CoD4: Modern Warfare 2 - Leaked gameplay could cause controversy

I found the introduction rather disturbing, i might even opt to skip it from the checkpoints

Wow, the video has been pulled! I saw it and too be honest I think playing as dirty terrorists could be appealing!

shiiiiiit, activsion has already taken it down

Any chance someone could link me to a working link of the video? I wanna see.

Damn...it's bound to appear again on YouTube or somewhere.

We could, but it'll just be pulled, maybe google it?

...or we could worry about the real terrorists that shoot real people.

Okay, so I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on this and I’m not okay with it. Here’s why: If there was some kind of message in here, perhaps using the metaphor of player agency against the backdrop of heinous actions that are deplorable except by those without empathy, it might be a different situation. Except this is Infinity Ward we are talking about. While they have a knack for creating superb gameplay and wonderful set pieces in games, they have no concept of narrative.

They’ve only made a handful of games (all Call of Duty), but let’s look at the original Modern Warfare. Where was the plot in that? Where was the character development? Half the lines were ripped off from Aliens (and half of those were missing their sense of irony) and what wasn’t pastiche was pretty damn poor. The US marine (and I forget his name, since he was soooo memorable) basically got written out along with his entire platoon after the nuke, and it was just dropped. Like, “Oh yeah, the Yanks failed. Bummer, eh? Guess it’s up to us Brits.” The entire thread was dropped, and there was no character development in that section at all. It was just cool set pieces followed by a nuke. It’s the nuke that everyone remembers, not the message or theme of those parts. Shallow.

What about Captain Price, the only person who did get a hint of character development? All we know about him is that he is gruff, tough, and doesn’t like to leave a job half finished. I mean, did the big bad guy even know it was Price coming for him in the end? Ugh, I’m just reminding myself what half-assed story it was. Yes, the set pieces were very cool (I totally loved coming in on the helicopter looking at all the other helicopters), but that’s what carried the game, not it’s “message”.

So, what is the message here? There likely is none. This looks like it has totally been done for shock value. The idea here is that they will cross a line, get people talking… who cares if it’s Fox News? There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? This game was already going to sell millions anyway, so doing it is even more unnecessary. To me it just seems if Infinity Ward want to see if their popularity can let them get away with pushing people’s buttons.

I mean, if it was truly an important part of the narrative, if it was truly sending an important message, if it was really experimenting with the power of player agency, why can you skip it? Yeah, thought so.

i tried google and everything, you can PM me the link or the video. Thanks :)

So do you actually have to kill the civies?

go to www.mapmodnews.com

They have possibly one of the last ones on the internet. Activision's coming down hard to remove it.

It's on the home page.

and yeah its pretty horrid, but remember its just a game fellas.

id love to play as a terrorist!

Here you go watch it quick before its pulled! http://www.phillyd.tv/2009/10/28/controversial-leaked-mw2-footage-spoiler/

This is why the game is rated R18 in New Zealand.

here is a link to see what Activision had to say about this
http://ps3.qj.net/Activision-confirms-massacre-scene-in-Modern-Warfare-2-is-skippable/pg/49/aid/135572

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,26276759-5014239,00.html

Here we go...

It's all over filesharing sites if u look. Personally I have no problem with this

Meh.. dont see the big issue. Its a game. Graphically may look more violent or sound bad in what it depicts. But any worse than what u can do to people in any GTA?

I'm uploading it. check the forums

cheers arnies!

