Peta has no idea about video games. No surprises there!

Why did the whale cross the road?…To get to the other tide

It would seem by recent media comment that animal rights lobby group PETA think that killing whales in the new Assassin’s Creed video game means that players will go out and kill “ALL THE WHALES” themselves. Or something.

Whale lover Matt Bruce from Peta said:

"In Assassin's Creed 4, you get ahead by killing. Joe Shmoe who plays this game in his mother's basement in the safety and comfort of his home will feel a sense of accomplishment by killing this whale."

And he’ll probably get gamer achievement points too Matt. Those are really important to gamers.

"This would be a different story if the game portrayed the cruelty and horror experienced when a whale is literally fleeing for her life and then shot with a harpoon — or even several harpoons — and forced to struggle for hours or be hacked apart while still alive aboard a ship," Bruce said.

So basically PETA reckons whales should only be depicted when they die with fear in their eyes?

Personally, this writer doesn't support the killing of whales and thinks the Japanese people suck when it comes to their whale culling for ‘scientific purposes’.  However PETA is being rather stupid with their Assassin’s Creed admonishment – their argument is pretty much akin to saying that all copies of Moby Dick must be removed from libraries all over the world and burnt. Good luck with that Matt Bruce!

 Ubisoft's senior PR manager, Stone Chin (what an awesome name!), who must be loving the free publicity for their new game ,responded with some common sense:

“History is our playground in Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the golden era of pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don't condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships and over-the-legal-limit drunken debauchery."

Ha. I love it when PR folks forget the dry drivel they usually serve up to the press and  choose to mock pirates instead.

And let's put all this in perspective. Except for Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country where it was learned that whales are more important than humans in terms of saving the Earth from a strange alien force, I'm pretty sure that human life is more important than the lives of whales. So for a game franchise that’s about sneaking up on humans and killing them (indeed, ASSASSINATING them) why is no body jumping up and down about that?

Oh wait.

We bet these idiots hate Star Wars Darth Vader quotes as well.