Sony Santa Monica puts foes before bros.
Sony Santa Monica has confirmed it plans to change the name of the controversial God of War: Ascension trophy that has critics shaking their fists. The trophy will have its title changed from, “Bros before hos,” to, “Bros before foes,” via a day one patch.
The trophy, awarded once Kratos has finished pummeling a female antagonist in a shockingly violent scene even by God of War standards, was first called out by reviewer, Adam Sessler.
“This gut punch of misogyny irredeemably sours this game and is shocking that such a talented developer would traffic in such a contemptible attitude,” he said in his video review of the game. “I have always liked the adult fantasy of the God of War games – that Grand Guignol silliness – and in this moment, it’s all reduced to some frat house joke, making me ashamed that I ever thought it was more than that in the first place.”
As with anything that raises the dreaded specters of feminism and/or political correctness, Sessler’s critique was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response from the video’s YouTube viewership.
“Sessler, you are such a fucking faggot,” reads the second highest rated comment, a savage intellectual beatdown from which Sessler will likely never recover.
While some (including myself) question the merit in singling out an achievement as if it’s the most damning example of potentially sexist attitudes in the God of War series(seriously, In God of War 3 Kratos uses a woman as a doorstop), the outcry seems to have worked.
“We have created and will soon push out a patch for God of War: Ascension that alters the title of one of the game Trophies. The text was offensive to some members of our community and impacted their enjoyment of the game,” Sony Santa Monica’s told Joystiq. “We are endlessly committed to ensuring that our community can fully enjoy the experiences the team has created. As such, we’ve addressed the feedback and amended the Trophy in question.”
Personally, while I’m not super keen on self-censorship, “bros before foes” is genuinely funnier than “bros before hos” by virtue of being actual word-play rather than a banal catchphrase. While this “controversy” will no doubt grow ever so tiresome in the coming weeks (assuming it isn’t eclipsed by Sim City servers literally erupting into flames), at least it sparked a rather interesting column about the use and misuse of achievements from Escapist contributor and professional walrus impersonator, Jim Sterling.
God of War: Ascension will hit shelves on March 12th.
Source: Joystiq
Published: Mar 11, 2013 11:35 pm