from the executives,-not-level-bosses dept.
The makers say creating a title based on a conflict that claimed about 60 million lives has been a challenge.
It's been 10 years since the Call of Duty franchise based a game during World War Two.
"In no way do you want to glorify violence, but at the same time you can't ignore it," says Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey.
"We spent a lot of time working on the right balance."
[...] "It would be insincere not to touch on what was really happening," Michael explains.
"From the politics at the time, segregation among the allies, the role of women, to the Holocaust.
"By turning away from them we would not have brought the right level of awareness or be able to honour what was really happening.
Fine, but they better not cut the classic wise-cracking Brooklynite from the squad or Call of Duty and me are done.
Related Stories
Video game gambling schemes known as "loot boxes" or "loot crates" could be banned or restricted by regulators:
We learned last week that Belgium's gambling authority was investigating loot crates in Star Wars Battlefront II over concerns that they constitute gambling. Now, the decision is in, and the answer is a resounding yes, according to Dutch-language publication VTM Nieuws. The commission claims that purchasable add-on boxes, the contents of which are randomized, mix "money and addiction" and thus are a form of gambling.
Belgian Minister of Justice Koen Geens added: "Mixing gambling and gaming, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child." The commission will now reportedly work through the European Union's process to execute a total ban. We've reached out to Belgium's Gaming Commission for more details on its next steps and the legal implications of the ruling.
The country isn't alone in its stance on loot boxes. Just hours ago, Rep. Chris Lee (D) from Hawaii denounced EA's "predatory behavior" in a speech uploaded to YouTube (first spotted by Kotaku). In the clip, Lee also talks of the detrimental affect micro-transactions have on children, with specific reference to Battlefront II, which he describes as a a "Star Wars-themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending money".
What Are Loot Boxes? Gaming's Big New Problem, Explained
Press 'F' to pay respects.
Related: Why Call of Duty WW2 Bosses Won't 'Shy Away' from History
Star Wars Game in U-Turn After Player Anger
(Score: 5, Interesting) by jmorris on Saturday November 04 2017, @12:47AM (2 children)
Please. It is a video game. It glorifies blowing people into chunky kibble. The players are expected to enjoy blowing each other into kibble. It will have team play where half the players will be wearing Axis uniforms. This is all expected and normal.
It is obvious #GamerGate needs to deliver a refresher on what the players expect and demand. Or that is just a PR flack emitting pure BS for media consumption through the mouth of the studio co-founder.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @12:50AM
Yes, it is, but there's a segment of the population that wants to replace all forms of entertainment with propaganda and indoctrination, as one might expect from a tyranny (ironically enough, particularly when one considers what Hitler did with art he didn't like). This kind of bitching is a form of that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2017, @12:49AM
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is a War Game!
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @12:52AM (2 children)
God damn video game thinks it will teach history.
Simulation of violence is your currency, you lying dickhead.
(Score: 3, Informative) by n1 on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:34AM (1 child)
They don't want to glorify violence but they will give you bonus violence if you get a kill streak. This bonus violence even includes a tactical nuclear strike in one of their games, not glorifying at all.
(Score: 2) by dak664 on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:47PM
Exactly! The more violence you use the more degenerate you become. It's a subtle thing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 04 2017, @12:55AM (6 children)
Don't care but did see this in GNews earlier: https://news.google.com/news/search/section/q/call%20of%20duty%20loot/ [google.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Saturday November 04 2017, @12:59AM (5 children)
In not in Spain but my browser is in Spanish.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:14AM
https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/3/16602680/call-of-duty-wwii-loot-boxes [polygon.com]
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/heres-the-call-of-duty-ww2-quest-to-watch-players-/1100-6454619/ [gamespot.com]
http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/11/03/call-of-duty-ww2-mission-makes-you-watch-people-open-loot-boxes [ign.com]
https://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-ww2-loot-boxes/ [gamerant.com]
I've noticed over the last year just how clickbait-y Forbes is with their headlines compared to other outlets... while having an adwall:
https://archive.fo/6q0JK [archive.fo]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Arik on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:20AM (2 children)
They don't point to a document. The same link will give you and I different results. They'll give me different results when I open a different browser, for that matter. They are counterfeit URLs.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:45AM
I'm fine with that, as it gives me insights into other people's interests.
