Think Modern Warfare 2 is already controversial?

[Fallopian_Faust]

I for one compliment the size of Infinity Ward's cojones.

For all you squeamish people out there, IW has confirmed the scene is skippable.

 

[ecenta12]

mmm interesting, interesting, ive come up with a theory, its in russia, its russian terrorists disguised as cia agents to make it look like the U.S is attacking russia, remember the teaser, your seriously telling me no one made a link to the mw2 teaser and this. they said "remember no russian(russian language)" and then they said something about starting a revolution btw my opinion/guess please don't flame me.

 

[shadow skill]

Meh, I don't have a problem with it. If I was making the game I would push for far worse. I know why there is a fuss but I'm not phased by it. I found Code Geass more interesting with respect to taking the role of a terrorist and causing the death of innocents. Even Death Note was better at this than this scene alone. I hope they handle it well either way.

 

[fozzy360]

I like what Veret said. A lot of people misunderstand the concept of games "growing up." It's not about how much blood, gore, sex, and violence you can throw at a game (and don't get me wrong, I love my blood-splattered, gore-soaked, sexed-up, violent game as the next person). Rather it's about how you use the medium at hand to craft a story that fully utilizes that medium to convey a strong message, story, or emotional impact. Take Braid, for instance. Braid is one of my favorite games of all time. At first glance, it seems to be a unique side-scroller with an interesting time-manipulation mechanic. However, once the story starts to unfold and once you finish the game, you realize that each piece of the game (the level design, the time-manipulation, the art style) is used to it's fullest to create a bleak and somewhat depressing game with a very ambiguous ending. The game was fully utilized to craft this abstract story about time, loss, and (at least, from what I got) redemption. Braid is more grown up than most M-rated games out there. MW2 looks to be doing more of the same. Sure it's shooter, but IW doing all they can with the game to create a story that really hasn't been told in this way before and to invoke an emotional response from the player that a film really can't.

 

[FriendlyPossum]

i think it makes it amazing...random slaughter? who doesn't love it? you can't spell slaughter without laughter....so therefore its fun! =D

that is by far the coolest quote ever. You sir are a god amongst men.

 

[Robert0288]

Well this has just added some replay value for me... ok ok ok, but seriously if it is an integral part of the story there's no reason why it shouldn't be there. IW wants to portray the horrors of war to their audience, and I don't think there is a better way than this.

 

[NoriYuki Sato]

i think it makes it amazing...random slaughter? who doesn't love it? you can't spell slaughter without laughter....so therefore its fun! =D

that is by far the coolest quote ever. You sir are a god amongst men.

why thank you my good mortal..my shirt currently says "i put the laughter in slaughter"..i made a kid run away just by having him look at it

 

[Ocelot GT]

It seems pretty unnecessary and unrealistic IMO.

I'm fairly certain any CIA agent is going to STOP a massive attack, rather than be a part of it. I mean, that's the moment when they should break cover and stop the attack.

Otherwise it's like an undercover DEA officer, starting out as a buyer, and ending up running the whole East Coast and then after 20 years of running drugs, he springs an elaborate trap to stop the drug trade after already helping to create it...

or something >_> <_<

 

[LordFisheh]

It's ok as part of the game imo, especially if it's skippable. But, it does just seem like more proff that they're going too far with MW2. Cod 4 was epic, we all know that, and to make sure the sequal lives up to it, they're doing some pretty ott things, ie, throwing knives with dual weild pistols and America blown up, and now shooting people in an airport. Just seems like they're trying to hard and trying to force out another game as 'epic', rather than let it come normally.

 

[hermes]

Here is another link for those that didn't saw it before (the quality is really low, though): http://kotaku.com/5391523/watch-modern-warfare-2-gameplay

And about the scene itself, I think is pretty sick and doesn't really has a point to it. Really... I think the detachment it gets by forcing you into a situation like this in the first level, without any previous background, can backslash in a game that is all about inmersion. Not to menction the amount of press it will get from the "games are killer simulation" crowd.

That, or it will make people excited about it. And seriously, if you think "how cool, I am in an airport shooting at helpless civilians... this game is awesome", and aim for a "Kill 100 civilians in the airport" archievement, you got issues.

And to people arguing this not being any worst than killing terrorists or nazis on the previous Call of Duty games... Are you for real? I am not saying I should feel confortable about people being shown as dummy shooting range targets, but at least previous enemies were soldiers. They fought for what they believed for (or were told to believe), but the key word is "fought"... They are armed, ready and, if you have simpaty about the idea of not killing them, you might be unlucky enough to find someone on the other side that does not share your sense of mercy. War is shit, indeed... But what is being shown here is a slaughter.

