Activision denies Modern Warfare 2 Russian ban

The publisher behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has dismissed claims that the videogame has been banned in Russia because of a violent level set within a Russian airport. “Reports that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been banned in Russia are erroneous,” Activision said. The source of Russian contention is MW2’s “No …

[eJ2095]

Fab level

Had to look twice..

Was very fun running through airport :-))

[Jeroen Braamhaar]

Who cares anyway ...

I think I'll just laugh hard as the fanbois scream and panic over "missing" levels, classifications (or lack thereof) and other made-up mayhem.

[irish donkey]

Is there a new Call of Duty out?

Don't they publicise these things any more... or is it just for the geeks?

[the real jacob]

it was ok...

just a leisurely stroll through an airport with a machine gun... pretty fun actually.

grenade for exploding civies obviously.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

Put the boot on the other foot...

English terrorists gunning all in sundry on their way through Heathrow.

Then again... perhaps we can swap Heathrow for Parliament :-)

[Shane 8]

RL ?

Yes after playing it im going to pop out and try it in RL.....next after i play GTA im going to go out and kill some people and steal some cars. ITS JUST A GAME get over it! Reminds me of them banning Manhunt...so many ideas that has given me :-)

[Aortic Aneurysm]

best.level.ever

One of the greatest openings to a Level of a game, ever. throwing grenades at people who are trying to crawl away... excellent.

[idontlikeironing]

Meaningless slaughter is all very well

But I wish they would pay more attention to the skins next time; too many lumberjack shirts and not enough ushanka's. Patch please, Dimitri.

[Anonymous Coward]

Tried that level last night

It's only a game. Get over it.

[DEAD4EVER]

russian level problem

this level really is causing some controversy before long modern warfare 2 will be banned in uk just like manhunt 2 and manhunt 1 were. i watched this level on youtube and i must admit i found it upsetting to watch lucky i didnt bother buying mw2 cause of its over the top price and this level to i ant bothering with it i put my 9 games in part ex for 4 new ones was it worth hell yea it was worth it. cause i decided after call of duty world at war that id get different games for a change as im sick of thease war games and before anyone asks no i ant getten mw2 dont like it and i think this level is gonna cause some issues theres already terrorists nowdays with airports we dont need games given them ideas. screw this overpriced over hyped game id rather spend my money on sensible games

[Martin 6]

MW2 Stansted edition

Where you have to gun down all Easyjet and Ryanair checkin staff before slaughtering anyone who works at that Irish pub.

[Nick 24]

This level is disturbing ...

I played MW2 over the weekend and "stumbled" into this level (didn't hear or know about this level beforehand). And while I'm normally very indifferent to these controversies, this particular scene was more than a little disturbing. You are part of a gang that is simply shooting/killing unarmed people as they crawl on the floor, run away, or maybe even be begging for mercy. The body count is quite likely in the hundreds.

Blowing it off as being merely a video game ignores the problem with this level -- it endorses the notion that it is OK to randomly and mercilessly kill people under certain circumstances. The circumstances here are that you are committing murder on a relatively "small" scale in order to infiltrate a Russian mob to prevent some ambiguous large scale threat in the future.

Spoiler Alert: Your cover was blown already, the mob boss kills you (an American) at the end of the spree so that the Americans get blamed for the massacre.

[Will Leamon]

The bothering part...

Is that the scene is there to set up one of the most insane and intelligence-insulting plot lines I've ever seen. If I were Russian I would ban it for it claiming that every Russian citizen is a complete and utter idiot.

The level itself is disturbing but I'd say in a genuine and sincere manner. The game also gives you option to skip the mission entirely without penalty.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Dead4Ever 17:09

Hi there,

I don't own an XBox 360 or a PS3 and currently don't operate a PC at home for the moment, I don't have any opinion whatsoever on Modern Warfare 2, any of its predecessors or any other computer game, not right now anyway.

I can't help but suggest, however, just this once, that you might be far better off part-exchanging ALL of your games and your console(s) and putting the acquired funds towards English literature, language and grammar lessons.

Alternatively, if you don't want to take such a structured approach, at the very least you might want to try extending your mini epiphany concerning 'war games' away from then spending your money on 'sensible games' and towards just buying books, normal books, nothing particularly specialised.

Thanks.

[Nic Hoy]

pointless discussion

**Possible Spoilers warning**

I've got the game (second ever pre-order based on the quality of the last two offerings - never again!).

The level in question is not even remotely disturbing as there's absolutely no context or emotional involvement with either the character or the civilians.

At best it's a zombie shoot-em-up derivative - the only difference being none of the 'enemy' are actively after your brainzzz - and the whole choice thing is redundant when the outcome is the same however you play it.

This is probably the closest I've seen a game come to being a true cinematic experience in the sense that it is one big set piece after another with little room for player interaction/scheming.

