Silly Square Enix: Facebook App (Sponsored by Hitman: Absolution) allows you to place "Hits" on your
23 replies, posted
[quote]Like communism, some ideas work well on paper and tend to falter when it comes to real-life implementation. Take the latest ad campaign for Hitman: Absolution, for example. The game features a remorseless assassin taking out targets in a brutal but efficient manner, so a social media campaign in which you can "assassinate" your friends does make a modicum of sense. However, the Hitman: Absolution Facebook app that materialized may have gone a bit too far. The program allows you to put a hit on a friend, for reasons including "bad fashion sense" and "cheating on her partner," then customizes a video for your target that shows Agent 47 putting a sniper round through his or her skull.
The app itself is fairly simple: Select a target from your list of Facebook friends, choose an identifying feature that he or she possesses, then specify a reason why he or she deserves to shuffle off this mortal coil. The appearance descriptions and justifications range from the simple ("her shortness;" "she's on Facebook far too much") to the bizarre ("his silly moustache;" "he supports a crap football team") to the borderline offensive ("her small tits;" "she works at a job she hates").
While the unfortunate victim has to agree to let the app access his or her personal information in order to view the video, the resulting ad takes full advantage of whatever it's been given. The Hitman: Absolution app uses a profile picture to show Agent 47 stalking the target, announces birth date and relationship information to identify him or her (I got "romantically unattached, for obvious reasons"), and finishes with the titular hitman firing a sniper rifle right after a montage of additional photos.
To recap: The Hitman: Absolution app makes it possible to send a death threat to a small-breasted Facebook friend for cheating on her spouse, or suggest that a lazy friend identifiable by his big nose should get one right between the eyes. The idea behind it is understandable, given the nature of Agent 47's work, but it's not over-the-top enough to be an outright joke, and Hitman's protagonist tends to target crime bosses and enemy spies, not fashion victims. Expect to see some controversy following this app in the days to come.
Update: The app, formerly located at hire.hitman.com, appears to redirect to the main Hitman: Absolution website now. At present, there is no way to access the program.
Update: Following the removal of the app, Square Enix issued the following statement.
[sp]Earlier today we launched an app based around Hitman: Absolution that allowed you to place virtual hits on your Facebook friends. Those hits would only be viewable by the recipient and could only be sent to people who were confirmed friends.
We were wide of the mark with the app and following feedback from the community we decided the best thing to do was remove it completely and quickly. This we've now done.
We're sorry for any offence caused by this.[/sp] [/quote]
Source: [url]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120921-Update-Threaten-Your-Friends-With-Hitman-Facebook-App[/url]
What it looked like before getting taken down...
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm6.jpg[/img]
reminds me of this:
[url]http://www.takethislollipop.com/[/url]
pretty cool
[QUOTE=legolover122;38704557]
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm4.jpg[/img]
[/QUOTE]
I got altogether far too much laughter out of this picture
That is so fucking cool why would they take it down...
at least it wasn't as bad as this
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7599639.stm]Silly EA[/url]
Urm. You can write "you have small tits" to people on Facebook anyway. How is writing it into an app any different?
[QUOTE=Killuah;38704689]Urm. You can write "you have small tits" to people on Facebook anyway. How is writing it into an app any different?[/QUOTE]
Because then a virtual hitman assassinates their Facebook profile picture.
[QUOTE=Olas;38704698]Because then a virtual hitman assassinates their Facebook profile picture.[/QUOTE]
The bigotry of the media has no borders, holy shit.
oh shit I would have loved to use this!
[img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm5.jpg[/img]
what the hell are his arms doing? is there something very wrong with this or am I just an idiot?
Shame they took it down, it was really rather clever.
[QUOTE=BellyButton;38704904][img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm5.jpg[/img]
what the hell are his arms doing? is there something very wrong with this or am I just an idiot?[/QUOTE]
His left arm is holding the forward part of the gun at his elbow (his arm is at a 90 degree angle, with the point on his elbow pointing in the direction of the gun), and I assume his other arm (hand) is on the trigger.
[QUOTE=BellyButton;38704904][img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm5.jpg[/img]
what the hell are his arms doing? is there something very wrong with this or am I just an idiot?[/QUOTE]
he's holding the rifle steady with his left arm, his right hand is on the trigger
i don't see the problem
[editline]4th December 2012[/editline]
you must be an idiot then
[QUOTE=BellyButton;38704904][img]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm5.jpg[/img]
what the hell are his arms doing? is there something very wrong with this or am I just an idiot?[/QUOTE]
The rifle is resting on his left arm's elbow to help him aim or something. I question the effectiveness of this pose, but snipers from the last XCOM game used it as well, so it's a trope apparently.
[QUOTE=BellyButton;38704904][IMG]http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/dec/hm5.jpg[/IMG]
what the hell are his arms doing? is there something very wrong with this or am I just an idiot?[/QUOTE]
He's steadying the rifle with his left elbow/arm, and going to pull the trigger with his right.
[IMG]http://gyazo.com/b9210abbe413c9ea23d005c94283ba56.png[/IMG]
well alright... just looked very odd too me. guess i don't know a lot about sniping positions.
[editline]4th December 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Rob Markia;38704968]He's steadying the rifle with his left elbow/arm, and going to pull the trigger with his right.
[IMG]http://gyazo.com/b9210abbe413c9ea23d005c94283ba56.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]
hahahaha thank you for the illustrative help
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;38704950]The rifle is resting on his left arm's elbow to help him aim or something. I question the effectiveness of this pose, but snipers from the last XCOM game used it as well, so it's a trope apparently.[/QUOTE]
i'd say it's much easier to hold something steady by supporting it on your elbow as opposed to your hand, he's also resting his arm on his knee so it's effectively a bipod.
Anyone can confirm that it isn't a silly cool looking position but an actual used one?
It's so he can keep the rifle steady without the barrel sticking out of the window.
[editline]4th December 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=proch;38705058]Anyone can confirm that it isn't a silly cool looking position but an actual used one?[/QUOTE]
Setting up a table and a bipod takes time, vs just locking your elbow and using your arm as a makeshift stand.
That seems like an useful way to hold a camera with a long lens, too
well you know what they say, The surest sign of a true friendship is when you hire professional assassins to eliminate each other!
Is that just me?
[QUOTE=latin_geek;38705325]That seems like an useful way to hold a camera with a long lens, too[/QUOTE]
It actually is. :eng101:
Did anyone grab an example video (you know, including Facebook personalisation) before the app got pulled?
Really curious.
[QUOTE=koeniginator;38704612]reminds me of this:
[url]http://www.takethislollipop.com/[/url]
pretty cool[/QUOTE]
Oh god
I have this friend who tags me in some really badly drawn parody pictures and stuff so this was an amazing mix of hilarious and creepy at the same time.
I love it.
Gimme more.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.