Video Game Correctness: Two Russians & A Bottle of Vodka (1/17/25)

Recent video game trailers and releases are being trashed online and in comment sections. Naughty Dog’s “Intergalactic” was criticized so heavily for their protagonist, a shaved head unidentifiable, the company turned off comments on the trailer. Games like “Concord” lost $400-million and were completely shut down. Countless gamers are furious how Ciri from “The Witcher” has had her look completely changed from female to, maybe female, while others are equally furious over “Dragon Age Veilgaurd” and its totally amateur production. Turns out its director is no surprise, an activist. “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” was delayed until February 2025 due to criticism and a Japanese petition to cancel the game due to its cultural insensitivity to Japan. Why? Because Yasuke, a real black man who lived as a vassal to the warlord Oda Nobunaga, was turned into a full-fledged Samurai as the main protagonist of a game set in Japan. It doesn’t help that half the staff have literally never made a game before. Defenders of the game say it must be racism, because Japanese didn’t care that the other character, Naoe, a female Ninja, wasn’t real - yeah, but she’s also Japanese, not black. This is the same type of argument made by Corrine Busche of Dragon Age and by the outgoing CEO of Sony, Tony Vinciquerra, over Madame Webb: these things failed because people hated them, largely because of hate campaigns directed at minorities. Or, people hated them because they sucked. On the other hand, there were Onna-Bugeisha in Japan, noble female Samurai warriors. In some battles, up to a third of the warriors were female, though it was uncommon. So the same anger directed as AC-Shadows is not justified when we look at “Ghost of Tsushima 2,” which features of a female Japanese Samurai. Whatever your option is, however, the fact is AAA games are on average failing with massive budgets, often incompetent staff, and inflated promises. That’s why games such as MiSide are totally dominating with virtually no budget or staff. -FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITEPAYPALCashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: [email protected] / [email protected] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tst-radio--5328407/support.