SouthPeak Interactive will not strip morphine references from Velvet Assassin according to an e-mail interview with MTV Multiplayer. Refusing to do so is a decision that will impact the game’s global sales. Most territories refuse to admit that drugs are what all the cool kids are abusing nowadays.
Marketing manager at Southpeak Aubrey Norris defended the usage of the drug with the game’s World War II context. She argued that it was “widely used” during the period and it “fits the realism of the game…” She also added that by keeping morphine in the game, SouthPeak was preserving the developer’s “artistic integrity.”
Morphine use in Velvet Assassin slows down time, allowing the protagonist to kick Agent Nazi ass like Trinity a quick ninja.
However valid, Norris’s points won’t be heard by indifferent ratings boards like the AOFLC in Australia. The body famously banned Bethesda’s Fallout 3 for its naughty references. The developer then swapped real drug names with fake ones and got it through. SouthPeak woud have to do the same to have a chance.
