IO Apologises for Hitman Sexy Nuns Trailer Outrage

[Jez]

Every word I have said I stand by 100%. OMG so they used the word rape in a story, thats it it must be advocating rape then.... see how silly that sounds?....

Do you know how silly it is to make up an argument and then pretend somebody else made that argument? D: Don't get angry because you refused to qualify a blanket prediction.

There is nothing in that trailer that advocates any sort of thing at all, it's a fantasist that has never existed an will never exist... who cares if a few pixel nuns carrying guns "out to kill someone" get shot?... seriously as I stated already maturity means you know this is just a silly game of mindless fantasy which si what gaming is.

It doesn't have to overtly advocate for something in order to promote it. Fantasies can still have an impact on the human psyche and human actions despite being fictional. Perhaps some people don't want gaming to be mindless fantasy and thus want video games to make points which are meaningful and thoughtful. Clearly you're not one of those people.

I did not see a single word int hat trailer stating subtly or openly that this si about advocating a rape culture. All this gibberish is,is an idiot using as much **** as he can to make a name for himself an get his name out there. Taht is what his entire blog is.

Because people have to overtly state what they're advocating in order to convey something? Damn I guess that anonymous forum member telling skitzor that he knows where skitzor lives is really just demonstrating his impressive research and geography skills.

Trying to tell me I am accusing everyone of this or that if they disagree with me? seriously.....???

No you're the one painting people with very broad brushstrokes here:

The idiot jerno wanna be's that scream every day that games make children into mass murderers, an an the like are simply using peoples ignorance an fear as a stepping stone to make a name for themselves.

I have not done any such thing, I simply stated a fact that there will be no rape in the game, because it wouldnt get through censers.

So it's possible the game could include a mention of rape, but it won't get released over here? Pretty sure that's different from the game having none.

There seems to be a big difference between you an I jes, I treat games as a mindless distraction of fun an escape. I dont try to link it to real world because its impossible to do do so. So why try.

One of many differences. Gamers treating video games as purely mindless holds video gaming back as a medium and as a legally-protected form of expression and entertainment.

You seem to think the sky is falling if they dare to show a nun get shot... who gives a **** if she did?... (an dont even try to accuse me of advocating violence against women).

I don't think anything is falling, as the way in which women are depicted in video games would have to be elevated before it had room to fall much further. I just don't think this is anything new or exclusive to gaming, the juxtaposition of feminine beauty with violence is used without notice in films, fashion, and books without incident, and I don't think gaming should be held to an arbitrarily higher standard.

[Tim Colwill]

this is exactly what that dick head wanted

The idiot jerno wanna be's

All this gibberish is,is an idiot using as much **** as he can to make a name for himself an get his name out there. Taht is what his entire blog is.

Brendan Keogh is a well-respected contributor to this site and has done nothing to warrant this level of personal attack from you. Please watch your tone.

[Ralph Wiggum]

This discussion and the controversy surrounding the trailer reinforces the fact that computer games have reached the point where they are subject to the scrutiny and social commentary which have normally been bound to movies, T.V., books and music. I’ve stated before that gamers can be quite defensive when it comes to criticism towards anything game related – whether towards the content of games or the effects games may have on people. Quite frankly, I believe it is naïve to think that games are above scrutiny just because “it’s a bunch of pixels and isn’t real.” It is irrefutable that the media, including games, is part of the vast information network out there which shapes and influences our attitudes and beliefs.

Gamers have fought to have their hobby seen as a legitimate, mainstream form of media/entertainment no longer the sole realm of nerds and geeks locked up in their parents’ basement. All of us as gamers are saying, “Hey, games aren’t just for kids. We are adults and deserve to have our favourite form of entertainment seen as all the other forms of entertainment out there.” That being the case, at the same time we have to accept that games will be scrutinised for the content it produces. To sum up, games can have an effect and can reinforce our personal attitudes and beliefs, just like all the other forms of mainstream media, and as such deserves to be scrutinised.

Which brings me to the Hitman trailer.

Firstly, speaking for myself, and also speaking for what I hope is 99.99% of the male gaming population, viewing this trailer does not in any way establish or encourage the belief in me that women are ****, prostitutes, deserving of violence, rape, sexual behaviour or any other inappropriate behaviour. This is because I am a well-adjusted male with appropriate views on females. HOWEVER at the same time, I am viewing this from a male perspective. Try looking at it from a female perspective. And if you really want to show a bit of insight, look at it from a rape victim’s perspective.

