The gist is if you're the type of player who hurls grenades randomly at opponents, you are unfit for online multiplayer and deserve to be the subject of homophobic insults. Infinity Ward pulled the ad, Destructoid reports, after the internets were set aflame by the insensitive acronym.
Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling posted on Twitter that the ad was meant as satire but strays too far from its intent:
I think the core gag is great, the end is a bit too far from the intent of the joke & can appreciate the concerns. Pulled.
The video isn't the only controversy the video game is drawing. There's also apparently a level in the game in which you play as a terrorist who shoots civilians.
Hardcore gamers will be lining up to bring the game home Nov. 10, but the ad could affect fence-sitters. What do you think about the way Infinity Ward handled this dust-up?
Infinity Ward pulls MW2 Hamesl video after Internet furor [Destructoid]
]]>See the recent South Park, "The F Word," on the subject:
If you want true equality, be able to laugh at yourself like everyone else.
]]>None of this offends me. I'm probably the demographic they're marketing to with this ad. My gay friends think it was funny, but then again they use the FA* word regularly too.
So, uh... Oh well? I thought it was funny.
]]>But realistically, everyone who plays online is called a fag. It gets used more than "hey you".
]]>@TVarmy: Exactly why TF2 > COD4.
]]>@ngoandy:
exactly. nobody complains about Rockstar making an ENTIRE FUCKING SERIES about killing civilians and cops and doing drugs and stealing cars, yet someone makes 1 level about a terrorist shooting civilians and everyone is up in arms.
Probably not going to buy the game in any case. I've got enough on my plate already.
]]>Just an idle suggestion, but wouldn't the dilution of an epithet caused by using it in for non-traditional meanings be a good thing? It's worked for a couple of terms due to rap.
I have to also wonder if there's aren't gay clans that react to being called the name by agreeing and then killing said offender? The best thing that could happen (in a gaming context) would be if the term turned into a compliment.
]]>@mac-phisto: Hey, I'm cool. I'm just shaking my cane at all those gosh-darned kids.
]]>*SOB*
Makes me wish I had a kid, that one did. Or a dozen. Every so often, you get a boy playing that reaffirms your faith in humanity.
In the multiplayer mode you can fight for the fuhrer.
"Zey zend there hounds, butz thvey twu will vind only deaf"
]]>If they fix that ridiculous server nonsense and I buy the game, I'll play the level both ways and see how I feel afterward.
It's interesting to put folks in a role where you can murder innocent people with no consequences to your actions, even if there is no benefit to doing so.
]]>Nothing that hasn't been seen on 24.
]]>We must coddle the internet and stroke its hair so it wont cry.
I liked the video, and I'm still giving them a wad of cash in 8 days.
]]>Also never mind that, if you use logic properly, someone opposed to grenade spam (not someone who spams with grenades) is a part of FAGS.
]]>Yeah, the acronym could have been better, but it doesn't completely lend itself to people screaming the F-word at each other in-game, as I imagined it would.
Thanks for posting.
]]>@Zerkaboid: Actually, your comment about State of Emergency is incorrect. It was a game about revolting against the government and creating as much property damage as possible, but killing citizens was not a goal and you were penalized health if you did.
]]>Personally, I don't see the big deal. I see it as a satire of the gaming community, and one that the audience (the gaming community) would understand. I don't see any homophobic undertones here.
]]>& sorry if this comment posts twice. gnomes may/may not have eaten the first one...
]]>@jvanbrecht: I'm the same way.
The demographic really shifted once counter-strike went main stream and the FPS' started showing up on consoles.
]]>They could have called it NO-GIBS (Gibs is short for Giblets, the body parts that fall after a grenade in a video game), or something clever like that.
]]>@ngoandy: I've noticed most WW2 games don't want you to sympathize at all with the antagonists.
I think it's because they don't really want people to realize that there was a human element to the opposition as well...
