EA developing 'Godfather II' game

10/08/2008

John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts recently revealed to its investors that The Gofather II, the sequel to the company's The Godfather will be released in February, we will have to wait and see if Australia is included in this.

Featuring the same open-world action as the first game did, The Godfather 2 will include three distinct locations for missions: New York, Miami and Havana. In addition to "more visceral hand-to-hand brutality", the game will also feature "The Don's View", an RTS-type aspect of the game that Riccitiello revealed a few months ago. Using this view, you can build, defend and expand crime rings while keeping tabs on what rival families are up to.

Hunter Smith, Executive Producer said "In the 1960's, a mafia Don was only as strong as his family. We found the hierarchical culture of organized crime intriguing. Running an organized crime family in a world defined by family loyalty is something that we felt could introduce a new strategic element to the genre. That is what the Don's View is all about -- laying out a strategy to pick off the competition one by one. The Don's View is so unique, it could fundamentally change the rules of open-world games by blending action and strategy to create something entirely new."

Most of the film's stars except, notably, Al Pacino, are providing likeness rights to EA. In addition, Robert Duvall, whose Tom Hagen plays a prominent role in the game as an adviser to the character, is recording original voiceovers. Director Francis Ford Coppola, who publicly criticized the first game, is again not involved.

Listen to the language with which this murderous brutality is justified - it's like a Sunday afternoon ABC TV book show. Ban it, and all violent games like it.