Forum - View topicNEWS: Stranger Than Heaven Game's Trailer Reveals Tupac, More Cast, January 15 Release
|
Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chiyosuke
 Posts: 509 |
|
|||||
|
Lol I thought that was Pac, had to double check.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Lord Geo
Posts: 2995 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
|
|||||
|
The Tupac reveal actually got some sizable outrage... and I don't get why, because all we got was the reveal that his likeness was being used.
Toshiro Mifune (who died a year after Tupac) is in Onimusha 5, and it gets celebrated. Bunta Sugawara got announced for Stranger Than Heaven, and no one really cared outside of Japan, since Sugawara was naturally bigger in Japan. Yusaku Masuda was in Onimusha 2 all the way back in 2002, and the most I recall is maybe a bit of "Huh, that's kind of weird, but also sort of neat that games have gotten this advanced". Plus, there was no outrage over Masuda being kept for the remaster, either. Super Robot Wars games have notoriously continued re-using old voice clips from now-deceased voice actors for certain characters and... well, OK, SRW fans have been getting tired of that being done. But now that it's an American it's suddenly disrespectful & worth going crazy with anger over? Man, that sounds so hypocritical. "You can bring back dead Japanese people all you want, but don't you dare do that to an American!". Like, yeah, Tupac's inclusion is weird as hell (though technically fitting, since Snoop Dogg was already confirmed for the game), but I think some people are overreacting to him being used post-mortem. Now if RGG Studio decides to use AI to recreate his voice instead of simply hiring a soundalike (&, to be fair, that could still totally be a possibility... unfortunately) then I'll join in wholeheartedly in saying "F this game!", but right now I just think it's weird but not worth getting enraged over in any way. |
||||||
|
||||||
AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2921 |
|
|||||
|
Why, just...why? RGG Studios are racking up L's
|
||||||
|
||||||
Raebo101
 Posts: 863 |
|
|||||
|
Okay, so... WHO is playing Tupac? That's all I wanna know at this point. Bunta has an actor playing his character, so HOPEFULLY that's also happening with Tupac.
Please, for the love of God, tell me an actual person is providing the voice for his character and NOT AI. |
||||||
|
||||||
quariki
 Posts: 6 |
|
|||||
|
BREAKING: Tupac found ALIVE in Showa Era Japan
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Lord Geo
Posts: 2995 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
|
|||||
A message from Sega states that Tupac's inclusion is being done without any AI usage, which is at least nice to see confirmed right away. But the person who gets the job to actually voice him in English is going to be judged & scrutinized to no end, as I'm sure people will dissect their performance to the minutest degree. |
||||||
|
||||||
Themaster20000
 Posts: 897 |
|
|||||
Cause putting in a dead artist as a way to sell a product is abhorrent. This was a real person, being reduced to a product himself. His estate isn't even control by his family, but a record producer, which this disgusting. |
||||||
|
||||||
Slop Slop no Mi
 Posts: 44 |
|
|||||
I don't really pay attention to online rage but it's more than likely different people being upset here. I doubt Japanese are upset and calling it disrespectful, and I don't think Americans in turn care about them using dead Japanese actors. I assume the people upset by this are more in connection with American rap and saying it's disrespectful. Not really hypocritical since they probably don't know or care much about the Japanese actors to begin with. Maybe they just saw a rapper they knew in the sea of trailers and found it disrespectful from that alone. Yeah, it's a weird inclusion but at the same time Tupac died 20 years ago. How long does someone have to be dead before they're okay to have in media? Do people get upset at Ronald Regan or John F Kennedy being in media? Michael Jackson or Biggie Smalls? Steve Irwin? Nixon? I don't see the outrage of having dead people in media myself but to each their own. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
AiddonValentine
Posts: 2921 |
|
|||||
Exactly, and said producer has been accused by Tupac's sister of embezzling millions from their mother's estate: https://bsky.app/profile/crumbedup.bsky.social/post/3mnlcf2anz22t This isn't like Sugawara whose likeness is controlled by his family or Mifune's who likeness is, again, in his family's hands. Tupac is just being exploited past his death for records. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Lord Geo
Posts: 2995 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
|
|||||
