Iran declares Tehran-depicting Battlefield 3 illegal

By Robert Purchese Published 29 November, 2011

Claims youth petition prompted movement.

Iran's police have outlawed Battlefield 3 - the video game is now illegal.

"All computer stores are prohibited from selling this illegal game," the police told an Iranian IT magazine, reported by AFP (via IndustryGamers).

Battlefield 3 was banned because it depicted the US army fighting in Tehran, the capital city of Iran.

The Fars news agency claimed 5000 "Iranian youths" had prompted the ban by petitioning against the game online.

"We understand that the story of a video game is hypothetical," the group apparently wrote, "[but] we believe the game is purposely released at a time when the US is pushing the international community into fearing Iran."

Not that EA minds; Battlefield 3 wasn't ever made available to buy in Iran, which means all copies sold there were illegal to begin with.

"In that Battlefield 3 is not available for purchase in Iran, we can only hope the ban will help prevent pirated copies reaching consumers there," EA commented.

New Battlefield 3 map Gulf of Oman.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (119) Latest comment 3 months ago

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  • kassmageant #1 3 months ago

    hardly surprising

    i'm polish, so it would be like me playing " september '39 - fuhrer's tour de pologne"

    EDIT:

    also, you gotta love how EA doesn't comment on political justification of this ban, they just say " well, ok, it'll keep piracy at bay, thanks guys, and happy allah for you" : ))
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 10:59

  • MattEdWithCheese #2 3 months ago

    "In that Battlefield 3 is not available for purchase in Iran, we can only hope the ban will help prevent pirated copies reaching consumers there," EA commented.
    That sounds like a challenge XD

  • seeafish #3 3 months ago

    As an Iranian (in the UK), I agree with the outrage (although it's rather funny that they are banning illegal copies).

    Even though DICE is by no means American, their "Hollywood-style" game does what Hollywood does best: Propaganda.
    Look at movies in the past 30 or so years. Every major "enemy" of the US have been depicted as universal "baddies" in movies. Russians, Saddam, Bin Laden, Saddam again, and now Iranians. Even the last Transformers movie had the robots attacking Natanz Nuclear Power Plant in Iran. Countless American TV shows mention Iranians as "sellers of illegal nuclear material" and the like. And as an Iranian, I've personally been noticing this more and more recently.
    DICE, most likely aspiring to create a Hollywood style game, simply followed this formula of appealing to current events in their "hypothetical" story.
    Also, the "Kavir Desert" which is in the game... bullshit. No such desert is known in Iran, and the word "Kavir" MEANS "Desert"... yeah, it's the "desert desert".

  • PaulieWaulie #4 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:23:40 06-01-2012

  • Okamiwolf #5 3 months ago

    I can sort of understand (a little) where they're coming from... let's pretend you're a politician in Poland/France/Britain in 1939 and a German company releases a board game based on invading you at the same time as Germany's leadership and media are rattling sabers about the very same thing. Would you let your own country's kids play said game or would you steer them toward something else?

    Here in the West we laugh this issue off and smirk at Iran's paranoia, saying "it's just a game", but remember only 8 years ago America and Britain invaded Iran's next door neighbour under fictitious pretenses. Iran takes talk of war and invasion very seriously and they're not totally unjustified in doing so given the events of the recent past.

    Let me throw one more stretched analogy out there: if 8 years ago Iran had invaded and occupied Canada or Mexico, do you really think the USA would allow an Iranian video game on their store shelves that has you playing as an Iranian solider now invading the United States? I think not.

    Just trying to put myself in their shoes, shrugs.

  • -cerberus- #6 3 months ago

    Somebody ought to make a triple A game where the player invades and completely annihilates America.
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 11:20

  • J0rdan_KZ #7 3 months ago

    @seeafish Seriously? I too am of Iranian/Arabic descent and this entire thing is bull shit.

    It's called freedom of speech and therefore the freedom to interpret that in art. No matter what form.

    Iran have jack shit morals especially when it comes to human rights. So they can talk.

  • Scurrminator #8 3 months ago

    @seeafish chill your beans; it's a game. Plus the Iranians aren't the main bad guys in the game anyway.

  • Beano #9 3 months ago

    Iran has right to ban anti-Iranian propaganda in their own country. I'm sure most western countries would ban games depicting americans and brits as terrorists and evil.

  • JahB #10 3 months ago

    Guess the Iranians will be playing mw3 then

  • seeafish #11 3 months ago

    @Scurrminator I am totally chilled :) Just making a point which is very real for some people.

