News

Industry "f**king stupid" to bet on stereotypes, can be 'kick ass without blood'
Posted: 06.11.2012 14:36 by Simon Priest Comments: 5
Remember Me developer Dontnod is proud to give the 'white man with gun' stereotype the finger. Jean-Maxime Moris from the studio asks, rhetorically, "how f**king stupid is this industry" to bet on stereotypes?

Give people the same old thing and "they get accustomed" and reject new things. Remember Me is "kick ass" without blood or ultra-violence. Plus it stars a female, of mixed race!

The point the studio is trying to get across: don't feed the troll. Video games have become "such a formatted medium, but it's the most powerful medium in the world", said Moris.

Our industry "has the most potential in the future. Yet everything is formatted. We just wanted to do things differently." Remember Me is a new IP being created by Dontnod and published by Capcom for console and PC. It stars a female lead character, living in a futuristic Paris where she's a highly trained agent who 'remixes memories' for clients.

"How f**king stupid is this industry to only bet on those stereotypes? It's the only thing you give people, they get accustomed to it and don't want anything else," exclaimed creative director, Jean-Maxime Moris.

"...our character, Nilin, is mixed race, she is female, her sexual orientation is her private life, so I won't go there."

"She runs around, climbs, leaps, kicks guys' asses, remixes their memories, only kills a few people - and does it all in a game with no blood. We made those choices to say: 'look you can have something that's kick ass, something that's powerful, and you don't need it to be ultraviolent'."

Moris also doesn't believe creativity is limited by technology. "If we were still on the SNES I would be happy to do games for it. I fully respect technology and the people behind it, but we often mistake technology for art," he told CVG.

"One day we'll reach a point where the uncanny valley has been crossed. There will be a point where photo realism has been reached and AI will be perfect, then we'll look back and say: "Okay it's just like the real world - what now?" What we'll try and create is interesting experiences - immersive, fun games - but I had that on my Gameboy."

Remember Me releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in May 2013.

Source: CVG

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Nov 06, 2012
herodotus
"Give people the same old thing and "they get accustomed" and reject new things." - exactly what Bobby Kotick and his cohorts rely on every November when a new "CoD" is released.
By lichlord (SI Core) on Nov 07, 2012
lichlord
at some point people will long for something new my dear hero its what got us a ship out to the American Continent in medieval times its what got us a man on the Moon in modern

its what got us from the stone age to now eventually...
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Nov 07, 2012
herodotus
We're out of the Stone Age? Why didn't anyone notify me, or did I miss the memo?
Each year a new lineup of gamers arrives on the scene (birthdays and the like) who have watched the brothers/sisters playing games their parents won't allow them to play. Then they can, so "CoD" will keep on coming until it is well and truly devoid of talented developers, something Acti is avoiding by taking on new companies all the time.
They flogged "Guitar Hero" long after it's use-by-date, and I'm sure they'll do the same here. We veterans will just go somewhere else.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Nov 08, 2012
FoolWolf
Yeah you tell them with your Johnny Mnemonic/Total recall and Gibson-esque stylish future! ;)

Oh, and multiplatform - lets see you walk the walk of giving the audience a new perspective - like FOV, UI and controls suitable to live up to the story and setting premises without it looking like a port on 3 out of 4 setups...

Otherwise I agree pretty much witht he statements - but don't forget that cryong on the big producers is such a cliché...
By psycros (SI Newbie) on Nov 11, 2012
psycros
Where do we even begin with this genius? He throws out the most apples-to-oranges comparison I've ever heard of whole trying to pass off a "near future action lesbian" as NOT being a cliche, LOL