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After news of a multiplayer third-person perspective saw Modern Warfare 2 hitting this week’s gaming headlines, Activision’s hugely anticipated military shooter is once again hogging the spotlight following suggestions the realistic action title enables players to participate in a terrorist attack.
A storm of bullets, a storm of controversy. Image: Infinity Ward/Activision.
More pointedly, a fresh wave of controversy has sprung up around Modern Warfare 2 after leaked PlayStation 3 game footage revealed mission content where players actively cut down innocent civilians while attacking an airport alongside Russian ultra-nationalist terrorists.
Although Activision is presently working with its lawyers to have the illegally posted footage removed from the Internet, the third-party publishing giant has confirmed the content’s authenticity. However, despite the admission, it has insisted the content currently being scrutinised is “not representative of the overall gameplay experience.”
“The game includes a plot involving a mission carried out by a Russian villain who wants to trigger a global war,” explained Activision with regard to the mission in question – which can be avoided if the player so chooses. “In order to defeat him, the player infiltrates his inner circle. The scene is designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism,” the publisher added.
However, there’s little denying the shock value of the footage in question – which is quickly disappearing online as Activision scrambles to remove it from news outlets and video-sharing services such as YouTube.
Fuzzy though it is, the leaked gameplay sequence shows the player accompanying a squad of heavily armed terrorists as they calmly move through a busy airport, indiscriminately gunning down fleeing civilians at every turn.
The impact of the extremely graphic footage, which includes gory blood trails and shows dozens of dead bodies strewn throughout the chaos, is magnified by the player killing a civilian as he attempts to crawl to safety, shooting another repeatedly as he struggles to pull a wounded friend out of danger, and then pumping grenades from a balcony into a busy lower concourse.
Eager to avoid any possible banning or re-classification ahead of Modern Warfare 2’s imminent release, Activision has said players “encounter a mandatory ‘checkpoint’ in which they are warned that an upcoming segment may contain disturbing elements and they can choose not to engage in the gameplay that involves this scene.”
Modern Warfare 2 is presently rated as ‘M for Mature’ in the United States and ‘18’ in the United Kingdom. The game, which Activision believes will be the biggest gaming launch in history, is due to take retail stores by storm on November 10.
The footage can be viewed by clicking here.
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