Honestly... Who really cares... Ok killing inoocents is wrong but do they not do that on games like fable or Elders scrolls 4:oblivion?... Personaly i would love to be the attckers instead of the defenders.. it would make games more... Interesting

http://rapidshare.com/files/299435677/NZGamer.flv

i can um c were some of the people r c*mn from but its takes u behind the scenes shows u wat happens leading up to what going to happen when u play as the marines, no big fuss they did it in call of duty 4 when you played as the priminister dued thingy of the country u got drove around threw the city and sore all the killing of innocent civilians and constant military activity, theres no need for people to get over dramatic about it im not overly critisizing some of the people who hav written stuff on here, its just game. realise this, if it seems like it relates to current or recent events, well maybe they got a little of an inspiration like oh hey this would b good for a game how can we make it our own, its all in good fun people, smile enjoy the game when it comes out, this thing if it is truly ligitimit its going 2 b a good way of putting together a storyline p.s.( please forgive my bad spelling and type errors) =)

I think the problems here are that it is A) a massacre and B) so close to home. I mean, there is a big difference between killing a random in Oblivion and mowing down an entire airport, popping caps in those struggling to get away. If you can't see that, that's EXACTLY why we have censorship laws.

People think this is cool?

IW don't know what the hell they're talking about. Are they trying to convince us that terrorism is bad by making us pull the trigger? I'm pretty sure people playing this game have already grasped the concept of terrorism being a bad thing.

The point they're trying to make could've easily been made in a much shorter gameplay segment or more tastefully displayed in a cutscene of the event maybe with news-bits too.

I'm really tempted to cancel my pre-order. I was only in it for the setpieces (see Donutta's post) but this is letting it down tremendously.

In my opinion, this could be a great addition to the story and depth of the game, as long as it isn't done simply for shock value.

Movies and books that are shown from the perspective of the villain(s) are often great movies and books, they can really get you thinking in ways that real life and media cannot. Who's to say that games can't be the same?

Of course, I could be wrong and this could simply be for shock value without adding to the realism and depth. If that turns out to be the case, well, consider me shocked.

Don't get me wrong, if you signed up to play this game(You're 18). You will play that mission no doubt. You know it, I know it, we know it, Infinity Ward knows it.

On a fun note, just think about it as Postal 2 on an airport, with better graphics, comrades, a purpose(bad, but a purpose indeed), real weapons(no cats as silencers and cow heads plx).

Oh and you can't pee on people ;)

Aww, it's gone again.

woop !!! we get to be terrorists yayayay!!!! nice change rather than 'Americans win' constantly in games, movies everything..

I don't know if you've seen it, but this reminds me a lot of Alien vs Predator: Requiem. That entire movie is just going out of its way to shock, but there are two scenes in particular that stand out to me. The first is when an alien bursts out of the chest of a small boy. That was bad enough, but I foolishly kept watching. However, ultimately there was a scene where the Predalien (I feel so stupid saying that) was in a f**king maternity ward, of all things. He impregnated aliens into heavily pregnant women, and then we are then "treated" to graphic depictions of aliens bursting out of their pregnant stomachs.

I turned it off then.

It's just done to shock people and push the envelope. Unfortunately, people think it's cool. I've actually seen people say how cool that scene in the movie is.

Someone pointed out on Destructoid that articles going on about the media sh*tstorm being "bad" or "wrong" says far more about the people claiming that it's fine to have something in a game like this than it does about the people who are saying it's crossing the line.

link to footage
http://www.mapmodnews.com/article.php/Forced-kil-civilians-Modern-Warfare-2

theres alot of backups aswell

I'll wait and see what sort of context this is in before jumping on the offensive band wagon. At the moment it's just out of context.

First and foremost, I'm shocked by the lack of good game play featured in that video. It's basically an interactive cut-scene where the only interaction is shooting supposed innocents. It's the atmosphere which has created the single player experience for me in previous CoD games and this lacks any good atmosphere.

Is anyone else sick of seeing terrorists set so deeply into the antagonist role? MW2 has even made the terrorists playable characters but they still refuse to have them as the protagonists. The stereotyping of terrorists as baddies has a much stronger impact on me than the bad actions the terrorists commit. There's rarely any in-depth psychological analysis of the terrorists or character development on their part and without any of that it quickly becomes meaningless action to me.

harhar, in the end, the player you play DIES! so i'm guessing some kind of being a spy thingamajig is involved