MW2 will "evoke terrorism atrocities"

By Robert Purchese Published 29 October, 2009

Activision responds to shocking footage.

Activision, quick to patch a wound, has explained that Modern Warfare 2 is "designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism".

The publisher spoke after a leaked video showed shocking footage of the player massacring innocent civilians.

"Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 features a deep and gripping storyline in which players face off against a terrorist threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse. The game includes a plot involving a mission carried out by a Russian villain who wants to trigger a global war," Activision told Kotaku.

"In order to defeat him, the player infiltrates his inner circle. The scene is designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism."

Furthermore, Modern Warfare 2 - rated 18 by the BBFC - offers a warning that "an upcoming segment may contain disturbing elements", and allows you to skip the playable section.

Risky. Ground-breaking?

Modern Warfare 2 will be released on 10th November for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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 (77) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Fab4 #1 2 years ago

    Bullshit. Its designed to generate interest in the game.

  • qoobah #2 2 years ago

    Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 features a deep and gripping storyline in which players face off against a terrorist threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse

    Oh I love this. It's obvious terrorists' goals is to bring the world to collapse, of course it's impossible that they have some other, more intrinsic and complicated motivations that make terrorism such a huge and complex problem that really can't be solved by just shooting each and every one of them in the brain.

    Living is easier in a simple world.

  • kestral #3 2 years ago

    shocking headline in eurogamer shocker

  • Benno #4 2 years ago

    it begins

  • the_dudefather #5 2 years ago

    @qoobah

    maybe you fight against Cobra in the game?

    GI JOOOEEEE!!! aka action force
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 09:08

  • Paperghost #6 2 years ago

    Already kicking off in Australia due to them not having an 18 age cert on their games, although many of the comments from the people shrieking about it are predictably knee jerk and ludicrous.

    "The consequences of terrorism are just abhorrent in our community and yet here we are with a product that's meant to be passed off as a leisure time activity, actually promoting what most world leaders speak out publicly against,"

    wait wait wait..."actually promoting"? did she even watch the clip? wait, how silly of me - of course she didn't. She could have also listened to Activision talk about the "skip the level checkpoints" and the warning screen that'll pop up, but no - they're promoting terrorism and not being responsible and blaming the fact that the game exists at all as the reason "the children" will pick it up rather than the parents being terrible at parenting.

    Imho the worst thing games have going for them is that they have the word "game" as their main description. these people will never, ever let it go (they're nothing more than mere "leisure time activity", right?) and will never, ever deem it acceptable to have content in those games with even a fraction of the horror, provocation or even plain old making your brain creak that you can get from every other form of "entertainment" or art or whatever else you want to call it, be it film, tv, books or music.
    Edited by 2 at 29/10/09 @ 09:10

  • bad09 #7 2 years ago

    @ qoobah

    It's a game......

    Besides, bullets will solve it, Arnie says you are WRONG!

  • menage #8 2 years ago

    COD MW

    No civilians in downtown Kabul,

    cause they're all at the airport getting killed.

    News at eleven

  • smoothpete #9 2 years ago

    I think it's all very interesting, they're certainly pushing some boundaries. It's all gonna kick off HARD STYLE in the press come november :)

    I can't wait to play that level, personally speaking

  • Emmit_Assassin #10 2 years ago

    It's a game, get over it already.
    The level is not needed and is an over the top way of grabbing publicity. I can understand the narrative reason, but there is no reason for anyone to actually play this level.
    On the other hand, kudos to IW for trying something brave, even if it is typical American over-the-top-ness. Many games these days settle for PC-ness, this is obviously not one of them.

  • Freek #11 2 years ago

    Before we all get on our high horse, replay the Cod4 campaign and recognize that it has some interesting and thought provoking moments.
    Perhaps it wasn't all done intentionally but it did make you think about the horrors of war in a different way then just "shoot all the baddies".

  • Master09 #12 2 years ago

    I am African and so consider myself a neutral in this issue. Here is my two sense. I never cared about this game as I am more of a Battlefield person but I must say kudos to IW for having the guts to put this touchy issue their game! IW are trying to show both sides of wars! Its about time games not only showed Westerners points of view. Games are no longer for kids and M rated games shouldn't be just blood, gore and sexual imagery!

