Well, would Americans have seen the irony of a line like that, at the time? Seems to be the right time in history for them to have said something like that and not quite realized how wrong they were.

But those markets won't really lose sails. Intense "fuck yeah, our country!" nationalism is much more of an American thing. The british thing is mostly "Britain is a cold terrible place, why do we live here- let's move to france".

You're right in the sense that those kinds of lines were definitely spoken at the time.
My point isn't that it's an inaccurate representation of Washington's beliefs. It's that despite its 'accuracy,' it really isn't appropriate to portray unironically and positively in a ninety second trailer for a game being released in the 21st century.

The trailer's playing the line straight, as if Washington's entirely right in his assertions. And I dunno, I expected something a tad more nuanced? And even if in the game Washington's presented as a wholly admirable guy, there are better lines to write for him than the one chosen when marketing this game to a 21st century audience.

...But like, it totally makes sense for Washington to say lines like this in the game, then not long thereafter indirectly point out the hypocrisy to the player by having Connor interact with a slave. That kind of layering showed up all the time in Red Dead Redemption's deconstruction of Wild West mythology.
It just doesn't make sense to include this as his stump speech in a ninety second ad, is all.

That makes perfect sense, and I hope that for all their assurances of a nuanced story, that it actually is grayer in the actual game. I mean, there have been statements assuring us of that, and I doubt they could have a Shaun-written database without at least bringing up the other side.

But yeah, this wasn't the best choice of a trailer if they wanted to assure people that the story isn't going to be "AMERICA!" all the time. I suppose it's a decent hype-trailer, but it's not exactly making the game's story position look very good, does it?

edit: Actually, American slaveowners are pretty likely to be some of Connor's targets at some point in the game. After all, the guy's supposed to hate inequality and all that jazz. It's in pretty much direct opposition to basic Assassin ideologies, as well. Maybe spit back the "free men, or slaves" line in one of his rest-in-peace speeches.

In slightly related news, is it wrong that I'm already looking forward to the inevitable direct sequel to AC3 released next year, in which Connor will inevitably travel to either London or Paris?

...Well I mean that's what I'd do if I were involved. London and Paris were awesome scenes at that point in history, and it'd be interesting to combine new AC3 mechanics with AC2 style building climbing.

EDIT: Due to the timing of the French Revolution I'll wager $50 on Paris as the next setting.

With Ben Franklin accompanying him and showing him around Paris in one of the opening missions.

Assassins Creed III part II: The French Revolution: The Beheadening

I will actually be legit surprised if there are any black people in AC3.

Some of my best friends are advertisers. Ad students. I have one friend.
 

But the best choice in video trailers right now is always "AMERICA!" Gotta get them Modern Warfare numbers. Anyone you'd offend by a lack of nuance is either... no, this is better:

It's like, anyone who knows about the game already is pretty set in whether they're going to buy it or not at this point. They (you're part of "they," by the way, since you're reading this thread) are completely irrelevant to any advertising. I mean, the ad department could come up with an amazing trailer that gets an Oscar nod or something and maybe convince a few people who already know about the game but don't plan to buy it to change their minds. Or, they can advertise to the not-us "they," the guys watching TV who think every video but calladudy is "gay" because "you don't even shoot people," and catch a magnitude more sales by appealing to their "AMERICA!" sensibilities. Oh, and that comes with the smug-tastic bonus of being able to say "Don't like it? Don't buy it," to any criticism aimed at the the trailer with the sure knowledge that, even if a few people in the "they" category which we fall into actually do change their minds about making that purchase, they've been replaced by the mass of idiots. Because that's who all ads—whether for videos, hamburgers, or politicians—are aimed at: idiots. Plato agrees with me, and as a dead white guy, his agreement makes me right.

I've played about ten minutes of Assassins Creed 2, and I was too drunk to remember what happened. I think I climbed up a building.

It worked for Dead Island, and that was a thoroughly meh game that got far more sales than it ordinarily would have achieved.