Parliament Vs Modern warfare 2

[hestan101]

Well for those of you who arent into games, yesterday (10th) saw the release of pretty much what is projected to be the most succesful modern game in history(oxymoron there, but you get the picture). It has something like 400m projected revenue between now and Christmas. It was mentioned in parliament
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8342589.stm

*MINOR SPOILERS*
For those of you who just want a quick summary, the poblem is basically one level set in a Russian airport. You're an undercover
US agent infiltrating a terrorist organisation. to gain their trust you have to assist them in the massacre of dozens of civilians and the airport hijack. the parliament elemet was a Mr Keith Vaz commenting that children shouldnt be exposed to this, and he was promptly put down by other mebers pointing out that its an 18 cert game and so on.

Now this has prompted the usual barrage of Daily Mail fury that is to be expected. However, this is the first time that i've seen even the slightest grain of truth in it. I have the game, and its stunning, however the airport mission is genuinely disturbing. The worst parts are the small details like people trying to drag away their wounded fellows, seeing a man lying against a wall with a woman checking his pulse, and seeing them both get shot.Granted the game gives you the offer to skip it, and of course there's " dont like; don't buy", and i'm in NO way having a go at Activision, the game deserves every copy it sells. Im more shocked that i myself found it unpleasant to play.

Anybody else played it? If so what did you think to it?

 

[evil tendencies]

Vicarious thrills of horrific violence are nothing new. Writers have been doing it for hundreds of years; I think its simply the civilized man's way of coping with the fact that our world has great potential everywhere for violence and danger.

While I don't object to people indulging in it, however, I've seen enough of it myself in real life with my early career choices. I just skipped the level.

 

[freakinacage]

I have heard about that level. Not keen on it myself but that won’t stop me buying the game. It looks stunning. Will probably play the level but I feel guilty at playing bad guys in comp games so will feel really bad after that!

I think it’s a good sign that you were disturbed by it. Normally killing and stuff like that doesn’t bother me and I doubt that it would encourage anyone to do it, but it just seems to be shocking for shocking’s sake. Which it doesn’t need anyway as it’s such an awesome series. Ther should be an option at the end asking if you enjoyed that level, if you say ‘yes’ they send round so psychoanalysts quick!!

 

[DrEvilmonki]

I haven't played it (haven't played video games in a LONG time) and my inital reaction to hearing your description was of feeling uneasy. However Evil Tendencies point is correct, we have been living this stuff through entertainment for centuries through books, plays and movies. Look at the SAW movies or the Bible for that matter.

 

[DXM]

In Fallout 3 there is a quest that I refused to do. You were to go to a town occupied by children and you have to lure a certain little girl outside where a slaver basically abducts her into slavery. I know it's a game with electronic pixels but I found it so repulsive & morally wrong it bothered me that they would place this in the game but I had no problem pulling out my BlackHawk and putting a bullet into the slavers head. Am I a hypocrite.

 

[Chrome]

That quest in Fallout 3 is only available if you side with the 'wrong' side from the beginning, otherwise you help that town defend themselves from the raids.

 

[freakinacage]

That quest in Fallout 3 is only available if you side with the 'wrong' side from the beginning, otherwise you help that town defend themselves from the raids.

yeah i couldn't even be a bad guy in that, or oblivion.. oh well

 

[Chrome]

Only bad guy part I actually managed to pull in F3 was blowing up Megaton. After I had done that I reloaded and did it again several times, I completely loved the effect. It was breathtaking actually, I giggled like a sadistic child. When my lust for destruction was satisfied I reloaded and carried on like nothing had ever happened.

 

[devoncodain]

Being a Combat Veteran it really doesn't bother me to play the good guys or the bad guys I just like shooting and blowing stuff up maybe my psyhciatrist is right I might be a little crazy.

 

[Niall]

I played that mission and it didn't affect me. It really has to be played though because otherwise the entire cornerstone of the storyline is lost, I think half the problem is that some people (parliament with the exception of Tom Watson) ignore the storyline and think it is a mission gloryfying terrorism. Which it isn't.

I play games to escape from reality so I buy and sell slaves in Fallout, I murder people in their sleep in Oblivion and laugh when shooting up an airport.

As there are no spoiler tags Ill just say that I was more enraged at a bit of the storyline later on.

 

[supervike]

Yeah, i just played that level last night.

I thought it was very odd, shooting fleeing civilians. I even decided to shoot my co-attackers (the game doesn't like you do to that, they'll turn on you).

I'm not offended by it, but it does make one think. It could have been worse, if there were little children, for instance.

I kinda wanted to play it again, but this time, miss the civilians on purpose.

But ultimately, videogames are quite often panned for this sort of thing, but to me if it evokes thought or disturbs a bit, it is showing how well the medium can be used.

Story wise (in context with the game) it was very shocking...as was the allusion to torture (by the 'good' guys)

 

[freakinacage]

Only bad guy part I actually managed to pull in F3 was blowing up Megaton. After I had done that I reloaded and did it again several times, I completely loved the effect. It was breathtaking actually, I giggled like a sadistic child. When my lust for destruction was satisfied I reloaded and carried on like nothing had ever happened.

oh well i did that a few times.... bbooooooOOOOOOoooomm! and still that moira was all chirpy! gah!

 

[Torn blue sky]

I've heard a lot about this particular stage in the game the past few days. While having served, i'm not adverse to firing in anger; but my moral compass wouldn't let me shoot at the wrong people...
I know i'll get round to playing it eventually since I love the CoD series, but i'm pretty sure I won't be liking that first bit.

 

[Spacemunkie]

...Mr Keith Vaz...

Excuse my French, but the guy is a cock of highest order:



Apart from that sort of political ineptitude ("No, I haven't watched the video..."), the guy was fiddling money and playing the system long before any of the recent scandals came out. He's basically been sacked from positions and even suspended from the HoC and yet he's still been promoted back to a position of power whilst continuing to abuse the system at every opportunity.

I'd have him publicly flogged and cast from the HoC forthwith. If we have to have f***wits spouting garbage they know nothing about, we could at least have honest f***wits spouting garbage they know nothing about...

:curse!::loser:

 

[laurence]

PC Games

I worked my way through that level last night and wasn't phased in the slightest. I really enjoyed it. After completing that mission I went back and did it again for good measure. It's really cool how everything goes into slow motion, and the background music makes it an extra cool level to mow your way through. I did try killing the baddies but this blows your cover and you lose a life. I'm sure that all this controversy about this level will only serve to help the guys at Infinity Ward sell more copies. It has an MA rating, so technically, kids shouldn't be playing it. But of course this won't stop 'em.

One thing I love about this game so far are the guns. They're really the feature. Excellent game! Best game for me since GTA4.

 

[Cleezy]

I played this level on wednesday, I had to try the multiplayer first of course.

Anyway my view on it is that the mission is intengral to the games storyline. I think that by putting the warning up when the game loads makes people anticipate it more and then think about the level more. While I was playing it, I found it quite disturbing but only because I was thinking of the mental state of the character of the character played and that I wondered if members of these special forces have had to do this?

That's the part that disturbed me the most, the actual level felt a little surreal until I started getting shot at then it was just react or die.

I like the idea of the level, its intengral to the storyline. The part that shocked me the most was the end of the level, people who have played it know what I mean.

It's crazy it sold 4.7million copies in a day. Phenomenal