side of freedom and justice.
God, to think I was expecting a logical and reasonable answer.
EDIT:@ below. Because they lost the war and they were on the side of absolute monarchism and oppressive taxation for the poor. Isnt it the bad guy that should be the one getting killed?
"It's AC..."nothing is true, everything is permitted" remember.
"
They also said that this would be based on historical accuracy even more than the other games.
@ x2 below. We had to nuke hiroshima and Nagasaki because we would not have been able to win the war on thier own homeland with troops alone. Not only did we REBUILD thier nation afterward though, but we also turned their miltaristic state into a productive and peaceful democracy. Japan would not be where it is today without the US.
So why do you want to just see British people slaughterd on screen then
"Last time I checked, the colonists WON the revolution. Why would connor be fighting on the losing side?"
It's AC..."nothing is true, everything is permitted" remember.
Who says they always follow history close to what it says in the books
EDIT: Considering in the past AC games were told America is the central base for Templars, really Americans should been the bad guys. If they wern't so scared of the backlash then they would of made it so you were fighting for the British (Assassins) instead, liberating America from Templar control. Although that hasn't happened since they can't even show one American be killed on screen
@Japan, because you should be grateful for getting nuked. (And it's not about the effects or hypothetical situations. I was commenting on the action, which in no way should be consider a good thing since it killed civilians, people that had nothing to do with the war. Also there is more to the world than the U.S, you didn't have a god given right to win the war, it could've happened either way so the ends don't justify the means to other. )
Also, it was America who started the nuclear weapons race, and religion, which you american's are so fond of which flew planes into buildings.
You invaded countries and imposed embargoes just because you didn't agree with their political process or they didn't allow you and your corporate buddies to steal their resources. Grenada? Haiti? Vietnam? Nicaragua? Cuba? Lebanon? Phillipines?
For all that talk of democracy, you supported dictators, colonizers and tyrants. Hitler (look up Prescott Bush)? Suharto? Pinochet? Duvalier? Hussein? Israel? The aparthied regime of South Africa?
<The US was the first modern democracy and it has always been on the side of freedom and justice.>
Where was this for Natives and Blacks? Where was this for the people of Vietnam and the Phillipines who wanted independence from their European colonizers? Where was this for the (Black) people of South Africa who wanted freedom from minority White rule?
*clicks disagree*
You shame us all, son....
You actually believe that the US has never committed wrong in its history, and that everything was justifiable.
I blame your narrow-minded ideals on your family, mainly your parents, because people are most influenced by their parents at a young age.
So, all the countries that cry for our help when they're being murdered hate us after we've saved them. They burn our flag then come crawling to our feet when they can't fight for themselves. They tell us we're not the world police then hate us when we don't interject in conflicts.
I'm not even a pro government person, in fact I think our government is complete shit. The things our government pulls with the WTO and this sudo-colonialism is detestable. Our conglomerates in particular are among some of the most heartless organizations in the world. In fact you can shoot a crooked cop or CIA agent and I wouldn't get a shit, I'd be happy to do that digitally.
But in this context I think it is wrong to kill the men fighting for their freedom against the worlds super power at the time. Now, we are raised to love freedom as a concept and to hate oppression.
I don't want to fight as Nazis, I don't want to play as a war criminal, I don't want to be the oppressor. I want to be the guy sticking the gun in the oppressors face and pulling the trigger.
@kent80082007: It's not about brain washing, it's about being proud of where you come from. Most of the people I are is American, everyone I'd die for is American, I was raised as a good man by Americans, and even though we as a society have a lot of problems we have a heart that is uniquely American. I'm proud of us is a very strange way, I know that we can do anything as a society but I also know we're lost at the moment. A lot of what I see of my people saddens me.
@Jayjayff: The Nuclear bombs on Japan were a tragedy, but they wouldn't have been dropped had Japan, Italy, and Germany not chosen to go to war with the entire world. The war in itself is a very dark spot in the world history, but the allies did have a right the win the war. They were attacked and they fought back, you can't spin that. Oppressive, genocidal dictators wanted to rule the world and they lost. I think we're all better off having the allies win the war. As for your comment about the ends not justifying the means, maybe your right but after years of brutal war I'm sure the powers that were were tired of their soldiers dying it what seemed like a war that would not end any other way. You were not in their shoes and you didn't live through what they lived through, so you don't know if you would have done the same thing or not.
