On DICE's motive behind featuring the Harlem Hellfighters in BF1 [Added DICE Comment]

xamidoxhua said:
No problem with Harlem Hellfighters being on the cover, but it would be cool to have country specific covers too as special editions or something. To the UK, Australia, NZ, Canada, France etc. who were in it from the start, WWI has a huge place in the 'national psyche'. Every one of these countries has a unique 'fighting man' legend associated with the great war, there's a lot of cool content they could make around this.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, a fantastic idea. I liked how MoH Warfighter featured soldiers from many different nations, and I'd Day 1 an ANZAC covered Battlefield 1.
 
snowblind said:
Nevermind me. I'm just frustrated with the setting and design decisions DICE made with BF1. Im over WW1/2 early war setting. Was hoping for a future setting or something different and new. Just more of the same from 12 years ago or so. Ugh.
Click to expand...

DICE has already done futuristic for Battlefield, and that is currently being milked to death by Call of Duty right now anyway. It was either this, or continue with the modern settings using China or Russia as an adversary in order to play it safe. I think it will help the game stand out. But I checked out after the BF4 QA fiasco.
 
Interficium said:
It turns my stomach. Just flat out the most offensive game I've ever seen.

I can name family members that died in this conflict, wept at the pictures and accounts of the dead and maimed that experienced this hell, was taught all the horrors of it from primary school, through my whole life, it's only ever been a symbol of the folly of war, the worst, most black and shameful era of British and European history. I've been to the actual battlefields and mass graves across Europe, held the minutes silence without fail every rememberence day my entire life, for as long as I could understand the meaning of it.

There was no glory in this war. No thrilling action or daring do, no heroes and villains, this was mass murder, a scar on the history of our species, and every single person involved in it was a victim.

This trailer, the entire concept of this game, makes me feel physically sick, and just so fucking angry.

How fucking dare anyone make a game like this about the Harlem Hellfighters.

I don't know what's worse, the sick fucking emotionless, greedy cunts that would seriously exploit this horror of an industrialised massacre, or the ignorant, soulless bastards that will give them money and enjoy it.

Anyone involved in this, or seriously think of buying this, should be ashamed of themselves.
Click to expand...
Sorry if I look ignorant since I know nothing about this exact conflict but aren't all wars bring out the worst of humanity therefore how anyone dares to cash in on videogames featuring military conflicts?
I mean the first world war is coming close to being a 100 years past.
I'm thrilled I may see this part of the war recreated in Forstbite, I've been learning about since elementary history classes.
Also with choosing this era they ensured that BF4 will continue to be well populated for a very long time.
 
You know, I'm just gonna say that I am pretty ignorant on WWI to the point where I laughed before someone showed me the trailer for Battlefield One. It actually looked really cool. And part of what sold me on it is seeing the stuff from WWI that I was unaware of, which is a lot. I mean, besides that it caused the great depression, was a prequel to WWII, and what I believed was whites v whites. I didn't even know that people fought on horses with swords in WWI, nevertheless that "Bedouin women warriors" were a thing. Or what the "Harlem Hellfighters" were. I mean, even if this game isn't exactly an accurate depiction of the first World War, or if I even get the game, I am at the very least interested in the history behind it.

I think this weekend I am going to look further into these subjects. Unless there is a historically "close enough" porn parody for World War I, in which case I will kill two birds with one stone.
 
Ray Down said:
Pretty sure Interficium is literally the same post Stallion Dan made or something.
Click to expand...

Stilton Disco is the original poster.

I believe Interficium, is referencing the famous Amirox honor and shame post when Playstation lost Final Fantasy exclusivity.
 
Hm, I wonder if this means we get to play as Indian soldiers? That'd be pretty sweet.

I'd love that kind of diversity, and the uniqueness of playing and seeing minority cultures and peoples in an otherwise familiar western story of World War 1 would be pretty nice.
 