    @J0Rdan_KZ this doesn't have anything to do with freedom of speech. I didn't say "DICE aren't allowed to create games depicting Iran as bad-guys", just that in CURRENT TIMES, it kind of fuels the International fire if you know what I mean. As some people above mentioned, if Germany made board games depicting the invasion of Poland in 1939... it would be pretty bad! Nowadays, we can play as many WW2 games as we want without necessarily feeling too bad about it.
    See what I mean?

    I was by no means attacking anyone's right to freedom of speech, and/or creative expression. I voiced similar opinions when every American TV show I watched around 2004-2005ish would depict Iraqis and Muslims as BORN terrorists. Hardly fair when you consider that the masses of people in those countries are hard-working and upstanding and not ready to blow themselves up.

  • username84 #12 3 months ago

    There's a single player in Battlefield?

    Oh right it must be that massively dull quick-time event sequence I watched for about forty minuets before inserting the multiplayer disk.

    Press A, watch stuff fall down, press RT watch animation of thing crashing, shoot two people, watch cut scene, tap B, watch cut scene, watch thing crashing, shoot three people, start enjoying game, press A repeatedly, turn off, play multiplayer repeatedly.

  • bad09 #13 3 months ago

    I don't like Origin either but making BF3 illegal is a bit much.....

  • Gusdor #14 3 months ago

    @seeafish Just like the River Avon!

  • dadrester #15 3 months ago

    If it's not legally sold over there, does that mean they can't play it online? If so there's very little point in playing it anyway.

    Also, it's fair enough.

  • Byzanite #16 3 months ago

    Arent many bad guys in American movies also English? or German?
    I would think most English find this fact funny... (cant speak for Germans though), and England wasnt exactly the most angelic when it comes to its old Empirical nature.

  • seeafish #17 3 months ago

    @Byzanite Interesting point. The "mastermind" in most American movies (i.e. the arch baddy) is usually British. Might be reading too much into it, but I think that's rooted, historically, in the whole persecution of the British "traitors" who left for America.

  • Ajent #18 3 months ago

    I think it's funny how the Iranian police obviously didn't realise what they were doing was illegal in the first place. If they were aware that it was already illegal they would have simply told the members of the petition of that fact and not announced it in the news that they are banning something that is already illegal (!?!?)

    If they were announcing a crack down on their rampant piracy issues and illegal sale of imported games, then that would make sense, but they didn't (unless it hasn't been translated properly).

    As for the people trying to comment on the immoral nature of BF3... It games depicts scenes based on real life events. It isn't made up. There are terrorists. Some of them have been Iranian. At no point does the game state (or insinuate) that Iran as a Nation is full of terrorist.

    Plus, trying to argue morality when it is apparent that as a result of this announcement it is obvious that there is a major issue with the illegal sale of games in Iran, it's almost a case of pot calling kettle black.

  • Nico4 #19 3 months ago

    @J0rdan_KZ Well Iran's president does more or less not give a damn about the freedom of speech.

  • inutaihanyou #20 3 months ago

    I would also like a game where the US is destroyed and all the Americans slowly slaughtered. That'll sure show those Americans who's boss, or whatever.

    Really, at least then we would not have people complaining about biased representation.

    I'm just not sure what else it would achieve besides that.
    Edited by 2 at 29/11/11 @ 11:31

  • anthonypappa #21 3 months ago

    a 5000-strong groups of youths, petitioned against a game that isn't available in the first place? yeah right.

    that sounds more like propaganda!

    i'm sure the youth of Iran have more pressing issues to deal with other than trying to ban a game that is already banned. :confused:
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 11:37

  • seeafish #22 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:52 12-12-2011

  • Eldritch #23 3 months ago

    I think they're just being bad sports. I enjoyed killing all those (virtual) Germans in Return to Castle Wolfenstein (maybe because I'm German), and I'm sure Kim Yong-Il is having a ball playing Homefront and Crysis.

  • Subi #24 3 months ago

    IIRC Iran hasn't actually signed the Berne Convention or any of its successors. If that's the case, then the pirate copies weren't illegal in Iran. So the police would need to ban them separately. :)

    List of Parties to International Copyright Agreements
    Edited by 2 at 29/11/11 @ 11:48

  • seeafish #25 3 months ago

    @inutaihanyou Bit extreme hehe. Also DICE is a Swedish company (AFAIK).

    It can be distressing for youths who constantly fear the ever-increasing tension of war to see scenes of an actual invasion depicted in a video game or a film.
    I also believe that media de-sensitises people from the horrors of reality. If you show people enough scenes of invasion and war in a fictional setting, people won't really care as much when it really happens. It almost becomes a form of entertainment to watch your country invade another.

