When Ubisoft debuted the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier trailer, we’re pretty sure they had high hopes. Instead, one of the trailer’s key pieces of near-future technology, the optical camo, was almost immediately dubbed the “Harry Potter Cloak” by the internet. With anti-Ubi gamers lining up to take pot-shots at the inclusion, and pro-Ubi’s worried it moves the franchise toward the Halo realm, the French manufacturer wallowed into the muddy mire to set the record straight.

In the statement, posted to their message boards, Ubi said, “In general Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is based on the very real Future Soldier Initiative 2030, which is a U.S. Army R&D program run by the US Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center. Optical camo, like other technologies in Future Solider, is a near-future reality, and this is why we chose to include it in GRFS.”

Ubisoft then promised to prove it’s done its homework by being more transparent about its technological references and influences, presumably on the game’s Q&A page. GR:FS begins beta testing this summer (for Splinter Cell Conviction early-adopters… if that title ever actually releases), and hopes for a fall 2010 release.