EA's Jack the Ripper a heroic undead-slayer?

Source: Game-info site Destructoid. What we heard: Some 121 years after they were committed, the Jack the Ripper murders remain a subject of interest. One reason is that the case was never solved, despite a massive effort by London's Scotland Yard, then (and still) considered one of the best police...

Source: Game-info site Destructoid.

What we heard: Some 121 years after they were committed, the Jack the Ripper murders remain a subject of interest. One reason is that the case was never solved, despite a massive effort by London's Scotland Yard, then (and still) considered one of the best police forces in the world. Another reason was the grisly nature of the crimes, which saw at least five prostitutes horrifically mutilated with surgical skill.

While posterity will remember the Jack the Ripper case as a grotesque chapter of the Victorian Era, unconfirmed reports say a unique historical reimagining may be on the way--in game form. Following reports that Visceral Games, the internal Electronic Arts studio behind Dante's Inferno and the forthcoming Dead Space 2, was making a game based on the copyright-free Jack the Ripper scenario, Destructoid is claiming to have the first details on the project.

Surprisingly, the game will not have players hunt down Jack the Ripper--but will have them play him instead. The site cites unnamed sources as saying the Ripper character is in fact a Van Helsing-like "supernatural slayer protecting people from demons, vampires and other evil monsters." To do so, he'll have a variety of weapons and abilities, including being able to slow down time.

The official story: "We have nothing to offer at this time." -- An EA rep.

Bogus or not bogus?: Trademark filings prove that EA has the intent of doing something game- and Jack the Ripper-related. But whether that entails tearing the entrails out of demon-possessed prostitutes is another matter. The fact that the Grand Theft Auto series allows players to comically murder virtual hookers made it a moral whipping boy in the mainstream media. Given the gory nature of Visceral's titles, any celebration of one of history's most notorious serial killers might prove too controversial.

230 Comments

  • _Emperor

    Posted Feb 9, 2010 8:22 pm GMT

    "supernatural slayer protecting people from demons, vampires and other evil monsters."

    ehm, have EA forgotten the very first words they just wrote here, he is a serial killer, a mass murderer, not a "protector of people from all evil monsters"...this concept fail hard, why even mention Jack the ripper at all?, he wont fit in this plot..its just wrong

  • johnnydiamond08

    Posted Nov 23, 2009 8:57 pm GMT

    slow down time how original and he will fight demons and vampires no way! he was a serial killer not a demon hunter.

  • Cornholio89

    Posted Nov 14, 2009 7:20 pm GMT

    @ feleas Perhaps Jack the Ripper was a time traveler and he wanted to end the lives of his enemies before they can possibly be born?

  • feleas

    Posted Oct 22, 2009 8:08 pm GMT

    A game like this is surprisingly plausible since it would give a different side of view to the Jack the Ripper cases. Maybe he was a man who wasn't a sadistic psycho, but a man who was insane in believing that these women were demons, vampires, and monsters. Do I support what the real man did? No, but if this does become a game, it could show what JUST might what Jack the Ripper saw in his victims.

  • RoganDerrick

    Posted Oct 20, 2009 8:36 pm GMT

    So I noticed that every time someone comments that this is a good/interesting idea for a game, their post gets thumbed the hell down. Grow a pair, you morons. It's just a damn game.

  • necronaux

    Posted Oct 20, 2009 11:34 am GMT

    Maybe they could develope it like the Richard Laymon novel "Savage". E.g. Young boy (you, the playable character) sees Jack commiting a murder, get's chased has to escape & evade the killer, is followed (eventually all the way to the US, why he wasn't caught in London)... realizes he'll never escape and hase to fight/capture Jack.

    They may have a better time marketing something like this, than they would having games playing Jack.

  • shadowysea07

    Posted Oct 19, 2009 9:18 pm GMT

    well this seems like an interesting videogame.

  • ZippyDSMLee

    Posted Oct 17, 2009 1:13 pm GMT

    @ Leinhartx
    This is true,however how many murdering thugs became folk hero's? So IMO it dose not matter who is used as a theme of story reinvention, what matters is whats in the the current fabrication .

  • dubel_07

    Posted Oct 16, 2009 10:45 am GMT

    Wait...people have a problem with this? How about with Halo where you play a supersoldier employed by the world to commit GENOCIDE against another species? How about the Grand Theft Auto series where you play a criminal and get money for BLUDGEONING HOOKERS to death? How about Mario? Mario crushes things with his own body weight! How is a game about Jack the Ripper bad?

  • HALO_3_R3CON

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 8:55 am GMT

    Awesome!