  • Badassbab #26 3 months ago

    Hmm quite a fine line this. I'm all for freedom of speech but then again when we (as in Britain) where under threat from Germany during the 2 World Wars, freedom of speech was severely curtailed. Iran right now is under immense threat of destruction from a regional superpower (Israel) and a global superpower (USA). Imagine Iranian youths being sold a game where you get to kill scores of British and American troops. There would be a Daily Hate Mail outrage. Now I know the Iranians in the game are an insurgent force who overthrow the Iranian Government but to most sheeple there's no distinction and in a way that's the point of sophisticated propaganda to the untrained mind. Plausible deniability of accusations.

  • frunk #27 3 months ago

    As a Brit - I love the fact that Hollywood portrays Brits as criminal masterminds... excellent kudos. Bwahahahaha...

    But then again the USA is not actually looking for excuses to bomb my country - so I can see both sides on this one.

  • anthonypappa #28 3 months ago

    @seeafish

    if i were an Iranian, i think witnessing the violent riots and state-sponsored killings of my own people, then i wouldn't need a video game to de-sensitise me from 'the horrors of reality'.

  • Badassbab #29 3 months ago

    @anthonypappa

    Yeah 5000 is hardly a large number. The Government just used it as an excuse to ban the game from being sold (pirate or otherwise).

  • FireMonkey #30 3 months ago

    @seeafish - In fairly realistic settings, you need a fairly realistic opponent though.

    It would be a bit odd if a film / game based on American soldiers had the bad guys that were Inuits or New Zealanders though wouldn't it?

    There are still plenty of films that have Americans & British as the bad guys, but these are just not war films as it's very unlikely to happen.

    Who would you suggest a realistic game / film should have as the enemy?

    As an Englishman, I have seen many films in which the English (or an Englishman) is the bad guy and quite often very badly stereotyped, but we just accept it as what it is. Fiction.

  • inutaihanyou #31 3 months ago

    @seeafish

    "Bit extreme hehe. Also DICE is a Swedish company (AFAIK).

    It can be distressing for youths who constantly fear the ever-increasing tension of war to see scenes of an actual invasion depicted in a video game or a film.
    I also believe that media de-sensitises people from the horrors of reality. If you show people enough scenes of invasion and war in a fictional setting, people won't really care as much when it really happens. It almost becomes a form of entertainment to watch your country invade another. "



    Well sure.

    But the separation between RL and virtual forms of entertainment is still there.

    I'm not going to say what i think about the Iranian government or its policy toward its citizens and the world because i don't live in Iran.

    But the fact remains that Western developers operating from certain criteria with fictitious events based on the current world would be controversial in any shape or form to the "antagonist party".

    When i boot up a game of COD or Battlefield 3 or whatever, i'm not going in on the assumption that Russians are evil, or Iranians are all homicidal RPG toting insurgents.

    Its just fiction after all, i can tell the difference between actual human nature and an entertainment device.

    I think that many people in this world would have to change for that to be the universal thought process though. I think the differences surrounding us are too big to bridge easy
    Edited by 4 at 29/11/11 @ 12:16

  • arcam #32 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:52 12-12-2011

  • skunkfish #33 3 months ago

    Ban this sick filth!

  • stegabba #34 3 months ago

    literally a2 hours ago recieved my copy in the post, as i held off to play other games and i prefer battlefield over cod, mw3 can fuck off

  • SuperBas #35 3 months ago

    If they didn't want people in Iran pirating it, they should have released it there. Keep on pirating Iranians!

  • zegerman1942 #36 3 months ago

    @seeafish what's there to be outraged about? that's like a german being outraged by every WW2 shooter out there.

    The facts are that there is currently a conflict in the middle east. And that conflict is depicted in shooters of our time (not only BF3). If Iran would open it's borders and let in proper control and supervision for it's nuclear program then maybe the Autobots would not have to go in there to kick some ass.

    The sad truth is that Iran is a closed and oppressive environment and that does lend itself well to story telling as we see it today. Which i think is a shame, because it could be different, like it used to be in the old Persian times when the middle eastern culture was vastly superior to western counterparts and far more open - the stories from that time frame can be found in games such as Prince of Persia and countless novels and films.

    Additionally to that: the fact is the US is the single largest gaming market in the west. of course games will be geared towards that audience both in story and gameplay (hence all the quick time we europeans complain about - it's good for americans, keeps things simple). I agree that stories should be varied, but at the end of the day the games industry is a business and as such they need to cater to whoever pays the most really.
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 12:42

  • uknortherner2000 #37 3 months ago

    @Badassbab "Iran right now is under immense threat of destruction from a regional superpower (Israel) and a global superpower (USA)."

    ISTR it's Iran who's threatening to wipe Israel off the map and wages war against them by proxy (Hamas). Oh, there was also that conference where Iminadinnerjacket invited every WP and anti-semitic goon together to share and propagate Jewish conspiracies.

