Iran Bans Battlefield 3

[Andy Chalk]

Iran Bans Battlefield 3

The Islamic Republic of Iran has banned Battlefield 3 because it depicts a U.S. attack on the capital city of Tehran.

This may not come as a tremendous surprise to anyone but just in case there was any doubt, EA's recent Battlefield 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-3-Xbox-360/dp/B003O6G5TW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322515726&sr=8-1] is now officially unwelcome in Iran. "All computer stores are prohibited from selling this illegal game," a deputy with the security and intelligence division of the Iranian police [presumably the secret one] said in a statement carried by Asr-e Ertebat.

The greater surprise might be that the game is [or was] available for sale in Iran at all. EA has no official distributors in the country but pirated copies of BF3 and other big game releases are readily available at retailers. Many shops apparently saw the ban coming and have steered clear of the game entirely, however, but some unlucky retailers have reportedly been raided and arrested for selling the game even before the ban was announced.

According to Iran's Fars [http://english.farsnews.com/] news agency, a group of Iranian youths also launched a protest against the game in the time-honored fashion of an internet petition, which has so far attracted around 5000 signatures. "We understand that the story of a videogame is hypothetical... [but] we believe the game is purposely released at a time when the U.S. is pushing the international community into fearing Iran," it says.

Iran is currently believed to be intensely pursuing a nuclear weapons program, which is expected to lead to a preemptive strike on its research facilities by Israel and, eventually, the end of the world.

Source: GamePolitics [http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jCwtm31oYnU70sTJKF8iltAfNHnA?docId=CNG.8af6b7bf5835350c0f276c56855993c1.201]


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[klasbo]

"[...] we believe the game is purposely released at a time when the U.S. is pushing the international community into fearing Iran"

And the decision to ban the game outright is one of the reasons for fearing Iran.
This just seems counter-productive.

 

[Sixcess]

Why is there what looks like a picture of Malcolm Mclaren accompanying this story?

 

[Brawndo]

Instead of banning the game, Iran should make a state-sponsored game with the United States as the bad guys to counter Battlefield 3, kicking off the first installment in what is to become the great Iranian-American Video Game Rivalry.

 

[fnartilter]

Iran called the whaambulence.

If Russia and Germany followed suit, imagine their blacklist.

If I recall correctly German censors games with the Nazi symbol.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I see what you did there. And you should be ashamed.

Iran is so far away.

 

[Silent Anima]

Instead of banning the game, Iran should make a state-sponsored game with the United States as the bad guys to counter Battlefield 3, kicking off the first installment in what is to become the great Iranian-American Video Game Rivalry.

I would play this. What say you, America? a game where you play as a freedom fighter for a downtrodden emerging nation that gets invaded by the American's for morally ambiguous reasons?

Probably not. I have no reason to beleive the game would be any good. Besides I've killed Americans many times in videogames already. We can't always be the good guy.

 

[samsonguy920]

Instead of banning the game, Iran should make a state-sponsored game with the United States as the bad guys to counter Battlefield 3, kicking off the first installment in what is to become the great Iranian-American Video Game Rivalry.

That would be the choice that makes sense, and I wouldn't even have a problem with, even with me being from the US. However, Iran has yet to actually show to the world a complete product that shows imagination, creativity, and initiative together in the same sentence.
Instead they would rather play like the US Congress, point their fingers at the other politicos and blame them for their own incompetence. Iran is playing less like a religious dictatorship or more like a bunch of kids stuck at the kiddie table. Several of the current world powers were stuck at the world's kiddie table once or twice(or even thrice) during their existence. They got off their duff and did something, Iran. Why don't you?

 

[ElPatron]

Very stupid of Iran, obviously, but I get the feeling that if a game was made in Iran depicting an Iranian attack on Washington, the US government would be pretty quick to ban it.

There'd definitely be a lot of calls for a ban either way.

Not true. So far, I don't know of any game that the US has banned.

Second, in multiplayer games you can kill US troops since... I don't remember.

Third, there is a Chinese game called "Glorious Mission" where China faces the US. So far there is no ban in US soil.

 

[Furioso]

While I agree that something should be done about the growing number of idiots who fear the entire Middle East, I don't think there are many people who fear Iran who also live in Iran and who also play BF3 in Iran that could be affected by this

 

[samsonguy920]

Very stupid of Iran, obviously, but I get the feeling that if a game was made in Iran depicting an Iranian attack on Washington, the US government would be pretty quick to ban it.

There'd definitely be a lot of calls for a ban either way.

When was the last time a game itself was declared illegal in the United States?

So far the closest has been the Postal games, but they don't represent anything but pure violence and chaos. A game supporting an agenda other than any of the western nations has yet to get the attention of the masses to the point where it would also get the attention of western governments. I've come across more than one game project being worked on out of Iran, one of them an MMO. Who knows if they are ever going to be completed, but what I have seen seems quite solid and wouldn't even be inflammatory in the US.

 

[josemlopes]

These games dont make me fear Iran, or Russia, or North Korea (although that one doesnt need a game to be scary), these games just make me understand how USA sees the world.

 

[Silent Anima]

These games dont make me fear Iran, or Russia, or North Korea (although that one doesnt need a game to be scary), these games just make me understand how USA sees the world.

USA = video game developers? Idk I, for one, liked the last Iranian guy I met.