MW3 Minor Spoiler, (A Death scene)

[Assassin Xaero]

Will this cause unnecessary controversy ?

*looks at Fox News*

Yes.

I'm pretty sure a game has killed a child before, probably even a recent game. I saw nothing wrong with it, and I bet half the people wouldn't have seen it as killing a child until the media decides to bring attention to it.

 

[Hyper-space]

...aimed at an immature audience

*Looks at your Pony avatar*

Well...throwing stones, glasshouses and all that.

 

[natster43]

Also Activision. I am disappointed in you. You should have followed this chart! http://www.cracked.com/funny-3135-call-duty-modern-warfare-ii/ It is the only logical step in controversy making!

 

[Smooth Operator]

Ah yes cheap edgy shots to get attention, it's what we always wanted

 

[Raso719]

I think the problem isn't that a kid dies but that it happens in a game that does little, if anything, to actually go ingot how messed up war is. I mean Call of Duty will show you how awesome it it to use a C-130 gunship and how awesome it it to nuke stuff and blah blah blah but it does little to make a clear statement that all of this is war and it's horrible.

So if you think this was put in the game to make a statement you're right. It says "look at how violent this game is! Give us free publicity and buy the game!" It's designed to be overly edgy for the sack of free publicity because we live in a day and age where any statement you make is controversial. You make a statement about how war is evil and that not all Muslims gibbering ever doers and you'll get in as much trouble as if you said war has no negative consequences and all Muslims are the enemy of freedom, liberty and Jesus. Actually I'd argue that Call of Duty goes out of it's way to glorify war and guns, but that's my personal opinion and I'm sure many people would argue to the contrary.

Honestly, I don't get the whole idea where killing a child is some how worse than killing an adult. I mean remember Mayor Maccready from fallout 3? The kid clearly wanted to die, I mean why else would he be such a D-bag to a guy pointing tri-beam rifle at him? It would be cruel not to respect his wishes and blow his little brains out. So killing kids is no problem for me. Killing old people is wrong though. It just is.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Probability of news feeds having a goddamned field day over this: 85%

Probability of gamers not giving two shits: 100%

Also, what happened? Did the truck blow up, or some building, like the Big Ben? And were those supposed to be children giblets?

 

[BristolBerserker]

Meh. That's not controversial. It was a digital child getting blown up. It's doesn't harm anyone in the real world. I've seen worse stuff in films and tv shows.

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

...aimed at an immature audience

*Looks at your Pony avatar*

Well...throwing stones, glasshouses and all that.

Really buddy...that's your argument to dismiss him? Weak.

This is just Infinity Ward trying to get shock value instead of making sense of their terrible plot. Easier to care about some unknown pixel child than make us care for the characters that you actually play as. I hope this does not get around too much as it is as useless as No Russian.

 

[Mosesj]

I came across this very randomly, http://www.allgamesbeta.com/2011/11/modern-warfare-3-child-death-outrage.html or http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dZhRNAeE9rk

Please take a minute to judge the video. You watched it ? Good, Okay as we can clearly see in what appears to be MW3 a child is killed by a bomb blast. Will this cause unnecessary controversy ? and what are your opinions ?

My opinion: I honestly don't have a problem with it, it's sad and a little disturbing but really I don't see it crossing any limits, the player is not actually interacting in anyway it's really just a cut scene and their have been far worse things in games then this so I'll happily let it pass.

world's strongest camera because the screen didn't crack. Well, what about fallout 3 where you let a nuke go off in a town with children in it? that seems way more contreversal then this

 

[nin_ninja]

It's not even slightly controversial. As someone else said in another thread, you don't see the kid choking to death, nor anyone else doing the same. Just her and her mother disappearing in a cloud of green smoke, while the dad falls over and seemingly dies instantly, without any gasping breathes or choking sounds.

To be honest, TV shows have scenes that are a lot more controversial then that one.

Hell, even the leaked ME 3 preview has that kid getting blasted out of the sky by reapers. That meant more to me than this video did.

 

[MeatMachine]

They clearly did their best to fuel the nastiness.

...and I don't care.

 

[Deschamps]

It's absolutely pointless. I could see a scene like that in a game like Heavy Rain, where it would actually be important. But, like the airport massacre in whichever Call of Duty game it was (MW2, I think?) it's there only for shock value, and so they can pretend to be mature.

This isn't mature. It's childish.

Hell, No Russian was actually important to the plot. Exactly what was this supposed to be about? World War III is going on, which I would think would be much more interesting and dramatic then a few little terorrist attacks.