    All the while, they hang child rape victims, kidnap our servicemen in Iraqi waters, beat people who dress in a Western manner (especially women) and so forth.

    Somehow, a sub-par generic shooter really doesn't factor into it.
    Edited by 2 at 29/11/11 @ 12:45

  • coolbritannia #38 3 months ago

    We are already at war with Iran. Look at the stories about their scientists dying in explosions left right and centre. They're developing nukes, sponsoring terrorism, actively providing supplies to the insurgents in Iraq...the setting of Battlefield 3 is a likely one unfortunately.

  • carlitoswagon #39 3 months ago

    Not only is the single player lame but it's ruined some great online fun for the people of Iran who couldn't give a rats ass about this ban.

    An even greater case for selling the sp on it's own at a discount......

  • kinky_mong #40 3 months ago

    @ Beano: 'm sure most western countries would ban games depicting americans and brits as terrorists and evil.

    Haven't seen any of the Uncharted games banned in this country despite them all having at least one Brit bad guy. ;)

  • Zomoniac #41 3 months ago

    Careful now.

  • kinky_mong #42 3 months ago

    @caerlitoswagon: One of the multiplayer maps is Tehran Highway so still probably wouldn't go down to well in Iran.

  • zombiesinmyhead #43 3 months ago

    Well I'm surprised its taken the Iranian authorities this long.

    They must have their hands full with all those nukes they're making.

    Whoops, did I say that out loud!

  • A_Nonny #44 3 months ago

    @Beano

    "Iran has right to ban anti-Iranian propaganda in their own country. I'm sure most western countries would ban games depicting americans and brits as terrorists and evil."

    Yeah, the UK banned Uncharted 3 because of this.

    Bullshit.

  • doragonpawwa #45 3 months ago

    Would rather own an Russian/Iranian properganda shooter than Americak, its getting old

  • aphex187 #46 3 months ago

    @seeafish

    Aren't you forgetting one more Nation that always gets the Hollywood seal of evilness? That's right us Brits !!!

  • markyHD #47 3 months ago

    Ahh, good old Iran. The only country where getting stoned on a friday night doesn't involve cannabis :)

  • 32768Colours #48 3 months ago

    Battlefield 3 wasn't ever made available...

    Was it not ever? That's a really extremely very verbose sentence you've got there.

    Anyway, I'm no expert in these matters but for what its worth, I don't think there's anything specifically wrong with Iran banning something like this in their country. I'm pretty sure America would react the same way if an Iranian game made the US look like an enemy and then copies entered the US (illegally or otherwise).
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 13:45

  • weebl #49 3 months ago

    "We understand that the story of a video game is hypothetical," the group apparently wrote, "[but] we believe the game is purposely released at a time when the US is pushing the international community into fearing Iran."

    Surely having an unstable leader with access to missile-grade plutonium is fear-inducing enough?

  • treaclewench #50 3 months ago

    Has everyone forgotten that there were several levels in MW2 where America was invaded by the Russians?!!

    Anyway, I am British and am married to an Iranian. I have been to Iran recently and I a lot of the comments on this page show a lack of understanding about Iran.

    Women beaten for not dressing properly? The women over there are better dressed than most English people! Everyone wears designer clothes and the women dress like the west expect with colourful head scarves that barely conceal their hair! Only the religious people cover up more!

    The riots have stopped as well and weren't much worse than the London riots, at least they weren't looting people's businesses. Sure Iran executed the instigators (in the UK the rioters just got community service) but the UK used to execute people only 60 years ago.

    Anyway, my biggest concern was whether they depicted Tehran accurately, which (apart from all the violence in the game) they have! Tehran is actually a really nice place with great shopping!

  • madmaardigan #51 3 months ago

    I haven't played BF series much but every MW game I've tried has just been unbelievably blatant propaganda.

    What's the story in MW3, Russians invading the US? I can't even be bothered finding out. It's a shame people keep buying this twaddle.

    Games seem to be now where Hollywood was in the 80's.

    Slightly off topic but I read an interesting piece on the underlying politics in contemporary FPS shooters the other day:

    http://ohnovideogames.com/the-fascist-poli tics-of-the-infinite-respawn

  • arcam #52 3 months ago

    Surely having an unstable leader with access to missile-grade plutonium is fear-inducing enough?

    Dunno, how fearful does a population have to be before they will support an invasion? Polls suggest we in the West need a few more scary stories before we'll start cheering America into Iran.