    We have seen this before in tv series like 24 and countless films so why not a M rated game? Why is it okay to kill innocent civilians in GTA but MW2 getting so much flack even from some gamers?

    When some black people said RE5 had racist imagery, the gaming community were outraged and vehemently defended (rightly so) CAPCOM!

    Its all about the context!

    Regardless of the outcome of this, ultimately the biggest lesson at hand is the hypocrisy of many Westerners especially the British and Americans. Its all fun and games when its killing black people, Asians, and other ethnic races as the good American or British hero but when the roles are turned around its tasteless!

    Don't like it, don't play it!
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 09:43

  • General_Zod #13 2 years ago

    "Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 features a deep and gripping storyline"

    bwhahahahaahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaha, just like MW1 eh?

  • cianchristopher #14 2 years ago

    Jesus, the last thing a Call of Duty game does is "promote" terrorism.

    Call of Duty 4 had one of the best storylines in an FPS game (not too hard, admittedly, since most FPS games have no storyline at all)!

    Infinity Ward took a giant leap in their last game of this series; trust them to handle this one well! They're not Epic Games (Gears of War) with ridiculous macho bullshit; they're well thought-out and, if you actually pay attention to the story of COD4 between the shooting, you'll see that it's handled with some care!

  • miiiguel #15 2 years ago

    When some black people said RE5 had racist imagery, the gaming community were outraged and vehemently defended (rightly so) CAPCOM!

    That's a really silly statement Master09. What kind of "racist imagery" RE5 had? It had black zombies? So what, it also featured a black hot hero girl. I never though black ppl would start to whine about virtual, non-existant prejudice like the gay comunity usually do.

    Regarding this issue, kudos do IW, it's time to take the next step and start looking and experiencing games in other ways rather then only the "leetz"; and the "headshot"... hurrah. Only problem is that looking at previous CoD's I'm not particulary confident about the result.

  • ThisWillDestroyYou #16 2 years ago

    some aspects of the mw storyline were stunning, it was a great experience. Although this does seem distasteful hopefully it is the start of games really taking on more of the challenging topics in society that films and books did decades ago.

  • craigy Verified Senior Developer, Eurogamer Network #17 2 years ago

    As graphics become increasingly realistic, being asked to perform tasks like shooting innocent people makes me feel increasingly uneasy.

  • Golgo #18 2 years ago

    Terrorists commit atrocities in game about terrorists committing atrocities shocker!!!

  • Vermillion3000 #19 2 years ago

    Can we close this thread please.
    I think the first comment said everything that was necessary.

    Ta.

  • Pedrolot #20 2 years ago

    Watchdog will make a meal out of this.


    Popcorn?

  • Dave797 #21 2 years ago

    Is anyone else just incredibly interested in seeing how this part of the game pans out? Whether I agree with the concept or not I just can't help myself from being slightly intrigued by it.

    Will it move me to the point of disgust? will it envoke emotions I've never had in a game before? Is it morally right to play the scenario out at all?

    Love or hate them Activision and IW are extrmemly clever!

    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 10:57

  • NGCes26294BIV #22 2 years ago

    Justified or not, I'm amazed that this got passed by the AUS government, what with there insistance on not providing a rating higher than MA15+.

  • cianchristopher #23 2 years ago

    It's not a thread Vermillion, it's the comments section of an article!

    And why not comment?

    Infinity Ward are one of the best developers in the world, they have every right to include what they want in their game and shouldn't be swayed by the fact that their game is so popular, thereby watering it down...
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 10:54

  • BigAl-1992 #24 2 years ago

    Activision and IW are going to have to be careful about this, as it can be seen as a sensitive issue to people who've survived terrorist attacks. Still, you're being warned about what's coming up, so its not like we're just suddenly dropped into the level.

  • Wolverfrog #25 2 years ago

    Well it's nice that we have the option to skip.

  • schnide #26 2 years ago

    I think I'm about to move myself into an older generation:

    I think I preferred gaming when the mass media weren't involved, and when games weren't big business.

  • skillian #27 2 years ago

    I think I preferred gaming when the mass media weren't involved, and when games weren't big business.

    Amen brother.

  • AliRay #28 2 years ago

    "Its designed to generate interest in the game."

    Yeah. Cos no-ones interested in MW2, are they?

