Ahh, video game violence...

Where would we be without you.

So... Modern Warfare 2 again comes under my blogs spotlight.

I don't know how old this is, but Fox came out with a segment of news that states, and I quote, 'Lets you play as a terrorist, and kill people'.

And I'm hearing this, and my mind is screaming 'MASS EFFECT SYNDROME! MASS EFFECT SYNDROME!!!'

For those who don't know, Mass Effect Syndrome is when a very stupid number of people (mostly the population demographic I like to call 'Concerned mothers') gather together to slander a perfectly good game.

Mass Effect was target because of a thirty (or less) second sex scene which showed about 3 seconds of ass and was put in a very dark room.
Worst still, it wasn't even a part of the game; the sex scene was completely optional.

So, anyway.

The best part about this video was the line 'A fair and balanced debate'. That made me vomit a little in my mouth, because I knew he was lying through his teeth.

He had never played the game, the stupid prick that said it's so violent and evil never played the game, and the poor bastard that stood up against these two asshats was eventually shouted down.

Halfway through explaining the deal with the mission, he starts loosing it. Now, the two bastards against the gamer start ripping him apart.

I love how they can just ignore any number of people, whether it's one person or (and I'm pulling numbers out of nowhere here,) six million gamers that bought the game and know the real story, and be totally convinced that they are right and nothings changed about their previous opinions.

I suppose Infinity Ward should have been prepared for this sort of thing. That mission, entitled 'No Russian', was just a little disturbing for me to play. I mean, mowing down a full airport of civilians with a LMG isn't what I'd call fun.

But even then, it's nothing terrible. Eventually you get out of the terminal and out into the light, where you take out armed police carrying riot shields and one gets sucked into a airplane engine.

Anyways,
The accusation that it allows you to be a terrorist couldn't be farther from the truth.

In actual fact, you are an undercover CIA agent, trying to get close to a very nasty man by the name of Makarov. The best way to do it is to help him mow down a airport, but he know's your american and betrays you by shooting you with a pistol, and you get blamed for everything, which is the major cause of the conflict in MW2.

Oh, right. ^ SPOILER ^

Seriously, how could they call this 'too violent'? Prototype had you viciously ripping, shredding, maiming and absorbing various members of the military, plus Blackwatch, and lets not forget civilians and the many infected that appear as you get through the game.

Why wasn't there a media sh!tstorm about that? No, Prototype wasn't nearly as anticipated or advertised as well as MW2, but still.

I'm not saying Prototype isn't fun - it is. Hugely. And so is MW2 (if I hadn't already made myself clear).