Someone on Newsnight Review likened it to the last Bond film and I actually think he's not far wrong. As a game it comes under Epic Fail. As a visual treat it is up there with the very best cut-scenes (Assassin's Creed springs to mind (incidentally my only other gaming pre-order)).

The biggest problem (as with most calls for bannings) is that the people wanting to censor the thing haven't actually seen/played it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't crap on tradition

Ever since the heady days of Syndicate, wasting civvies has been a time honoured tradition in video games.

Ahh the memories of sinking armored piercing rounds into trains and watching the human torches scream as they run around until those with a modicum of mercy ended their misery.

Or witness the city square blood bath as civilian flesh irritatingly got between your assassination squad and rival syndicates operatives..

Those were indeed the good old days, when a simple thing like burning people alive or wasting hundreds of fleshies was regarded as nothing but good, old fashioned entertainment.

Oh well we live in politically correct times and I suppose it's all for the best. Anyway who's for a game of Cowboys and Indians? Really, you still don't see the hypocritical bullshit when a bunch of idiots who once played fantasy games based on butchering the native population of the US, or perhaps Australia, whines about killing imaginary people in a video game?

[Anonymous Coward]

@ DEAD4EVER 17:09

Oh Dear, Please let that be a piss-take, I couldn't take it if you were serious. My side would split.

[Blain Hamon]

@ Nick 24

> it endorses the notion that it is OK to randomly and mercilessly kill people under certain circumstances.

But,

> Your cover was blown already, the mob boss kills you (an American) at the end of the spree so that the Americans get blamed for the massacre.

So your direct actions in the game has direct negative consequences. How is that endorsement, again?

[DEAD4EVER]

mw2

to other users no i ant piss taken im serious this game is a waste of time looked at videos yea it looked good but a game given ideas to terrorists is not advisable. and for gods sake i wish people would stop going on about my friggin spelling i put old games in for the following games resident evil 5 left 4 dead gears of war 2 and fear 2 project origin

i get more enjoyment out of thease games. i mean yea its violence but at least its fun violance not terrorists that mw2 is trying to get personnaly i couldnt care less what happens with mw2 if its banned or not. cause i ant gonna waste my money on it

[SynnerCal]

Not the best

I'm a big CoD fan (got most of them on at least two platforms!) but I can see what the Russians are complaining about. +1 for Activision deciding to delete the level for them, but -1 because their version will now be a little shorter than everyone else's. Personally, not only don't I like that level at all, and I don't really think it advances the story that much - strikes me as 'filler' or a GTA-HotCoffee attempt to be 'controversial'. A (rare?) mis-step for Infinity Ward.

As to the folks complaining that it'll cause some muppets to go out and buy an M60 and try copying - this is maybe true, but if it wasn't this it'd be something on tv, etc.

For folks that have got the game ... have you tried _not_ killing any civilians, just shoot at the police that shot at you, and shoot _near_ the civvies? I did (2nd time around) and there didn't appear to be any penalty for doing so. So there's a less immoral option.

In an ideal world maybe someone would create enough fuss to persuade IW to issue a patch to replace that level with a cut-scene and something a bit less morally repugnant. But then again I'm being naive.

[Chris Dickens]

Odd

Having played it I certainly didn't get all the "outrage" about the level - you spend the whole game shooting people for god's sake!

To be honest - I spent most of the level shooting random bits of the environment to see what was destroyable. The suitcases were good....

[Subban]

@dead4ever

I think people will stop going on about your "friggin spelling" when you stop beating the English language with a shovel. Consider the use of punctuation, spelling as grammar as somewhat necessary when communicating via written material, rather than optional.

Otherwise... Facebook that way >>>>>>>>>>. From what I have seen many there also view well written English which includes grammar, spelling and punctuation with the same contempt you appear to show, writing clearly essentially means, PEOPLE WILL READ WHAT YOU WRITE, not stop after two lines and take the piss.

Getting back on topic... Haven't bought the game yet for PS3, but will do at some point I expect, I did watch a video on youtube of the level and did feel it was "excessive" and I think I would be very uncomfortable playing it.. I do normally try and leave civilians alive in these types of games, maybe its my age, or parenthood or something but perhaps I got "soft" somewhere along the lines.

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree that the level is an odd one to include

but the whole plot of MW2 is completely daft anyway.

This is an adults-only game, but even children know the difference between games and reality. Anyway, having played it, I now feel compelled to buy a gun and go out massacring people at airports, because nobody ever did that before video games, did they?

Oh, wait...

(can we have a yawn icon please?)

[Budley.Sama]

Maybe it's your perspective thats wrong...

