Columnist Calls Black Ops Ad "Twisted"

[Unesh52]

snip

I agree with you about the back-slapping thing. It's the same way I feel when someone posts a video of a guy throwing a cat in a bin or whatever. Everyone rushes in to post their obvious comment about how he should rot in hell or whatever. It's like, can't we just assume that you feel that way until you say otherwise? At least after the first hundred comments to that effect. Say something thoughtful about it, don't just say yay or nay.

I think it's a bit weird for people to call out any media for bringing violence to life. People, especially kids, love to make believe they're brutally murdering people. All the time, often without the help of our futur-y magic boxes.

 

[Snotnarok]

I love how nothing is innocent anymore. It could be Sonic running around with palm trees and it'd be offensive because it depicts palm trees that are native to a racist tribe who had slaves. Sheesh it was a good commercial.

 

[Branches]

Honestly, the ad was great. And even then, I liked the Xbox ad. There's some sort of Demarcation line when it comes to game ads, where every other insane ad like the newest one for the Russel Crowe movie shows some guy trying to break his wife out of prison and escape.

I mean, It's reading too much into something that's meant to be entertaining enough to sell you a product.

 

[loc978]

"This ad equips people with real guns and simulates real-life, no-CGI combat," Sam Machkovech wrote in a column for The Atlantic. "The thud of recoil, the screams of rockets, the dust of explosions... and the look of exasperation on that little, shotgun-wielding girl. The only things missing are the dead bodies on the receiving ends of each bullet and blast."

That columnist is seriously equating Hollywood-style war movie action to actual combat..? I'd find it mildly insulting if it weren't so damn funny. Those weren't real guns, and that wasn't a simulation of combat.

Trust me, "realistic" is not the term one should use to describe that ad.
Fun, funny, and just enough application of the Rule of Cool, though... that would be an appropriate description.

 

[superbatranger]

Twisted? I found this ad to be hilariously awesome. I mean, did I see Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel?

 

[Daemonate]

I do not think this sort of ad is appropriate. This is realisically depicted warfare 'as a joke' - but it is advertisment, not satire.

It IS hilarious, and for a gaming 'in-joke' it's great.

For a public advertisment, it is exactly what we DON'T need going about with the Supreme Court ruling in-progress.

 

[Darth Lexx]

All this ad does is speak the truth.

 

[Danpascooch]

It's funny, but yeah, pretty twisted.

 

[Sam Machkovech]

...you know I write for The Escapist, too, right? Hiya!

Also, while I'm here, here's the addendum I posted at The Atlantic, which I hope clarifies a few points. Thanks for readin'.

"I'm not typically in the business of writing corrections or follow-ups -- I already get my say in the article itself, and I don't do line-by-line responses -- but I forget that many readers here aren't familiar with my prior work and have, resultingly, read this piece as an anti-games screed.

To wit, I love me a good first-person shooter. I could go on about the pros and cons of the first Modern Warfare game, but its tilt towards realism, combined with arcadey inspirations and shining art direction, was a boon for the entire gaming industry. 2007's MW was--and, in my opinion, still is--the pinnacle of escapist action.

I wrote this piece because I think there's a clear difference between the game of Call of Duty and the real-life violence of this ad, and I feared that mainstream media would focus on the latter as a means of saying "video games are bad." That's their job -- to drum up interest via fear and trolling.

That's what I hoped to combat with my phrase "these aren't the games I play." I do play Call of Duty games alone or with friends; I don't senselessly mimic real war."

 

[Trombone_Hero]

I liked that ad. It was pretty good. But I didn't see one dead body.

I can see why people would get worked up about it... but still...

 

[shogunblade]

The commercial is hilarious to me, just because the combo of the Rolling Stones and that last shot of the Ice Cream Man (I don't care, he's an Ice Cream Man to me, don't persuade me to think otherwise) is fantastic.

Now, if they put the commercial in the middle of a war-torn area with soldiers, It wouldn't be funny. I think Machkovech needs to seriously consider satire for a minute. The whole commercial is satirical of war, in the same way Dr. Strangelove was.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

He obviously hasn't seen any videos of a real war then. It's about as twisted as going paintballing. I don't see how this equates to any worse than ads for films.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

Think of the children! Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?!?

 

[Drexlor]

How can he complain? That was one the most awesome ads I have ever seen!

 

[Nouw]

It's light hearted fun, but I think Black Ops should release a serious ad like Gears of War. DON'T POST THE WORM VIDEO!

War is serious guys, as long as people understand that.

 

[dnose]

I'm so glad to see that most of the people in this comment thread have no problem with the ad. I thought it was an awesome ad. The bits with Jimmy Kimmel and Kobe Bryant are great.