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[GHG]

Because their community manager made some posts on Twitter before being employed by them?

I’m old enough to remember all the sneering here at the reactions to Hogwarts Legacy, as well as the furore over comments made by the Cyberpunk 2077 community manager.

Can’t be that hard to vote with your own wallet and stay out of SoM threads.

Again, wrong thread.

Wow, you really want to go down this road huh?

This came after she was employed by them:





Also, why are you willing to brush it under the carpet because some of these things were said prior to being employed? As an example, you weren't willing to put aside Bobby Kotick's past/history when people put forward the idea that he should have been considered in order to take over as the head of Xbox, but somehow this woman gets to have a fresh start upon being employed at Xbox despite everything she's said?

 

[DeepEnigma]

For having blatant racists represent your company. If it was a white guy with old Klan photos online before he got hired be ok with you?

Of course not. If these gaslighting ideologues didn't have double standards, they would have no standards at all.

Wait.

 

[proandrad]

Stop motion animation...

 

[GHG]

Of course not. If these gaslighting ideologues didn't have double standards, they would have no standards at all.

Wait.

Here's what this goon had to say about the prospect of Kotick being put in charge:

Fellow corporate cocksucker in tow as well for good measure.

That would have been a massive PR blunder, but somehow this isn't. Quite incredible really.

 

[Klayzer]

Here's what this goon had to say about the prospect of Kotick being put in charge:

Fellow corporate cocksucker in tow as well for good measure.

That would have been a massive PR blunder, but somehow this isn't. Quite incredible really.

 

[jason10mm]

For having blatant racists represent your company. If it was a white guy with old Klan photos online before he got hired be ok with you?

Oh, Canada is VERY OK with stuff like that...

Anyway, it's the Community Managers JOB to sculpt the online narrative, and ahead of the games launch these types of derailments are gonna cost them DEARLY if she can't redirect it. If the gameplay is awesome then TIME TO TALK ABOUT IT and not about the dang soundtrack! These kinds of marketing missteps are EXACTLY what the community manager should be fixing!

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Of course not. If these gaslighting ideologues didn't have double standards, they would have no standards at all.

Wait.

If I ran this site I'd ban these people. IMO if you defend this racism towards whites/asians cause of "anti-racism" BS, you're just as bad.

 

[Nydius]

Getting the distinct feeling this game will end up in the same boat as Hellblade 2. It'll get a lot of praise for its visual design and animation but the actual game elements are going to be meh, at best. It'll get about a week's worth of media buzz and then practically all interest will vanish off the face of the Earth, just like Hellblade 2.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

For having blatant racists represent your company. If it was a white guy with old Klan photos online before he got hired be ok with you?

Being 100% honest, I really don't think people would care, at least not at a large scale.

"Photos surface of ****** game developer at a Klan rally"

I think the majority of posts in such a thread would say something along the lines of "That's weird, but if the game is good IDGAF"

 

[mdkirby]

In principal it’s my type of game. I am okay with super progressive storylines and narratives. If however it’s not just progressive/left, but rather the sort of preaching and slapping you around the face, that’s become emblematic of woke sweet baby inc games, then hard pass. It’s just awful writing and storytelling, which is particularly egregious in a game where story is the focus. Hope their writing team is up to the task.

Bigger problem is I found my brain/eyes really struggling with the stop motion, at least in the trailers.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Do you think only black people live in the south or something? I don't mind the choice, but a story about Southern lore only starring black characters is not "the norm."

Black culture and Southern culture are pretty inseparable though. Black accents, food, and culture in every state in the country maintain a major southern influence, and Southern culture everywhere in the south is closer the black culture than it is to the culture of northern whites.

A lot of southern folklore is indeed black in origin, but also like I just said black culture and Southern culture aren't all that separate. White southerners forget a lot of their white grandparents were raised by black Mammys.

 

[adamsapple]

Getting the distinct feeling this game will end up in the same boat as Hellblade 2. It'll get a lot of praise for its visual design and animation but the actual game elements are going to be meh, at best. It'll get about a week's worth of media buzz and then practically all interest will vanish off the face of the Earth, just like Hellblade 2.

