Battlefield 3's TV spot features Jay-Z '99 Problems,' sets inappropriate tone

A teaser for a new TV-bound Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer has arrived, featuring Jay-Z's hit, '99 Problems."

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I'm not quite sure how to feel about the new Battlefield 3 teaser trailer released today that serves as a prelude to a full-blown TV spot set to air on September 26 "in a number of countries." Scored to Jay-Z's hit '99 Problems,' it's kind of an odd duck. Is EA is trying to pointedly call attention to the fact that there are no women in Battlefield 3, or are the misogynistic undertones purely coincidental?

Here's the thing: I'm looking forward to playing Battlefield 3 as much as anyone, but mass-marketing efforts like this tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. To be fair, a lack of female soldiers in shooters isn't Battlefield 3's issue alone, but the issue really seems highlighted here by how the teaser is scored.

Check the teaser from the Battlefield 3 blog out for yourself, and share your thoughts in the comments.

In any event, maybe the organizers of the large, private, no-women-allowed Battlefield 3 LAN launch party in Texas (reported by Kotaku) can use it as their new anthem.

From The Chatty
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    September 23, 2011 12:30 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Battlefield 3's TV spot features Jay-Z '99 Problems,' sets inappropriate tone.

    A teaser for a new TV-bound Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer has arrived, featuring Jay-Z's hit, '99 Problems."

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      September 23, 2011 12:34 PM

      Yeah, weird insinuation.

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      September 23, 2011 12:39 PM

      The Brokeback LAN party.

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      September 23, 2011 12:39 PM

      [deleted]

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        September 23, 2011 12:42 PM

        Marketing people aren't always the brightest bulbs.

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          September 23, 2011 1:07 PM

          Thats a little unfair, I would say "people in general" not necessarily pertaining to marketing.

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            September 23, 2011 1:09 PM

            That is true. There are plenty of really good marketing people.

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        September 23, 2011 12:43 PM

        they're marketing to the dbags

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          September 23, 2011 12:52 PM

          sorry, that was mean. they're marketing to Call of Duty players

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        September 23, 2011 12:49 PM

        you would have 99 problems but a bitch ain't one...on the battlefield?

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        September 23, 2011 1:08 PM

        Fair rights lets them use a small percentage of the song without paying the fee right?

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        September 23, 2011 1:34 PM

        Why not? the smell of most of the players after a week of no showers glued to the game should keep most women away from them.

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        September 23, 2011 1:54 PM

        It makes about as much sense as that slow piano cover of "Mad World" over the Gears of War commercial.

        And that thing went over great.

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          September 23, 2011 6:37 PM

          That was good. This was tacky and bizarre.

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            September 28, 2011 6:59 AM

            While the title of Mad World is appropriate for a game where you fight alien humanoid locusts that you can chainsaw in half the tone wasn't really fitting with the rest of the game. It may have fit with the trailer but you could say the same about the Jay-Z song thanks to the editing.

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOHjF4_apI&t=0m15s
            From 15s - 20s I really really like that song.

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        September 23, 2011 5:34 PM

        Why is everybody so surprised? Textbook EA marketing right here folks.

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        September 23, 2011 6:57 PM

        celebrating the end of DADT

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      September 23, 2011 12:45 PM

      [deleted]

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      September 23, 2011 12:45 PM

      The soldiers wife is at home struggling to keep the family afloat

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      September 23, 2011 12:46 PM

      The music didn't really fit this trailer, although great visuals.

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      September 23, 2011 12:59 PM

      You guys are looking to deep into this. Also that Jay Z song is about dogs. Police K-9 units, not ladies. Jay-Z has been on TV saying it so I believe him because he is a scary drug dealer and I don't want to die.

      The song is about someone who has many issues and there is one thing that does not appear on the list of issues of which he is concerned. A soldier probably has a similar list of things to be concerned about. The trailer shows these things are explosions, tanks, the desert, being shot and/or shooting people. Indeed a "bitch" was not shown as part of the available options for worrying.

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        September 23, 2011 1:06 PM

        Maybe they should point that out in the commercial "Disclaimer: This song is about K-9 units, not bitches"

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        September 23, 2011 2:03 PM

        "If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one".
        The song does play with the meaning of "bitch", and meanings are always open for interpretation, but I think most people associate the use of the word with the chorus, which seems to insinuate womanly-troubles. I get the strong feeling that you aren't serious, but Poe's law is always relevant, so I figured I'd pipe up just in case.

