Comments 954

Re: Re-Enactment Group Not Satisfied with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows Flag Apology

Kienda

@RoomWithaMoose I’m really sorry, but I think you probably just might not realise how different Japanese culture is to the West.

You are calling their views ‘racist’ because they are resistant to change. This is most obvious when you claim that Yasuke (a Black immigrant) ‘is Japanese.’

You are applying Western values to a different culture. My family is mixed/Asian/immigrant but it doesn’t matter what colour our skin is, we are also British.

In Japan today there are White/Black/Asian people born and raised in Japan to who speak Japanese as their first language and are culturally Japanese and yet still don’t consider themselves Japanese and would not be considered Japanese by the Japanese.

This isn’t racism (although some might see it that way and clearly there is racism in Japan) but rather Japanese people on the whole view Japanese people as people who are ethnically Japanese not culturally. Although they are welcoming to others.

There is also a strong emphasis on preserving their culture and heritage. Which is basically why Ubisoft is seen as missing the mark.

Re: Ubisoft Apologises for Using Re-Enactment Group's Flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows Art

Kienda

@PuppetMaster

Sorry, but I don’t accept that at all. Nothing I said was racist.

You literally misread what I said, wrongly represented it back to me and then after I explained myself you doubled down with the race card and falsely accusing me of something I never said.

That’s a real shame.

I thought we were just having a civil debate here not resorting to low level tactics to win an argument.

Re: Ubisoft Apologises for Using Re-Enactment Group's Flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows Art

Kienda

@PuppetMaster

I didn’t say ‘only’ Black people will like this game. I was emphasising how Black people will be extra appreciative of seeing a Black Samurai (and there is nothing wrong with that). I then said Westerners won’t see much of a problem compared to Japanese.

Thanks for implying I’m racist though. 😅

Anyways, you’re Asian? Cool beans, so is my family! But why didn’t you say, “I’m Japanese.” You are not Japanese, right? So are you implying that all Asian cultures are the same and we all look the same? That because you’re Asian you speak on behalf of all Asians? Just because you are not offended does that mean the Japanese cannot have their own feelings?

(See how I can misuse your words also. 😇)

Anyways, I hope you understand I’m just playing above.

I’m likely going to play AC:Shadows at some point and enjoy it. But I am also acutely aware of the sensitivities of Japanese people.

Mainly because I have personal Japanese friends who feel like Western politics is being injected into their culture and then the Western media is calling them racist for not agreeing with it.

They don’t feel anger, they feel hurt. And I’m going to defend them. Sorry.

Re: Ubisoft Apologises for Using Re-Enactment Group's Flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows Art

Kienda

@wildcat_kickz I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. And by the way, I don’t think it is wrong for people to have creative license, but I do think there is an argument for respecting cultures and having sensitivity to current events.

AC games have always been great for helping people have a taste for a place in history. Alexandria in AC:Origins is used by educators because of its historical accuracy. But at the same time it has an element of fantasy, after all, there is magic in the stars and the whole connecting with your ancestors thing.

I have no doubts AC:Shadows will be a great game and Western audiences will love it. Many in Japan will also. But there are definitely a large number of people in Japan not happy with Ubisoft.

But if the whole world loves a game, but the culture it is based upon is largely offended. I think that is a big problem.

I also think it’s wrong for us to tell Japan how they should feel.

Re: Ubisoft Apologises for Using Re-Enactment Group's Flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows Art

Kienda

@Korgon I said “Japanese Samurai” for a reason because there are two characters. A Samurai and a Ninja.

You can be a Japanese Ninja in the game, but not a Japanese Samurai. Hopefully that clears up that point.

AC has always straddled the line of fiction/reality. No one is denying that, but they clearly took it further in this game with a culture that does not have a Western mindset.

And again, you couldn’t be a black Viking or an Asian Bayek in other games. They’ve done it at a time where there is massive cultural sensitivity in Japan about protecting their heritage.

It’s unwise to say the least.

Re: Ubisoft Apologises for Using Re-Enactment Group's Flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows Art

Kienda

@nhSnork

My family is also from a minority background that isn’t represented much in the media. But we don’t feel out of place in the UK as it’s very multicultural.

See my comment above to see why many in Japan are upset (and I’m just scratching the surface really), and why I don’t think it was wise for Ubisoft to do what it did.

The thing is, AC has always straddled the line of fiction and accuracy. And they’re doing that here again. But I think they didn’t take into account the disrespect it would cause to the culture they were trying to honour.

I actually think Western gaming journalism has done a massive disservice to Japan for not covering their feelings in all of this.

