Thursday, January 27, 2011
Borrowing from America’s habit of blaming violent video games for horrific events, a Russian television news story has raised the question of whether the U.S.-made “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” was partly responsible for the bombing of Moscow’s Domdedovo airport.
The story, aired by Russia Today, showed footage of the attack’s aftermath with scenes from the video game, which allows players to take part in a terrorist attack on a Russian airport.
The game does not, however, involve suicide bombers, who were responsible for the explosion that killed 35 and injured 150.
Russia Today’s report included an interview with Walid Phares, a Fox News terrorism analyst, who suggested that terrorists might be using games like Call of Duty to train for real attacks.
Modern Warfare 2’s “No Russia” level did cause controversy upon its release in 2009. It was removed from the Russian PC version of the game, and in Japan and Germany, the game was modified to create an immediate game over if a civilian was killed.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Russian State Media Assails Activision, ‘Call of Duty’ in Wake of Airport Terrorist Attack (by Stephen Webster, Raw Story)
Russian Media Points to Moscow Airport Attack in U.S. Video Game (by Robert Mackey, New York Times)
Russian Media Late (Again) to the Blame-the-Video-Games Debate (by Sam Machkovech, The Atlantic)
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