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        September 24, 2011 5:13 AM

        So speaketh Joseph Ducreax

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      September 23, 2011 1:05 PM

      probably trying to evoke the Jesus Walks/Kanye vibe from the Jarhead trailer

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      September 23, 2011 1:05 PM

      Yeah not sure that was the best choice. RAGE on the other hand has a better song for their launch trailer:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr5x3hXl-yA

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        September 23, 2011 5:02 PM

        Without making any comment on the lyrical content, it's a nice contrast in how music choice and editing can make or break a trailer.

        The Rage one is a less familiar song to most people, with less distracting vocals and they were able to use that to make the song more of a complement to what they're showing in the video.

        The BF3 one is just a really weird choice. The song is too familiar, it doesn't match the footage they're showing at all, and I found it to be a distraction from the game footage.

        Clearly it was very important for their marketing team to get that full lyric, and maybe this is what the CoD fanboys respond to, but it makes for a weak trailer. Getting that entire lyric forces them to start an action montage on an upbeat, and it doesn't mesh very well with the BF3 music at the end of the trailer.

        I'm looking forward to both games, but I think it's weird how good all the BF3 stuff has been so far and now the TV spot that you'd assume is going to get the most mass-market eyeballs is cut together in a way that seems kind of amateurish.

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        September 23, 2011 5:16 PM

        I don't care much for Rage but that trailer is fucking great.

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        September 23, 2011 6:11 PM

        I really hope the slide guitar they used in all the behind the scenes vignettes is in that game all the time. Love that stuff.

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        September 23, 2011 6:38 PM

        I love the music in this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm1FOnSbHXA

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          September 24, 2011 12:14 AM

          Fucking hell now I have to buy RAGE on launch :/

          THANKS A LOT!

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        September 23, 2011 11:54 PM

        that's what happens when you use anything Maynard does

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        September 25, 2011 6:15 PM

        Agreed ^^^

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      September 23, 2011 1:05 PM

      Shitty marketing ideas make for a shitty trailer.

      Next!

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      September 23, 2011 1:06 PM

      [deleted]

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        September 23, 2011 1:13 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 23, 2011 1:26 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 23, 2011 4:21 PM

        too bad BC2 was never quite as fun as that ad.

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          September 23, 2011 4:23 PM

          I don't even think that map was in the game. I definitely don't remember a small desert town map with tanks and buggies and a attack chopper. FALSE ADVERTISING

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            September 23, 2011 4:29 PM

            arica harbor. tanks on rush, buggies on conquest, no helo...

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              September 23, 2011 4:31 PM

              Doesn't look like Arica Harbor at all and there aren't buggies on conquest, it's a tiny infantry only thing on that one street.

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                September 23, 2011 4:33 PM

                there absolutely are buggies on conquest. not jeeps, but buggies. theres a buggy at the uav station on the us side, and one under the bridge on the russian side. and that map IS arica harbor.

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                  September 23, 2011 4:34 PM

                  that is, where the uav is in rush, the buggy is on conquest...

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                    September 23, 2011 4:51 PM

                    I really don't remember any vehicles in conquest, not even a quad bike, but looking it up apparently one spawns minutes after the game starts but I never spawn back at the base! And I've played that map a dozen times and I have never seen anyone using it, ever.

                    Plus it still doesn't look like Arica at all. In the video the streets are narrower, there are way more buildings / densely packed with what looks like more side streets and such. Weird. Just looking at any Arica Harbor video on youtube and it reinforces that totally different: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iKaRasX3fE

                    Anyway, my point is they advertised it as a vehicular combat fun fest, but the actual game is focused way more on infantry. While the vehicles, helicopters especially, rarely appear on the most maps. But even if it is Arica, like you say that combo of vehicles still doesn't exist on that map in any game mode :( Still misleading!

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                      September 23, 2011 4:55 PM

                      From http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/Arica_Harbor

                      "The Conquest variant of this map is very infantry-oriented, with only one Quad Bike spawning at each team's base after a few minutes from the game's start and a UAV-1 station spawning at control point Bravo once it is captured."

                      I seriously haven't seen one quad there and there are two! Either way it's not a buggy. You really had me doubting my memory.

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                        September 23, 2011 5:30 PM

                        meh i call the quads buggies... sue me :)

                        but it is arica, you can especially tell in the last few seconds, you can see the two open-air structures to the left that are towards the bridge on the russian side...