I don't mean to come of all "rah-rah" but to me blind hate is just as bad as blind patriotism. America receives a lot of hate for things every country does, and things every country would do if they were in our position. Our politicians aren't great but neither are yours, our history is checkered and so is yours, we will make mistakes and so will you, but we will always be a country of fighters that thrive is freedom and we will always see that as the best solution to tyranny.
Our government is a whole other story. I don't even know what to say about them, they suck.
We shit on France despite the fact they're help in keeping the Brits committed elsewhere is the only reason America exists. We had brave soldiers and colonists, but it was very few.
We have made a lot of mistakes like Vietnam. Sticking our noses in others business. But I do NOT think Hiroshima and Nagasaki were among our mistakes. They were sad points in human history, but the alternative would have been far worse. In all likelihood Japan would have been completely wiped out. People forget that the Russians weren't too happy with the Japan and were getting ready to flatten it. It would have been a blood bath for everyone involved.
We have had our good moments but we have had quite a few bad ones as well.
And I think Pearl Harbor wants a word with you...
@Pushagree Wow, just wow. The russians tried to end the world in nuclear fire as much as the Americans, and it is the Americans who actually dropped a nuclear bomb. The only reason America dropped the bomb was to end the war before Russia sent troops to help, because America wanted more land for themselves. Russia are no longer a threat,so I don't see the need for them to always be the bad guys. The mujaheddin, I can understand why they would be enemies, but who aided them in the Afghanistan war?
'MERICCAH.
we americans are too damn sensitive about everything, and i wish other americans would stop acting like we havent committed our fair share of wrong doings.
Just saying
lol so uneducated.
Did you know America is the only country in the world to of used a nuclear bomb against another country? Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This is what you beloved country is capable of....
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/...
Fact.
I thank you for saying that, it's the truth. I would expound upon your points further but it would be a waste of time.
Oh "Connors netural"..."Connor won't get involved in the war"..."We don't want to make one side look evil"
Yet everything we've seen has been Connor kill nothing but Redcoats, hell even down to the tiniest detail that some of the colours on Connors clothes are blue making him look like he's fighting for the Americans since thats their colour aswell.
You know many Americans, especialy on here keep calling British people moaners or whiners but the thing is if this was the other way around there would be more of an uproar then there is now.
Even the E3 trailer showed nothing but Connor kill redcoats, it even made him look like he was trying to lead America to victory. They should of had him kill both sides if Connor is really netural and is only out to get Templars.
I'm surprized Ubisoft havent been called out for this yet, are they afraid it will hurt sales.
I'm getting the impression that Hutchinson is basicaly acknoweldging what they've done but is hoping it's just going to go away when the games release. Does he think British people are push overs...jeez, what a prick.
@ Below, it's fair enough that people are annoyed that they are being lied to if indeed as seems to be the case Connor is not neutral. The thing I don't get is why so many people are upset over American's being killed.
We all deserve to be equal and to be fair the developers are liars and cowards. If Capcom did this kind of the thing people wouldn't like it, if Square Enix did it, they wouldn't like it...hell if someone like NaughtyDog lied like Ubisoft people would complain.
It's about not getting treat like crap from developers at the end of the day.
I get what you're saying, especially with the all the image based marketing. Lots of flags and junk.
BUT! In the trailer, I do feel like he wasn't killing Red Coats to turn the battle. I think he was just going after his target, who was clearly a British Templar. The battle turning was just a weird side effect.
If you've killed one white guy, you've killed all of them.
I mean you, me and others will know he was going after his target but they are still giving off the impression that the red coats are the bad guys just so it will appeal to the American market and even non gamers.
Either way, I'm American and in this fantasy setting, I really don't care. It's a video game...nothing more.
I was being sarcastic, if you didn't catch it.
How can they defend the game and say both sides will be the bad guys AND YET not show one single bit of footage of Connor going through a mission where he has to kill Americans.
People seem to think that British people don't want to see our ancestors get killed but thats not it...it's the horrible one sided marketing behind the game just so they can get more money and the fact that they are lying.