  • splitt442

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 7:09 am GMT

    I'm calling it now:

    Cooking Mama: Dahmer Edition
    The Sims Featuring Lizzie Borden
    Madden NFL '11: In superstar mode you can kill your wife and her waiter boyfriend then escape in a white Bronco with AC Cowlings. Johnny Cochran: Ace Attorney
    And finally... EA Sports Presents: The Olympics- Munich 1972

  • Faisal_Amir

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 6:03 am GMT

    I don't know why people are suddenly so squeamish at this, why does everyone always have to be the good guy? It sounds like an interesting premise... I'd buy it, although I doubt very much that it will be released...

  • CrackerMcGee

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 1:53 am GMT

    Jack the Ripper a hero? Maybe they with have a game where you play Hitler and avenge Jesus.

  • ele975

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 10:50 am GMT

    i bet we will step-by-step ripp out those 5 prostitutes's entrails like the way they think it happened

  • jokerman_28

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 5:35 am GMT

    this sounds interesting. don't know how the game and story will play out though...

  • izmickey

    Posted Oct 12, 2009 8:53 pm GMT

    I have my theory of jack the ripper. He was a hunter...some kind of demon hunter. Kills vampires and werewolves and demons because its his job. He meets MANY vampire prostitutes and kills them all and kills human prostitutes thinking they were vampires. So he went insane and killed himself. Its van helsing's brother possibly.'

    Come on EA....this is kinda creepy.

  • izmickey

    Posted Oct 12, 2009 8:49 pm GMT

    @OF-5
    you are hilarious my friend.

  • shawn_mitchel

    Posted Oct 11, 2009 6:46 pm GMT

    Jack the Ripper was the most famous serial killer of all time. Brutally murdering prostitutes in London's notorious Whitechapel district, he caused a panic in 1888.

    Why does this long-ago killer who murdered a few prostitutes merit the attention he gets? Because Jack the Ripper represents the classic whodunit. Not only is the case an enduring unsolved mystery that professional and amateur sleuths have tried to solve for over a hundred years, but the story has a terrifying, almost supernatural quality to it. He comes from out of the fog, kills violently and quickly and disappears without a trace. Then for no apparent reason, he satisfies his blood lust with ever-increasing ferocity, culminating in the near destruction of his final victim, and then vanishes from the scene forever. The perfect ingredients for the perennial thriller.

    This is probably why EA and Visceral wants to turn it to a Game.........

  • enycepinoyism

    Posted Oct 11, 2009 1:18 pm GMT

    playing dead space changed my life. i hope this game will do the same. promising concept.

  • OF-5

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 11:37 pm GMT

    @ RussianRAGE
    He was a serial killer not a cereal killer he killed prostitutes not Captain Crunch and Count Chocula...

  • TLM16

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 7:49 pm GMT

    Please don't tell me they're making a Jack the Ripper game where Jack has super powers. Not only is this hilarious but christ it's pretty poor taste?

  • shawn_mitchel

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 3:25 pm GMT

    Almost at the end of Prototype, the amnesaic Alex Mercer found out that he actually had caused the viral outbreak that was destroying all of Mahanttan.
    Immediately i realised that my beloved Hero had actually released the virus on Mahanttan,......it was difficult for me to complete the game from that point.
    I found myself disliking Mercer immediately,....i lost the desire to complete the Game.

    If i could immediately loose interest in Alex Mercer(my opinion: Most Powerful Super Hero in any modern day adventure game) because i found out that he released the virus and his unwise action had caused havok,.........i don't think i will use my money to get this Jack the Ripper.

    Viseral should use their intellectual skills for games that won't be offensive.
    Am not even really ok about their up comming Dante's Inferno because some of the contents in that game will definitely be offensive to some individuals.

  • themovi3nut

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 5:30 am GMT

    so we will get to play the royal assassin himself?

  • LastRenshai

    Posted Oct 10, 2009 1:24 am GMT

    @ veitari
    You're right Jack the Ripper shouldn't be shown as a hero but in all seriousness who's gonig to think he is one?? He's pretty famous for being one sick dude. And in Manhunt i was more talking about the games content (all the crazy ways of killing poeple) than the situation that the guy was put in. Would i buy this game? No.

  • UrbanMessiah

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 10:06 am GMT

    Jack the Ripper as the ultimate anti-hero? Hell of an idea for a book, but as a game it would be tricky to pull off. It's easier to make a reader deal with an unlikable character and keep reading a story than a gamer deal with one and keep playing, I'm thinking. The gamer tends to identify more with the character and put themselves in their shoes as opposed to the reader who can still remain fairly detached if they so choose to. I'll keep a eye on this, see where it goes out of curiosity.