Yeah, that is messed up & really unfortunate, and I didn't see that brought up until after my initial post in this thread. However, that doesn't really change my overall opinion when it comes to the general response, as it's still people being immensely hypocritical & selfish in decrying Tupac's inclusion in the game, while ignoring & downplaying other examples in both this game & other games. Plus, plenty of people have already stated that they wouldn't have cared if Tupac's actual family approved of this, anyway. I just don't like the hypocrisy of "Well, I have personal feelings about this guy being used so it matters to me now" logic. People I normally felt were perfectly reasonable and would care about issues & plights that traditionally wouldn't apply to them are essentially going "The use of a dead person in a video game matters to me now, because this affects me, personally" when it comes to Tupac in Stranger Than Heaven, and I think that's unfortunate to see, as it's cherry picking when it's simply convenient. Entire articles are being written decrying Tupac's use here, but I imagine almost none of the writers will actually write an article going over the actual history of real-life people being "cast" in video games post-mortem, and what the responses to those other uses were, to help provide extra context. Personally, I think we as video game fans long lost the ability to truly argue against this concept when Capcom used Yusaku Masuda in Onimusha 2 24 years ago without any controversy, and that doesn't suddenly change because it's now happening to an American (who also happens to have controversy over who controls his estate). Yes, it's immensely weird & people have every right to not agree with like the decision to use Tupac, as even I feel it's just really bizarre. However, I think using Tupac's inclusion as the impetus for suddenly decrying the use of dead people in video games, while downplaying the history of stuff like this being done in other works, is more than a bit messed up. As I said, people who I never saw really complain about prior examples of this being done, or even simply went "Hey, that's neat" over Toshiro Mifune being used for Onimusha 5 are now crying foul over Tupac here simply because "Tupac means something to me", or are only now going "Well, I was never a fan of it before (though I never really brought it up), but now I really don't like it & I need to let people know!", and that's shocking to me.
To be fair, those kinds of uses tend to either be through archival footage from the past or at least done in a historical setting that those people actually lived in. I imagine people would feel more uncomfortable if someone like JFK, Reagan, or Nixon were being "cast" as different characters in an original story, like Tupac more than likely will be. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
AiddonValentine
Posts: 2921 |
|
|||||
You can just say "I don't care a black man's image is being exploited by a rich white man to the detriment of Tupac's family" and be done with it. The hand wringing is undignified. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Lord Geo
Posts: 2995 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
|
|||||
Dude, if you're going to be like that about it then I could respond with "Anyone who didn't care about the usage of a dead person's image until now clearly doesn't care about people of any other nationality or race than their own", but I didn't because that'd be an absurd claim to make. What's going on with Tupac's image being exploited is undeniably terrible, and the fact that it's happening to a black man is also terrible. It's also not the first time a celebrity's estate has unfortunately been put into controversy or abused by someone that really shouldn't have control over it. Hopefully one day Tupac's family can regain the rights to the man's estate & image rights, because they absolutely deserve to have control over it & do as they see fit. But please do not throw out the race card simply because you don't like what I'm pointing out. I didn't throw out the race or even nationality card when it came to how people seemingly didn't care about prior examples of dead people being used in video games, but now they care like hell simply because it's Tupac, because it's not a card that should be thrown out wildly like that. I just found it odd, & honestly more than a bit awkward, that this is only now becoming a controversial thing to do in a video game simply because it's Tupac, despite there being at least 24 years of history of this being done, including another game that's currently in development at a different company. I do sincerely apologize for even bringing this up, so I'll leave this topic. |
||||||
|
||||||
residentgrigo
 Posts: 2762 Location: Germany |
|
|||||
|
The 2Pac estate is run by a white man. Snoop Dogg is going to hell for this.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
PorkBazaar
Posts: 13 |
|
|||||
|
So from what I'm reading from the comments here this is only an issue because Tupac is black? Dead Japanese people in Yakuza is fine but not a dead black guy? Don't get why there's a double standard there. Think this is kind of neat myself. I guess the episode "Hell on Earth 2006" of South Park couldn't be made today since it has a lot of dead famous people in it which is a shame cause it was a great episode.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Beatdigga
 Posts: 5144 Location: New York |
|
|||||
The problem is Tupac’s estate isn’t controlled by his family. The estates of those other actors are. This also isn’t satirical like South Park. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group