Tekken Tag Tournament Two Team Tasked To Tweak Stage Due To Tweets

[Andy Shandy]

Okay, admittedly the alliteration fell away at the end.

[HEADING=2]ANYWAY![/HEADING]

Hot on the heels of Infinity Ward having to change the Favela map in Modern Warfare 2 and 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119987-Muslim-Complaints-Get-Modern-Warfare-2-Map-Pulled] due to complaints by some Muslim gamers, Namco Bandai are having to do the same to their Saudi Arabia stage in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

TTT2 producer Katsuhiro Harada has promised for the map to be changed after receiving multiple tweets from Muslims after they had seen Allah written on the floor of the Saudi stage

So what are everyone's thoughts on this? Are these Muslim gamers perhaps getting too offended over something that a very small amount of people will notice? Or is it just daft of Namco to have it in the stage to begin with? Perhaps both?

 

[Kopikatsu]

Bleh. Harada should just flip them the bird and go on with his life.

Anyway, I'm not even sure if I should be more impressed that there was such a level of detail in the stage or that somebody actually noticed it.

 

[dmase]

I agree with the first post how did someone even notice that. But at the same time why would they even bother? I get wanting to make it realistic but it doesn't make sense to put legible writing on a small piece of paper that people can read.

Anyways I was wondering this the other day and I was hoping tekken fans could answer this question. How do people know about the story in tekken especially the early games. I played 1 on the ps and from what I remember there where absolutely no real definitive story parts. They where just short clips that could be taken anyway you look at it. Like it was my assumption that in King's ending he won the whole thing... yet with no dialogue we have no idea he ended up getting 3rd in the first tournament. Is there some series storybook written by the creators or do later games have back stories that go in depth? Don't mean to de-rail i'm just curious.

 

[Zhukov]

First thought: Why did the level designers even bother to write "Allah" on the floor anyway?

Second thought: If they were that committed to detail, enough that they went out and found out how to accurately write the name in Arabic script, wouldn't they have known the no-writing-god's-name-on-the-floor thing?

Third thought: Actually, I suspect the people who made the level didn't know what it meant. They probably just went looking for some cool Arabic symbols to use for level textures, found that star and started sticking around the place.

Final thought:: Don't see any reason to get upset about Muslims getting upset. Especially since they don't seem all that offended. He's saying, "Hoy, what's that doing there?" Not, "How dare you slander the name of Allah you filthy infidels, you!"

 

[distortedreality]

How is it offensive?

I understood the CoD thing, but this seems a tad ridiculous on the face of it.

 

[krazykidd]

Bleh. Harada should just flip them the bird and go on with his life.

Anyway, I'm not even sure if I should be more impressed that there was such a level of detail in the stage or that somebody actually noticed it.

How is it offensive?

I understood the CoD thing, but this seems a tad ridiculous on the face of it.

Gah iv'e said this once and i'll say it again .

Just because it isn't offensive to YOU doesn't mean it's no offensive . I mean seriously , people on the internet seem to be anti-muslim for some reason . If it offends anyone other than muslims it's bad , but if it offends muslims who cares . What a terrible mentality .

OT: why , why , why would the developpers do this ? Has no one ever heard of playing it safe? Unless they wanted to get publicitt by doing this .

 

[distortedreality]

Bleh. Harada should just flip them the bird and go on with his life.

Anyway, I'm not even sure if I should be more impressed that there was such a level of detail in the stage or that somebody actually noticed it.

How is it offensive?

I understood the CoD thing, but this seems a tad ridiculous on the face of it.

Gah iv'e said this once and i'll say it again .

Just because it isn't offensive to YOU doesn't mean it's no offensive . I mean seriously , people on the internet seem to be anti-muslim for some reason . If it offends anyone other than muslims it's bad , but if it offends muslims who cares . What a terrible mentality .

OT: why , why , why would the developpers do this ? Has no one ever heard of playing it safe? Unless they wanted to get publicitt by doing this .

Might want to check what I said again and pull your knickers out of your cheeks buddy.

All I asked was how it was offensive - are you suggesting that because someone says that something is offensive without explaining why, the world must change shape around that without knowing why?

I'll ask you another question - why shouldn't the developers of done it? See how that's the same question I asked in my original post, I just worded it differently so I wouldn't offend you? Aren't I a nice guy.

