Daily Mail Voices Concern Over "Ultra-Violent" Modern Warfare 3

[Logan Westbrook]

Daily Mail Voices Concern Over "Ultra-Violent" Modern Warfare 3

Media pressure groups are calling out the reveal trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00503E8S2/ref=s9_simh_gw_p63_d0_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=083T55ARW1SCCJJMKA92&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846] for being in "incredibly poor taste."


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British newspaper, the Daily Mail [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390672/Fury-Call-Duty-game-recreates-7-7-Tube-bomb-attacks.html], is upset Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to task for its "ultra-violent" content, which the paper feels gets a little too close to the 7/7 bombings that occurred in London in 2005. The paper says that some are actually calling for the game to be banned.

The 7/7 bombings were a series of suicide attacks in the English capital, targeting the city's transport links, with the majority of the attacks happening on the London Underground service. The attacks killed 56 people, including four bombers, and injured around 700 more. The Daily Mail pointed to sections from the recently released Modern Warfare 3 trailer, which showed an Underground train derailed by a pickup truck, and a series of masked soldiers firing on an unmarked vehicle, calling them a "chilling echo" of the 2005 attacks.

Vivienne Pattison, a spokesperson for pressure group Mediawatch UK, said, "I have concerns as these games are hyper-real and take place in a landscape we are familiar with. In light of the fact we have just had the 7/7 inquests, it is in incredibly poor taste." However, in a statement Activision said that Modern Warfare 3 was a work of fiction aimed at adults, and it did not recreate any real events.

While it's very easy to dismiss the Mail's comments as reactionary, especially considering its less than [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/85609-Daily-Mail-Criticizes-MadWorld-For-Wii] friendly [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86408-Daily-Mail-Makes-Up-More-GTA-Crap] stance on videogames in the past, it's not hard to see how people affected by the bombings might feel uneasy about the Modern Warfare 3 trailer. Of course, it's very unlikely that Activision will change the game over these complaints - it left the controversial "No Russian" level in Modern Warfare 2 after all - and it seems unlikely that the complaints will do a great deal to dent the game's sales.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 comes out on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 8th.

Source: via GamePro [http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/219638/uks-daily-mail-reports-fury-over-modern-warfare-3]






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[Lord Krunk]

Isn't the Daily Mail that newspaper that no one trusts?

EDIT: More on-topic, I find it hard to take this seriously. The COD MW games were only realistic during the first one - it seems to be growing steadily more ridiculous ever since.

The entire world turned into a battlefield? Sure, why not. But don't draw parallels with real-life terrorism, because it misses the point that the game is a work of fiction and growing steadily more fictional as time goes by.

 

[Sparrow]

Stop. Picking. British. Newspapers. Seriously, the Escapist is always commenting on the stuff the British press says. Our press is ultimately stupid, you're making us all look bad!

That being said, I did intially think much of the same thing when I watched the trailer. It just seemed a little strange that they're specifically target the rail system and the big red London buses considering the attacks.

 

[Zhukov]

Someone show these people the film Four Lions.

 

[Nabirius]

Eh, I don't think it really matters and I don't think anyone will take this cry for a ban at all seriously.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

And there it begins. MW3 gets attention, and Acvitision gladly takes any kind of attention they can get

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Isn't the Daily Mail that newspaper that no one trusts?

Yup.. the only thing they've ever printed that i've actually believed, is that the latest pirates of the carribean film was terrible.

They're basically our FOX news.

Anyway, come on its been 6 years, im sure if this were a James Bond film or something they wouldnt mind but no because its a game.. or are they saying we can never have any fictional event ever take place in London again?

 

[Bob_F_It]

Isn't the Daily Mail that newspaper that no one trusts?

It's trusted by middle-class mothers, so in a way it's our Fox.

Which begs the question, when will Fox compare it to the 9/11 attacks.

 

[Sassafrass]

Eh, no surprise, I knew they'd get a stick up their arse about it. The Daily Mail gets a stick up its arse about everything, including Kick Ass.
And I wish I was lying about the Kick Ass thing. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1262948/Kick-Ass-Dont-fooled-hype--This-crime-cinema-twisted-cynical-revels-abuse-childhood.html]

 

[SomeBrianDude]

Ah, the Daily Mail prints more reactionary sensationalist bullshit, and the world keeps turning.

Someone show these people the film Four Lions.

I would love to see the average Daily Mail reader's response to that film, or to any of the episodes of Brass Eye, the spoof documentary series Chris Morris did back in the 90s.

 

[Sethzard]

The Daily Mail are the most ridiculous and unpleasant type of sensational journalists. And how is someone crashing a car into a train anything like someone bombing one?

 

[Kiefer13]

Isn't the Daily Mail that newspaper that no one trusts?

The one that no-one with any common sense trusts, yes. Unfortunately, this means it still has quite the readership. It's the worst of the bad bunch that are the British tabloids.

On Topic: Ridiculous reactionary sensationalism. Just what I'd expect from the Daily Fail. This kind of rabid moral indignation over nothing is their specialty.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Why is it that people have no problems with letting books, music, or movies approach certain subjects and events, but they get all pissy when a video game tries it? I say we call discrimination! *slams fist*

 

[Colinmac93]

Yes, let's listen to the newspaper that believes that just about everything causes cancer.

Don't believe me? Check this out:
http://hellokinsella.posterous.com/the-daily-mail-list-of-things-that-give-you-c

 

[Cenequus]

While I'm as far as one can be from titles as CoD and at best to make them a compliment I call them propaganda games. Still they do one thing right showing that war is not a pleasant thing and in examples like that shock terapy is the best to be used. Sure it's not easy to go beyond the we are good and we have to kill them because they are evil.

 

[Zaik]

Stop. Picking. British. Newspapers. Seriously, the Escapist is always commenting on the stuff the British press says. Our press is ultimately stupid, you're making us all look bad!

That being said, I did intially think much of the same thing when I watched the trailer. It just seemed a little strange that they're specifically target the rail system and the big red London buses considering the attacks.

You'd have difficulty finding press outside of the UK that isn't stupid either.

Over here you've got this line, and on one side you have the Church of Black Jesus, and on the other side you have Fox News. It's like trying to decide between drowning or being burned to death.

On topic, Daily Mail seems to be the Fox News of the UK, which would make their opinion on anything about as relevant as what I'd leave in the toilet after eating a thesaurus.

 

[Kiardras]

No one with more than half a brain cell actually gives any credence to the Daily Fail.

 

[Legion]

It is beginning to irritate me that The Escapist keeps making articles like this, as every time they choose a paper with no credibility and one that all British people know are the kind that blow everything out of proportion. The same goes for when Fox News and other such companies are mentioned.

Can we have some real news please?