People have expressed outrage at agent 47 for shooting a bunch of sexy nun assassins packing heat in the Saints trailer of the upcoming Hitman Absolution set for release on November 20. Director Tore Blystad confessed that he was “surprised” by the negative reaction and explained that edits would be made to the game to add context to the characters involved in this unholy massacre. Yes, I went there. Eurogamer:
Hitman Absolution has been tweaked after negative reaction to the game’s all-guns-blazing PVC-clad nun trailer… “The Saints trailer is based on a level within the game,” Hitman Absolution director Tore Blystad told Eurogamer at Gamescom today. “One way to go about that level is to go in all-guns blazing, but of course, it’s not the smartest way. “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.” Blystad said that, despite hundreds of people internally having seen the video, no-one had predicted the firestorm of publicity that followed.Nuns are east targets, and the faithful, especially Catholics, are bound to feel some level of anitpathy towards those that malign their image. This definitely shouldn’t be surprising to anybody though, that the Hitman series has Agent 47 shooting up sympathetic figures, or at least people kind of dressed like sympathetic figures.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin feautured 47 murdering Sikhs at their holiest of sites and primary pilgrimage destination, the Harmandir Sahib. Then, a 15 year old Sikh named Harpreet from Birmingham, England told the CBBC’s Newsround, “This is disgraceful, because people may think that terrorists wear turbans but they don’t.” The game had mentioned terrorists located at the Sikhs’ place of worship. Developers eventually released a version that edited out the offensive material.
So for Blystad to say this he and his team were “surprised” about the reaction they recieved from this latest controversy, I find that hard to believe. Either they’re completely ignorant about what nuns represent-purity and faith-or they are looking for some media coverage to sell video games. Based on their past, I gotta go with the latter.
The trailer that has been the object of ire for many is below. It’s violent, insenitive, and down right awesome! This whole ordeal was clearly meant to grab headlines and sell Absolution, but unless they are supposed to be real nuns, I really don’t have a problem with it.
[youtube id=”QQ_jhw5TuxA” width=”560″ height=”315″]
