EA confesses to bad ideas in first Army of Two

by Justin McElroy on Jan 13th 2010 2:59PM

EA Montreal boss Alain Tascan admitted to Videogamer.com that the first Army of Two game "piss[ed] off a lot of people" with some of its missteps; most notably the killing of terrorists for cash in areas in which real soldiers were dying. So the mistake was, basically, the whole game.

Before we pile on EA too much, we'd like to remind you that the stuffing of tampons into bullet wounds was actually cut from the game, so the final version of Army of Two didn't have nearly as many bad ideas in it as it could have.

Tascan went on to say that "the new one I feel is still very funny, but at least it's more 'Bruce Willis funny' than 'Steven Seagal funny.'" Well great, guys, you've gone from pissing off overly sensitive people to pissing off Steven Seagal. Talk about leaping from the frying pan into the fire that also happens to be a reincarnated, part-time deputy sheriff.

Source

Tags: Alain-Tascan, Army-of-Two, Army-of-Two-2, Army-of-Two-The-40th-Day, ea, ea-montreal, Electronic-Arts, Microsoft, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (57)

"Chuck Norris Funny" is the best way to go...

Sorry everyone. I didn't really have any internet access between 2001 and 2008 so I missed out on most of the Chuck Norris fun. I forget that its no longer relevant...

my bad

.. well at least you've beaten Bradwart to a first post.

What's wrong with stuffing tampons into bullet wounds?

Sometimes you just have those heavy days.

http://t4toby.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/whambulance.jpg

I don't get what's so bad about the killing terrorists for cash where real soldiers were dying. Didn't real people really kill terrorists for real cash,really?

They are private contractors. The entire point of the game is to kill terrorists for cash. I haven't played the sequel yet but I don't see how it can be Army of Two and *not* be anti-Army.

yeah that's what I meant, there were real private contractors in places where real soldiers were dieing, so why is it bad to be in a game?

There are real paedophiles out there in the real world raping real children, so why is it bad to be in a game.

Possibly because raping young children is both illegal and immoral where as being a private military contractor is neither?

Maybe not in the U.S but pretty much every other country in the world considers it immoral and illegal. Personally I can't really see the difference in morality between a mercenary/contractor and a paedophile. You'd have to be very fucked up kind of person to be either of them.

A case here of commenting, without playing the game. In the game you essentially end up stopping a coup. How is that bad? Additionally you are killing people who want to kill innocent Americans, that is bad too? I'm sorry but the whole PMC thing was a bit overblown and i fail to realize why it was made out to be such a big deal.

Clearly you're the one who hasn't played the game if you think it has anything to do with protecting "innocent american lives". At the end of the day they're killing people for money and money alone. I like the game as a game even though it shines as a clear example of how integrated amorality in the US is.

@ScottishPrik
So, by that logic, HAWX was also amoral, as the player was a PMC, who eventually stopped the company from attacking the USA, and prevented the loss of millions of innocent lives.

I know a lot of marines, and good people as they are, that's pretty much what they do. They just don't wear fancy faceplates. Also, if PMCs are so immoral and bad in other countries, why is one of the US' top contractors a UK firm? I don't even want to get into how stupid it is to say that pretty much every other country thinks it's bad, as if you can properly some up how even one country feels! Arrogant prick

@darthpepito| That wasn't my logic but nice try. There's a slight difference between turning on your contractors and killing in order to protect your family/country and killing people just for da moneyz.

@Wayne| I'd like to see how good your friends will be to you with a big fat check stapled to your picture in one hand and a .50 cal in the other. I think the fact the simple act of setting up a company that pays people to kill is illegal in most countries is a clear indication of how it's perceived morally, k dick.

@ScottishPrik
I didnt say you were protecting Americans, I said you were killing those who intended to kill innocent Americans (though in fact, one mission you specifically DO rescue and protect an American). Additionally through the narrative one character essentially was in it for the money and action, while the other was interested in discovering the truth behind the terrorist plots and the other comes around. The main protagonists were interested in cash, but what brought the situation to a head was the idea of loyalty to each other. The villains in fact were the ones interested in money alone.

The larger issue here is trying to draw conclusions about societies or individuals on the basis of a single game, and not one that didn't sell spectacularly anyway.

I see this as no worse than any GTA game (murder, theft), Mass Effect (murder, coup), or any other game that puts you in the role of someone on the fringes of the law.