And what is wrong with showing the slaughter? Should the slaughter not be allowed to be shown? War should only be shown in the sanitized, positive light that video games usually cast it in?

I don't have a problem with an ugly representation of war, or slaugther. I do, however, have a problem with the perspective it is shown, with the kind of emotions people are looking for in such perspective (it is first person for a reason, after all) in a game like Call of Duty, and the amount of rampant bad press that sequence is made to bait... basically, the amount of people looking forward to it to fullfill their power fantasy (and don't tell me the gaming comunity is more mature than that), and that it will make more damage to gaming into mainstream media than helps (which, by the way, you can't deny it was exaclty the kind of reaction IW is looking for).

EDIT:

I think that is also more than because they are showing terrorists shooting at an airport.

The main problem is that you are the terrorist shooting at innocent people... On the first level... Without any serious background or better excuse than "you are him, you are there".

That is an incredibly awful mistake in the sense that (most rational people) would have a problem inmersing or empaticing with the situation, and a game like this is all about inmersion. They either created a great level of detachment from the action (ok, I will get this section done so I can continue with the real game) or just reduced the dramatic tension of a Call of Duty game to a Postal level. And in the end you are killed by one of the terrorists, just to remind you that "by the way, those are the bad guys"

The scene would be much more powerful, more engaging, and still show the same content if you play as a civilian, and have to sneak your way out of the airport, just to be discovered and executed by the terrorists at the end. But... god forgive IW if they ever come out with a secuence where you don't have a gun on your hands.

I don't think that anybody is disagreeing that a lot of people aren't going to like this sequence ? I certainly am not. (Although I would point out that there were plenty of sequences even just in Call of Duty 4 where you didn't have a gun in your hands.) But I think your analysis that this will detach people from the game is a bit off the mark. They may not like what they're doing in the game, but you can bet they'll notice it, and probably be drawn in much more than they would in a forced stealth sequence where they inevitably get killed at the end anyway.

Either way, this is the sequence they've decided to deliver. I'm not really interested in how it could have been done better - I'm interested in whether it should have been done at all.

 

[littlelacysurprisepageant]

mmm interesting, interesting, ive come up with a theory, its in russia, its russian terrorists disguised as cia agents to make it look like the U.S is attacking russia, remember the teaser, your seriously telling me no one made a link to the mw2 teaser and this. they said "remember no russian(russian language)" and then they said something about starting a revolution btw my opinion/guess please don't flame me.

That's a good theory. That would also explain the CIA symbol at the mission briefing.

 

[pwnzerstick]

I belive that this is a step forward in the industry, because most developers do not have the courage to put something like this into a game.

 

[Ishnuvalok]

After watching it, I can say I was a little shocked from what I saw, there's something different to killing armed men who are shooting you compared to just....massacring civilians. It makes me think, now I travel a lot, so being in an airport feels very normal for me. And just thinking about me, sitting at the gate, waiting for my flight, then suddenly hearing gunfire, people screaming, seeing people get shot in front of me, that's what scares me. That's whats really frightening.

But kudos (somewhat, I still dislike them for their IWnet decision for PC) to IW for being brave enough to do this. They have these scenes in movies and books, why not games?

 

[MiracleOfSound]

In thier own way, this is the equivalent of Cliffy B 'Bigger Better More Blah Blah' hyperbole.

I think they are trying to make MW2 a little too OTT what with the dual wielding, airships and now this. I just hope I can skip the scene and that the game is as simple and fun as MW.

 

[clixx13]

I'm sorry hold up.

It seems we have a bunch of people who don't understand their own hypocrisy with the leaked video and the terrorists killing "innocent" civilians at an airport.

...

Have you guys forgotten how many video games you have played where you have killed civilians?

I only have to say one video game's title to demonstrate the basic hypocrisy these people who feel uneasy about killing civilians.

Grand Theft Auto

Get off the moral high ground here because there have been plenty of video games where we the player have soaked our hands in the virtual blood of the civilian.

Take some time and really think about all the video games you have played and the ambiguity where we gamers put ourselves and go unphased when we murder, slaughter, and annihilate the "badguys".

Just remember that what we do in video games is not violence. Just like this piece of art.

http://www.johnstoncenter.org/userfiles/Magritte%20-%20This%20is%20not%20a%20Pipe.jpg

And if you don't understand the point of the art then you don't understand your own hypocrisy being offended by killing civilians.

Congratulations for regurgitating something that's been said a million times over in this thread alone.

"In Grand Theft Auto you kill tons of people so its okay!"

 

[CNKFan]

i think it makes it amazing...random slaughter? who doesn't love it? you can't spell slaughter without laughter....so therefore its fun! =D

True I am going to replay that level a couple of times.