Also, no offense, but if you're only just now catching on to an anti-Muslim bias in western media, then I suggest you pay more attention to your surroundings. Neither of the comments you quoted showed any anti-Muslim bias in any way - which makes your observation even more out of place.

 

[uhddh]

Try saying the title to this thread ten times fast.

OT: How the ever loving fuck did someone notice that?

It's not really that offensive, I would have thought. However, people are volatile creatures who can go off at anything (All people. Not just muslims. Just making that clear)

I'd say they didn't have anything else to tie the stage to Saudi Arabia, so they picked Allah.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

OH F*** NO.

F***...NO.

JUST NO...!

...is my general train of thought. It's Saudi....f***ing...Arabia. That's why the name...IS ON THE FLOOR...!

Aneurysms aside, I am sick and tired of companies pandering to oversensitive minorities (minorities within their own religion that is) because they find something that builds context, that should in no way be offensive, and that was put there not out of bias or hatred but for establishing the setting and making it interesting and detailed, offensive. F*** those people and f*** the houses they live in.

Imagine a developer made a stage that was a Church and put a crucified Jesus Christ in it. You think Christians would complain? I really don't think they would. A reference should not be found offensive, and I think even if it was "Allah is not merciful" or something, as long as it establishes context, a reasonable person would see why it was in there.

That said, I don't know why they even bothered. It's not like people were going to recognise what the writing was, or that they wouldn't have guessed it was Saudi Arabia without it.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I read yesterday about a Goat who sold for £128K because it had "Allah" on its fur.

Double Standards..lol.

 

[dimensional]

Wtf uh yeah whatever change it if you want I doubt most people care either way, maybe they should add Allah as an upcoming DLC character instead im not sure how offended these people are in general but that tweet in op didnt seem that offended just asking a question but really this seems a bit pinicikty its some barely legible writing on the floor. If we remove everything that offended anyone we would have nothing left I dont think the original intention was inflammatory and so it really shouldnt be taken as such but like I say I believe the vast majority of people are not going to care in the slightest if its changed or not.

 

[WoW Killer]

OH F*** NO.

F***...NO.

JUST NO...!

...is my general train of thought. It's Saudi....f***ing...Arabia. That's why the name...IS ON THE FLOOR...!

Aneurysms aside, I am sick and tired of companies pandering to oversensitive minorities (minorities within their own religion that is) because they find something that builds context, that should in no way be offensive, and that was put there not out of bias or hatred but for establishing the setting and making it interesting and detailed, offensive. F*** those people and f*** the houses they live in.

Does it really bother you this being removed? I mean does it really matter to you? Lets just say this story hadn't existed, and the game was released with a blank plaque. Would you have seen it and been outraged that it didn't say 'Allah'? I'm guessing you wouldn't have given a toss even if you did notice it.

This is fairly simple. There's a minority group X offended by a (very small) piece of content. Yet all the potential customers not in X couldn't give a monkeys whether this thing was included or not. Therefore, the developers can run with it, thereby offending those in X and leaving those not in X exactly the same, or they can remove it, which would keep X happy and yet again leave the non-X players exactly the same. There would be absolutely nothing to gain by sticking with it. It's a microscopic bit of foreign lettering.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Does it really bother you this being removed? I mean does it really matter to you? Lets just say this story hadn't existed, and the game was released with a blank plaque. Would you have seen it and been outraged that it didn't say 'Allah'? I'm guessing you wouldn't have given a toss even if you did notice it.

This is fairly simple. There's a minority group X offended by a (very small) piece of content. Yet all the potential customers not in X couldn't give a monkeys whether this thing was included or not. Therefore, the developers can run with it, thereby offending those in X and leaving those not in X exactly the same, or they can remove it, which would keep X happy and yet again leave the non-X players exactly the same. There would be absolutely nothing to gain by sticking with it. It's a microscopic bit of foreign lettering.

No, you're right, I wouldn't have noticed, wouldn't have understood it if I had, and wouldn't have cared if it wasn't there, but it's the principle of removing it not only because a small amount of people complained, but because those complaints were religious. If I took issue with the biology of the trees in the background or the design of the porthole, I hardly think anyone would care.

I get the logic of removing it because no-one other than the complainees will actually be effected beyond perhaps objecting to its removal. But it was a detail in the stage that was put there deliberately, to aid authenticity, and was not done to make a religious statement or annoy people.