Violence in Splinter Cell: Blacklist has been scaled back, torture cut entirely
By Jess Colwill on January 31, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Avid readers may remember there was some controversy over some Splinter Cell: Blacklist‘s gameplay seen at E3 last year. The violence — in particular a scene in which Sam Fisher is seen torturing a person — turned many away.
Blacklist‘s director David Footman was quick to defend his game, saying that once people actually play the game and see what game play choices can be made, the truth will come out and that much criticism was ‘uninformed’.
Fast forward to today and Andrew Wilson, Blacklist‘s producer, has admitted to Eurogamer that the game will now contain exactly zero torture scenes, with Ubisoft Toronto having scaled the violence back. They stand by what they said at the time, admitting the action side of the game is far easier to showcase at an event like E3 than the stealth side, and that what was seen was taken out of context of the rest of the game.
“We’ve scaled a lot of that back,” he said, “and as we’ve gone through the process of development there are always things that you feel are not working as well. Every game does this, and cuts certain things.”
That now infamous torture scene (and any others we might not have seen yet) have been completely removed, though. “Definitely we are not going to see when the game’s coming out that there are torture scenes in it. That scene is not there any more. I’ve not really heard anyone say they loved it.”
Source: Eurogamer
Splinter Cell: Blacklist trailer shows co-op mode, promises fourteen maps
Partner up with Isaac Briggs.
New Splinter Cell: Blacklist video explains two new Spies vs. Mercs modes
Both "Classic" and "Blacklist" variants available.
Spies vs. Mercs mode revealed in Splinter Cell: Blacklist trailer
Gameplay footage within.
You can use the following bbCode
[i], [b], [img], [quote], [url href="http://www.google.com/"]Google[/url]
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
facebook
twitter
google+
rss
As long as that content isn’t critical to the story i am fine with that.
well, i loved it and i wish it stayed. i love torturing things, kittens, puppies, virtual people, those kinda things. definitely less interested in this game now.
And yet there are still a million songs on the radio that encourage stupid shit… I can’t see what’s wrong with torture in the context of the story. Pretty sure the best selling novel ever written is about a chick who likes to get tied up and choked while being penetrated… is violence in video games really that bad?
here we go again censoring the world. its not that i love intense violence it can be used to set a dark and horrifying world. how are devs gonna use it for effect in horror games when the world becomes so beige that blood is cut from all titles.
fucking bureaucrats
Really? How many people turned away by the torture? I think less than those tuned in!
Not meaning to condone torture etc, but all this political controversies by “nothing better to do” bureaucrats are just their ways of stepping up the ladder and be heard among the industry’s peers.
So let them be heard, but realize that nobody is obliged to listen or do as they command.
In all logic and common sense, Splinter Cell series are not a drama, love story, parenting lesson, teenage high school musical, or a horror game. It is primarily telling a dark story in the world of espionage, politics, WMD, anger, retribution, regret, loss, revenge, getting slapped around, slice dice stab etc.. it is War.
The existence of torture (or any other sensitive topics) is just like in any other medium of story telling whether it is in moving pictures or in pages of a book.
It is there to deliver the story in order to grasp the audience and add realism to paint the story better.
What is the use of r18+ rating legislation then? It is not like the torture is over the top anyway? Really? Go save the mammals instead of bothering with a piece of storytelling….
Such a shame, the great thing of having this kind of content is the shock value!
A game that shocks me with it’s story or even mechanics keeps me entertained.
While it’s not content that should be seen positively, it’s content that gives the game something different.
just make the content skipable/ toggle-able . problem solved
I remember “torturing” people in conviction. Why all the crazy.