  • Redeye #29 2 years ago

    As soon as I saw it, I thought 'cynical marketing ploy designed to get the tabloids in a frenzy and give Activision a metric fuckton of free publicity'.

    But then I put it down to my own cynicism, because obviously Activision wouldn't do something like that.



    Oh look, a flying pig.

  • darleysam #30 2 years ago

    Ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you that I am the biggest Activision cynic. To a point that while I plan to get MW2, I fully intend to buy it used so as not to give them my money. Why not just not buy it at all? Because CoD4 had an absolutely fantastic story. I barely touched the multiplayer, but the singleplayer campaign and what it did, the risks it took and scenes it showed (post-nuke, crawling out the helicopter to die) were powerful moves and ones that impressed me greatly. From another developer I could well believe this just to be a simple publicity stunt, but Infinity Ward are an intelligent bunch. If games are ever to be respected as a medium alongside books and films, then developers will need to take these risks and push boundaries, and not just be jeered and called exploitative jerks. Pull your head out your arse and give them due credit.

  • RedSparrows #31 2 years ago

    'Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 features a deep and gripping storyline in which players face off against a terrorist threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse

    Oh I love this. It's obvious terrorists' goals is to bring the world to collapse, of course it's impossible that they have some other, more intrinsic and complicated motivations that make terrorism such a huge and complex problem that really can't be solved by just shooting each and every one of them in the brain.

    Living is easier in a simple world. '

    This. I am extremely sceptical of MW2's ability to really shock, given most of it will probably be this black and white world (although, maybe, some of your fellow soldiers might be a bit nasty! Good grief!!!). All fascetiousness aside, CoD4's story was terrible (seriously, it WAS, no matter how many amazing set pieces they stuffed in), but I'm interested to see how MW2 deals with this scene as part of the whole narrative.
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 12:33

  • miiiguel #32 2 years ago

    You're being too indulgent when you say CoD 4 story was terrible, it wasn't, mainly because it had virtualy no story, it was simply a collection of barely related espisodes.

  • cianchristopher #33 2 years ago

    What was so terrible about COD4's storyline?

    What FPS games have a better storyline? Bioshock? Far Cry 2? Anything else? (not fair to compare Deus Ex or Fallout 3 as they're FPS/RPG hybrids)...

  • skillian #34 2 years ago

    MW's story was probably on a par with a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.

    Better than most other games, but it wouldn't compare favourably to any quality books or films.

  • Kikizosan #35 2 years ago

    As long as that warning doesn't interrupt the flow of gameplay...
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 13:04

  • Teamallstar #36 2 years ago

    Maybe infinty ward are trying to expand their fan base into the religious extremist market... Give them something in the game they can relate to?

  • carlitoswagon #37 2 years ago

    Do you know what fucks me off about this. You can have a movie with vivid rape scenes, people being blown to pieces, religious and racial slurs, drug abuse, 3D shark attacks etc etc etc etc BUT as soon as it appears in a "Video Game" everyone gets their nickers in a twist.

    The easiest response to such folks would be to tell them politely to fuck off and as long as we're not promoting Pedo behaviour we can do what the fuck we want.

    The same assholes got all hot about GTA IV promoting bad driving.

  • local_celebrity #38 2 years ago

    Dunno about you, but I'm bang up for killing some innocent civillians. Sounds fun.

  • Shinetop #39 2 years ago

    The lame thing is that the terrorists are led by a generic Russian villain who has a generic goal of generic chaos. If they wanted to make it provoking and lay bare the atrocities of terrorism, why not create a scenario a little more current, like having it be about some sort of Al-Qaeda offshoot, or the new IRA, or ETA or something? I'm kind of bored by all these Russian terrorists. And why not let them have some more interesting goal than global chaos? Have them fight to get Americans out of their holy land, for instance, or have a group fight for secession from their state or whatever. This is such cheap storytelling: "He does all this because he wants GLOBAL WAR and that is how you can tell he is the bad guy."
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 14:01

  • cianchristopher #40 2 years ago

    Uh, there's lots of terrorists/freedom fighters in Chechnya, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the entire Russian Caucasus! In fact, it's one of the world's combat hot-spots. Much of Call of Duty 4 was based in this region.

    The "bad guys" in Modern Warfare are Russian Ultranationalists, who are trying to bring the Russian state back to a more militant, USSR-style form of governing.