I hope people start to speak up about this more. Call me silly but I'm really debating with myself if I should hold off buying this game now. I hate when developers lie through their teeth when it's so obvious what their true intentions are...I would do it with any other developers if they did the same.
I'm really glad someone made an article on this...I'm surprized it was Kotaku but never the less, well done.
For example
"Oh Capcom are greedy, they've ruined RE6 it's not even horror anymore...I'm going to buy it day 1 though to "give it a chance" even though I know what to expect out of the game"
boooo hooo
http://www.vg247.com/2012/0...
MAKE UP YOUR MINDS AND DO MORE RESEARCH UBISOFT!!!
By the way, maybe it's just me but Zi thought Connor looked quite Native American.. So yeah...
No problem with Abe Lincoln smashing vampire asses though..LOL. Gotta love it.
(I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a Jewish-Italian Turk, lol)
I'm not wanting to slaughter Americans for the hell of it. I just don't like seeing double standards,
Wait a minute, hasn't that been the basis of practically every call of duty game based in the previous world wars?
So how is this different again?
Fixed.
And for all a lot of you know your ancestors just might have been redcoats (or templars).
Fox News is fair and balanced and provides 100% accurate, unbiased news reporting. Maybe people are envious of the success of Fox Media Chairman: Rupert Murdoch who has became a multi-billionaire off the back of his media empire?
BTW: I am educated by Fox News. Fox news report the news with comprehensive evidence to back up their views/opinions.
If serious please get a decent education which will give you a realistic, balanced, non bias view of the world, politics, home affairs and History
As it is, too far too fast. 5/10. Good try though.
I DO get tired of the ridiculous anti-American sentiment around here, though. And it's funny that people at the top of the thread are talking about Americans being patriotically brainwashed and such by our media, yet the vast majority of the information they receive on us is through that very same media.
And it's easy to sit back and condemn us sticking our noses in everyone else's business all the time. But if we sit back and do nothing(Rwanda, anyone?) we'll be the first the get called out for sitting idle. Which events were worse: the ones where we said "Not our problem," and left whoever to do whatever, or the ones where we said "We should probably nip this in the bud" and took action before things got too heavy?
I bet all those dead Syrian protesters and their families wish we were over there right now. And while I hate the loss of all life, I do, too, because I've always felt that America, being the power that it is, has an obligation to the rest of the world to step in, even if it's not the popular thing to do.
... anyway, Connor will kill everybody. Deal with it.
And by that logic we've been killing our relatives the whole time if we look back even further.
I'm related to Booth. Yeah, that Booth! I don't think it's bother me in the slightest.
One of the reasons I want to play this game is to see Digital George Washington (seriously).
Ubisoft seems to be putting a lot of historical accuracy into the back drop of this fictional tale. If this is true, then I would think that parents would take heart that Junior or Junioretta may become more familiar about the past just by playing this game.
Most educational games strive to make people care about academic subject matters but nothing makes you know the name of a place, a destination, or a historical figure more than if knowing it leads to FUN or not getting KILLED.
how do u think the italians felt when they found out that ezio is going to kill other italians, its the same thing, and in all technicality, the patriots weren't really americans at the time, they were eastern european, and lets not forget the most important fact, this is a game, meant to create a fantasy world, in which you get to lead a life that u cud never lead in reality. there are a lot of games out there that kill other people from other countries, mw, mw2, mw3, so let us just treat this as another game, and stop complaining about things that wont really have an effect on us in real life.
whew, my fingers hurt, once again, i dont mean to offend. my main point was that it is ok for anyone to be treated as a bad guy, a game cannot influence how we view the world, nor should it.
I am offended by that.
Just thought I'd let you know......
Haven't you guys noticed that ZombiU is also about killing a bunch of brits? Ubisofts on a crusade to decimate the british right now.
are you an aspiring political editor?
Let's talk about this present.
Capital city of Great Britain is London.
London is the multi-cultural capital of Europe.
Over 300 languages are spoken throughout London by schoolchildren. There are 200 different ethnic communities in London.
London is France's 6th biggest city acccording to this article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/m...
So far Ubisoft has been politically correct in not allowing too many Jews to be killed. I mean AC series has allowed me to kill Muslims, Catholics, atheists, Brits, Americans. No Jews yet! lol