I really don't get the outrage, no one complains when a movie shows a terrorist act and then the hero tries to stop/catch/kill them and i don't see this as much different.. It isn't giving ideas to terrorists (no more than movies) unless terrorists have zero imagination.

In the game you are trying to infiltrate the terrorist group so you act like them to prove you are one of them and by doing this you screw everything up beyond belief. The message i got from the level was that if you have to become as bad as terrorists to defeat them then things will only get worse.

I can see how russians might be offended, not by the violence but by the way it shows the populance as being stupid enough to blame an entire country for the acts of a couple of extremists (or by the way they are always bad guys in modern games). I would be offended if they displayed british people as mindlessly blaming an entire nation for the acts of some wankers..... oh wait.

@synnercal; Yes i did that (didn't fire a single shot), you don't even need to kill the police, grab a riot shield from a police officer (let one of the terrorists kill one) then you can walk through the level without killing anyone.

[Trygve]

Oh dear, sounds like it's more of the same...

CoD World At War was a big bucket of on-rails shite, but oddly enough no-one complained about the bit where your Russian soldier persona had to choose whether a bunch or prisoners got shot or burned alive. Sounds like this may have been a strategic direction for the CoD franchise rather than just Tetrarch being worthless as a dev team, as I assumed at the time.

[Piezor]

@DEAD4EVER 17/11/09 19:41

I wish capcom wouldn't make their resident evil series. Developing a virus to create beings of superhuman strength in the persuit of military prowess and world domination, leaving many innocent civillians walking around as mindless, undead, failed experiments is just cruel and is giving terrorists ideas.

No terrorists have ever thought about an attack on an airport before. The next time an airport or any form of aeronautical terrorist attack occurs it will be on Infinity Ward's head.

Damn them......damn them to hell.

[Sweeping Brush]

Scary Terrorists.

I don't think the world has much to fear from terrorists who's only source of inspiration is a video game.

If we do then watch out for the terrorists who start rolling a small little ball of rubbish around, pretty soon they'll roll the whole world !!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL

Terrorist don't need a game to tell them where to hit, they just need a TV. See where people congregate and an Agenda. Far more targets than airports and far more shown on TV in most soaps and dramas than anything this game could simulate.

The level is a shocker but it warns you that you will have to horrible things before you step out the lift.

I didn't shoot anyone first play through. Expecting grief but no, you do end up hating the bad guy (which incidentally is never resovled, he is never captured. So I dare say his day will come in a sequal.)

I would say that the estate takeover level has the blue prints of the airport, the path you walk and details of the attack in there. Are they being banned as well. Will make a pretty odd room otherwise.

ALSO as it is the crux of various peoples conversations when the US war starts in the next level, like "the russians are killing 1000 amerians for every one killed at the airport" Are they being removed as well, because it will be very odd to follow without seeing or hearing about the attack.

It's like Lord of the rings but missing Moria, going in and coming out and then not knowing of the balrog or gandalf falling, just seeing people tired and missing one of them.

Still, at least it isn't banned here (yet) of course the plot itself jumps around too much because one day before attacking Moscow the same guy is climbing an ice mountain in Russia to attack an air base, the day before that he is in Afghanistan or Iraq fighting Taliban. The whole time line is hardly realistic.

Cracking game, online sucks as you have to open up Upnp just to connect. VERY SAFE

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Don't crap on tradition

<quote> Ever since the heady days of Syndicate, wasting civvies has been a time honoured tradition in video games.</quote>

Bollocks! Zzoom on the ZX Spectrum did it a full 10 years before Syndicate.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing new

I remember Carmegeddon II getting a mauling and having to replace the red zombie blood with green. Now that was a game and a half. Didn't encourage me to go out and run people over in the street though... although I was tempted to try a few sheep...

[fajensen]

I Want More!

I want to first light up Parliament with a couple of SSU-23 belts - just to get everyones attention - then move in close with hand grenades and flamethrower before fighting my way back out through scored of armed poo-lice. Wee.

Then on to The City - Ohhh.

[Anonymous Coward]

more important problems

Hahaha, Russians don't give a s**t, they have bigger and more important problems to deal with than some computer game. UK on the other hand is busy criticising social networking sites for CYBER(!!!) bullying, yes, it is of national importance.

[Daniel Owen]

But it is fairly realistic

I can see their point, it is one of the most real looking games ever, I mean the only thing that let's you know it's not actually real is the fact that YOU ARE HOLDING A GAME CONTROLLER AND IT'S PLAYING ON YOUR TV SCREEN FFS!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

So no-one noticed

That Dead4Ever and DEAD4EVER are two different people? Come on guys I expect more from my fellow pedants!

What is disturbing is that someone actually signed up with a similar name just to make those posts! Get a frakkin' life!

[Witty username]

Its a game

No one died. Further proof can be had by restarting the level and presto! everyones alive again.

(until you kill them)