Congratulations, you are the first person to actually talk about the game on this page.

Have a cookie.



Anyway, hope this is a Q1~ '25 game, based on everything it does look pretty far along. Would be a nice way to keep the GP momentum for at least one new retail game per month going. Nov = Flight Sim, Dec = Indy, Jan = Sniper Elite, Feb = Avowed, March = this game (?)

 

[jason10mm]

Black culture and Southern culture are pretty inseparable though. Black accents, food, and culture in every state in the country maintain a major southern influence, and Southern culture everywhere in the south is closer the black culture than it is to the culture of northern whites.

A lot of southern folklore is indeed black in origin, but also like I just said black culture and Southern culture aren't all that separate. White southerners forget a lot of their white grandparents were raised by black Mammys.

I don't think many are saying that this game shouldn't have black people, thats ridiculous. But it's equally ridiculous if the SBI story 'consultants' Compulsion hired to work this story made the "Deep South" ONLY about black people, pushing any white characters to the side. It's just not true, hell that Two Toe Tom alligator boss fight was a tale pushed by a white writer! So for "modern audiences" there should be diverse and inclusive populations. Just like a western cowboy game should acknowledge and include black cowboys, this game should be balancing the story and characters. Not sure it is doing that, either because it ISN'T balanced or because the marketing hasn't figured out it's 2024, not 2021, and they need to change tack.

 

[Ozriel]

Wow, you really want to go down this road huh?

This came after she was employed by them:





Also, why are you willing to brush it under the carpet because some of these things were said prior to being employed? As an example, you weren't willing to put aside Bobby Kotick's past/history when people put forward the idea that he should have been considered in order to take over as the head of Xbox, but somehow this woman gets to have a fresh start upon being employed at Xbox despite everything she's said?

Terrible example. Kotick was already divisive within Activision, and his legal travails were responsible for ABK’s share price dropping. Employees wanted him gone. Nobody was going to make him head of Xbox in that context, and the succession plan at MS already had Bond waiting in the wings for Phil to leave.

Here's what this goon had to say about the prospect of Kotick being put in charge:

Fellow corporate cocksucker in tow as well for good measure.

That would have been a massive PR blunder, but somehow this isn't. Quite incredible really.

My point still stands. One was a CEO who’d been accused of complicity in multiple sexual assault and harassment allegations, accusations that had already led to significant employee disgruntlement and share price drops.
The other is a community manager who made some controversial statements outside her capacity as an MS employee.
You’d have to be a clown to imagine these are the same thing.

If I ran this site I'd ban these people. IMO if you defend this racism towards whites/asians cause of "anti-racism" BS, you're just as bad.

You could start by showing how Compulsion Games is actively pushing anti-white racism.

 

[clarky]

Here's what this goon had to say about the prospect of Kotick being put in charge:

Fellow corporate cocksucker in tow as well for good measure.

That would have been a massive PR blunder, but somehow this isn't. Quite incredible really.

My Mrs would love you. She's the queen of receipts.

 

[Nydius]

Congratulations, you are the first person to actually talk about the game on this page.

Have a cookie.

I thought you were being facetious but then I looked at all the other posts ahead of mine on this page.

 

[shamoomoo]

But neither Mississipi nor Lousisiana are majority black, not even close. Both are around 55-58% white and only 31-36% black. Georgia and Alabama are not much different. So there is definitely no "automatically MUST be black" requirement for the setting.

Now if this game is specifically about Creole mythology with all the Haitian and African influences then a black lead would fit, though I'd say a mixed race, much like the VO actress they hired, would be even better. Though digging deeper, they had a different mo-cap actress, Nona Parker Johnson, who IS from Mississippi and looks much more like the MC, for at least some of the work.

Anyway, the marketing for this just says "Deep South" which is not, as far as I, a life long Southerner, am aware is a code for anything other than just the more southern, primarily gulf states though Georgia and SC are sometimes put in there as well, off the Mason-Dixon line. It doesn't specifically mean voodoo or whatnot, so there can certainly be plenty of white people involved in this story and it still be 100% authentic to the region.