Truthfully I thought at least the game was a commentary on the use of PMCs in Iraq, and not an entirely flattering one.

many years ago back when i was playing football in 8th grade my coach put an tampon (the o.b. brand) up a kids nose to stop the bleeding. so i don't see what the big problem using them in the game. and getting paid to kill terrorists pissed people off ? i wonder what in the hell they think contract workers do.

Your name matches your comment.

LOL, why the hell was your coach carrying a tampon around?

Well Traceur, I don't know if you've heard of them, they call them vajayjays i think.

I think Asinine has a point though. People have something against it, cause it fucking happens. In general, people don't like to be reminded of negative things. I'm not saying every soldier out there fighting is like that, but you'd be naieve to think there aren't some guys out there making bets on kills and such. If you don't believe me, there are videos out there of soldiers laughing their ass off while they blow the brains out of some guy doing his rounds.

I remember on SAS survival secrets, some former SAS guy was talking about carrying tampons, condoms, etc... since they have many different and creative uses. I don't see what the big problem with it is.

I agree with Asinine on the tampon bit, what's so bad about that? It's a bit of light humour and probably a practical solution to excessive bullet hole bleeding.

Stop saying vajayjay. You make it sound like it's going to breakdance if you let it.

This whole tampon-fixing-of-bleeding-noses thing is actually pretty common. It's not like it's some gross nasty thing (if you're inclined to think that way) when it comes fresh out of the packaging.

Also, I don't see how our special forces guys are that much different from the mercs, except that the mercs get paid a little more because they take on greater risk (no support system, no official governmental backing, etc.). It's economics at work.

Well, Hooch, generally football coaches are male.

A breakdancing vajayjay. Excellent visual there.

Thanks for that, Mystile.

Good point, but I had a female coach. I swear though, she was incredibly masculine.

@ traceur ryuk, my 8th and 9th grade football coaches where both male.

Armed forces actually carry tampons in medical kits as a means to treat bullet wounds, so this isn't unrealistic at all. The whole idea is that they absorb blood, so why not?

Cue Bradwart and the eventual 10+ posts by him in this story.

My thoughts exactly.

Because the reply button works :(

It does, actually.

I think it's still one of the best couch co-op games this generation. Maybe I'm too bro-ey though, or maybe I'm not too cynical to have a good time.

I forgot all about the Tampon shit....ROFLMAO!!

This self critiquing is quite refreshing.

I'm also envisioning Seagal planing retaliation. Tascan better not go to the bathroom without backup.

...even then...

I had no problem with the first game.
Just the dumb Partner AI in spots

[banned]

I think they confessed when the release of the original game was postponed even after some reviews were released.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care how often he posts or whatever he does. However, just as he has the right to post however much he wants, I have the right to make fun of it.

...that's right. Steven Seagal.

I honestly had no idea people had a problem with the concept behind the first game.

Someone's going to have to explain this to me. So if a private military contracter kills bin laden, that's supposed to be a bad thing?

If you read the article, it says that the game's content was taken from reality. That all the offensive things in the game were said/done by real life mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan. They then say that, like movies, games need to "filter" reality for the mainstream media consuming audience, because the consumer doesn't like reality. They want to see American soldiers act more "noble" than reality.

Personally I think that's kinda lame. If anything, video games and films do too much filtering already. The best "war media" of recent times has been HBO's Generation Kill. That show did very little filtering. You saw the sheer stupidity of many Marines, the casual racism, and so forth. It was a great show because it didn't clean up anything. It was raw. War video games clean up too much, making war into some cheap Michael Bay-esque movie.

But, I suppose if you make a video game, reality doesn't mix well with entertainment. Generation Kill was a good show but in many ways it was not entertaining, but more illuminating like a good documentary. This is why I don't like it when war video games use real world subjects. The mixture of filtered reality and entertaining gameplay mechanics doesn't mesh well for me.

I'd say thats more common sense then survival skills ya meatball.

I thought people were pissed off at the first game cause it wasn't that great, not cause of some private contractor type shit. I see no problem with contractors and real soldiers dying. I think the real soldiers are dumbasses for going out and getting killed.

(Cue replies about being unpatriotic and a terrorist.)

you sir are unpatriotic and an obvious terrorist!

You going to post the range rules next?

stuffing tampons into bullet wounds is actually a life saver because its used as a filter and prevents infection. Whoever protested against that has issues.

The game itself is decent. Humorous?, not really, they could of done a better job.

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EA confesses to bad ideas in first Army of Two

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