Britain in videogames

[Laser Priest]

Does it really matter? Fuck, even if the game focused on Peru, I don't think it would make much difference.

 

[gentleben]

A harder challenge would be some Australian characters. With the exception of Under a Steel Sky (which was set in a future, distopian Australia where everyone speaks with an American accent), there aren't many other games set in Australia, or featuring Australians.

I can think of two Australian characters off the top of my head;

*Fiona Taylor from the Mercenaries series
*Rook from Modern Warfare 2 (the guy who dies at the end of "The Enemy of my Enemy")

Also in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction the ExOps headquarters is supposadly located in Australia.

Also I think there's a chapter in Sly 3 that takes place in Australia.

Oh, and I think Kano in Mortal Kombat (2011) is suppossed to have an Australian accent.

Ah, I forgot about Kano, although I'm fairly sure he was retconned to be Australian after the movie or something.

I can't say I'm aware of the Mercenary series. I'm not sure you could really count Rook as a videogame character. Yes, he is an avatar of a person in a game, but I don't think he actually says anything, and his appearance is apparently randomly generated.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Bard's Tale(awesome game) has plenty of British people in it.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I'm British and i've always felt that Britain and British people are straight-up ignored in videogames and with these crappy release dates we get it always feels like we're just being lumped in with 'the rest of the world'. Hardly any individuality.
Maybe we just are.
Hell! We're even treated badly by are own countries game studios! (i have reason to beleive, correct me if i'm wrong)
So, what do you escapists feel about this? Do you agree or think that perhaps i should stop moaning and just suck it up.
Perhaps i'm delusional.
Please reply.

Ironically, Duke nukem was released in Europe before it got released in America, but don't worry, our release dates are only like, say a week apart the most, not like in Australia, where games can be delayed by months.

Besides, there are many great British games developers like:
Jagex(Runescape, I think)
Double Eleven (Little Big Planet)
THQ Digital Studios
Avalanche Studios (Just Cause series)
Ubisoft( England Branch)

And besides, The Brits make excellent villains so yeah, we do contribute to the gaming industry quite a bit.

P.S. Don't forget that Yahtzee is British.

 

[Calico93]

Lara Croft, Fable characters, some characters from Uncharted, James Bond ...

I think id like to see actual parts of England in videogames more, GTA London, Fallout London etc

 

[flamingjimmy]

Every good fantasy or historic game gives all of the characters various British accents, regardless of how little sense it makes, its just better that way

 

[ChupathingyX]

I can't say I'm aware of the Mercenary series. I'm not sure you could really count Rook as a videogame character. Yes, he is an avatar of a person in a game, but I don't think he actually says anything, and his appearance is apparently randomly generated.

No he doesn't say anything and he is mostly randomly generated, however, I think he always has the same uniform with the Australian flag on it, plus he does serve a pretty important role of extracting you out of the boneyard and he does a pretty good job at ramming the other vehicles off the road, but alas in the end he dies.

The Mercenaries series is a sandbox/shooter series made by Pandemic Studios, probably most famous for Star Wars: Battlefront I and II, at least on this website. Fiona Taylor is one of the main characters who is Australian and used to work for an intelligence agency in Australia. Also in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction the Royal Australian Navy is mentiioned in the opening cutscene.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, Britain does happen to be part of Europe. Also, while I can see why that'd be annoying, can you, off the top of your head, list the names and cultural features of every nation in Europe? If not, how can you expect people living on another continent to do so?

Actually we generally can, most people living here can name a good number of European countries and associated addenda (language, capital, head of state, etc.)

A good number, yes, but there will still be a number that are forgotten. You aren't going to remember everyone, there's no particular reason why those islands off the coast of France should be amongst those that are.

You can argue for more nations that aren't the US to included in games, but to ask why your country isn't included without worrying about the hundreds of others that aren't seems rather hypocritical. Excluding things such as historical games, when the nation in question played a significant part.

 

[Wolf Hagen]

I defenatly don't know many British Protagonists in games, thats unfortunatly true, but be thankfull for not beeing German, cause until TF2 our Nation Role in Gaming was set so clear (and strangely American accented till COD1 broke the Krautischness over it's knees).

But truely? I cant call any, RPG's dont count, cause developers make everythin medival sound like ye olde english. XD

They defenatly need to make something like GTA London again, that would be kinda sweet.
And it would defenatly have Brits in it!

