Console Versions of Modern Warfare 2 Banned in Russia

Every copy of the console version of Modern Warfare 2 has been recalled from stores in Russia due to the content of the "No Russian" mission, better known as the controversial airport massacre level. Likewise, Infinity Ward has released an official patch for the PC and Steam versions of Modern Warfare 2, entirely removing the mission from the game.

[theEnemy]

.

IW went too far I guess..

[BadboyCivic360]

I'm sure if it was "no Americans" then Obama and company would have something to say about it..."terrorist training"?

[presto717]

What was the point?

Shallow.

[MisterNiwa]

Thats why the mission is called 'NO RUSSIA'!

You see what i did there?

[PinkUni]

i mean its completely anti-Russian

you kill Russian civilians

you kill Brazilian civilians

you kill Afghan civilians

and you never kill American civilians what a surprise

[D4RkNIKON]

Just be glad IW wasn't dumb enough to make you pilot the planes that took out the world trade centers. That would scream controversy from the roof tops.

[evrfighter]

For the past year I've been reading comments here that video games are another form of art.

All of a sudden it's "just a game" now.

[FarEastOrient]

Geez, I thought the Russians would like a game where they are shooting at Americans for a change. So what's next, an Alien boycott of Mass Effect because the humans are starting to take over the citadel.

[Ghostsmoker]

You can't shoot civil people in the airport mission.
You can only shoot the security forces.
But the game is still in stores in Germany. But I really understand the people who cut these scene ... it's quiet excessive and marginal.

[DarkTower805]

MGS series = art
Uncharted series = art
Assassins Creed series = art
MW2 airport scene = not art

I could take a dump on a canvas and call it art, but does that make it so? No, there has to be some standards. IW putting in missions for the sake of controversy especially when the mission proves to be useless since you die anyways is pathetic. A well done cutscene would have sufficed and avoided all of this.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

that haven't finished the game yet!

[mastiffchild]

It's an unneccessary and hamfisted way of getting the undercover aspect into the game. The fact you can skipt it makes it totally gratuitous as it's an admissuin that it isn't needed!

IDK why IW needed to court controbersy in such a cheap way-not clever, not nicce and not needed at all. Done as a part of narrative with a mentally nroken former operative it would have been way more affecting and got the point over without appealing to the lowest common denomenator among COD fans-but after the FAHS bideo what do we expect of those top blokes at IW? Vertainly not a beta or a game that works out of the box or anything other than creaky old P2P, eh? But offensive? They can do that ALL day long.

[D4RkNIKON]

Haha, you must not have played the game for more than 4 hours ;)

[Automat]

Why the F would you read sh!t on N4G if you are don't want spoilers!! ?

[HolyOrangeCows]

"Just be glad IW wasn't dumb enough to make you pilot the planes that took out the world trade centers"

What's the difference?
It's all killing innocent, unarmed civilians, dying at the end, and causing a war.

I'll bet American media would applaud that, too......right?

[Christopher]

Honestly, I think the uproar about it is wrong. I really don't think about who's being killed or who's doing the killing, I think about the level that one goes to kill anyone. I would have been 100% fine with a game showing American terrorists in other countries, which is much like most movies nowadays.

[badz149]

I don't think any dev will go THAT stupid by mimicking the 911. Banned in Russia, why would they care? it's not that big of a market to begin with. but banned in the USA, you're asking for bankruptcy!

[frostypants]

It's not even a good mission.

Should have just been a cut scene.

This is an MP game all the way. The single player is kind of an afterthought.

[Nambassa]

well i guess if they really want it they can just import it.

Or maybe IW will do something similar to what they did with the pc version. They can't remove it with a patch as not everyone has online, but maybe they could make a new one.

Modern Warfare 2: Russian Edition? lol just the same only without the airport level.

[StillGray]

From what my Russian sources tell me, they patched the PS3 version of the game so that you can't shoot at anyone until the FSB arrives to shoot at you.

[Nambassa]

Just for the Russian version?

[StillGray]

Not too clear on that one, but Russian gamers who own the international version are saying that they can't shoot. I'm assuming it's for all versions because PSN wouldn't be checking IPs like that. I have the 360 version and everything's normal, so it's hard for me to verify that.

[TheDudeAbides]

NO, the Russian edition would have an airport mission in the US.

[RyuStrife]

LOL and it'll be called "No Americans"

[Knghtz]

Actually it would be "No English". "No Russian" refers to the language, not the civilians. Just sayin'!

Why do I get disagrees for that?

[Oldsnake007]

German Version doesnt let you shoot at the civilists

[Diamondwolf]

For actually getting it right

[kaveti6616]

Do any of you realize why it's called "No Russian"? The guys are Russian terrorists who are trying to get Russia to start a war against America. So when they're getting out of the elevator to kill the Russian civilians at the airport, Kamarov says, "No Russian" and means "don't speak Russian at all around the civilians when you are shooting them."

