Vietnam Veteran Upset Over Black Ops Release Date

[Celtic_Kerr]

It seems highly unlikely to me that the two things are connected. It's not even on the damned day. I suppose it never struck him that early November is a very good time to release a game like Blops? I don't personally understand why the damn game keeps getting picked on for ridiculous reasons.

Well obviously it's gonna get picked on!

It's evil! It's disrespectful! I mean the nerve of those assholes donating millions of dollars to veteran forces, athen then an early NOvember release date? Obviously they're spitting on the momeories of the fallen soldiers by being so charitable. /sarcasm

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Look, I really hate Activision, but I call bullshit on this. I wouldn't even have cared if the damn game had been released on Remembrance Day. I really hate anyone that would make a day that glorifies anyone who went to war something sacred. The world doesn't stop because you want respect for the career you decided to take.

Ok, I'm calmed down. Now, sir, that doesn't mean I don't respect the military in itself. I agree that a country need an army for emergency situations, but I cannot agree that you make Remembrance Day something that is sacred. That would give the wrong meaning to war in general. The western world really fucked-up on the Vietnam war.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Is ANY day a good day to release a game that glorifies such a thing as war?

Yes any date that the numbers add up to 5 or 7 see october 14th or jan 16th.

It almost sounds like this guy is mad at some other thing and has chosen this video game as the straw that broke the camels back. That is a small thing to get upset over.

Edit: does anyone think game companies check dates other than for very sensitive holidays see christmas, 9/11 for americans, ect? I mean that would be a shit job if you had to check all the dates in every country to make sure you were not going to piss off some people.

Well, with the ways Veteran's have been pushing against the government for their rights up here, I'd say this guy has a good reason to be agitated.

That said, I don't think that Activision even knew Remembrance Day was this week. Its a more Canadian and British thing, and we aren't their largest market.

 

[Woodsey]

It seems highly unlikely to me that the two things are connected. It's not even on the damned day. I suppose it never struck him that early November is a very good time to release a game like Blops? I don't personally understand why the damn game keeps getting picked on for ridiculous reasons.

Of course it's not on the same day. Who releases a game on a holiday when stores will be closed?

Remembrance Day isn't a holiday here, I didn't realise it was in America.

I'm Canadian. Not American.
It's a statutory holiday in all provinces save Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

And that is your 911th post! Coincidence?! I THINK NOT!

Seriously though, Modern Warfare 2 was released in the same week, as was Modern Warfare, as was World at War, as was CoD 3, whilst 1 & 2 were at the very end of October.

It's just the time they release the games - it means they effectively bookmark a slot before they've really even announced the next game.

So they intentionally release war games in the same week that western countries remember those lost to war. Not at all a coincidence I would think. Though I wouldn't know when they're released since I've never burned money on a CoD game.

You should have probably saved that thinly veiled jab for someone who didn't just look up all the release dates on Wikipedia. I'll give you a 7/10 for effort though.

And really? You think Activision do it for that instead of for fiscal reasons? Maybe you should have a little read-up on them.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

WHAT!? They released it on November Ninth becuase it was a good day to release a game...

This. It was remembrance day today and none of my friends realised. I doubt this current generation cares. I certainly don't.

Our generation shut our work down for 10 minutes today, refusing to take a call until we had a moment of silence. Speak for yourself.

It's sad when someone doesn't care that thousands died so that they could be free. You disgust me

 

[DeASplode]

At least he isn't bashing the game with "VIDEO GAMES ARE BAD".

Maybe we'd think the same as him if we were war vets. I personally think it's daft to get upset over the release date of a product, but then there's things I or anyone else could get upset over and someone else will think it's daft.

Either way, he'll get over it.

 

[Jiefu]

Personally, I'd say it's disrespectful to release a game about war on a day that a war has happened. Which is all of them.

 

[Vrach]

I know it's the Escapist's job, but I really wish gaming magazines would just ignore this kind of stupidity. I don't know why we continuously give these people the attention they don't deserve, God knows they get enough of it out of retarded newspapers that are eager to jump on any anti-gaming story these days.

 

[slopeslider]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlB8ltchEiY
SCOREBOARD! SCOREBOARD!

 

[SageRuffin]

WHAT!? They released it on November Ninth becuase it was a good day to release a game...

This. It was remembrance day today and none of my friends realised. I doubt this current generation cares. I certainly don't.

Speak for yourself. Because you certainly don't speak for me.
Just because young kids are insensitive to the sacrifices of older generations, and the continuing sacrifices of our soldiers in Afghanistan and elsewhere doesn't make the day irrelevant. Releasing the game just two days before Remembrance day is in pretty poor taste.

Notice he/she said "this generation", which only further exemplifies that today's kids are a bunch of fucking idiots. Hell, that statement is borderline disrespectful in and of itself.

More of topic since I'm here, while I can definitely see his argument, I just think it was a bad coincidence. Besides, a previous CoD game came out around this time, correct? What's people to say about that?

 

[ultimateownage]

Yeah, you tell 'em Bill!

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

I actually agree with him here. He is not saying that the game is bad or evil, he is just saying more thought should have been given to the release date in order too respect Remembrance Day.

And too those who claim not to care, you are self-centered bigots; all that is asked of you is a single day too remember and 2 minutes of silence, and you can't be bothered to pull yourselves out of your selfish hole for even that.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I know it's the Escapist's job, but I really wish gaming magazines would just ignore this kind of stupidity. I don't know why we continuously give these people the attention they don't deserve, God knows they get enough of it out of retarded newspapers that are eager to jump on any anti-gaming story these days.