  • RussianRAGE

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 1:12 am GMT

    But lets be honest, those prostitutes were asking for it.

  • RussianRAGE

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 1:12 am GMT

    @hatfea03

    Jack the Ripper is called Jack the Ripper because after he killed all those h00kers, he wrote a letter to the Scotland Yard, where he called himself "Jack the Ripper". Whether or not the cereal killer's name was Jack is completely unknown.

  • hatfea03

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 6:57 pm GMT

    Jack the Ripper isn't an actual person, it was just a name they gave for the unknown person responsible for the murders, there were dozens of possible suspects but nothing ever proven. So, having said that I imagine the angle they'll go with is that there wasn't actually a human serial killer but rather a demonic force that committed the murders and the hero or "Jack" is just some guy who was present at the crimes trying to stop said evil force.

  • skateboard1587

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 5:00 pm GMT

    make it for the wii please, then i can be a serial killer and get excersise too!

  • zeniftan

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 4:58 pm GMT

    Those guys are good at finding copyright free public objects of interest :-)

    I'm not really interested in this YET. Let's just wait and see...

  • tomouse84

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 4:56 pm GMT

    Hmm, making Jack the Ripper a hero sounds ever so slightly demented. I could understand if he was a work of fiction, but this guy murdered people. They might as well go full throttle with their bad taste and centre it around Charles Manson

  • Alex_09

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 4:19 pm GMT

    Well at least I found out Dead Space 2 is coming out.

  • shakeYORKusmc

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 4:00 pm GMT

    really, not sarcastic at all

  • shakeYORKusmc

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:59 pm GMT

    sounds hilarious

  • Jack-Du-Ripper

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:55 pm GMT

    I kinda want to see where they're going with this, but making him the playable character seems wierd, he could be portrayed as an antagonist, protagonist, or some tortured combination thereof, but I just don't think it'll work as a main character unless they go all Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit on him

  • PacroonX

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:53 pm GMT

    LOL

  • XanderKage

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:40 pm GMT

    Oh. My. God. This is BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Treadstone71

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:40 pm GMT

    Been done already in other mediums:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_in_the_Lonesome_October

  • Jack-Du-Ripper

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:36 pm GMT

    I kinda want to see where they're going with this, but making him the playable character seems wierd, he could be portrayed as an antagonist, protagonist, or some tortured combination thereof, but I just don't think it'll work as a main character unless they go all Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit on him

  • Jack-Du-Ripper

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:30 pm GMT

    I kinda want to see where they're going with this, but making him the playable character seems wierd, he could be portrayed as an antagonist, protagonist, or some tortured combination thereof, but I just don't think it'll work as a main character unless they go all Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit on him

  • Triton

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:15 pm GMT

    I'll wait for the Charles Manson DLC................ what is the world coming to?

  • Strike_Zer0

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 3:01 pm GMT

    I agree with what others have said. I'd much rather be hunting him than playing as him. Why not flip the idea, have the detective be some Van Helsing character and Jack The Riper some sort of demon or vampire that the detective has come to find.

  • FF_fan2004

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:48 pm GMT

    @littleboomer
    I think you missed the point of my little quiz here. Beverly Allitt was coined Angel of Death by the media because of her being a nurse with Munchausen Syndrom by proxy. That and BRITISH! SERIAL! KILLERS!

  • kvan33

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:47 pm GMT

    Looks like EA is giving Visceral Games a blank check to do anything they want. I normally think it's great when a publisher gives a developer more creative license, but Dante's Inferno and Jack the Ripper have me scratching my head. Makes me wonder what they are planning with Dead Space 2.

  • littleboomer

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:33 pm GMT

    i don't think this is too bad of an idea, it depends what they do with it.

  • littleboomer

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:32 pm GMT

    @FF fan2004
    the real angel of death was Dr. Mengele, the sick twisted SOB of the 3rd Reich at Aushwitz.

  • guitardude1243

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:24 pm GMT

    I'm unsure about this, but I think I agree with most of the other messages on here, I'd rather hunt him down than be him doing something "heroic" it seems.

  • SimonB1195

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:17 pm GMT

    how unrealistic and stupid could this ever get? why do they ruin games with such good ideas? predicted rating 5/10

  • silentsniper359

    Posted Oct 8, 2009 2:13 pm GMT

    u know this game will be protested agaist and i can see why ... playing jack the ripper killing people and making hi look like a fu****g awesome badass.... yh

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