I won't deny that it was related to the plot, but I have to wonder if the designers really thought it was important. By giving the player the option to skip the level, they seem to be suggesting that they don't feel it's vital to the story. If it was actually important, then there would be no option to skip it, and the game would get its Mature rating based on more than mindless violence.

 

[Darren716]

This is pretty tame compaired to bioshock

 

[TheTurtleMan]

Who cares? I've seen much worse done on daytime cable to children. At the end of the day it's still just a video game, and it's not like they show the little girl being tortured and excecuted, it's just a random explosion. The point of this being in the game is probably to try and show that war affects people as innocent as little kids, albeit it's kind of a moot point considering what game series this is.

In my opinion the infamous No Russian level in Warfare 2 was MUCH worse than this is.

 

[Ickorus]

That seen was disgustingly, horrifically, devastatingly cheesy.

It's like they had some sort of manual on how to make the cheesiest least shocking 'shock scene' ever and if they didn't have a manual for it they should publish one.

More on topic, looking at that and how badly executed it is im willing to bet they realised somewhere towards the end of development that they didn't have their signature shock scene in the game and the rest of the team were busy so they gave the task to some interns.

The sad thing is that could have been a very powerful moment in the game if it wasn't so cheesy but as it is the game could have gone without it and lost nothing for it.

Spoiler: Location Spoiler

Also, Big Ben is tiny in that scene, are we sure they weren't at a model village?

 

[PunkRex]

I wasn't against the idea of a scene like that, but it just felt so phoned in.

Indeed.

"Mommy, Mommy, look at how happy and alive I am, WEE, WEEEE, WEEEEEE-BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"

Also, I can saftly say as an Englishmen, TWO Union Flags on the SAME street... MW designers, we know its the UK, WE CAN SEE BIG BEN!!! Have they even been to London?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm going to side with the mahority here, it's not controversial, just disappointing, unless MW3 has made some amazing shift in tone, it's just there as FOX bait to ensure some bonus media attention.

If it was in a more meaningful game, and played with more gravitas than the average of Jackass, then I'd consider its controversy value.

As it is, I expect there'll be a 'Do you want to blow up some children Y/N' toggle as that level starts.

Also, look at Saint's Row 3, it's actually going for offensive and dumb, and it doesn't go there, because, I get the sense it understands its audience. Then again, perhaps this is the MW3 audience. The 'Madden with guns' bros.

 

[PunkRex]

This is pretty tame compaired to bioshock

And you don't even SEE that.

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

I really don't care right now. Unless this turns into an opportunity to show the effects of war on people OTHER than those on the battlefield, (which it won't) the only thing I see is a minor cutscene in a video game. I'm still gonna buy it. I like the Call of Duty series, and no stupid cutscene in a singleplayer I never beat in the first place is going to stop me from doing that.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I'm going to just name a couple of video games out there that show a child dying either in gameplay or in promotional advertisement. It should be noted that these games are between 1-5 years old and are all part of the current gen, trust me, I could go farther back if I wanted to, but I'd rather pick some games that are still fresh in our minds.

1) Bioshock. Every time you kill a big daddy, you can rescue or harvest the little sister he is protecting. The Latter not only kills the little sister, it fucking DISINTEGRATESher leaving nothing, but a slug that was holding the Adam.

2) Army of Two: the 40th Day. Its a bad game, sure, but I need to point out that, once again, you have the option to send a child to his death. In one of the many moral choices that plauge the game, you're offered a choice between sending a child you are protecting to get a nearby sniper rifle or to stay in the nearby ventilation system. The former sends the child out and he retrieves the rifle, then he does a little dance prior to getting shot, and dying. And, yes, he does dance (or jump up in down in victory) during a firefight. I wish I was kidding.

3)Dead Rising. In the intro scene to Dead Rising, a mother and daughter are attacked by a large number of zombies. The scene cuts to black before either are killed, but common sense dictates they bothed died. Heck, its sequel even involves the possibility that your own kid could die.

4) Dead Island trailer. Do I need to explain this one? Its recent memory, features a zombified child who gets thrown out a window and dies.

And these 4 are just off the top of my head. I can probably think of a number of others if I had enough time (Fallout 3! 2 Children die if you blow up Megaton!), but these should be enough to remind you that this isn't the first time that a video game has depicted the death of a child. (League of Legends has a mage whose only 6-10 years old who can be killed, over and over again). Its nothing new, its not as bad as people will be making it out to believe and even after all that, it still won't be as bad or as impacting as No Russian.

The Call of Duty series is desensitizing people to violence and death. Their games are aimed at an immature audience that will think killing everyone who is not the same as you is the right thing to do.

Considering that 75% of the series involves shooting Germans or Russians, both of whom are White Europeans, I'm finding that hard to believe.