]]>"Lining up"? Gee, I dunno. Left 4 Dead 2, Assassin's Creed and Dragon Age are all coming out in the near future. My gaming budget doesn't have to go to a game developed by a pack of immature pencil-dicks.
]]>Eh, if you're on Xbox Live playing an FPS for more than 5 minutes, you'll be called a "fag" a few times.
]]>@h3llc4t, breaker of office dress codes: It's Not Being A Cobag 101, actually.
]]>@R3PUBLIC0N: "Provoking thought" is the last resort of the dumbfuck proposal. Okay, it's stupid, pointless and rude, but hey, it caused some random neurons to fire in your brain so it counts!
]]>I am a reasonable and well balanced individual.
]]>=P
geez, you guys sound so old.
]]>anyway, someone should've seen this coming.
]]>As someone who was egerly awaiting this title, this is far from the worst thing I.W. has done to "promote" this game. Never mind the game add that has a homophobic title to it. Nevermind the opening scene where you play as a CIA operative who has to mow down civilians(hello, we've done worse in GTA). The biggest controversy so far has been the removal of the ability to use dedicated servers for MW2 in place of a peer-2-peer set-up managed solely buy Infiniti Ward. On top of that, when uproar arose, they blamed "modders and tuners" for the "minority voice" of this, then revealed a ton of new features for the game that were MADE by the modding community.
Hardcore 360 gamers will be lining up for this on Nov 10, not PC users.
]]>Or the grappling hook and shotgun approach.. that pissed people off :)
]]>That said, I cannot stand the current crop of FPS console games.. It has introduced too many idiots to the games, and listening to the 12 years olds (I know, you can mute them) is just painful.
That and how the hell am I supposed to play and aim accurately with a freaking console controller.. I need a damn mouse and keyboard.. nothing fancy.
]]>terrorists
legitimate military forces
police
governments agents
kill civilians whether purposely or by accident
"Philadelphia Phillipes"?
Somebody wrote their own name in there.
]]>The Grand Theft Auto series has you play as a bad guy.
You can be evil in the Fallout series.
There is the Postal series where you randomly kill people.
]]>Is that a hint?
]]>Maaaaaaaah! That loser on the TV said that because I just randomly huck grenades into groups of people in a game, that I'm a cigarette!
A cigarette Maaaaaah! He called your precious little snowflake a cigarette! Call the lawyers! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
]]>@CaptainSemantics: Caffeinated teenagers already have more than enough reasons to be all bitchy about ANYTHING. So I dont think one more ad is going to really fan the flames. Also whats wrong with dropping the F bomb every now and then? It makes gameplay fun. And it naturally comes with the adrenaline.
]]>It just seems that someone made an ad that was intended for a small amount of people, forgot about this thing called "the internet," and got called out on the ad. They kinda did the right thing by pulling the ad, but the *most correct* answer would have been not using that derogatory term.
]]>But multiplayer? Keep that away from me!
]]>Oh, guess what? That was years ago that I enjoyed playing the game and I haven't gone on a killing spree yet.
]]>As pointed out elsewhere, much of this controversy could have been avoided if they had thrown an 'R' word in to make the acronym FRAGS. It looks like they made the video targeting a small core group of gamers, but it spread to the larger community where many took offense. Well, any publicity is good publicity...
]]>Years ago there was a PS2 game called "State of Emergency" where the entire purpose of the game was to run around in crowbed buildings and streets and slaughter people. It ran into some controversy but eventually everyone remembered it's just a game, hopefully it won't hurt sales of Modern Warfare 2.
Also, you're able to skip the terrorist level, a nice touch for anyone who really feels it's inappropriate.
]]>This game is going to sell well - no mater what they do. I think they are just looking for some more free publicity before the release. They succeeded.
]]>Video games provide a unique medium to explore concepts. Putting the player in the hands of a villain who commits acts nearly universally considered evil forces a radically new perspective onto a person. Provoking thought is always a good thing.
]]>