  • SAMagic #41 2 years ago

    @Shinetop: On one hand, "global chaos" is generally the big draw for a story as it's the ultimate threat (Nuclear war and the end of the world), which is compelling enough for players, just like what many games and Tom Clancy novels have had for ages.

    On the other, I agree that it's time for some new takes on the stories. Not all terrorists are simple, fundamentalist nutjobs, there's no doubt a lot more to it than "Raargh must crush America!", but I doubt any publisher would be warm to such concepts for a game with all of the money at stake. Look at the fallout over Six Days in Fallujah. The closest we might get is some vague allegory like in Red Faction: Guerilla. I'd love to see IW take a risk with a Modern Warfare game involving a Middle Eastern protaganist all the same.

  • Fab4 #42 2 years ago

    "Yeah. Cos no-ones interested in MW2, are they? "

    It doesnt matter how much interest you have in your product. There's the old adage of 'you can never have enough publicity'. Its as true today as when it was first coined, along with 'there's one born every minute'.

  • NGCes26294BIV #43 2 years ago

    "why not create a scenario a little more current, like having it be about some sort of Al-Qaeda offshoot"

    Nice thought, but I'm pretty sure that allowing the player to participate in mindless slaughter as a member of Al-Qaeda would stir up an even bigger shitstorm than the one about to hit on November 10th.

  • Redeye #44 2 years ago

    darleysam: I wouldn't say you've got your head up your own arse, but you've certainly got it buried in the sand if you think that this isn't a cynical marketing ploy engineered by Activision. What, you think IW have carte blanche to develop whatever they like without diktats coming down from their parent company, telling them to push things in a given direction? Especially when, given the content and context of said material, it's going to end up with MW2 splattered across every screen and newspaper, giving Activision said shitload of free publicity?

    EDIT: And to whom it may concern: thanks for the markdown, I'm collecting negative points for Christmas. :)
    Edited by 2 at 29/10/09 @ 14:45

  • NGCes26294BIV #45 2 years ago

    Those stating that 'any publicity is good publicity' need only look at Manhunt 2's release to see how untrue that statement is.

    MH2 had an enormous amount of publicity surrounding its violent, controversial nature. It was banned, then subsequently released, but it still tanked.

    I'm not saying that the 'airport' level wasn't included to stur controversy - that's CLEARLY the point, whether mainstream media was a focus or not, but I don't think IW and Acti were prepared for quite so much of the core gaming community to rally against them.

    Robert Bowling has his work cut out, that's for sure.

  • Machiavellian #46 2 years ago

    darleysam: I wouldn't say you've got your head up your own arse, but you've certainly got it buried in the sand if you think that this isn't a cynical marketing ploy engineered by Activision. What, you think IW have carte blanche to develop whatever they like without diktats coming down from their parent company, telling them to push things in a given direction? Especially when, given the content and context of said material, it's going to end up with MW2 splattered across every screen and newspaper, giving Activision said shitload of free publicity?

    Let me see. You provide a playable scene that can polarize your market, you risk your game getting banned, no rating in a few countries. You alienate the US by providing scenes of Washington in flames, and you compound that by allowing the gaming public to kill civilians.

    If this is a ploy to increase sells than Activision and IW have balls of steel because it sounds really risky to me. Most for profit games play it safe especially if the game sells over 10 million copies. The cynical people also need to view the big picture. Is it really outside of the norm that IW included this scene because they are trying to make MW2 hard hitting. IW can easily spruce up the graphics and make MW2 just like MW1 with tweaks and easily sell 12 million copies. Putting in material that could polar your fanbase and actually lose you sells doesn't sound like something a for profit developer would do.
    Edited by 3 at 29/10/09 @ 15:01

  • Fab4 #47 2 years ago

    "The IRA only target the military and avoid civilian casualties at all costs. they are patriots and freedom fighters after a united ireland."

    You are having a fucking laugh, right? Ask the families of The Disappeared how the IRA's patriotism works. As the family of Robert McCartney. I knew you were a fucking tool donnie, but I didnt realise just how much.

  • NGCes26294BIV #48 2 years ago

    "The IRA only target the military and avoid civilian casualties at all costs"

    Bwuhahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

    Oh, sorry. You're serious?