Let there be no mistake: this trailer portrays sexuality and it portrays violence. If you disagree with this then you need your eyes checked. At the same time however I will reiterate that the trailer shows these two elements separately, not combined. By that I mean you don’t see Agent Whats-is-number dry-humping the nun whilst he’s breaking her neck. But by including sexuality and violence in the same trailer, it opens up all sorts of interpretation which, may include feeding into the rape culture. I can understand how a female rape victim watching this trailer can associate the acts of violence on half-naked women with her own experience, and be upset at this. Even concerned that this feeds into the mind frame of rather sick individuals.

For those who struggle with the concept of event association and emotional triggers, let me give a personal example: A few years ago my dog was mauled to death by two larger dogs whilst on a walk. It was extremely traumatic for me. Then no more than a week later, I watched the movie Up. You know, the one made by Pixar where the guy attaches balloons to his house or something. There’s a few scenes in that movie where the cute fluffy protagonist dog gets attacked by a pack of nasty looking dogs similar in breed to the one which killed my dog. Although the movie wasn’t trying to glamourise dog fighting, it instantly brought up memories of my own experience and I haven’t been able to watch Up since. So again, I ask people to use a bit (or a lot) of perspective when it comes to women, sex and violence.

If anything, this trailer is guilty of pandering to the stereotyped gamer. We are trying to show the world that we are not just a bunch of single, lonely, virgin 14 year old males going through puberty who have pictures of FHM girls plastered on our wall (and my utmost apologies to those who fall in this category). We fought tooth and nail to have our R18 classification system introduced in Australia because we wanted to be treated like adults. We constantly cite surveys which show the average gamer is in his 20’s or 30’s or something like that. We yell from the rooftops that girl gamers aren’t a novelty, and that the growing number of female gamers is a sign of video games entering the mainstream. Yet trailers like the Hitman one make a mockery of all this and is an insult to mature gamers like myself who think of women as more than just sex objects. On the flipside however, I will state that games are NOT the sole perpetrator in media when it comes to sexualisation of women and contributing to the notion of rape culture among men.

But it’s time games start growing up just like the people who play them.

In the end, the trailer would’ve been better served (and funnier I reckon) if the nuns had kept their clothes on. By ripping their clothes off to expose large cleavage, tight latex and stripper heels, the game just sinks to the lowest denominator and shows just how little the developers think of their target audience.

[Tas]

Well I showed this artical to my mate an his wife, an you know what the first thing she said was ?

"I want one of those outfits"... She thought it was funny if anything an thats coming from an over 30's women.

[Tas]

this is exactly what that dick head wanted

The idiot jerno wanna be's

All this gibberish is,is an idiot using as much **** as he can to make a name for himself an get his name out there. Taht is what his entire blog is.

Brendan Keogh is a well-respected contributor to this site and has done nothing to warrant this level of personal attack from you. Please watch your tone.

There was no personal attack against the man, I dont know him or have ever heard his name. So how can I personally attack him. Your free to delete my posts on the subject with no complaint from me if that is better served. Hell, I will even openly apologize to the gentleman in question, if he feels attacked. But my opinion on the "subject" stands...

(I see zero relevance to rape or any violence against women because its imaginary, an always will be.)

[meji]

Games should be subject to the same scrutiny that other forms of media are. Unlike a movie or a book games are highly interactive and require (in general) the gamer to perform the actions. Books and movies you are more passive in your role.

There is a definite emotional link cultivated with these situations imho. I could go into the whole issue of desensitisation and linking sex and violence is a very bad thing and creates a culture of males who believe that that is how a woman should be treated - but the people who believe that will continue to believe it anyway and those who don't won't - no point fueling that sort of argument anymore, it polarises.

My outrage at the trailer is that it makes the (rather) classy Hitman series look like a straight up flashy shooter and not the more refined series it plays as (not to say you couldn't go the thug route in previous Hitman games - it was just counterproductive to success in general).

Now trailers can be a good indicator of actual game play or they can take be an "artistic" take on things (as IO mention, a level in the game), if this is what the Hitman trailer is, it's in fairly poor taste in that it was always guaranteed to polarise an audience.

[Angeredsoul]

Stupidity critical mass achieved.

