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Assassin’s Creed Director to Game Media: “That’s Racist.”

By Brian P Rubin | 17 August 2012 | 3 Comments   

In an interview over on CVG today, Assassin’s Creed creative director Alex Hutchinson talked a bit about story and writing in video games, specifically his perception of the way the industry’s media treats Japanese games’ writing versus that of the West’s. His view?

RACISM.

BOOM.

Says Hutchinson:

“I think there’s a subtle racism in the business, especially on the journalists’ side, where Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do. I think it’s condescending to do this. […]

Yeah. Just think about how many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish. Literally gibberish. There’s no way you could write it with a straight face, and the journalists say ‘oh it is brilliant.’

Then Gears of War comes out and apparently it’s the worst written narrative in a game ever. I’ll take Gears of War over Bayonetta any time.

It’s patronizing to say, ‘oh those Japanese stories, they don’t really mean what they’re doing.’ [...]

I just think the simple question should be; is the story any good?”

I don’t think he’s completely off base here…but I would hesitate to say he’d be safe if he were tagged up at second, if you know what I mean. Sure, I do think that, to a certain extent, Western journalists can be more forgiving of Japanese narratives and their potential failings, but I think there’s a certain question of context that has to enter into it. It’s harder for me to judge writing that’s “good” or “bad” if it comes from a culture that’s so very different than my own, and with such different literary and artistic traditions.

But to say that not pouncing on “gibberish” is racism…against the Japanese, I guess?…is going a little too far, I think.

And, food for thought, I said that Persona looked “weird” the other day, and then a commenter on our post said that this made me “sound like a boring tw@t.” So, you know, you get it both ways, Mr. Hutchinson.

Via CVG

3 Comments

  1. Posted by Eleglas on 17 August 12 at 5:31pm

    I take his point, I’m not really into Japanese games… I think the the only kinds I like are Metal Gear Solid and the like. However the anime types of games, I really don’t enjoy. I would like to quote Peter Griffin for this:

    “I don’t get it, everyone is Japan is either a ten year old girl or a monster”

  2. Posted by Mark on 17 August 12 at 11:55pm

    There’s a middle ground for both arguments I guess, because core Japanese games, those aimed only at the Japanese market but somehow get licensed and brought to the west can become gibberish, things get lost in translation, small nuances that only work on that culture and so forth, but there are a lot of Japanese games that are made for aimed more at the western market, and in those cases mister Hutchinson may have a point, because some of those games do become very silly in the writing and execution and most game reviewers squeal with delight and praise the fuck out of it.

    But it all depends on the viewpoint, I personally find gears of War to be a terrible generic, insanely boring with a terrible pacing, and though Bayonetta even being a completely rip-o… erm, “homage” to Devil May Cry, was much more enjoyable, plot holes and moronic story included.

  3. Posted by Adhoc on 19 August 12 at 2:16am

    I was coming here to say a lot of what has already been said, so I’ll attempt make this a lot more brief than I had planned.

    I’m believe a lot is often lost in translation(actually as a watcher/reader of Anime/Manga, with the nuances often explained by the translators, I know this to be true.)
    There are a lot of nuances that only work on one culture or the other. And when they try to make a game for the western markets some of it may seem a bit… off to us, but I suspect that after translation if a western developer specifically tried to make a game for the eastern market that it’d likely seem a bit… off to them as well. There are big differences to the cultures that anyone spending their life in one would have trouble getting from the other.

    As for the game journalists’… I wouldn’t know. I pay little attention to them.
    Maybe they get a little more of the eastern culture than this guy, maybe they like something a bit different from what they’re used to from time to time, maybe he’s seeing a problem where there isn’t one, maybe it’s something else, or maybe he’s right. I don’t know.

    And…

    Whatever story problems the games may have had; I found Gear of War to be boring and Bayonetta to be quite enjoyable.

    So much for being brief…

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