  • Redeye #49 2 years ago

    Machiavellian: True, but Activision aren't daft; they know full well there's a massive waiting market for this title, and as an 18-cert, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts they also accept that it won't get released in a few territories (but are equally confident that people from said regions will import MW2 regardless).

  • NGCes26294BIV #50 2 years ago

    "I'll bet dollars to doughnuts they also accept that it won't get released in a few territories"

    Well, they've got through Australia with an MA15+ and no cuts, and AUS are more strict than most countries.

    Germany are the only others I can see causing a fuss... I'm not sure if they've passed it yet.

  • cianchristopher #51 2 years ago

    Can you actually play games in Germany that have guns in them?

  • darleysam #52 2 years ago

    Redeye, when you make a game as popular as CoD4 after having to fight Activision tooth and nail just to be allowed a modern-day setting, yes I do think they have creative freedom to put things like this into their game. If this were as controlled by Activision as you say, it'd be as safe and generic as a committee could make it.

  • darleysam #53 2 years ago

    When you have people saying they find this kind of content disturbing or unsettling, that means it is exactly doing its job and does deserve to be in the game. It's like people assume it's in there to be fun, so the player's meant to go "man this is sweet! Murderin' civillians!"

    It's not. You're meant to be shocked and horrified at what's being shown. Hands up, who's ever seen a good film that wasn't an endless torrent of sunshine and happiness?

  • Machiavellian #54 2 years ago

    Redeye, when you make a game as popular as CoD4 after having to fight Activision tooth and nail just to be allowed a modern-day setting, yes I do think they have creative freedom to put things like this into their game. If this were as controlled by Activision as you say, it'd be as safe and generic as a committee could make it.

    I totally agree with this statement. I believe IW fought Activision to include the ability to play this scene instead of Activision thinking this will gain them extra sells. Why take the risk when the game already sells huge. IW could have easily made this a cut scene and there would not be any issue. There are already TV shows and movies showing the hero or anti hero doing such deeds for the greater good. If you want to one up the other media, video games are the media that can let you actually be the person who has to make those decisions. You are no longer detach like you are watching a TV show like 24 or a movie like swordfish. I believe that IW put allowed you to actually play that segment because only in games can you actually make a decision like that and live with your own actions. The way the scene is handled it really does appear that IW tries to make it as graphic as possible. You have screaming, people helping wonded individuals, you have all the scenes that a movie director would put in to make you hate the people who would commit such a crime and you have the gamer who can either observe the events or participate.

    This is not something that will get you a lot of sells, instead it will get you a lot of flack and feedback. The COD series is already a mass market product so it doesn't need to gain publicity to sell. No marketing shill can safely say that this will come out good when you are dealing with huge amounts of cash. What kills the argument that this is a ploy to sell more copies is that MW2 doesn't need it. MW is already a well established product guaranteed to sell at least 10 million copies.

  • Machiavellian #55 2 years ago

    Skipping wont help because most ppl wont.

    The purpose of including it is that they want you to experience it. The skipping part is for people like you who do not want to experience it.

    Whats the point of buying a game and then having to skip a section of it?

    What happens if you have something within a game that some gamers would object to but not give them the option to bypass it. Just because you do not want to experience a scene doesn't equate to everyone. You should be happy that IW had the for though to not force that part of the game on you but instead give you the option to bypass it.


    People also would not know whats coming up and would be interested to find out. To me, and i have said this to someone before, its pretty much more like a psycho kid on a shooting spree and not anything that should be in an intelligent game.

    What that means is that you have one opinion in a billion of opinions. You have decided that you know best for the rest of us who probably would play the scene and DECIDE for ourselves if its appropriate or not or if we would participate in the scene or not. You want freedom of speech and expression but only if it lives in your box of morality. What you should say is that this scene and how the game handle it is not for you instead of deeming it not for the rest of us. You set your own limits to what you will tolerate but do not presume you know what best for everyone else.

