Mafia II Protestors Claim Victory Over Mafia II Party

[Andy Chalk]

Mafia II Protestors Claim Victory Over Mafia II Party

A group representing the Italian American community has declared victory over Take-Two Interactive for turning a planned Mafia II [http://www.amazon.com/Mafia-II-Pc/dp/B001O4YSTU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1283196649&sr=8-5] launch party in New York into a "dismal failure."

Earlier this month, Italian American organization a pile of racist nonsense [http://www.unico.org/]" that perpetuates the stereotype of the Italian Mafioso and demanding that all references to Italians be removed from the game before its release. Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick pointed out in response that nobody from Unico had played or even seen Mafia II, that the game is rated for mature audiences and that historically-based stories about organized crime in the U.S. are hardly something new.

The game release went ahead as planned but coalition leader Andre DiMino nonetheless claimed the group's efforts are bearing fruit. A Mafia II party in New York "fizzled," he said, because the group "pounded away" at the 92nd Street Y, which hosted the event, for more than week in order to convince it to cancel. The party took place anyway but attendance was reportedly very poor; a "sparse group of mostly young people trudged in" but Unico claimed that Take-Two [http://www.take2games.com/] executives, most notably Zelnick himself, were entirely absent.

"I have no doubt our efforts resulted in the Mafia II Launch Party... being a dismal failure," DiMino said. "When we first heard about this marketing event only recently, we went into action, using our resolve to challenge an event whose purpose was to mock the Italian American community by promoting the new video game Mafia II."

"I believe the combined result of our activities was that, without acknowledging our efforts, both Take-Two and the 92nd Street Y became very hesitant to heavily promote ethnic bashing in this very public way," he continued. "The lack of media coverage for the launch party is another indicator that they pulled back on promoting this event."

DiMino also noted that this isn't the end of Unico's planned action, saying, "This is one small, satisfying victory in a much longer, more sophisticated campaign within the Italian American community opposed to Mafia II specifically, and the continued misrepresentation of the Italian American community, generally. Take-Two and its major investors, and the entertainment industry in general, will be hearing further and forcefully from us."

Mafia II is out now for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Source: Twitter [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mafia-ii-party-fizzles-italian-americans-stand-united-101810363.html]


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[icyneesan]

Oh boy, you ruined a party. Good job, now they won't be able to spend all the extra money entertaining people that actually enjoyed playing and working on the game.

You people are a disgrace to Southern European peoples, if not Italy in general.

 

[Krion_Vark]

So they assume that a party that they heard about recently wasn't a decoy party so that they wouldn't be anywhere near where it actually was? I really wouldn't be surprised if they sent that information out just so Unico would picket the wrong area.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Why are the Italians complaining so much? Look at all the negative stereotypes in their of Chinese and African-Americans. Admittedly a lot of it was done to match the era, but same with the Italian mob. Many Italians immigrated here with little to nothing with them, so were more or less forced into their life of crime. Hence, the mob.

EDIT: Wait, does that poster say "America- a beautiful Italian name"? It's from the feminine Latin version of mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci's first name. And as far as that goes, it's only thought to be a variation of it. I'd call it a Roman name before I'd call it an Italian name.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So, in reference to the claims that the Italian-Americans were a group of criminally styled mobsters...

...you disrupted a perfectly legal party with a mob of Italian-Americans.

Mind the oranges, Marlon. And the hypocrisy.

 

[Caradinist]

And then they "kicked some major fuckin' ass" all over the premises, declaring a victory for the "big boys".

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

Stopping the games based on stereotypes isn't going to remove the actual stereoypes, which is why these protests seem a bit pointless.

And speaking of Mafia II, I actually played it a bit and liked it. But it had so many bugs up the arse, it made it a bit annoying. Reminded me of Alpha Protocol. Ambitious, but could have used some more polish.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

That's a dick move on their part, and the game will sell well regardless. Idiots...

Anyway, it's like they're trying to re-write history! And you know what, it's stupid, and pointless. They're only a bit better than the people claiming the holocaust never happened.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

I wonder how many people didn't show up or go in because they felt that they might end up beaten with baseball bats and thrown into a shallow grave next to Jimmy Hoffa and Joe Pesci's character from Casino?

Maybe this is just the conspiracy theorist in me talking but something doesn't smell right with this Unico National, like maybe they are a front to something that the game hits at and brings attention to.

 

[Tarakos]

I don't even think the game did too well anyway, so is all this even worth it? Maybe they thought this game was GTA-level or something, but it isn't. There is no great victory to be had here.

 

[uppitycracker]

Next time a game comes out starring a white person in a particularly degenerate fashion, I'm totally protesting, because I feel like making a complete ass out of myself and disgracing my nationality, too!

 

[Blue_vision]

I don't get it, what's the point of this exactly? Mafia II apparently stereotypes all italians as mobsters? Is that actually a stereotpye in the US? Sounds a lot like they're making too much of a deal about this.

 

[Death on Trapezoids]

WAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAAAAH!
We think it's wrong for you to accurately portray steriotypes from the past! WAAAAAAH!

 

[Harkwell]

aww, they're cute when they're trying to act big.

 

[Woodsey]

Yeah, everyone knows that none of the members of the Italian-American mob were Italian - not that it was ever a real thing in the first place! Mafia 2 is obviously such a racist game because of this and 2K should be sued all the way home, for sure.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

EDIT: Wait, does that poster say "America- a beautiful Italian name"? It's from the feminine Latin version of mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci's first name. And as far as that goes, it's only thought to be a variation of it. I'd call it a Roman name before I'd call it an Italian name.

Actually that's a common misconception, it was named after a Welshman who sponsored the first voyage to discover the Americas, cant remember his name exactly but it was fairly similar to the word 'America'.

 

[Iffat Nur]

So...um...I changed to MTV after reading this...

The Jersey Shore is still on.

Seriously, your not going to gatecrash a party just because its based on history, are you? Oh, you are.

 

[theSovietConnection]

EDIT: Wait, does that poster say "America- a beautiful Italian name"? It's from the feminine Latin version of mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci's first name. And as far as that goes, it's only thought to be a variation of it. I'd call it a Roman name before I'd call it an Italian name.

Actually that's a common misconception, it was named after a Welshman who sponsored the first voyage to discover the Americas, cant remember his name exactly but it was fairly similar to the word 'America'.

Richard Amerike I believe you're refering to. I was just correcting what they had on their poster.

 

[T-Bone24]

'Ey man, their relatives totally heard about dat shit, and they went to "fix" that pawty, right chief?