I feel really sorry for Jade but Ubisoft have to take a share of the blame here as they've been actively pimping her as the face of this game for the last three months purely on the basis that she's attractive.

You can add in the gaming media in equal doses as certain parts of it appeared to be incapable of mentioning Assassin's Creed without her name attached to it.

Not that I in anyway condone the cartoon itself because it's brash, unsubtle and immature together with a million miles away from being funny. Ubisoft exploiting Ms Redmond to promote their game is a topic worthy of satire but it didn't have to manifest in such a lame and disrespectful way.

Sadly that's been an accident waiting to happen and Ubi's lawyers jumping in with both feet is only going to make it worse, not better.

Jade Raymond is the producer of Assassin's Creed, and it's very common for producers to be the ones to talk about the game with media. The only reason anyone assumes she's "exploited" is because she's attractive, which in itself is really the root to the sadness here.

You can't be an attractive female and be taken seriously in this industry.

Yes that's true and it's quite sad.

But she's one of many producers. She is not the director of the game like CliffyB was with Gears or Miyamoto, Jaffe, Levine and a few others. Nor is she the head of a studio like Dyack or Peter Moleyneux(sp)

But what have we heard of the other producers? How many times have they been out talking about the game? Why do I see pictures on the Net of the entire Assassin's Creed team but with Jade all the way out in front on her own?

Who are the "producers" from Bungie of Halo? Does anyone know? Why not? It's a bigger game than Assassin's Creed.

Why do you think all we saw of Fable was Peter Molyneux though? He wasn't even involved with Fable until veery late.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi did all the talking on Meteos and N3 and he was extremely little involved with both. It's about recognition more than anything and Jade obviously shot to stardom the second she showed her face, which was long after AC made a name for itself by the way.

Difference is nobody assumes either Mizu or Molyneux are being exploited. They're guys and not attractive and that doesn't happen then.

It's unfathomable that Jade Raymond actually IS good at understanding and conveying the qualities of the game, it HAS to be her looks that got her where she is.

That's what's sad.

Exactly Simon.

Did id exploit John Carmack?

Epic and CliffyB?

How about the Bioware/Pandemic double duo that is in like EVERY Mass Effect preview?

How about every time Nintendo trots out Miyamoto for a Mario game?

There are PR personalities who are "community" people -- Frank O'Conner and Che come to mind -- but typically the designers and producers talk about their games, and high profile games that get a lot of attention mean the project leads get a lot of exposure.

I think Raymond stands out in people's mind because she does contrast with say, Gabe Newell and John Carmack. In the last month I have seen a number of videos with the guy and none of her, yet I don't hear anyone suggestion Ubisoft made him the face of the game or exploiting him. People stand up and take notice of Raymond for all the wrong reasons.

And it says a lot about the industry, especially the consumers, that from the VERY first day swooned over her. What, should have Ubi pulled her exposure from the get go? From the first posts at Xboxyde I thought something like this was inevitable--cute lady making games doesn't sit well with a crowd of bloody thirst horndogs aka modern gamers. Just look at all the hoot and hollaring over potential lesbian sex in Mass Effect.

It would be funny to pull up the threads where Raymond's presence was first made known. The handwriting was on the wall within her first 3 apperances. How many posters said, "I'd hit that" when they first saw her? :|

Sort your facts Sheps, this is about a webcomic of her sucking three guys and then they come on her.

Typically you pick the people who can best articulate and communicate the value of your game. Jade speaks English and French and communicates very well, and as a producer she knows the game better than their typical PR people.

As I noted above, Patrice Desilets (Creative Director) has been very visible with the project and in the last month has done a number of interviews and preview videos (for example: http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/834/834724/vids... ) And straight up, I would take Jade over him because of his heavy accent.

That's not really fair. Peter Molyneux is credited as one of Fable's designers (one of four, but whatever, he's often seen as the games lead designer) and the game is obviously in line with his vision of game design, which is pretty evident if you look at the history of Lionhead and Bullfrog games. He's probably got a bit more influence over what we saw in Fable than what we see now in Assassin's Creed.

Although I will agree that there's no image of exploitation for these figures. I don't think Molyneux would consider himself exploited, nor would CliffyB. I imagine they quite like the respect and admiration they've acquired from the community of game designers for having risen to that occasion.

I'm not sure it's entirely the same as say, Ubisoft putting Jade Raymond in that position, but I don't see what the big deal is there either. It's only a big deal because of the community that can't seem to handle the connection of a pretty face to a videogame. That culture made it a big deal when in fact, ultimately, it's totally not. In a way it's sort of like (as much as it's the polar opposite) of how people like to make fun of Gabe Newell because he's fat, never mind the fact that he's worked very hard to deliver what ultimately equates to our joy.I actually don't think it's as big of a deal as people are making it out to be, and I've been rather harsh when people do their whole, Jade worship bit. Frankly, this is just an image that embodies what has already been going on for quite a long time. Images like this wouldn't exist if we didn't act like a bunch of sex starved forum perverts. The gaming community as a whole has already made itself look horrible, time and time again (here, even) when the topic of Jade Raymond has risen.

I'm actually on SomethingAwful's side. I see it as free speech, and I hope they fight it.^^.

Everybody at Ubisoft France in my experience speaks excellent English as well as French. I don't ignore Patrice's visibility in the last month either and neither do some of the other forums. GAF picked up on that particularly.

So where exactly was he before the last month? Observe the following picture;-



Yes, somewhere in the big group of people all behind Raymond!

Just because in the month before the game comes out, the PR requirement obviously increases and they needed Patrice to help out does not mean that Ubisoft hasn't been actively pimping Ms Raymond to promote their game knowing full well that the rabid less desirable members of the gaming community and media will be lapping it right up. There is no way Ubisoft didn't sanction that photo. Ergo, blame goes all round for the inevitable.

With the greatest of respect to Jade, she hasn't got a long track record behind her like some of the other designer names we could mention. That doesn't mean she won't do, Assassin's Creed I feel is great but at this moment she's among a raft of thousands of game producers except she happens to be extremely attractive. I think it's nieve to assume Ubisoft marketing didn't consider that, at all, when planning on how to compete for column inches in this busy release period for games.

The problem is, even with their noblest of intentions, by sending the lawyers in head first without thinking about it, they've made that situation about 10 times worse. Well done! The cartoon was in such bad taste and that unsubtle it would barely have seen the light of day. Now it's a story and is getting mirrored everywhere. Way to go.

Attractive young female, SUCKING DICK?! What will they think of next.

This thread is really showing people's true colours that's for sure.

How one compares Bush, a political figure with firm beliefs hence a guy with tons of people who disagree with everything he stands for, to a producer who just wants to make a great game and talk it up is beyond me.

Someone like Bush is putting himself out there with reasons to either love or hate him, what the hell has Jade done to deserve this? She's indeed JUST a producer of a bloody game, and because she's attractive it's okay to portray her as a whore? In so many ways I fail to see this logic.

The whole "don't react, you'll just draw attention to it" angle is also weird. People obviously react because this is upsetting them. It's nothing but stupid, insulting and mean, to one singled out person. It doesn't put the company in bad light, it won't mess with profits of the game or anything like that. It's just people trying to get rid of something that is unquestionably just slander.

You're all acting as if she's someone whose FAME AND FORTUNE comes with this kind of shit, but she isn't. She's just another name in the video game industry, and that shouldn't be an excuse that makes this okay - nobody cares! like - it should rather make it obvious how incredibly unfair it is.