  • DeadlyByDesign #53 3 months ago

    EA'retort was just fucking hilarious(whether they meant it or not)

  • zegerman1942 #54 3 months ago

    @treaclewench "Tehran is actually a really nice place with great shopping! "

    I know - i pass a lot of cool looking shops in my LAV when i am on my way to capture point C (Gas Station). I must stop some day to buy some knickers for my girl!

  • green_nifta #55 3 months ago

    @weebl "Surely having an unstable leader with access to missile-grade plutonium is fear-inducing enough?"

    You mean like George W Bush?

  • treaclewench #56 3 months ago

    @green_nifta

    Couldn't agree more...

  • blackrapt0r #57 3 months ago

    Frankly, if 5000 online signatures can get anything banned, there where ever that is doesn't have true democracy just a joke. (not that ours is any better!)

    It's a game, where Iran isn't the bad guy. Just another ill convinced propaganda article.
    I don't see France banning the game because. You kill their policemen and see dead civilians.
    End of day must gamers don't care who the baddy is, because it's fiction. It's just the nutjobs who don't approve or even play that can seem to tell the difference.

    Hell I bet their president/dictator got his was whooped on it and cried like a baby...

  • Badassbab #58 3 months ago

    @uknortherner2000

    It's true Iran is run by a bunch of oppressive religious zealots but please stick to the facts. They are more concerned with clinging onto power than going on foreign adventures and killing millions of civilians like we in the West have a tendency to do.

    Sunni Hamas was formed well before it suddenly became a 'proxy' for Shite Iran. Also Ahmadinjad never threatened to wipe Israel off the map. That's a mistranslation eagerly lapped up by the the likes of the ADL and others who fail to see the far greater crimes of the Israeli state. The crimes of the Iranian state you highlight (you sure you haven't confused them with the Taliban in some of your accusations?) pale in comparison to the crimes committed by us and our allies throughout the world. This shouldn't be a controversial statement if you can cast your mind back more than just a few years when Iran became the new major bad guy after Iraq.

  • coolbritannia #59 3 months ago

    I remember when the US banned MW2. Oh wait.

  • azic #60 3 months ago

    I cant help but feel if it was the Iranian army in New York....

  • UkHardcore23 #61 3 months ago

    Fuck Iran, sooner we go there and sort them out the better...should of done it straight after Iraq!

    No Surrender!

  • benjerry #62 3 months ago

    @madmaardigan It´s not surprising to see that the trend towards "fascism" becoming a synonym for "bad" without any actual additional meaning is in full swing. I guess it makes for easier writing.

  • treaclewench #63 3 months ago

    @zegerman1942

    There is actually a shopping centre in the Ekbatan district of Tehran that has a naughty underwear shop! Not what you would expect to see with what the media has you believe.

  • madmaardigan #64 3 months ago

    @benjerry
    In order for fascism to self-perpetuate, it needs to instil two distinct and contradictory ideological certainties in its citizens. Firstly, they need to believe that the state is unstoppably powerful; they have to believe that the government will never falter, never stop, and never make a mistake. The victory of the fascist worldview must be perceived by its citizens as an absolute inevitability, a glorious triumph over the forces which oppose it.

    ...

    Fascist ideology, then, requires the illusion of both the unstoppable force of the enemy and the immovable object of the state in order to function. With that in mind, the move in modern military shooters towards faceless, infinitely-spawning enemies is the perfect demonstration of fascist thought being applied to game design.
    Did you actually read the essay, or just the title? It very specifically talks about the fascist ideology applied to game design.

  • benjerry #65 3 months ago

    @madmaardigan This has almost zero information content. The connection made between the political ideology of fascism and respawning enemies in video games is the stuff of Rorschach tests.

    Yes, fascists do indeed (often) objectify and de-humanize their enemies (and other people that they disdain, or engage in warfare against).

    So do Communists. And almost all other people as well. The tendency that is being decried is nothing specific to fascism. Instead, the author is merely slapping the label "fascist" (I.e. "bad" in modern parlance) on a facet of human psychology that he happens to dislike.

  • captainCandy #66 3 months ago

    Who cares a damn what these people from the middle ages do?

  • coolbritannia #67 3 months ago

    Love this throwaway comment when defending Iran Sure Iran executed the instigators.

    No big deal eh?

  • coolbritannia #68 3 months ago

    By the way, are these the same guys who have just stormed the British Embassy in Tehran?

  • VibratingDonkey #69 3 months ago

    The US are fighting Russians though. I think? Didn't really pay attention. But the Russians are the worst, videogames have taught me. God damn cock-breath commie motherfuckers.

    Piracy in a country where there's no legal alternative seems kind of like a non-issue.

  • enzima #70 3 months ago

    @seeafish
    Look at movies in the past 30 or so years. Every major "enemy" of the US have been depicted as universal "baddies" in movies. Russians, Saddam, Bin Laden, Saddam again, and now Iranians.

