The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer has only been out 48 hours, but already one UK newspaper is kicking up a fuss because there’s an attack on an underground train in the video and London’s real underground was attacked in 2005 and that’s a bit like this and oh god I don’t know the sheer idiocy is making my head throb .
Games THAT ARE RATED FOR ADULTS have long attracted poorly researched criticism from cheap scare newspapers. Because of its popularity, the Call of Duty series is often a target. Right on cue, the Daily Mail today described one scene from the Modern Warfare 3 trailer (which you can see in full here ) as “a chilling echo of the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London .” The scene in question shows a truck driving in front of a speeding underground train, causing it to derail.
Even though that’s NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN LONDON, the Daily Mail calls for Modern Warfare 3 to be banned, and quotes a lady from Mediawatch UK as saying, “In light of the fact we have just had the 7/7 inquests, it is in incredibly poor taste.”
This anti-videogame agenda is nothing new , yet remains flawed. Aside from the significant fact that the game is ENTIRELY FICTIONAL, what really gets me is how presumptious the Mail is being here. After all, the trailer gives us zero context in this scene: is this an underground train full of innocent commuters, is it completely empty, or is it loaded with, say, a bomb? Nobody outside Activision or Infinity Ward truly knows. Least of all the Daily Mail .
Anyway, please excuse all the UNDERLINED CAPS. I’m keeping things nice and simple for any stray Mail readers we get here.
[Via Daily Mail ]