  • bodypopper #56 2 years ago

    Er, how is this any worse than GTA which lets you skip the cut scenes and massacre innocent civilians for hours if you want to with no concern for context or character?
    In this violent playground, the player can let his imagination run riot, pretending he's a terrorist, hero or whatever.
    I still love both game franchises though as I know the difference between a game and cold hard reality.
    Edited by 2 at 29/10/09 @ 16:50

  • TriggerHippie #57 2 years ago

    The IRA only target the military and avoid civilian casualties at all costs

    I'm not given to swearing or commenting on other people on forums but this is the most pig ignorant thing I've seen for a while. You're a fucking ignoramus Donnie.
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/09 @ 16:51

  • RobotRocker #58 2 years ago

    Daily Mail frontpage confirmed. The best publicity you cant buy. (Or can you?)

  • TriggerHippie #59 2 years ago

    Watching the video of the level I have do say I did find it unpleasant. I think that a major factor in my discomfort was that its from a first person perspective which effectively makes you feel complicit. Personally I don't think there's a good reason this sequence isn't done through a cut scene but I'm prepared to hold off judging it until the game is realeased and some context is applied.

  • Iain815 #60 2 years ago

    "The IRA only target the military and avoid civilian casualties at all costs"

    You're off your fucking rocker mate.

  • kangarootoo #61 2 years ago

    @donnie080208

    "The IRA only target the military and avoid civilian casualties at all costs"

    You sir are a fucking imbecile.

  • Lamb #62 2 years ago

    Theres nothing wrong with a more mature game as long as its not psychotically done to the extent that its just obscene or plain stupid. It has to have value for the gamer.

    Take the cover of Borderlands for example its just hyping the plain stupid and conveys the wrong version of do unto others yet some git let it pass. Of course in everyday life you wouldn't think twice if you just walked into a store and saw it. But when its staring at you right in the face when commenting on a related topic it just hits home.

    The wrong type of hype could conceivably destroy individuals if not society irrespective of the entertainment medium.

  • Skurmedel #63 2 years ago

    I found the "shoot the fishermen/boat people asleep" in the first one quite disgusting, I wouldn't have complained if it were a cut scene or if I didn't have to participate in it, but I had to, even if I didn't fire I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't quite like that, because I felt the game somehow thought it was justified, like it was okay to do that.

    Maybe it was meant to induce that feeling and I didn't understand, maybe it was the lack of reflection that I didn't like.

    I think they can have this stuff in a game as long as it's made with tact. The watch dog people will always get upset about some stuff regardless of the execution, like womens tennis and knob-shaped candy.
    Edited by 2 at 29/10/09 @ 18:26

  • markyHD #64 2 years ago

    Raises my arm to my missus' face, thrashing it back and forth, making a growling noise.

    She goes, what the fuck are you doing?

    I say, that's my terror-wrist attack :o

    I'll pay £5 if you laugh at my joke

  • Skurmedel #65 2 years ago

    I laughed :) It was bad enough to become good.

    (There should be a drivers license for the Karma system, why the downvote on this?)
    Edited by 2 at 29/10/09 @ 22:06

  • barchetta #66 2 years ago

    Funnily enough, I was having a long chat with a well known -ex games developer recently and the topic of games with a non-western political/social influence came up. Only when games start to tackle the more difficult topics of the modern global situation in a more even handed way will they start to be seen to be more than 'games'.

    The modern FPS has generally lacked civilians as a simple expedient to avoid the kind of shit storm that will probably kick off (as the news moves beyond the specialist press) when MW2 hits release. It has usually been a simple level clearance with no collateral damage. If we are to see non-combatant casualties, never-mind the prospect of having to inflict random and widespread violence as part of the game-narrative then it is a brave step but will it come with any bias other than that of a pro-western viewpoint? Will there be any context? Anything to show the impact of your actions?

    Even the broadcast new coverage of current conflicts spend little time showing the after effects of violence to an individual. I've seen very little real in-depth mainstream documentary output about the degradations of war on say, iraqi families.

    My concern is that for all the protestations of the game being 'hard hitting' it is still primarily a piece of entertainment - not edutainment. I don't doubt IW have a very talented team but have they the chops to create (or are we even ready to experience) a gaming 'Casualties of War', 'Platoon' or other such conflict-based narrative?

    I guess we'll have to see how IW have handled the evocation of 'terrorist atrocities' before we know if it is done to actually 'mean' anything substantial.

  • barchetta #67 2 years ago

    Just read all that again - What I'm worried about is that to take such a line in the current climate is brave if not foolhardy. Unless it is done with intelligence - and it MUST be to justify the inclusion of such scenes - it could have far greater negative repercussions for gaming than just another goody vs baddy FPS.