The article clearly stated that he was not ragging the game as much as he was upset about it being released so close to Remembrance Day. The guy is a bloody veteran for gods sake. He might be uncomfortable with the game because he fought in Vietnam, and Remembrance Day tends to bring up memories.

I doubt he's trying to be an attention whore.

 

[bismarck55]

I'm starting to get really sick of the escapist "community". What? you couldn't wait one more week to shell out seventy bucks to Activision for that piece of shit unbalanced server-less rail shooter so you could complain about how generic and brown it is while you play it on Live?

Oh that's right, you "don't care" about remembrance day, or the countless dead soldiers and civilian victims of war that it is meant to honour. But woe betide any who dare challenge artistic freedom, or attempt anything even resembling that greatest of evils, censorship.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Err..... So what if it was released on that date. I can safely say that not 1% of the people that bought it even knew and no matter what the day was, SOMEONE would have found a way to be pissed off about it.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Oh that's right, you "don't care" about remembrance day, or the countless dead soldiers and civilian victims of war that it is meant to honour. But woe betide any who dare challenge artistic freedom, or attempt anything even resembling that greatest of evils, censorship.

It's not that we don't care, it's that almost no one who bought the game even knew it was remembrance day, so his argument that is was a marketing strategy makes no sense.

 

[Vrach]

I know it's the Escapist's job, but I really wish gaming magazines would just ignore this kind of stupidity. I don't know why we continuously give these people the attention they don't deserve, God knows they get enough of it out of retarded newspapers that are eager to jump on any anti-gaming story these days.

The article clearly stated that he was not ragging the game as much as he was upset about it being released so close to Remembrance Day. The guy is a bloody veteran for gods sake. He might be uncomfortable with the game because he fought in Vietnam, and Remembrance Day tends to bring up memories.

I doubt he's trying to be an attention whore.

Aye, I know his only problem is the date, but... does that really bother a person that much? I mean Remembrance Day is not about Vietnam in particular, it's just a general "war is a bad thing" memorial day originating from WW1. I mean, even if you're bothered about it, grab a beer with a few friends and complain about it - going to the papers is the definition of asking for attention.

And really, with the established fund, even if ActiVision is only doing it for selfish reasons, it's ultimately nothing short of a good thing. You have thousands of companies making money off any sort of holiday, memorial day and anything similar with all sorts of different merchandise and no one blinks an eye over it. This is just more jumping onto the bandwagon of "hey, it's easy to complain about whatever the game industry does now" and personally, I'm a little fed up over it.

 

[StriderShinryu]

WHAT!? They released it on November Ninth becuase it was a good day to release a game...

This. It was remembrance day today and none of my friends realised. I doubt this current generation cares. I certainly don't.

Our generation shut our work down for 10 minutes today, refusing to take a call until we had a moment of silence. Speak for yourself.

It's sad when someone doesn't care that thousands died so that they could be free. You disgust me

Pretty much my thoughts exactly, Celtic Kerr.

 

[Dogstile]

WHAT!? They released it on November Ninth becuase it was a good day to release a game...

This. It was remembrance day today and none of my friends realised. I doubt this current generation cares. I certainly don't.

Our generation shut our work down for 10 minutes today, refusing to take a call until we had a moment of silence. Speak for yourself.

It's sad when someone doesn't care that thousands died so that they could be free. You disgust me

You don't have a moment of silence for the countless vikings that died, securing our place on this soil for us. You disgust me.

See what I did there?

Edit: And before you ask, no, i'm not trolling. I just don't understand why people try to force others to sit there and think about a sacrifice others made. Ok, they made it, well done, you taught me in history. I respect them, I don't however, see why a silence or even a day is needed. You really respect them, do it your own way, not how them "gov'nent" types tell you to. I doubt my comment would have even got a response if I didn't own up to not really caring either.

WHAT!? They released it on November Ninth becuase it was a good day to release a game...

This. It was remembrance day today and none of my friends realised. I doubt this current generation cares. I certainly don't.

Speak for yourself. Because you certainly don't speak for me.
Just because young kids are insensitive to the sacrifices of older generations, and the continuing sacrifices of our soldiers in Afghanistan and elsewhere doesn't make the day irrelevant. Releasing the game just two days before Remembrance day is in pretty poor taste.

Notice he/she said "this generation", which only further exemplifies that today's kids are a bunch of fucking idiots. Hell, that statement is borderline disrespectful in and of itself.[/quote]

Yes, kids idea of what matters and what doesn't is /totally/ an indicator of intelligence when it comes to remembrance days. Instead of just insulting me, could you actually tell me why I should care more? It wasn't in my lifetime, these wars started roughly 90 years ago (i'm not looking up exact dates).

 

[PunkRex]

I know it's the Escapist's job, but I really wish gaming magazines would just ignore this kind of stupidity. I don't know why we continuously give these people the attention they don't deserve, God knows they get enough of it out of retarded newspapers that are eager to jump on any anti-gaming story these days.

I dont think its right to critisise the Vet for this. Its not the game itself hes annoyed with, he just sees the release date as a cheap marketing ploy which I would agree with if I thought it was intentional. Weather he said the same thing about a movie would reveal if he was genuine or just another game hater but from the way he talked about war, he seems sincere.

Considering what came out of it though I think this little bump in COD:BO release could not have gone any better.