                        the bugg... er quads were great in conquest though, especially the one on the us side... blow a hole in the wall on the corner, and you could skirt the map around to the far point along the beach and almost never be spotted thanks to the slope breaking LOS to everyone but the snipers at the highest point on sniper ridge... and they almost never saw you anyway because they were too busy holding their dicks and being useless...

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                          September 23, 2011 5:35 PM

                          Well I don't even know what they are actually called, I've always called the three seater things with the mounted weapons buggies because they look like.. dune buggies. :O

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      September 23, 2011 1:12 PM

      Jesus fucking christ.

      EA Boss to Marketing:

      "I WANT COD PLAYERS PLAYING BF3 THIS HOLIDAY SEASON -- MAKE IT HAPPEN!"

      EA releases this shit.

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        September 23, 2011 1:17 PM

        If anything, I still believe they should have ripped off Valve's Meet The ________, except used it to highlight the shit that BF brings to the table, that other games lack.

        IE Meet the A-10 Warthog GAU-8 Avenger...with wings!

        Hell, even the BFBC2 teasers / trailers with the squaddies were better than this useless piece of shit.

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      September 23, 2011 1:19 PM

      Barely 20 seconds of footage there. What a nonstory. There is no controversy here.

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      September 23, 2011 1:54 PM

      What's confusing? It's a cool song set to war porn. It's not really much different than Gears of War getting false pathos out of a song or Modern Warfare using the absurdly cliched at this point Gimme Shelter.

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        September 23, 2011 4:22 PM

        What makes me sad is that Gimme Shelter is actually a really good song.

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          September 23, 2011 6:06 PM

          I play that song a lot in Rock Band as a result.

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          September 24, 2011 11:28 AM

          So is 99 Problems, it's a well-loved classic. I'm not even a fan of Jay-Z and I can admit that.

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      September 23, 2011 2:22 PM

      The only insinuation here is that those of us who are going to LIVE in BF3 don't have girlfriends, or if we do, we won't have them for long. And who gives a shit if there aren't any female soldiers... I love hoes just as much as anyone, but I don't want them in my shooter.

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        September 24, 2011 5:20 AM

        I married, gonna be playing this game all day long and wifey gon' be making me sammiches ALL DAY LONG!

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      September 23, 2011 3:44 PM

      I can see that they're trying to do the whole Gears of War thing (and trying to be unique as no one has done a rap one yet), I don't think rap is the appropriate type of music to create something like that though... Rap has always been the odd one out for a number of reasons, it's not really music video material.

      That aside, I don't think rap is hitting their right playerbase either.

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      September 23, 2011 4:11 PM

      Pull the panties out of your gash and stop being such a politically correct bitch...

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        September 23, 2011 4:31 PM

        youve got 99 problems, but PC aint one.

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        September 23, 2011 10:54 PM

        whoa, you mean, thoughtless person! You actually understood the light humor behind it and didn't turn it into a whining "I'm ashamed of being a male, white and middle class" thread?

        For shame.

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      September 23, 2011 4:15 PM

      Stupid, didn't even need lyrics, just play the damn BF theme remix

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      September 23, 2011 4:17 PM

      publisher's gone wild: battlefield edition

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      September 23, 2011 4:43 PM

      If you have the ability to put http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg0Tmydj29M in your trailer, putting anything else in should be considered criminal.

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      September 23, 2011 4:48 PM

      I'm not a female and I thought the ad campaign was grossly out of taste. Why would DICE or EA risk sales with a low swing like this? Poor choice for sure.

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        September 23, 2011 11:00 PM

        "LOW swing"? The trailer is obviously targeting the under 15 male demographic. No sales will be "lost".

        Lets stop the thought policing and allow the people who "might" be offended make the final call. Edgy humor isn't hate speech FFS. lets all be a bit more rational.

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      September 23, 2011 4:50 PM

      Out of all the songs they could have used. That's the one they went with? Really?

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      September 23, 2011 5:06 PM

      [deleted]

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      September 23, 2011 5:16 PM

      The game will have more than 99 bugs though. That's just DICE.

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      September 23, 2011 6:30 PM

      Lame... I don't know what they were trying to do with that...

      The message I got from that was something along the lines of:

      "Hey, come play BF3, there's no problematic bitches here"...

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      September 23, 2011 6:38 PM

      Well that's a heck of a thing!

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      September 23, 2011 8:37 PM

      Games will never be taken seriously as an artform.