DICE just shot themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about WWI (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in WWII where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in WWI, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the WWI veterans, after hearing about this, are not going to want to purchase Battlefield 1 for either system, nor will they purchase any of DICE's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but DICE has alienated an entire market with this move.

DICE, publicly apologize and cancel Battlefield 1 or you can kiss your business goodbye.
 
Mooreberg said:
DICE has already done futuristic for Battlefield, and that is currently being milked to death by Call of Duty right now anyway. It was either this, or continue with the modern settings using China or Russia as an adversary in order to play it safe. I think it will help the game stand out. But I checked out after the BF4 QA fiasco.
Click to expand...

DICE hasn't done future (2142) like they've done past and present. The current and past themes have run their course and its sub par to re-dip into the known when they could have done so much more. A new story in a new world with some new fiction would be most welcome. It's just sad that we're revisiting thematic familiars over and over because they're too afraid to branch out into something truly different.

Give us a world with new enemies and new weapons and problems. Give us new everything not more of the same.
 
RX-78-2 said:
Those are questions looming in the air that I feel we're too afraid to ask. No one can explain why they feel the way they do if we're not posing the right questions to them.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... I really don't think these questions are on anyone's mind. Judging by the responses so far to this thread, I think the real question looming in the air is "why would anybody feel like this?"

This is an extremely strange way to frame a conversation, because anybody who has the nerve to say this is "pandering" should probably pack up from society and take a long, reflective camping trip. Including a black guy is not pandering. What kind of accusation is that? Even if somebody did feel that way, how would you even qualify those feelings? You really can't, because it's preposterous. Basically, you are admitting that black representation is abnormal enough to you that you have a strong and inquisitive reaction against it and demand it must be validated somehow.

As if you need to justify a black person.

I don't believe anyone is "afraid" to have this discussion. This is not a discussion. This is just weird. Especially since OP doesn't seem to feel this way themselves. Why create a proverbial soap box for such a bizarre perspective that nobody, at least around here, seems to have? Are you trying to coax these people out and help them process their internalized racism? Maybe this is a self-help thread.
 
Finale Fireworker said:
This is not a discussion. This is just weird. Especially since OP doesn't seem to feel this way themselves. Why create a proverbial soap box for such a bizarre perspective that nobody, at least around here, seems to have? Are you trying to coax these people out and help them process their internalized racism? Maybe this is a self-help thread.
Click to expand...
It's extra weird because we have pretty clear statements from DICE regarding their motive.
 
snowblind said:
DICE hasn't done future (2142) like they've done past and present. The current and past themes have run their course and its sub par to re-dip into the known when they could have done so much more. A new story in a new world with some new fiction would be most welcome. It's just sad that we're revisiting thematic familiars over and over because they're too afraid to branch out into something truly different.

Give us a world with new enemies and new weapons and problems. Give us new everything not more of the same.
Click to expand...
They basically just did sci-fi Battlefield with Battlefront. And given how many Star Wars movies are in the pipeline, that won't be their last game of that sort. This is basically their best avenue for doing something different. If (when?) Mirror's Edge tanks, they are going to be Battlefield/front, LLC. Might as well try to inject as much differentiation into the formula as they can going forward.
 
AcademicSaucer said:
We all know America is the best , everything should be about america, even samurai movies.
Click to expand...

Absolutely

The-Last-Samurai-tom-cruise-374712_418_640.jpg
 
Interficium said:
It turns my stomach. Just flat out the most offensive game I've ever seen.

I can name family members that died in this conflict, wept at the pictures and accounts of the dead and maimed that experienced this hell, was taught all the horrors of it from primary school, through my whole life, it's only ever been a symbol of the folly of war, the worst, most black and shameful era of British and European history. I've been to the actual battlefields and mass graves across Europe, held the minutes silence without fail every rememberence day my entire life, for as long as I could understand the meaning of it.