    I see your point, but if its not ok to use Saddam or Bin Laden as a "baddies" in a video game .... Maybe the evil mastermind could be played by the old lady living under my apt. You know, she feeds cats all around..... Thats really annoying!

  • Snake_2011 #71 3 months ago

    real & unreal are to different things.

  • Mister-Wario #72 3 months ago

    @seeafish I must admit, this is probably a reason I don't play realistic shooters.

  • DrStrangelove #73 3 months ago

    Somebody ought to make a triple A game where the player invades and completely annihilates America.

    If Homefront 2 will have a North Korean campaign, I shall buy it, but I doubt so. I'm really tired of baddies in games being past, present or future US enemies. I mean, currently, why are we so often at war with Russia? That's just BS. Then the son of Kim Jong Il invades America, and in C&C, even the Japanese started a new war against the States. It's bloody ridiculous.

    I'm not saying there should be games that have you as an SS officer "fighting" Jews, that would be too much even for my stomach. But there should be more games that have you fighting for the liberation of Vietnam against US invaders, or fighting for the independency of China against the colonial powers and the like.

    Also, I don't know if a game that has you being an Islamist terrorist in Washington DC would be issued the blessing by US authorities.

  • madmaardigan #74 3 months ago

    @benjerry
    Yes, fascists do indeed (often) objectify and de-humanize their enemies (and other people that they disdain, or engage in warfare against).

    So do Communists.
    One could find someone claiming to be from any political persuasion who 'objectifies and de-humanizes their enemies', but that's not the point. The point is defining and dehumanizing an enemy is an inherent feature of the fascist idealogy (as opposed to its followers), and one can't really say that about communism, capitalism, etc.

    It's also not making a judgment call; if one supported the US adopting fascist foreign policies one would support games that indoctrinate this kind of message, presumably. The substition of fascism with 'good' or 'bad' is left to the reader.

  • zombiesinmyhead #75 3 months ago

    @coolbritannia

    Yeah, pretty much. The Iranian state manages to conjure up coach loads of 'spontaneous' protesters fairly regularly. While theyre in Tehran, maybe thay can take advantage of the great shopping too!
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 15:12

  • benjerry #76 3 months ago

    @DrStrangelove "Also, I don't know if a game that has you being an Islamist terrorist in Washington DC would be issued the blessing by US authorities. "

    Under current first amendment doctrine, it would certainly be perfectly legal, at least.

    As for playing as the Chinese, I did see something about a chinese game where you fight the Americans as a member of the PLA.

    Apart from that, you could always settle for being a Brit killing yanks in MW2, I guess.

  • Madder-Max #77 3 months ago

    "In that Battlefield 3 is not available for purchase in Iran, we can only hope the ban will help increase sales in the West whilst encouraging illegal import purchases in Iran to increase our market penetration and illegal sales revenue stream!" EA commented.

    /Fixed

  • Munners #78 3 months ago

    @Zomoniac

    Down with this sort of thing.

  • benjerry #79 3 months ago

    @madmaardigan I obviously disagree. Reducing a near-universal feature of the human psyche (I.e. we tend to objectify nearly everyone in the world, and to demonize / de-humanize those that we consider enemies) as a mere characteristic of fascism, gives you a warped perspective on the issue. Saying that it is "fascist" to feature respawning enemies in videogames is... pointless.

    Nor fascism, nor communism, etc. need to establish the demonization of the enemy in formal doctrine - that takes care of itself.

  • ballshock #80 3 months ago

    It is propaganda.
    I think the story is shit, and I'm not even Iranian

  • whatfruit #81 3 months ago

    fully deserves it really.

    Battlefield and COD are basically military patriot porn. They should just stop skirting round the issue and just call the next game Battlefield the art of shooting brown people in the face.

    I really want someone to make a game from the other side. How about a game where you play as a mujahdeen in afgahistan set in 2011. The game starts in 2001 with your town getting bombed to ashes by the American military machine you ge taken in by a taliban aid agency sent to live in a arabic school or mosque as an orphan then recuited to fight against leaning to make IED's and work small arms and explosives. fighting to protect you our country and against the people that killed your family and destroyed your infrastructure.

  • Infinity2011 #82 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:52 12-12-2011

  • Infinity2011 #83 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:52 12-12-2011

  • riceNpea #84 3 months ago

    Paranoid much?

  • LaseRad #85 3 months ago

    iran for its people i says.. america is pushing fear... ahaha, whole western world fears radical islam, and its not because america told us
    btw... mw3... americans in france, germany, britain, czech r even... do these countries ban mw3?

