RSS Twitter Facebook

Gamescom 2012: Level in Hitman Absolution Changed After Controversy

By Brian P Rubin | 16 August 2012 | 8 Comments   

hitman

Back in June, Tore Blystad, the director of the forthcoming Hitman: Absolution, talked about the controversy that erupted on the internet (where else?) after a trailer for the game hit gamers’ eyes. The problem, you see, was the fact that Agent 47 goes ahead and just slaughters the heck out of a bunch of scantily clad nun-assassins. The violence and perceived misogyny on display in the trailer got people talking—and had Blystad and his team thinking that maybe they should make some changes.

Eurogamer caught up with Blystad at Gamescom, where the director explained that a level in the game has been altered as a result of the outcry:

“We learned from the trailer that we really needed to give these characters some context and some backstory. We’re working within the game – within that level – to build these characters up before you meet them. That way you know what you’re getting and you aren’t put off by them. […]

We were surprised by the reaction to it. We’ve been trying to find out, y’know, how could we not see this happening? If we knew it would get such a negative reaction we would have done it in a different way.”

Whether you think the change was justified or not, I think it’s always a positive thing when someone takes criticism into consideration and actually responds to it in a respectful way. I appreciate that Blystad seems to have taken the backlash in a way that, hopefully, has improved the game. Your thoughts?

Via Eurogamer

8 Comments

  1. Posted by Eleglas on 16 August 12 at 5:06pm

    In my opinion people who get so worked up and upset about such a small and stupid matter really shouldn’t be allowed the use of the Internet… in fact they shouldn’t be allowed a computer.

    • Posted by Brian P Rubin on 16 August 12 at 5:31pm

      Yeah, you’re right, I’d hate to hear other people’s opinions. They’re the WORST.

      • Posted by Eleglas on 17 August 12 at 4:01am

        Not what I meant.

        Hearing people’s opinions are fine, just ones that whine and force changes for something so minute and stupid is what I hate, I enjoyed the trailer when it first came out, didn’t ever occur to me people could be so shallow.

        • Posted by Knuckles121 on 19 August 12 at 6:31pm

          What i’m curious about is if they were scantily clad pirest assassins, would people be bitching about it?

  2. Posted by MichaelP on 16 August 12 at 6:35pm

    I didn’t have a problem when the trailer came out, but it is nice to see that they are adding some backstory to this group.

  3. Posted by Amit on 17 August 12 at 12:12am

    This is really idiotic, everybody talks about “the place of women in various media”, yet they put this down in a second. I think that everybody deserve a good virtual ass kicking, men, women, children [Skyrim, anyone?].
    Also, not a rant or anything, but shouldn’t these character have a background story by default?

    • Posted by MichaelP on 17 August 12 at 5:42pm

      They should have one which is why I am glad they are adding some background to them instead of having them just be a nameless group of killing machines who just happen to wear nun outfits.

  4. Posted by Ermor on 19 August 12 at 11:52pm

    People get butthurt way to easily these days.

Leave a Reply