[Nekosan]

I find this kind of mentality interesting, as I live in a suburb of sydney (not outer west) and don't feel the need to lock doors, yet some of my neighbours in the same street do.

Perhaps it's not something you can understand if you don't need to lock your doors at night, I live in a pretty peaceful suburb but the rates of street crime and break-ins in Cairns are pretty off the charts, I could probably walk down to the servo at 2am for some munchies and get away with it the majority of the time but I'm always conscious that something like that might not be in my best interests, likewise I could leave my front door unlocked and not have a single person come down my street after dark... but that doesn't change the fact that I've had people in my yard twice in the last month (in the middle of the night) or that every second time you turn the local news on they mention a sexual assault or a tourist being mugged.

It's not living in fear, it's living with awareness.

That's how I see it, to pretend that this is a perfect world is just carelessness and I think it invites trouble, I'm not afraid of building fires but I still like to know where the fire exit in my hotel is.

If anything, this trailer is guilty of pandering to the stereotyped gamer.

But it’s time games start growing up just like the people who play them.

In the end, the trailer would’ve been better served (and funnier I reckon) if the nuns had kept their clothes on. By ripping their clothes off to expose large cleavage, tight latex and stripper heels, the game just sinks to the lowest denominator and shows just how little the developers think of their target audience.

I think this part I quoted here is the only real problem with the trailer, none of the content is any worse than you see in many movies but the whole thing just comes off like a D grade action flick from the 70's. Of course that's not to say that those movies are BAD, the issue is that a D grade movie with a pile of fanservice and mandatory bikini-being-ripped-off scenes KNOWS that it's a piss take, that trailer views like they said "ok what do 15 year old boys like?" and then had the worst advertising agent on the planet write the ad, its like if "Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyball" was a serious game marketed to volleyball enthusiasts.

There is a definite emotional link cultivated with these situations imho. I could go into the whole issue of desensitisation and linking sex and violence is a very bad thing and creates a culture of males who believe that that is how a woman should be treated - but the people who believe that will continue to believe it anyway and those who don't won't - no point fueling that sort of argument anymore, it polarises.

Every time I hear that argument come up I always think "if it's so bad then why the hell is Pepe le Pew still on television?", he's only the rapiest fictional character in existence and is marketed to 10 year olds .

[Tas]

what beats me Neko is none of these guys who are "so threatened an offended by a silly computer game, even watched it.... if your so thin skinned .. here's an idea GO DO SOMETHING ELS!! lol

Jesus wept people take some responsibility for yourselves an quit trying to moderate everyone els's lives because your not willing (or able) to separate fantasy an reality...

50$ says they will "edit" or censer the game now because all the thin skinned complainers felt offended by something "they choose to play an watch".

[JackAttack]

Relevant:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/turnaround-4th-panel

Penny Arcade boys talk about this trailer for 10 minutes and make a comic about it.

[meji]

Every time I hear that argument come up I always think "if it's so bad then why the hell is Pepe le Pew still on television?", he's only the rapiest fictional character in existence and is marketed to 10 year olds .

Yeah Pepe is pretty full on when you look at him. Created in the 40's (or there abouts) he was a depiction of a complete French sterotype - like quite a few of the characters were sterotypes around that time - Speedy etc.. Can't take no for an answer etc.. He is a puritans worse nightmare

To say it though Pepe is "funny" nowadays as Kingswood Country is "funny"


Back on topic, controversial trailers sure get people talking about your game!

[JackAttack]

Back on topic, controversial trailers sure get people talking about your game!

Bingo! We have a winner!

[Marius]

Regardless of its merits or lack of them, the trailer is pretty memorable...

[tacitus42]

ripping their clothes off to expose large cleavage, tight latex and stripper heels, the game just sinks to the lowest denominator and shows just how little the developers think of their target audience.

Haha, really? Haven't watched it but wow that does make me a little embarrassed to be a hitman fan.

[Gotrek1966]

"We’re sorry that we offended people – that was truly not the intention of the trailer", said Hitman Absolution game director Tore Blystad to IGN. "It really came as a big surprise to us how it all went down," Blystad said, referring to speculation that the trailer was deliberately controversial to create such a reaction. "It was never the intention to provoke people with it." The trailer is reportedly based off a level in the game called 'Attack of the Saints', which features the same latex-wearing nun assassins seen in the trailer.

Source: IGN

Read full article by GON News

Hmmm so where is the article? Just says the same thing as this.