Since it is on GP its an easy play. I'll wait to see how much SBI taint is in there before I give it a go, but juuuuuust from the visual aspect it does look pretty cool if that frame rate jank can be turned off. But if it gets preachy (and everything suggests it will be) then its DOA as far as I'm concerned.

And? Black people have history in this regions so what does their population size have to do whether they representation or not?

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

You could start by showing how Compulsion Games is actively pushing anti-white racism.

The community manager they hired said white male gamers are a mistake. That's all the evidence anyone needs. I have zero tolerance for racism.

 

[Ozriel]

I don't think many are saying that this game shouldn't have black people, thats ridiculous. But it's equally ridiculous if the SBI story 'consultants' Compulsion hired to work this story made the "Deep South" ONLY about black people, pushing any white characters to the side. It's just not true, hell that Two Toe Tom alligator boss fight was a tale pushed by a white writer! So for "modern audiences" there should be diverse and inclusive populations. Just like a western cowboy game should acknowledge and include black cowboys, this game should be balancing the story and characters. Not sure it is doing that, either because it ISN'T balanced or because the marketing hasn't figured out it's 2024, not 2021, and they need to change tack.

The hilarious thing is, it’s never really disclosed what role Sweet Baby ended up playing in their consultancy role.
First we have Grummz fibs that they mandated a race swap of the main character. Now you’re running off an assumption - with no basis - that Sweet Baby penned the story.

The community manager they hired said white male gamers are a mistake. That's all the evidence anyone needs. I have zero tolerance for racism.

And that statement was made in 2022, before they hired her. And certainly didn’t seem to have gone viral until fairly recently.

A community manager isn’t involved in making the game. Nothing of the creative input comes from them, and certainly all pre-production, most of the narrative and the core bones of the game would have been made before she got hired.

Of course I agree that everyone should have zero tolerance to racism.

 

[adamsapple]

Good people of neogaf, please take the community manager discussion to the other active thread about it.

Keep this thread for the preview and impressions. Thank you.

 

[Ozriel]

Bigger problem is I found my brain/eyes really struggling with the stop motion, at least in the trailers.

We just learnt yesterday that it can be turned off, and then it should just play at 60fps. Cutscenes will remain stop motion.

Good people of neogaf, please take the community manager discussion to the other active thread about it.

Keep this thread for the preview and impressions. Thank you.

Done with that side talk.

Back on topic, it’s strange MS only let a handful of folks in to the preview event (IGN, Parris and Eurogamer) and didn’t let them play it.

 

[SHAKEZ]

Big oof:

"Compulsion Games says that while they expect gameplay to be engaging, it isn't nearly as much of a focus as the story, music, and other elements they've clearly put the lion's share of work into. Instead, they're keeping levels relatively short for a ten-ish hour story and putting all of their chips into South of Midnight's exceptional presentation and worldbuilding".

Yep, I'm not into movie games, pass.

 

[Mister Apoc]

GTA 6 takes place in Vice City and the two protagonists are a Latina woman and a white dude

as far as I know their isn't a big white population in Miami (Florida in general yes) but in Miami its mostly Hispanics and Caribbeans so shouldn't their of been a Jamaican or Haitian protagonist instead of Jason?

No.... because that's not how Rockstar or any competent developer approaches storytelling and character development, using the demographics of a location etc.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Black culture and Southern culture are pretty inseparable though. Black accents, food, and culture in every state in the country maintain a major southern influence, and Southern culture everywhere in the south is closer the black culture than it is to the culture of northern whites.

A lot of southern folklore is indeed black in origin, but also like I just said black culture and Southern culture aren't all that separate. White southerners forget a lot of their white grandparents were raised by black Mammys.

Well in New Orleans and the surrounding areas in Louisiana, it's a mix of French, Cajun French, Creole, Irish, Black, Italian, etc... all contributing to the culture. And no one forgets about the mammies. My grandma's best friend was one. You can tell black stories in the south of course, but it's not exclusive is my point.

 

[Mister Apoc]

anyways the game sounds like a solid C?

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

And that statement was made in 2022, before they hired her. And certainly didn’t seem to have gone viral until fairly recently.