There was no glory in this war. No thrilling action or daring do, no heroes and villains, this was mass murder, a scar on the history of our species, and every single person involved in it was a victim.

This trailer, the entire concept of this game, makes me feel physically sick, and just so fucking angry.

How fucking dare anyone make a game like this about the Harlem Hellfighters.

I don't know what's worse, the sick fucking emotionless, greedy cunts that would seriously exploit this horror of an industrialised massacre, or the ignorant, soulless bastards that will give them money and enjoy it.

Anyone involved in this, or seriously think of buying this, should be ashamed of themselves.
Click to expand...

lol joke post?

How many games depict horrible events?
 
leatherhat said:
Putting an American on the cover of a WW1 game is a joke, regardless of race. It would be like putting a Russian on the cover of a Pacific theater ww2 game. In fact, WW1 was so spread out and covered so much territory you could have put almost anybody but an American on the cover and it would have worked. Ottoman Turks, Russians, Congolese... almost anyone.

Though I suppose we should be more worried about DICE managing to create a functioning game for once as opposed to their embarrassing pandering to an American audience.
Click to expand...


Sorry, you guys don't deserve the cover of a video game.

History_WWI_The_Harlem_Hellfighters_159264_SF_rev2_HD_still_624x352.jpg
Click to expand...

Meuse-Argonne_American_Cemetery_081710.JPG
Click to expand...
 
OP must have been trying to lull the ignorants and the racists into a false sense of security, allowing them to believe this thread will be a safe place for their bigotry, so they can be outed for all to see.

That's the only thing that makes sense. I can't comprehend any other reason for such a thread. It's 2016, for fucks sake.
 
The Sum of Zero said:
OP must have been trying to lull the ignorants and the racists into a false sense of security, allowing them to believe this thread will be a safe place for their bigotry, so they can be outed for all to see.

That's the only thing that makes sense. I can't comprehend any other reason for such a thread. It's 2016, for fucks sake.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's 2016, a year where far-right parties and candidates across Europe and the United States are having a good time in elections.
 
Deadbeat said:
So black americans get precedence over black frenchmen?
Click to expand...

Apparently, that is true. Look at the bright side, maybe it's like Madden, and you don't want to be on the cover.

France needs to step up and buy more copies, and they can earn the cover on the next Battlefield.
 
Boss★Moogle;202860161 said:
Absolutely

The-Last-Samurai-tom-cruise-374712_418_640.jpg
Click to expand...

Except, he's not trying to be a Japanese Samurai man, but an American man which fought in the Civil War and happens to be in Japan.
I mean the movie has Japanese Actors.


edit: I see re-read the quoted post. Ignored this.
 
SystemBug said:
There is kind of a point to be made. These wars were global with a global face. Distilling it down to one nationality can be quite problematic. You can put more than one person on the cover
Click to expand...

I wonder whether this has ever been brought up before this cover.

mStudios said:
Except, he's not trying to be a Japanese Samurai man, but an American Samurai man.
Click to expand...

I can't tell if you really think that's the issue
 
you can view almost any game as personal attacks or disrespect/bad taste.

look at CSGO. Play as the terrorists planting bombs?

look at WW2 shooters. Play as nazis?

look at Rainbow Six. Play as terrorists holding hostages in their homes?

look at GTA. Play as psycho murderers?

Games are an extremely personal medium. If it strikes too close to home or violates your conscience simply avoid it.

I have family that fought in World War 2. I play those games to remember their struggle and empathize with their trials. It's very emotional for me.

I play MP to enjoy blasting idiots online in a world that fascinates me. i can seperate the two.
 
mStudios said:
Well, I might be wrong or misunderstood. So my apologies
Click to expand...

The creators of the movie (thought they) couldn't tell the story without doing so through the lense of an outsider/white person/American. Notoriety of the lead actor isn't always the reason either as seen in stuff like the Forbidden Kingdom, the protagonist of which is a no-name white everykid, and Jackie Chan and Jet Li are side characters.

