Columnist Calls Black Ops Ad "Twisted"

[joystickjunki3]

The ad is really impressive, but I can definitely see how it might be seen as offensive or inappropriate. I have a friend in the military who had gone on a tour in Afghanistan, and he didn't seem very happy about how the commercial made light of a serious situation. Of course, that didn't stop him from buying the game, though.

That's not to say the game isn't good; just that the commercial may hit some nerves.

 

[Spygon]

"even at their highest level of action and violence," are inherently cartoonish and silly affairs"

Machkovech argues that videogames, "even at their highest level of action and violence," are inherently cartoonish and silly affairs.

Due to that remark is seems like you have not played a modern video game and now have completely lost you crediblity.All game developers that have put so much time and money tryinh to make there games realistic should give as apparently all games are silly and cartoonish.

 

[fix-the-spade]

That's just the BANG! Xbox Live ad taken to it's logical extreme.

But it is a little twisted, even though I don't find it offensive in the slightest the whole concept is just a bit wrong.

 

[craddoke]

My second thought when seeing the commercial was, "Gee, what does this advertisement say about the average American? Basically, we're all natural-born killers just waiting for an excuse."

That thought was no more comforting than my first reaction.

 

[Imp Poster]

Well, if it wasn't for Jimmy Kimmel, I would have taken it seriously. /sarcasm off
I love the way in commercials, the meaning in what they advertise takes away from the product itself only because people want to find it so. It's like trying to find a nipple slip on a beautiful girl in a dress. Fucking perverts.

 

[thevillageidiot13]

When I first saw this ad, and they showed the part with Kobe Bryant, I was just like... [pause, rewind] "Was that Kobe?"

OT: I can see how some might take it offensively, esp. because the horrors of war can be pretty brutal. Personally, I didn't find it ridiculously amusing, but it wasn't really offensive either.

 

[Blind Sight]

I'm more concerned about how at 0:32 the guy who blows up the jeep looks suspiciously like Warren Ellis...

You fools! If you give Warren Ellis a gun we're all doomed, doomed I say!

 

[De-Moti]

Cool column columnist.

 

[V8 Ninja]

It's disappointing that the column writer, Sam Machkovech, and many other column writers won't realize that this is giving Activision free advertising. *Sigh*...

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Bash videogames, receive attention. Fuck me, this is getting old.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not bashing the Escapist's newsroom contributors, just the people who shit on video games because they know it's an easy way to get noticed.

 

[fanklok]

This ad equips people with real guns

I didn't know that you got to use real guns when shooting ads and stuff, I might just run off to Hollywood

videogames are inherently cartoonish and silly affairs.

There is just so much wrong with that I can't form a coherent sentence expressing my fury.

 

[crimsonshrouds]

People overeact to a COMMERCIAL

Its just sad when people get mad over nothing.

 

[Littaly]

I can totally see what he's saying. I think he's overreacting a little by posting it in a column, but it's still a valid opinion.

Differentiating between real and fake war/violence is pretty important. The last thing we need to delude ourselves into is that war is fun. Granted, we're nowhere near that at the moment, and the ad is pretty harmless, but I can see what he's saying and I would not file him under "narrow minded old, boring, person".

 

[Nabirius]

I honestly think this whole "controversy" is because it's a Call of Duty and so the media has to declare it "controversial" there is nothing special about this ad. I doubt Activision even meant to stir the pot this time (even though they often do).

 

[Curtisthekiller]

in other news the president stated that his peanutbutter sandwitch was "stale"
and later this morning britney spears claimed that breast augmentation was "Expencive"
honestly people, how the fuck did this make news? we don't need two cents from every pansy with a keyboard cluttering up the escapist. If we keep going on like this we may need to go to the coin counter every week.
to quote HankMan out of context: "So What?"

 

[samsonguy920]

This is a prime example of how it is time people like this got their head out of the sand and realize we are in a brave new world. When people are playing war games this is exactly what they are visualizing. Hell that is exactly what I am visualizing.
If that ad is too much for that guy there is always Sonic or Mario for him to play with.

 

[blindthrall]

This is the equivalent of Activision handing the anti-gaming establishment a hammer, then laying its dick out on a hard surface. They're daring the media to give them free press. It's a painfully obvious strategy by now, and it'll probably backlash on the gaming industry at some point.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

I understand the concern, but my first reaction was amusement, not horror. You don't see anyone getting angry at violent films or television shows. It's nice that they show a diverse group of people coming together to play video games. Which, as a side note is amusing since you see a woman first and they happened to forget those female avatar items. I loved this commercial.

No, E.A. could not, because it's published by Activision.

 

[Mechsoap]

little shotgun wielding girl? that was a woman...

its a game! not an ''depressing-truth-simulator-instead-of-something-that-is-fun''

 

[Moriarty70]

its still missing 12yo noobs but I kinda like this commercial I dont see anything wrong with it also I dont see anything wrong with the banned Xbox commercial

That's just what I was thinking. If it had the kid standing there screaming at people calling them cheaters and Kimmel cheap for using the launcher, then it'd be a real depiction of online gaming.