    #2 challenge is on ++++++++++++++++++++++ xD

  • madmaardigan #86 3 months ago

    @benjerry. Interesting points, however I'd assert that human beings, if left to their own devices, are not as rotten as you suggest .
    Greed and materialism are part of the human psyche, however they are essential factors in modern capitalist societies, and so the capitalist propaganda machine produces humans that are excessively greedy and materialistic. They are not naturally so.

    Fear, suspicion and hatred are part of the human psyche, however they are essential factors in fascist societies, and so the fascist propaganda machine produces humans that are excessively fearful, suspicious and hateful. They are not naturally so.

    The purpose of propaganda is to suppress innate human decency to serve state interests, it wouldn't exist otherwise.
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/11 @ 16:08

  • makariel #87 3 months ago

    @kassmageant seriously? What do you think about Russians or people born in the middle east playing any given Modern Warfare? Or Germans playing any given WW2 game?

  • username84 #88 3 months ago

    @Infinity2011

    Well said! I truly hope what happens in the game never happens in reality. I think we should put all our leaders in a cage and let them fight to the death for once.

  • loboMuerto #89 3 months ago

    If my country (México) is any indication, the game will sell better now that it's banned. Our Government condemned two Ghost Recon games and the last Call of Juarez, and it only succeed in giving them a lot of media coverage.

  • dirtysteve #90 3 months ago

    'This game is banned!'
    'You can't buy it here anyway Mahmoud'
    'So the ban has pre-worked!'

  • CYPRIOTCleANER #91 3 months ago

    stonned the Fars news agency .

  • Badassbab #92 3 months ago

    @whatfruit

    Yeah it would be far more interesting but not sure I would feel comfortable playing as the Taliban and killing our troops as well as our allies (FYI I don't think we should be there at all and our ex leaders (Bush & Blair) need to be tried at the Hague for war crimes). To be realistic (ish) it would have to involve suicide bombing tactics inc IED, VBIED, the bombing of government buildings (inc girl schools) and assassinations and possibly beheadings.

  • anomagnus #93 3 months ago

    @seeafish

    At some point, Iran has to take some of the responsabilty for its bad press. You can talk about how this is all western propaganda, but lets face a few harsh facts here. Ahmadinejad is hardly a stable and gentle face. His comments on Israel, America, the UK, homosexuals and women, etc do not lend themselves well to a misrepresented people.

    When today alone we see mobs of politically motivated youths storm an embassy and set fire to flags, you can't turn around and say 'oh shit guys, we're being misrepresented'.

    When you see a politcal establishment arrest major politcal rivals and disappear them before an election, you can't blame the daily mail.

    And finally, when you see a state authorise its religious police to kill its own civilians, that state doesn't have the right to stand up and say its being unfairly portrayed in the media.

    Now, in the interest of balance, yes, Iran is probably in seige mode right now. Its getting a lot of shit from a lot of sources, and there is a trend right now to have the middle east as the new stock bad guy. But Iran has to take some of the blame for its own bad press.

  • GaryStew1980 #94 3 months ago

    Hmmm slight over reaction, not really sure how relevant this all is. A game thats not leagally for sale in the country, well they should probably be banning it anyway.

    If other nations were all as sensitive as this then no games would ever be release and please The Saboteur was a much bigger crime against the Irish than BF3 ever will be to Iran. We do not talk like that, seriously you couldn't find one Irish guy to do the voice acting for that game?

  • ThePissartist #95 3 months ago

    Unfortunatly, the UK and the US talk of attacking Iran constantly of late. I find this quite disturbing and totally understand the banning.

    Let is not forget that this is Swedish game and we should not be critical of the Americans here. I'm not sure that we should be talking of the US being attacked in a game (though it actually happened in MW2) in return.

  • GooseUK #96 3 months ago

    If EA had sold the game in Iran originally, there may not have been such a piracy issue?

  • Uncompetative #97 3 months ago

    I'm impressed with the quality and maturity of debate here. Thank you all.

  • skoypidia #98 3 months ago

    Guys please, wake up and smell the coffee. This is not "just entertainment", this is propaganda. Propaganda is never labeled "And now a message from our ministry of internal affairs", it hides within popular entertainment. Above all it hides within films and video-games. Not everybody in this world is innocent and not everybody is a child. Adult people actually think, plot and plan. Their goal is recruiting supporters to their causes, so be vigilant or be stupid.

  • MattyD #99 3 months ago

    It's easy to laugh from the safety of the UK but just imagine the outrage if the number-one selling game in Iran was a simulation of guerilla warfare against Western forces in Iraq or Afghanistan.