It’s being seen through the lens of Western politics and labelling everyone extremists rather than dealing with the sensitivities of Japan.

It’s like Ubisoft is ‘West-washing’ (if I can coin that term) Japanese culture while the Western media are ‘West-washing’ the hurt many Japanese feel about this.

The Japanese voice is not being heard.

Re: Ubisoft Apologises for Using Re-Enactment Group's Flag in Assassin's Creed Shadows Art

Kienda

@Korgon @PuppetMaster

Maybe you’re looking at this from a Western perspective. I’m sure this game will do well in the West. And yes, you will always find a Japanese person who is fine with it.

But trust me when I say there are many Japanese people who are deeply offended by this.

In Japan right now, there is a big discussion over foreigners going to the country and disrespecting Japan and Japanese culture. There are incidents of people desecrating shrines or breaking the law in Japan. And this is blowing up in the news and people are outraged by it. It goes against the culture of Japan which is very respectful and law abiding.

Ubisoft, instead of honouring Japan by giving them their first ever Japanese Samurai, instead has said, “Hey, lets use the only black guy we can find in history that is loosely associated with being a Samurai and insert our Western politics into Japanese culture. The Japanese will love that.”

Now, I’ve seen people saying “this is fiction, it’s not real” on the other hand they’re defending the game by saying, “this black Samurai is a real historic person.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s a work of fiction or that a black Samurai existed (he likely wasn’t Samurai, by the way, even though he was trained). What matters is that the culture being represented is respected.

Ubisoft didn’t put a Chinese person as the main protagonist for AC:Valhalla and they didn’t put a White person as the main protagonist for AC:Origins. They weren’t historically accurate games either. But they did respect the cultures they represented. And Origins, to this day, is still an extremely accurate representation of Alexandria and used for educational purposes.

AC:Shadows however isn’t even accurate on small things like the kanji mentioned in this article. So it’s not just about race, it goes a lot deeper than that. But again, it’s mainly the Japanese being offended. And the rest of the world doesn’t really care.

Black people seeing a black Samurai are likely going to love the game. Samurai are cool no matter what race you are.

Westerners in general will likely not see much wrong with a black Samurai. It’s not their culture after all and they’re used to seeing merging of cultures and modern politics being inserted into everything.

The Japanese, however, are largely seeing this as a massive disrespect to their culture and proud heritage.

Re: New PS Portal Firmware Update Adds Better Wi-Fi Features and More

Kienda

I’m quite disheartened to see all the comments overly praising the PlayStation Portal and mocking those of us who don’t get on with it. As a huge fan of PlayStation, the Portal has been the biggest let down of any of their devices. And yes, I do own one.

I wanted to love my PlayStation Portal, but I simply can’t.

Despite its nice design, at the end of the day, it’s still only a cloud gaming device and cloud gaming still sucks.

Worse than that. It’s an inferior cloud gaming device to my laptop. Without VRR, the connection, frame rate and image quality are noticeably inferior to what I was getting with Remote Play on my laptop.

If the PlayStation Portal had the ability to have a direct connection from the PS5 to it, kind of like a WiiU Gamepad, even if it was via a dongle plugged into my PS5 so that I could have a flawless 1080p/60fps experience in the same room as my PS5, then I’d be willing to overlook its other flaws (no Bluetooth etc). But the fact it cannot just does not cut it to me.

My laptop giving me a better performance in the same room and on the same network as a dedicated device made by Sony because they chose to limit its features to save money is the type of mediocrity I refuse to accept.

It doesn’t matter what firmware updates they add. This device could and should have been so much better.

Re: PS5 Needs to Do a Better Job of Alerting You to the Things Going on in Your Games

Kienda

@get2sammyb yeah, that’s what I mean.

They know exactly what I’m playing and there are options available to them to create more social/interactive experiences for players based on what they’re playing by incorporating social media/reddit etc and allowing content (based on the users preferences) in order to increase our experiences and enjoyment of the games we are playing at the time. It could even be based on recommendations from other users or something.

I was meaning to express my agreement with your article. But actually I think they could do far, far more and just allow players to turn on or off various notifications and integration to get the best experience for themselves.

Re: PS5 Needs to Do a Better Job of Alerting You to the Things Going on in Your Games

Kienda

I actually think they could do more interaction for single player games also.

I personally don’t play any games that are live service (besides Guild Wars 2 on PC).

The PS5 tries to show me news about games I’m interested in, but most of the time it’s updates on content I’m nowhere near playing or games I only dabbled in.

What I’d like is some user generated content popping up to show the community of the game I’m currently playing.

