When Army of Two was released in 2008, it upset a number of people because it starred two fist-bumping mercenaries who shot terrorists in Afghanistan so that they could gold-plate their guns. Apparently, this was wrong, and Electronic Arts admits it.
"The mistake we made was we thought that what is going to make a certain type of person laugh, is going to make everybody laugh," explains EA Montreal boss Alain Tascan. "The reality is, you can laugh off everything but not with everybody.
"When we mixed killing in North Africa, killing terrorists for money and then fist pumping and saying something funny afterwards, in a place where real life troops are dying, people just felt [that] whatever the game is, this is wrong. You can't do that. People from the left thought we were on the right; people from the right thought we were on the left. We were able to piss off a lot of people."
In response to the first game's reaction, EA decided to tone down the humor for Army of Two: 40th Day. Tascan says that EA Montreal got "carried away" with the first game and that it was "inappropriate." 40th Day should be a bit more tasteful, although from what I've played of it so far, it's more tasteful only by a few notches.
Which, in my opinion, isn't a bad thing. If EA wanted to make a game with risky, borderline-offensive humor, it should have the balls to stand by it when people get upset. I'm actually a bit disappointed to see EA Montreal groveling and denouncing what was some hilariously tasteless stuff. Trying to make everybody laugh is impossible, and you're pretty spineless if you're going to be afraid of making jokes because some individuals may not get it.
EA: We p***ed off a lot of people with Army of Two [Videogamer]
Contest:
9:20 AM on 01.13.2010
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Exactly. The golden rule of comedy. Yes everything can be a joke but not everybody should find it funny. There are these pussy things called "feelings."
I do agree they should be able to joke about it with people who get it though. But at very least they acknowledge it and aren't "It's just joke guys! Har har har."
I wonder how toned down the game will be. Hopefully it won't be elementary.
Also, what was Army of Two rated?
If it wasn't for feelings, jokes won't be funny in the first place, and everyone would be hardasses, in other words, awesome.
Army of Two was rated M.
Not to mention, they're drawing absurd business conclusions. Nothing in Ao2 was nearly as controversial as say, MW2, and people bought plenty of copies of that. If you've got a good game, controversy only helps you sell more. It's free marketing. Ao2's problem was that the gameplay itself wasn't hard-hitting enough to carry the game.
Bleh, whatever. Just more politically correct BS telling us that all entertainment should be made for squeamish idiots who cry in the corner when something offends them, and it's only alright to kill white people for money.
Are they saying that because a video game has a setting or is similar to real life event, it's immoral and should not be funny?
That's like saying people shouldn't find GTA funny because real life carjacking happens.
Some people can't separate reality from fantasy.
Shooting a man to death? Not funny.
Shooting a man with a mini-gun until he turns into a blood and flesh porridge? Hilarious.
This game seems more like the former :)
Man...going back to Afghanistan
Dont give a fuck...long as i get my money
HELL YEAH KILLING AND GETTING PAID! GETTING PAID!
Then In game Rios goes "i dont like this shit....this is a conspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracyconspiracy"
Inconsistent and stupid.
THIS
Just like the drugs in Fallout. You could still figure out what they were, easy, just by considering the effects and looking at the object itself. But the slobbering vaginas will be sated with the lip-service and go away.
Those were some promising vids