Glad you posted this Timmay. I bought the game for PC and finished it already - excellent game. I will also qualify my comments by stating I also don't believe the hype that video games encourage violence or terrorism. I've played the GTA series and done my share of needless hit and runs etc. But all of that was mostly cartoonish stuff that until recently didn't have the level of graphical realism we are getting closer and closer to with games like COD-MW2. The difference to me is that with other games, straying from the level's purpose and gameplay is exactly that - going off the beaten path - if you so choose. This airport level provides no goal except to exactly follow the script of mass murder on a scale never seen before - and nothing else. The whole undercover plot in order to 'get in good' with the bad guys is totally stupid and would never fly in the real world. I tried over and over to shoot the bad guys in the back to stop them from killing hundreds of innocent unarmed people, and the game refused to allow that. It forces you to be a mass murderer or don't bother with the level. I'm not concerned about a highly trained CIA agent doing the same thing as much as I am the possible mentally ill losers and end timers that seem to be getting more and more active these days. This will be a straw man argument but what if the level was to graphically rape a woman or a child? Is it still okay because it's just a video game? I think not. There's usually a thread of purpose either neutral or good to most violence in videogames, not only outright wanton evil that this level encourages people to experience 'first person'. Thumbs down on that level, thumbs up to the rest of the admittedly violent game ;)

by dubbleplusgood on 11/23/2009 05:53:34 PM EST

If you don't know it, you can watch the level here:

I find at least the beginning pretty disturbing, with people's realistic reactions and all that. I think it is the realism that makes you think about whether this is still a fun action game, or a simulation of mass murder.

by OldGerman on 11/23/2009 06:45:52 PM EST

Firstly, is this a new game? I played Modern Warfare 4 months ago, and you're telling me MW 2 just came out?

Secondly, I don't believe in censorship of video games. So what if the video game allows mass murder? So what if it allows worse things? 

As long as it's regulated to have clear markings on the game box, it's up to the publishers if they want to publish it, the distributors if they want to distribute it, the stores if they want to sell it, the parents if they want to buy them or let their kids buy them, and the gamers themselves if they want to play them.

I look at it from a principle of harm and benefit more than anything. I've not yet seen any evidence that video games has any negative effect on the adult mind - Of course, even correlation doesn't imply causation, either. If there is any significant negative effect of violent video games (when played above the often outrageously high age limit), then we have a conversation.

Until then, even granting that some games promote violence, which is a fairly defensive argument, I don't think that's enough to warrant censorship, even if it's distasteful. If you're promoting violence against a certain group in real life, then we have an issue because that is potentially hate speech, in a sense. Promoting general mayhem is something else, which is why you can make movies about death and rape and torture.

As for my personal choices, I don't think I will be buying Modern Warfare 2, and this thread hasn't helped the game in my perception.

Keep in mind that "playing the bad guy", or just the option to do so, is extremely common in computer games. Regardless if the bad guy is an assassin, a gangster, or an American soldier in the Vietnam or Iraq wars. Realism has upsides and downsides. One downside is that reality itself is not always very nice. That's why we need computer games, movies, and literature showing us the horror of war and violence. If you pretend violence doesn't exist, you're just promoting the spread of it.

by Sorenzo on 11/23/2009 07:32:48 PM EST

Having seen the video, I was appalled. Don't they realize they're shooting at REAL pixels? Points of light on the screen, all with their collective artificial intelligence and tiny CPU hearts. The outrage!

Seriously though, the game looks pretty nice, and I don't see what the controversy is about. Maybe it's just me, but I just see lines of code and model animation. More substantively, it's an exciting story plot and it makes you happy you live in a world without too many cooks shooting up airports. 

Bottom line is, if you think *this* looks too realistic or gory, you're just being squeamish. 

by Sorenzo on 11/23/2009 10:18:21 PM EST

Shocking or not, MW2 is a damn good FPS game (and I say that on the authority of a guy who has very strong opinions about games) and banning the game in Russia is just doing the publisher a favor. Free advertising on a very high profile. Nice job, Russia. Now you work for Activision, too.

Saying that this game "promotes terrorism" is just another broad, reckless claim along the lines of "Grand Theft Auto is a game about killing prostitutes" or "The Empire Strikes Back is a movie about incest."

Incidentally, I refrained from killing any civilians in the "No Russian" stage because I thought doing so would earn me an Xbox Live Achievement or something. It didn't, unfortunately.

by OneHitKill on 11/23/2009 10:31:57 PM EST

Honestly, this doesn't bother me a bit.

I played the very first game in the Rainbow Six series, years ago, and my thought at the time was, "I want a game that lets you play as the terrorist..."

But I knew, even as soon as I had the thought, that no game company would dare, and if one did, the game would be suppressed immediately.

The sad fact is, there are elements in the world, and especially in the USA, that just have a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything to do with gaming.

Many of these people are the same sorts who think that a Renaissance painting entitled "The Death of Socrates" is homosexual pornography.

There's really very little room for discussion or compromise with people who believe that their opinion or beliefs should be allowed to restrict our freedoms.

by RedPossum on 11/24/2009 10:27:56 AM EST

look Modern Warfare 2 isnt trying to make people go out and kill inoccent civilians its just all made up this War doesnt even exist so whats the point of arguing about it if it never happened and if it did dont blame a game for starting it and secondly its the greatest game of its time so just leave it alone guys i mean come on its awsome and the civilians are animated they arnt real. and everyone that plays the game should know that and besides its RUSSIAN TERRIOSTS KILLING RUSSIAN PEOPLE the only person not russia is a CIA agent undercover trying to bring Makarov down so he can make the world a better place so if you just use alittle common sense you can tell that its russian people killing russian Civilians.

by Joeycochran on 11/24/2009 01:25:33 PM EST

He's our resident Call of Duty expert.  I expected him to weigh in on this one.

Anyway, Modern Warfare 2 is amazing.  One of the best final scenes of all time.

This "issue" is utter crap.

by Spencer on 11/24/2009 04:20:43 PM EST

We the people of America have in the past, by active mandate, or implicit consent pursued national security at the cost of foreign civilian lives through instilling despotic figureheads, followed by extraordinary renditions, followed by airborne drone strikes, followed by, followed by, followed by…

Actual national security policies of the United States have killed innocent people on a larger scale, or in a more callous manner, and often both at the same time. By putting people literally behind the trigger, Infinity Ward spills out the human cost of this kind of policy and revolutionizes video games’ status as a form of art media. 

by vonOhzu on 12/17/2009 11:53:39 PM EST