E3 saw the announcement of one Xbox exclusive title called Contraband. The game is made by Avalanche Studios of Just Cause fame, and Xbox Studios. And surprisingly, the game has a Malaysian writer behind the scenes.
On board as a writer and Advisory Circle member of Contraband is Bernice Chauly. She is a Malaysian novelist who has written works like Lost in KL and Once We Were There. Though the game will not be set in Malaysia, but a fictional Southeast Asian city of Bayan. It’s a familiar formula, especially for Avalanche. After all, Just Cause 2 was set in a fictional Southeast Asian island nation of Panau.
But back to Contraband. Its trailer describes it as a co-op, open world title. But unfortunately there’s no gameplay of any kind to speak of. Nor is there a release date for the game just yet. This all suggests that it’s still relatively early in development. So it will be awhile before we hear more of the game.
While the setting of Contraband is a fictional Southeast Asian city, chances are we will still see a lot of references to our language and culture. Of course, we’re making this assumption purely on Avalanche and Just Cause 2. But it’s a little unfortunate that, being an Xbox exclusive, that this game will not be available in Malaysia in any official capacity. Unless it also comes to PC, of course.
(Source: Kakuchopurei, Polygon, Bernice Chauly [1], [2], Microsoft / YouTube)