  • Nismo400R84 #100 3 months ago

    @bad09 +1 young sir . after two attempts at phoning EA tech support and they had enough
    Policeman 1 :Did you them ?
    Policeman 2 :Yeah it was like pulling teeth
    Policeman 1 :Fuck em make the game illegal if we cant play it no one can
    Policeman 2 :What reason shall i give for banning it ?
    Policeman 1 :Redneck Infidels running round Tehran with guns

  • Zyklonbzombie #101 3 months ago

    There's something quite mean spirited about condemning piracy of a game in an area it'll never even be sold in.

    I'm always surprised there isn't more anger from Russian gamers when they're constantly depicted as the unlikely bad guys - especially considering the fairly large FPS playerbase there. I agree with the users who have stated they'd like to see how people react to a game in which the roles are reversed.The UK and US would start foaming at the mouth.

  • Purist #102 3 months ago

    Coming to a Tehran near you...

  • Scimarad #103 3 months ago

    Look, can someone just do an FPS where we are aliens invading everywhere. Annihilate the stupid humans!!

  • mossychops001 #104 3 months ago

    Sorry Iran, But we really need your oil!

  • Markusdragon #105 3 months ago

    On the one hand, I dislike censorship, on the other hand, I dislike propaganda, so quite frankly this story just leaves me feeling empty and conflicted.

  • kassmageant #106 3 months ago

    @makariel i think they should get over it, 'cause it's in the past and they are in no-way-whatsoever responsible for what happened

  • jabberwoky #107 3 months ago

    What do you expect from a joke of a country like Iran, ruled by reiligious fascist bigots. Before anyone else apologises for them, ask yourself if you would like to be ruled by them? Thought not.

  • King_of_Hyrule #108 3 months ago

    I agree with Iran here, I believe the real baddies to be Luxembourgians, they sure seem suspiciously quiet lately, whilst worshipping their "Grand Duke" nothing good can come of it.

  • Ahskay #109 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:50:52 12-12-2011

  • anomagnus #110 3 months ago

    @King_of_Hyrule

    It is about time that someone brings the threat of luxembourgh. Sitting there, quiet as mice! No one can be that quiet and NOT be up to something

  • TheGuvernor #111 3 months ago

    Elements of the Iranian regime stormed & ram-sacked the UK embassy in Tehran today.
    For real.

    We're they looking for spare copies or just being their normal friendly peace lovin' selves?

  • Lucodeath #112 3 months ago

    Is it another joke like ban skyrim Mr President?

  • napalm68 #113 3 months ago

    In all honesty I can't say I blame them. It isn't like they just made up a country name like a lot of other modern era games (eg, like Durkadurkastan or whatever in Operation Flashpoint)

  • whatfruit #114 3 months ago

    @Badassbab the main point though of the game would be to humanise the conflict. instead of being the normal traditional FPS super solider in the "Whoo Raaa Get some, DIE YOU TERROIST FUCKS, PEACE JUSTICE AND FREEDOM mould".

    You would start as a young farmer with no concept the events happening in the world. When one day foreign troops come smashing through your front door drag your brother away. Then they bomb your village kill your family.

    In the aftermath you are orphaned with your family killed by foreign invaders and with no knowledge of what is happenig you become radaclised by the school that takes you in.

    Growing up later seeing the devastation that they have done you join the muhajadeen to fight. Not because you are an enemy of freedom but because of the pain and injustice which you have suffered.

    You could have the beheadings but rather than the soldiers that you capture being in the FPS archetype you could have them as real people. e.g A private from Denver who joined up post 9/11 but is himself jaded. You could even do some clever bit of expostion and show that he has been radaclised and fed false inforamtion about the nature of the enemy by his own superiors. Each one has been conditoned to dehumanise the other.


    The tagline would be "The first casualty of war is truth."
    Edited by 3 at 29/11/11 @ 22:45

  • Bluetooth #115 3 months ago

    "at a time when the US is pushing the international community into fearing Iran."

    That is a valid point though... carrying out a scenario in the virtual world makes people better accept it subconciously when (if) it really happens.

  • Collymilad #116 3 months ago

    Tehran Highway, what a shit map.

    Thanks a lot Iran.

    @MattD - the authorities here may ban a game like that, but I honestly don't think much of the populace would actually give 2 shits.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/11 @ 02:35

  • shinybonce #117 3 months ago

    retards !

  • Badassbab #118 3 months ago

    @whatfruit

    Very good. They tried it sort of with Homefront but it was a very lacklustre effort. Like they had to make Americans resistant fighters rather than Iraqi, Afghan, Vietnamese, Korean etc

  • Badassbab #119 3 months ago

    @anomagnus

    I agree with your comment about Iran. But do we say the same thing about numerous other states in the region who are probably just as bad if not worse. No we don't. Why? Because they are our 'allies'.