 

[gentleben]

I can't say I'm aware of the Mercenary series. I'm not sure you could really count Rook as a videogame character. Yes, he is an avatar of a person in a game, but I don't think he actually says anything, and his appearance is apparently randomly generated.

No he doesn't say anything and he is mostly randomly generated, however, I think he always has the same uniform with the Australian flag on it, plus he does serve a pretty important role of extracting you out of the boneyard and he does a pretty good job at ramming the other vehicles off the road, but alas in the end he dies.

The Mercenaries series is a sandbox/shooter series made by Pandemic Studios, probably most famous for Star Wars: Battlefront I and II, at least on this website. Fiona Taylor is one of the main characters who is Australian and used to work for an intelligence agency in Australia. Also in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction the Royal Australian Navy is mentiioned in the opening cutscene.

Well there you go, Australians do get some recognition.

 

[Palademon]

Yeah, I'd like to see more british characters in games, but moreso I'd like to see britain more often. The closest things we have are Fable, that's pumped full of britishness.

Bringing up Imperial Guard in 40K? So...one group of guys in a series made by the british? Yay?

I get annoyed by release dates.

Fable 3 came out 3 days earlier in America, WHY?
I know they usually get things in the middle of the week, but COME ON. I'm close enough to Guildford that I'm in the catchment area of a SINGLE BUS that could take me there.

You can reason that complaint away with the usual stuff of release dates, but why did America get way more preorder content than we did?

 

[jprf]

It always seemed strange to me that GTA almost never features British characters despite being a British game series made in the UK.
They made one set in London once, but that was over a decade ago. I'd love to see it return.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Well there you go, Australians do get some recognition.

Yeah, it also might be interesting to note that Pandemic Studios were Australian, well Australian/American, they had a HQ in both LA and Brisbane.

 

[madwarper]

Don't forget all the Sherlock Holmes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Sherlock_Holmes#Video_games] and Agatha Cristie [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie#Video_games] video games.

 

[Zipa]

Modern Warfare 3 will grant your wish then, there is supposed to be a London map and part of the SP is set there.

 

[Squilookle]

I'm British and i've always felt that Britain and British people are straight-up ignored in videogames and with these crappy release dates we get it always feels like we're just being lumped in with 'the rest of the world'. Hardly any individuality.
Maybe we just are.

Hello Britain.

This is Australia calling. While we sympathise with you about America getting so much exposure, your country is one of the very next highest in line. Compared to us, you've got a huge slice of the pie, so be happy with what you've got. Ditto for release dates for games, and your studios. Double for game prices, while we're at it.

Now please excuse me, I've got an irate New Zealand calling in on the other line...

 

[Maldeus]

So, you're mad because Britain is only the third most represented nationality in video games and occasionally you have to wait about a week extra for games? Cry me a river, OP.

Russians do probably get the worst end of the video game deal, but Africa and the Middle-East aren't far behind, particularly the latter. North Korea entirely deserves it, so I won't go into them. China would probably be the new Russia, except the People's Republic threatens to ban things and the time is fast approaching when there will be more gamers in China than the rest of the world combined, so.

I also think there should be more of Greece and Italy in video games, but I don't really know why. Maybe just because I have some affection for their cultures since they were the giants of ancient Europe.

 

[Daverson]

Off the top of my head;
1. Company of Heroes - British and Canadian troops got a good showing in the opposing fronts expansion
2. Killing Floor - Almost entirely set in the UK
3. ArmA 2 - Entire British DLC. (Which, unlike a lot of DLC for other games is actually worth paying for IMO!)

I'm sure there are plenty of others.

 

[ultimateownage]

I think the use of the SAS in Modern Warfare was pretty cool. In fairness I can't think of any games where we're portrayed badly, we show up well in all the ones I've played with main characters that are British. All, what, four of them?

Then in MW2 they were changed to some generic 'World Police' type thing.

By the way people, having an ENGLISH accent does not count as them being English. Wheatley is a robot. He is not English.

 

[Spoonius]

What about the Polish? What about Libyans? What about Malaysians? What about Lithuanians? What about Papua New Guineans? What about Palestinians?

British (especially English) people are actually fairly common in video games, but of course there are going to be more U.S. accents, even in games like Assassin's Creed (seriously, wtf was up with Altair being a Yank?). I've never heard a Welsh accent in a game though.