  • Nephirion #68 2 years ago

    How about some dedicated server news?

  • layleeloo #69 2 years ago

    Jesus I am so BORED TO DEATH about hearing about MW2. Every magazine, every website, every bloody everything have far too much time on their hands to devote so much attention to one game. Sure its a big release but hype like this will only lead to one thing. And I for one am so bored of it I have cancelled my pre order as I feel I have seen every bloody inch of the game in previews and other crap in all the far too much media hype.

  • MikeN #70 2 years ago

    The IRA only target the military and avoid civilian casualties at all costs
    I take it you've never heard of a place called Omagh then? Welcome to my ignore list.

  • kongzi #71 2 years ago

    I don't think it's a marketing stunt... this is meant as a statement. They did the atomic blast in the last one and this is just the next level. It's not about whether this is gameplay you want in your game or not. Is it okay? No, it's not okay... it is very not okay. That's the whole point. It's all about context, too. It messes with expectations (too bad it's no surprise now) people have of these games. That makes the entire game resonate more, brings back the notion that the whole game is, and has always been, about killing as much people in as little time as possible. Why do we like that? Why do we get turned off of that when we tell ourselves it's the good and innocent we're killing here. On another level it's not killing, you're just moving some pixels around on a screen, what's the difference..

    It brings up so many questions and puts you in a position where you HAVE to think about your acts as a player. In some ways it's even a bit like what the ending in Bioshock did. I mean, just think about what IW is doing here, and what it was doing with that atomic blast. Why they didn't just make it a cutscene, but forced you as a player to move trough it.

    It's much more than a simple marketing ploy if you ask me, and nothing short of brilliant!

  • TriggerHippie #72 2 years ago

    You're an idiot Donnie.

  • Fab4 #73 2 years ago

    Aye, a thug who organised a foresnic cover-up of the crime scene and intimidated witnesses on the grounds they were IRA men. Thugs sums up all members of terrorist groups. As for your insinuation that all the Disappeared were informers, its widley accepted that Jean McConville was murdered for going to aid of a shot British soldier. Murdered for showing compassion...what a mighty Ireland that would have been if the IRA had won.

    However, even if you disagree about the Disappeared, I guess Darkley was a mistake too? I guess the IRA didnt really intend to incinerate 12 people attending an Irish Collie Club function at La Mons House? I guess they thought detonating 29 bombs in an hour in and around Belfast was just a bit of a joke? Fuck the 9 people they killed and the hundreds they injured...I guess they were all 'legitimate targets' were they? How about the Enniskillen Poppy Day massacre? Another 11 civilians murdered because they had the audacity to remember the dead of 2 world wars, many of whom were Irish...brave ones, not PIRA scum.

    You are a fucking idiot Donnie. If you knew anything about the troubles in Ireland, you would know that all of the modern day terrorist groups...PIRA, INLA, UDA, UVF, RHC...you name it...they are all fucking parasites. They wouldnt think twice about putting a bullet in between your eyes if they thought it served their own perverse view of the world.

  • mooseman721 #74 2 years ago

    you don't need to comment on this anymore Donnie, you can go about your business. Move along.

  • stryker1121 #75 2 years ago

    I have mixed feelings about this. You cannot compare it to the killing of NPCs in GTA b/c the chaos in that game is not directly integrated into the storyline as it is in MW2...and some 12-year-old budding sociopath is not gonna give shit one about being "educated" about terrorism.. However, as short as the SP experience in MW1 was, it had a pretty gripping narrative that took some bold looks at the horrors of war. MW2 looks to be continuing that trend.

  • actionfitz #76 2 years ago

    Activision's MW2 will "evoke Price Gouging atrocities"
    Fixed.

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

  • actionfitz #77 2 years ago

    "why not create a scenario a little more current, like having it be about some sort of Al-Qaeda offshoot, or the new IRA, or ETA or something?"

    Because the core audience of the game are ass-hat American teens (regardless of its 18+ rating) and to stay semi-relevant to them, it'll always be Russians or Arabs, however distasteful many of us find that. It's easy for them to follow. Try explaining the complexities of Anglo-Irish relations over the past few centuries or a history of the Basque separatists to the 13 year old mouth-breathers on xbox live and see how far their attention span lasts.