Like when a politician or company executive, completely clueless about how Google Search optimizes for each particular user, complains that the first page of results is full of porn and pirate links. Geez, I wonder why :D
It's right up there with posting browser screenshots with porn in background tabs...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @09:40AM
Google links are here to stay.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:53AM
Append ?hl=en if you want English.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Saturday November 04 2017, @12:57AM (14 children)
WWII media is popular and easy to write because it gives access to such unambiguously evil set of bad guys. People can indulge their violent impulses guilt free because Nazis deserve it! Of course now we have a counter narrative seeking to mitigate the evil of the third reich, So perhaps future games and films will have armies of pedophiles instead.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:03AM
Are they ordinary pedophiles or actual rapists?
(Score: 2, Informative) by idiot_king on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:23AM (5 children)
...they don't?
...so the Nazis were the good guys? Thanks for clarifying your biases.
So you went from almost defending Nazis to defending pedophiles? What the hell is your argument even?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:28AM
Stop getting triggered over words, you hypersensitive douchenozzle.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:06AM
You know, sometimes when people write words, they mean what they write, you don't have to try analyze it to find some hidden message. Glorifying violence against nazis is still glorifying violence.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Saturday November 04 2017, @09:50AM (2 children)
Find me a single word in what I wrote in defence of nazis or pedophiles. If you can't, apologise.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:15PM
tbh they probably do
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2017, @12:54AM
Well, there was nothing in your post glorifying Mao. That's tantamount to the same thing.
These days, anyone who isn't a Maoist is considered a Nazi.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:29AM (3 children)
So unambiguously evil, yet we have so-called anti-fascists marching openly with hammer and cycle icons and paraphernalia. What's the joke? "Communism, always one murder away from utopia."
It's difficult to understand the mental gymnastics required by a gaggle of red-faced children screaming, spraying people with spittle over hatred of Nazis while wearing a hammer and cycle t-shirt. Someone with time on their hands might actually crack a history book and see why that is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:26AM
> It's difficult to understand the mental gymnastics required by a gaggle of red-faced children screaming, spraying people with spittle over hatred of Nazis while wearing a hammer and cycle t-shirt.
I'm trying to work the mental gymnastics and sheer ignorance required to claim that one of the most succesful inventons of victorian capitalism, the cycle, is used as an icon by anti-nazis.
.
(Score: 2) by r1348 on Saturday November 04 2017, @10:11AM
It's hammer ans sickle. Sickle. Not cycle. You got it wrong, twice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2017, @01:01AM
In Mussolini's day, journalist Ennio Flaiano [infogalactic.com] wrote:
In Italy, fascists divide themselves into two categories: fascists and antifascists.
Still works today.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:02AM (2 children)
I remember the original Castle Wolfenstein, the game that put iD games on the map. Nobody cared about killing Nazis, no bag limit on Nazis, but the usual suspects bitched about glorifying the killing all of the German Shepherds. Now I like doggies too, but seriously, OK to kill Nazis but not OK to kill their dogs? Until you could get a gun and accumulate a few rounds (from dead Nazis of course), those danged dogs were a threat.
Let is hope there is never a bag limit on Nazis. Let us hope we can get to a time where the same can be said for Commies, so many people still want to excuse their crimes against humanity and they run up a far higher body count and were equally vile.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @07:49AM (1 child)
Maybe, but without the commies the allied forces wouldn't have been very successful against the Nazis. The largest error in WW2 was Hitler backstabbing the commies, now he didn't fight a war on one front, but two.