For me I’m on FF15. About 90hrs in and almost at the Platinum. Yes, I know it’s a PS4 game and old, but if there was a way for the PS5 to recognise that was the game I’m invested in and somehow link to the Reddit page and share a screenshot a day from another player, or give me a tips on grinding AP or whatever, I would feel a lot more like I’m part of the community of that game.

Instead, I’m doing that personally by going onto the Reddit for that game. I may be asking too much, but I’m just saying that I like community. Even in single player games. Even if it’s just knowing others are enjoying the same content as me. So surely there is something Sony can add to cater to that.

Re: Horror Hit Alan Wake 2 Is Getting a Retail PS5 Release Because You Wouldn't Shut Up About It

Kienda

@ChrisDeku yeah, but that’s why I don’t like this practice of all digital.

Second hand gaming, trading, and physical collections are part of the culture of gaming that I enjoy. They will kill that off with corporate greed unless we stand against it (yeah, I sound like a revolutionist. 😅).

The suits at the top might want my money. They will get it if they make a game worth buying first hand (most of my purchases are first hand but discounted btw).

The developers and creatives for the game though, a lot of their motivation is having people play and enjoy their work.

It’s a bit sad if the industry becomes all about squeezing money out of us.

Re: Horror Hit Alan Wake 2 Is Getting a Retail PS5 Release Because You Wouldn't Shut Up About It

Kienda

Some of us only buy physical for financial reasons. I can buy a game cheaper second hand or share my game with my family and sell it on after etc.

Alan Wake 2 screwed over those who like physical. But they screwed themselves over too, the lack of sales proves this. Im unlikely to buy this game even physical, because I don’t like bad business practices. I’m not going to reward them now.

Giving all gamers the option to play and collect games how we like is the best way. And developers/publishers need to learn that.

But yes, let’s moan at the customers.

Re: There's a Damn Good Reason to Buy Astro Bot Physically on PS5

Kienda

@Gremio108

Wally > Waldo

@LaurenIpsum

Waldo was called Wally in the UK.

When I was a kid I was very confused when I had a new American classmate ask if I liked Waldo. When he brought the book to school I was like, “Oh, it’s Wally! Yeah, I love Wally.” And then we argued (in jest) about his name for years.

Edit: Since it was invented in the UK, Wally is his official name, I might add. 😎

Re: There's a Damn Good Reason to Buy Astro Bot Physically on PS5

Kienda

That’s a nice touch from Sony.

One of the reasons I switched over from Xbox to PS5 last year was because of the lack of physical releases on Xbox.

I enjoy my physical collection and it’s part of my gaming experience. It helps bring back memories every time I pick up the cases and look at them.

Re: PC Players Are Fuming Until Dawn, God of War Ragnarok Appear to Require PSN Logins

Kienda

I know we are PlayStation fanboys, but this is a dumb decision from Sony.

People who weren’t in countries where PSN is available, you know most of the countries on earth, they got locked out of a game they paid for or banned by Sony for trying to make accounts in other countries.

Then only countries with the game were allowed meaning only 71 countries out of 191 countries could play the game.

You can’t say you are “For the Players” when you literally disallow most countries to play your games because of a silly corporate decision.

And it’s sad we have the majority on here seemingly call them “PC whiners” and the like, when they are protecting their fellow gamers.

Sony should implement the option of PSN login with the incentive of maybe free in game items. But let people choose whether or not they do it. That way those in countries where PSN isn’t available can still access the game.

The login is only for marketing anyway. They want their email to push future products. It’s a corporate thing.

Why defend corporate greed over allowing others to game? Especially as the countries without PSN are some of the poorer countries.

Re: PS5's Streaming Handheld PS Portal Is Proving a Huge Hit

Kienda

@GymratAmarillo I think you misunderstand.

The Portal has no Bluetooth. This means no Bluetooth headphone compatibility. So it only allows wired headphones or PlayStation headphones which are stupidly expensive.

The other factor is you can’t stream PS Plus games from the internet. Which is not good.

Premium games are streaming only. They can’t be downloaded onto your PS5 so they are inaccessible on the Portal.

Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Required Less Crunch Than Larian Studios' Previous RPGs

Kienda

I think crunch is just kinda human nature.

I work in marketing and work on various publications. Whenever a magazine deadline is coming up, it’s always crunch time.

We work for weeks beforehand doing the lion’s share of the work, but the last bit of final edits, last minute changes in design, all the different people coming together at the final bit adds to the pressure and we always just make it to print.

It’s not because we didn’t work hard beforehand. But we didn’t have the urgency, and as soon as it goes to print. That is it. No more changes. The public will see and that’s always more stressful.

So I can understand it the same with games. They might have a deadline set for a year, but those last few weeks are the most intense.