Can't really complain of people "bitching" over everything when you don't get what's being bitched about
 
ChawlieTheFair said:
Black people weren't even real in 1914 /s



Although I do kinda agree with this. Movies like saving private ryan have a semi-similar problem with just showing the American side. Not that it lessens the sacrifices made, it's just smells a bit jingo-ie.
Though based on then campaign description it seems like you would be playing as different characters from seemingly European countries. Americans being DLC is pretty fine with me.
Click to expand...

Yeah how dare that American director and American actors telling a story about American troops in WWII only show the American side.
 
Madness said:
Yeah how dare that American director and American actors telling a story about American troops in WWII only show the American side.
Click to expand...
Lest they are exposed to another culture.

For the record, I don't even mind Saving Private Ryan focusing on the American side because it was a story about American Soldiers saving an American Soldier, I just don't see why the director and actors being American is a factor here. They should be capable of looking beyond their borders.
 
hith-henry-johnson-E.jpeg
Click to expand...

The all-African-American 369th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army arrived in France in January 1918. In an era of racial prejudice and segregation within the armed forces, its soldiers were initially assigned only menial labor such as unloading cargo and cleaning latrines. But when the strapped French Fourth Army needed more troops, the U.S. Army lent it the so-called “Harlem Hellfighters,” hundreds of whom would go on to win France’s Croix de Guerre for their brave service. One of them was Henry Johnson, whose fierce exploits in the Argonne on the night of May 4, 1918, earned him the nickname “Black Death.” Now, nearly a century after his service, Johnson—who died in 1929 at the age of 32—has received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor, in a ceremony at the White House on June 2.
 
NoPiece said:
The all-African-American 369th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army arrived in France in January 1918. In an era of racial prejudice and segregation within the armed forces, its soldiers were initially assigned only menial labor such as unloading cargo and cleaning latrines. But when the strapped French Fourth Army needed more troops, the U.S. Army lent it the so-called “Harlem Hellfighters,” hundreds of whom would go on to win France’s Croix de Guerre for their brave service. One of them was Henry Johnson, whose fierce exploits in the Argonne on the night of May 4, 1918, earned him the nickname “Black Death.” Now, nearly a century after his service, Johnson—who died in 1929 at the age of 32—has received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor, in a ceremony at the White House on June 2.
Click to expand...

but why are they pandering by putting this non-white dude on the cover

i've never voiced this concern before this particular game cover, but: why do americans always make the covers about themselves
 
Madness said:
Yeah how dare that American director and American actors telling a story about American troops in WWII only show the American side.
Click to expand...

He can do it. But he can also be criticized with the direction he took, how biased it is and how he could have offered another angle at the story. Believe it or not, that not because it's $$$American all the way that it is not possible to see the other side and depict it as human and happy ending.
 
Spring-Loaded said:
i've never voiced this concern before this particular game cover, but: why do americans always make the covers about themselves
Click to expand...

Probably because they want to. I really don't care about the cover though, just as long as the game inside is good and not the typical BF campaign. At least the campaign in BF4 was so bad I couldn't play it without some serious help from beer.
 
Campaign mode is likely going to be shit and instantly forgotten. Don't get worked up over the game being American-centric, it's made by them and is catered towards them. It wouldn't sell in America otherwise!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

DICE was progressive
2 3
113
7K
violence replied
Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the DICE Awards 2025 (The Full Winners List included in the OP)
Event  2 3
109
6K
AJUMP23 replied
Sony has quietly added animated PS5 backgrounds featuring Horizon, Demon’s Souls, Ghost of Yotei & more to select players
2
91
5K
Kerotan replied
Beyond the Screen: Behind the Tech: Mimic Controller | Sony Official
7
1K
Holammer replied
The Witcher 4 – Cinematic Reveal Trailer – Behind the scenes
Trailer 
25
2K
cinnamonandgravy replied
Top Bottom