As for crimes against humanity... does body count or the level being vile really matter? World is filled with factions and countries (large part of the Western countries included) doing crimes against humanity, most of them are just ignored.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @06:18PM
yes. just way too impatient. i think he should have stayed in the first few countries longer. just build up the war machine quietly. "don't mind us, we're fully satisfied with our reclamation of the Reich", etc. then, once you've gotten all your geese in a row, BLITZKRIEG!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:05AM (8 children)
The German version will erase Nazi symbols.
That's always the sign of a liberal democracy, amirite?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:17AM
As a Vajrayana Baptist I am triggered by your comment and demand that you retract, redact, deconstruct, reconstruct, rinse, repeat, and finally repent.
Do not deny the legitimacy of my narrative!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:28AM (5 children)
The relevant German law (Strafgesetzbuch § 86a):
The big problem is that Germany doesn't seem to consider video games as "art" for the purposes of this law, and so you'll have a tough time attempting to convince the authorities there that any of rubrics in subsection (3) apply. I don't think any video game studio is going to try to fight this one in court, though you might just have a case. If you were making a film or anything like that you'd probably not have any problems (since films are considered "art"), which is why I suppose Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade didn't experience any trouble, but the game based on it... Well, it gets rather surreal [dorkly.com]. So no, it's largely video games that get short shrift from Strafgesetzbuch § 86a, but arguably even use of crossed-out swastikas has gotten people into trouble, even though that clearly falls under several of the rubrics in subsection (3).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:13AM (4 children)
In the U.S., we've got guns.
If the "authorities" tried to pull that shit on us, we'd defend our Universe-given rights, which existed before government and supposed to be protected by government, not restricted by government.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Saturday November 04 2017, @11:41AM (3 children)
Really now? What about all the other unconstitutional nonsense the government is doing? The NSA is conducting unconstitutional mass surveillance on the populace, the TSA is unconstitutionally searching everyone who tries to get on a plane, cops routinely use unconstitutional asset forfeiture to steal people's property without due process, we're fighting in countless wars that Congress did not declare, the war on drugs is unconstitutional on a federal level and deeply unethical no matter what, and so on. Why not blow these authoritarian cretins' brains out? That just doesn't seem to happen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:22PM (1 child)
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because fuckin commies should die.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because fuckin commies should die.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because fuckin globalists should die.
Then they came for me—
and I let my fuckin AR speak for me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @02:00AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @06:20PM
yes. it doesn't matter what weapons we have if we're so fucking brainwashed we won't use them.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by crafoo on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:31AM
You are right. Censorship of speech and suppression of wrong-think is the bread and butter of the regressive "liberal" left these days.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:44AM (3 children)
Why would the nazis hide? I mean they have been funded by the american people since the end of the war, I am unclear why fascists believe they are feedom fighters
(Score: 2, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:58AM (2 children)
Pot, meet kettle.
Why is it so hard to get this idea across? While the "left" works so hard to erase nazism from history, they are resorting to the same methods that their worst enemies used. In Germany, it's against the law to possess an image of a swastika? And, you bitch about fascism?
That phrase, "doth protest too much" comes to mind. Are all of you lefties secretly in love with Hitler and Nazism? You feel the need to publicly renounce Hitler and Nazism, lest we guess your dirty little secrets? You're a Jew hater, but you smile in the Jew's face, and put on a public display of loving the Jew? Except, you're now leaving the Jew behind, and sucking up to Islam. Yes, it all makes sense now. You know that if Islam has it's way, there will be no more Jews, then you can stop pretending to love the Jews.
Tell us what else you are unclear about.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:16AM
Faggots. fags. fagfucks!
Hahahhahaahhaa
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday November 04 2017, @05:12AM
Let me be more clear. I have tried to Google search for my original post here referencing Northstar and the Black Panther.
Years, later, the Jews are making a Black Panther movie. The Jews are reading Soylentnews now.