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        September 23, 2011 8:46 PM

        I drew a painting of a horribly drawn penis inserted into a wolverine. Does my bad piece make every other painting not be taken seriously?

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      September 23, 2011 9:39 PM

      this belongs on oprah, not shacknews

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      September 23, 2011 10:47 PM

      How about letting the people who you feel might be offended say something rather than act as another typical mewling white US male by being "offended" by something you should have zero relation to? Males, sorry to break the news but we aren't responsible for every ill on the planet (though it seems we have no shortage of jellyfish who are more than willing to be the punching bag for the sins of our fathers).

      Andrea Dworkin is dead. let the fat, deluded bitch rest.

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        September 24, 2011 12:14 AM

        I agree. The white US male has been persecuted for far too long. Fuck women, fuck minorities, lets burn this mother fucker down.

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          September 24, 2011 1:44 PM

          way to get the gist of the post friend. Did the word "white" offend?

          Sorry that I haven't been indoctrinated with the proper white etiquette of taking blame for the ills of the world. As a white US male I should know better. I am shiite. Please forgive me.

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      September 24, 2011 12:32 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 24, 2011 1:51 AM

      Holy shit this thread is balls deep retarded. 99 problems is about having real problems in the world, but having a girl be a bitch to you isn't one of them. If calling a chick who is being a bitch a bitch is misogynistic then I am certain almost everyone in the world is a fucking male supremacy advocate.

      You can take it two ways at face value in the commercial:
      1. It's a joke because there are no women in the game
      2. It's a fucking war game and the last thing you're going to be worrying about is a bitch

      Trying to use a popular song for mass appeal that is slightly funny?
      *puts on hipster hat* NOT IN MY WAR GAME.

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        September 24, 2011 2:20 AM

        Agreed, I'm not sure how this non-story even got posted.

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        September 24, 2011 2:34 AM

        This post is worse than the whole thread.

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        September 24, 2011 2:37 AM

        Thank you for breaking that down so succinctly. If you have a moment, could you next explain the meaning of the Lil Jon song 'Get Low'? TIA!

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      September 24, 2011 3:30 AM

      Its a jab at Call of Duty over the attack dogs perk

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      September 24, 2011 3:57 AM

      After the small uproar over this shitty trailer, EA has decided to replace it with this one instead:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxcpLTDtkE

      DON'T START FREAKING OUT GUYS!

      To those who would take this at face value:
      1. When he says "suck on my dick while I fuck that ass" he means it as a light metaphoracal jab at those who would oppose him on the Battlefield.
      2. It's a war game and the last thing you are going to be worrying about sucking dicks or fucking asses.

      I think it's a clever way to show off their game to the masses.

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      September 24, 2011 5:27 AM

      Should have gone with "Represent" by Nas.

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      September 24, 2011 6:58 AM

      That really is a shit choice of music.

      The BF series has some really great original music that goes well with this sort of footage. But instead EA go and use some shitty rap song that will alienate people. Yay.

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      September 24, 2011 3:47 PM

      Game is great. The song is terrible which makes this trailer terrible.

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      September 25, 2011 12:48 PM

      Oh come on aren't we stretching a bit here? The video itself is terrible but there's no way anyone should think this is about women especially if you bother to read the lyrics of 99 Problems.

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      September 25, 2011 1:16 PM

      I made this account just now because I wanted to say how dissapointed I was in Shacknews for posting this garbage, TMZ level news. Weekend Confirmed and Shacknews are my #1 sources for video game information and this kind of saddens me.

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      September 25, 2011 3:08 PM

      I think reading into this as an overtly or purposeful sexist statement by DICE or EA is a huge mistake and involves a whole lot of projection.

      "99 Problems" has been seen as a "cool song" for a long time so the marketing people decided to put it in the commercial because they want their game to be seen as cool, too. It stands out as a terrible choice, but it's terrible because the tone is so off, not because it's sexist.

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        September 25, 2011 3:50 PM

        The song might not be ment to be sexist, but with the shortened-ness of the lyrics, and how it starts of with if your having girl problem but a bitch ain't one, really makes it sound sexist. I've never heard this song and it sounded pretty damn sexist to me in this teaser.

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      September 25, 2011 3:53 PM

      I can hardly pay attention to what I'm watching with the dumb rap garbage.

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      September 26, 2011 7:30 PM

      Wow people will find anything to be offended by. Extrapolation seems to be the gaming journalists most used tool.

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