A community manager isn’t involved in making the game. Nothing of the creative input comes from them, and certainly all pre-production, most of the narrative and the core bones of the game would have been made before she got hired.

Of course I agree that everyone should have zero tolerance to racism.

It's still a company that's perfectly fine with a racist representing them to the community, and the fact you didn't say you'd be fine with a white Klan community manager proves my point that you're just buying into the anti-racism racism.

 

[Alan Silvestro]

Looks like a Forspoken clone, powered by sweet baby.

 

[clarky]

Looks like a Forspoken clone, powered by sweet baby.

Forspoken clone, just say that outloud next time before you post.

 

[IFireflyl]

Good people of neogaf, please take the community manager discussion to the other active thread about it.

Keep this thread for the preview and impressions. Thank you.

But what about the bad people of NeoGAF?

 

[mdkirby]

We just learnt yesterday that it can be turned off, and then it should just play at 60fps. Cutscenes will remain stop motion.



Done with that side talk.

Back on topic, it’s strange MS only let a handful of folks in to the preview event (IGN, Parris and Eurogamer) and didn’t let them play it.

Ooo great news. Well, fingers crossed they haven’t totally butchered the writing. Might be a reason to boot up the severely neglected series X

 

[notseqi]

Where will this rank on the 2024 DEI flop-o-meter?

- better than Flintlock
- worse than Flintlock, better than Unknown 9 Awakening
- worse than Unknown 9 Awakening, better than Dustborn
- worse than Dustborn

Place your bets now!

everybody knows to never go full Concord ofc

 

[Humdinger]

nm, off topic

 

[jason10mm]

GTA 6 takes place in Vice City and the two protagonists are a Latina woman and a white dude

as far as I know their isn't a big white population in Miami (Florida in general yes) but in Miami its mostly Hispanics and Caribbeans so shouldn't their of been a Jamaican or Haitian protagonist instead of Jason?

No.... because that's not how Rockstar or any competent developer approaches storytelling and character development, using the demographics of a location etc.

Wha what??????!?!?!?!? Looking at the population of a setting is like storytelling #1! Is the Jason character native to Miami? Is Rockstar promoting this game as a "story of southern florida"? No, its a crime caper like all the other GTAs. I'm sure that Jason guy is from some other place and it seems like the latina is the lead anyway.

 

[jason10mm]

The hilarious thing is, it’s never really disclosed what role Sweet Baby ended up playing in their consultancy role.
First we have Grummz fibs that they mandated a race swap of the main character. Now you’re running off an assumption - with no basis - that Sweet Baby penned the story.

I thought Compulsion was pretty open that as mostly a bunch of canadians they knew jack shit about the Deep South and hired on "consultants". We'll see who gets the writing credits.

My issue with this game is that the marketing is saying its a "Deep South" mythic story. Ok, thats cool.

But the ancillary marketing and the cast interviews are waaaaay more like "this is a black experience SET in the Deep South". I am just personally less interested in that, ESPECIALLY if its gonna be morality tale that lectures THE AUDIENCE (aka cishet white guys) rather than in-game characters. But if this is just a big(ish) budget game intended for a "not me" audience, which is certainly the attitude from their community manager, then I'll kindly take my $$$ and time elsewhere.

Anyway, I'll back outta this thread if some of ya'll wanna keep it more focused.

 

[Mister Wolf]

GTA 6 takes place in Vice City and the two protagonists are a Latina woman and a white dude

as far as I know their isn't a big white population in Miami (Florida in general yes) but in Miami its mostly Hispanics and Caribbeans so shouldn't their of been a Jamaican or Haitian protagonist instead of Jason?

No.... because that's not how Rockstar or any competent developer approaches storytelling and character development, using the demographics of a location etc.

White people are the second largest population represented in the city of Miami. 31.1%

 

[Plague Doctor]

Compulsion previous games being Contrast and We Happy Few had great art direction and that's about it. I wanted to like Contrast but that gameplay was.... not good.

Edit: To go further, it just felt awkward to handle. It was just alright at the best moments. I was invested in the vibe but felt simply whelmed by the end of it.

