Count me as one of those who are highly anticipating the upcoming Mad Max video game. The idea of navigating Max through a nuclear war-torn Australian wasteland, open world-style, in a souped up Interceptor and a double-barreled shotgun sounds pretty damn cool. The anticipation increases when you realize the upcoming game is not just a movie tie-in being rushed to the market.

The developers, Just Cause’s Avalanche Studios, seem committed to making a game that pleases not just fans of the franchise, but other, perhaps younger gamers who may not be as familiar with the source material.

While the reception has been warm concerning the idea, some details about the game–which is currently scheduled for a 2014 release–have left some fans a little cold. Chief among them, the idea that the lead character was supposed to have an American accent. The following YouTube comment from the Gamespot video sums the mood about Max’s accent rather well:

2 things I don’t like so far: 1. “Revenge isn’t something Max is interested in”.Bullshit. Why the hell was the series called Mad Max in the first place? Cos his wife and son were killed by a gang. 2 I found out the accents are (no offence) American not Australian! As an Australian and having watched the movies this is a bad move.

Oz Man

This sentiment gathered enough steam to warrant an online petition at Change.org, which featured this simple request:

Avalanche Studios: Hire an Australian actor to portray Max in the Mad Max videogame.

After gathering almost 3000 supporters (2884 as of this post)–which is below the stated goal of 5000–it generated enough hubbub to reach the developers. This, in turn, led to Christofer Sundberg, founder and Chief Creative Officer at Avalanche, to tweet the following:

[H/t to PCGamesN]