 

[adamsapple]

Compulsion previous games being Contrast and We Happy Few had great art direction and that's about it. I wanted to like Contrast but that gameplay was.... not good.

Edit: To go further, it just felt awkward to handle. It was just alright at the best moments. I was invested in the vibe but felt simply whelmed by the end of it.

I've never played Contrast and only maybe an hour of We Happy Few, that game sure turned out to be something completely different than the trailers advertised.

 

[Plague Doctor]

I've never played Contrast and only maybe an hour of We Happy Few, that game sure turned out to be something completely different than the trailers advertised.

I dug the trailer for We Happy Few but held off for reviews and heard not great things.

It sucks with that dev as it sounds like they have the barebones and the eye for awesome ideas but fails to stick the landing.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

everybody knows to never go full Concord ofc

Dragon Age is Concord adjacent.

 

[Mister Apoc]

Wha what??????!?!?!?!? Looking at the population of a setting is like storytelling #1! Is the Jason character native to Miami? Is Rockstar promoting this game as a "story of southern florida"? No, its a crime caper like all the other GTAs. I'm sure that Jason guy is from some other place and it seems like the latina is the lead anyway.

their both the leads

 

[Mister Apoc]

White people are the second largest population represented in the city of Miami. 31.1%

That's if you include the category White (Hispanic) so that factors in "white hispanics" like Cubans and Argetinians

if you look at the White (Non-Hispanic) its only 11 percent of the population.

Now Jason could be Cuban possibly, but i doubt it, he seems like more of a standard Caucasian male

however my point is i doubt Rockstar or any developer base character development around demographics of a location

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Wow, you really want to go down this road huh?

This came after she was employed by them:





Also, why are you willing to brush it under the carpet because some of these things were said prior to being employed? As an example, you weren't willing to put aside Bobby Kotick's past/history when people put forward the idea that he should have been considered in order to take over as the head of Xbox, but somehow this woman gets to have a fresh start upon being employed at Xbox despite everything she's said?

1, there’s nothing at all wrong with what she said in that clip. Crying about cancel culture is just one of the many talents the incel anti-woke mob has. Though it’s died down a lot lately, they seem to have taken the hint that it isn’t real and moved on.

2, you can’t be comparing the toxicity and sexual misconduct from Kotick with some comments on a stream or twitter that have you catching feelings? LOL @ “this woman”. Big yikes. I can hear you malding.

I’ll go back to reading the thread and laughing now

 

[jason10mm]

their both the leads

I see you havent dated many Latinas if you think that

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Yea, not what I want out of my video games. Especially when they are trying to hype it up, and they still downplay the gameplay.

It’s very clearly not a priority for them. And I disagree with that strategy and wonder who likes that. You can be the example I’m looking for, and feel differently about what they should prioritize.

Where is the overhype?

They are being honest about it.

Gameplay looks similar to stuff like God of War etc, minus the overhype.

 

[Thebonehead]

He has his finger on bullshit, that's for sure.

Mr man was telling us how he was interested in the game because of "gameplay" before, but now that they have pretty much come out and said gameplay is not even the focus he's now locked in.

Claims to not know about SBI but somehow is familiar with Grummz and asked for Alan Wake 2 to be "less woke".

GHG woke up and chose violence with those receipts.

 

[Team Andromeda]

For having blatant racists represent your company. If it was a white guy with old Klan photos online before he got hired be ok with you?

Spot on. Had a white male said half of what she did, he would never be allowed to work in the industry again

 

[Gonzito]

I will never understand GAFs obsession with needing to want to fuck the main character of whatever game they're playing.


And she looks just fine? In what world is this the "single ugliest main character I've ever seen in a game"?

I dont want to fuck a videogame character, I just dont want my eyes to bleed man

 

[Toots]

Final boss cutscene audio leaked for those interested

Spoiler

 

[Black_Stride]

10-ish hours!!!!!!!

All in especially if there isn't too much extra filler shit that give me fomo let me just get through the game in peace.

 

[kyussman]

So when someone at a studio like this comes out and insults you based on your race and tells you you're a mistake,do you just let it go and give them your time/money regardless.....huh,interesting.