At the end of the mission when Kamarov kills you, it's because he knew you were an American soldier who had infiltrated his group. By leaving your body at the airport to be found by the Russians and identified as being American, that would cause Russia to believe that Americans were solely behind the terrorist attacks.

[Retro-Virus]

I wonder what would have happened if the level was based @ JFK or Heathrow ?

[dkgshiz]

Besides the point. The first thing that pops up when you put in CODMW2. It clearly states that there is some extremely offensive material that you can block or unblock it. If people cant handle it just choose the block option.

[thewhoopimen]

uh.... when taken into context that this is a FPS game with atrocities and killings committed in many forms, that warning doesn't do jack scat. So just shove that lame excuse already.

[NoBias]

It's not a lame excuse. When have you ever seen such a warning in a video game such as this? You know it has to be pretty violent if it's the first thing that they say to you when booting up the game. Choose to skip or not, it's up to the user.

If they choose not to and get offended... Well... It's kinda like a "I told you so" sort of thing... Actually it's exactly like that.

[mastiffchild]

Bt the fact it ISN't needed to complete the game is what's telling. It's just there to offend, imo, there's no other reason I can think of ansd a million ways of demonstrating the dilemmas of the undercover guys better than this mess.

If you can skip it and it makes no odds just why is it there at all? If it was truly needed for the game/story they would have found a much better, cleverer and effective way, imo but they just love the controversy for some reason. It keeps them "street" I think!

[thewhoopimen]

what i'm saying is that there are so many potentially offensive things in the game already with its theme that warning about another one is like telling the player the grass is going to be greener. How would anyone know how much 'more' offensive it could get?

[Christopher]

Nothing from me. Don't we have this in most TV shows and Movies already?

[Knghtz]

I just think you are put in the role to provoke more emotion from the player. I don't think IW was like "Man this will be a great way to offend people". It doesn't make sense.

Am I the only one who takes no offense to this in the game?

[White-Sharingan]

That mission rocked!

[PeptoBismol]

actually, it was quite disturbing. i did not enjoy it one bit.

[Automat]

it was boring as h3ll and I might as well have skipped it.

[White-Sharingan]

Well thats your opinion and I respect it, but for me the mission rocked <3 epicness

[condorstrike]

WTF?...Russians, now they play the for lack of better terms.../nationality/Race card, how much you want to bet Obama will eventually apologize to Putin on national TV, it's like the Cold war is back, but this time there's no wall to bring down nor someone to say so.

...lol, politics always find a way in.

next store bans....the middle east, unless it's for terrorist training, lol.

[Canvas Of Flesh]

Are you seriously comparing the banning of a video game to the Cold War? You must be a young person to make an asinine comparison like that.

[thewhoopimen]

That's one of the most retarded comments I have read. Do yourself a favor and slap yourself one, for making such an uneducated remark.

[bullaaaa]

Seriously, one of the dumbest remarks on N4G. Someone should start compiling a list of the dumbest remarks on N4G and I would bet it won't take more than 24 hours to fill it up.

[frostypants]

No, this is NOTHING like the cold war. I don't wake up each day wondering if I'm going to get nuked.

[Madis007]

LOL

1st they let them sell modern warfare 2 and now its banned.lol

[thewhoopimen]

Aduh... nobody has time to play through the whole game just to ESRB rate it. Such disclosures of offensive material are IW/Activision's responsiblity not the rating board's. I'm sure plenty of Russian gamers were upset by IW/Activision trying to pass this off as apolitical work.

[peeps]

not surprising really. the game is about the russians being terrorists lol

[Knghtz]

Yeah but if you play through you will see some of the US isn't so friendly either, and this is due to deception. It's no different with Makarov and Russia. People need to get a grip, it's a story. Not real!

[dkgshiz]

Its just a game anyways. Grow a pair I guess. The problem with society these days is everybody cant handle anything and everyone wants a hug.

[White-Sharingan]

and most are hypocrites, mowing down hookers and innocent people on GTA, killing New York City Officers, etc. Yet this is "bad", its just a game wtf

[thewhoopimen]

grow a pair and just realize nobody wants to make ignorant statements like u just did.

Tasteless scenarios are tasteless. Wanna play a game watching yourself eat your own poop like 2 girls 1 cup? http://cupvid.com/
I'd like to see you stomach that game and tell me how much of a man you are. Not all scenarios are made for gaming. Just get it into your heads already.

[BYE]

That "just a game" argument is stupid. There's gotta be a limit wo what can be shown in a game or we will see even sicker stuff in the future.

[Johnny Jiron]

The context of the mission makes sense and you don't have to shoot any of the civilians. I shot at luggage and broke electronics. Of course i shot back once the police showed up, but there is little difference with that and GTA, at least in MW2 you have a reason to do what you have to do.

__ __ __ __ __ __
!!![__{SPOILER}__]!!! !!![__{SPOILER}__]!!! !!![__{SPOILER}__]!!!

You're an undercover agent for the CIA (not a terrorist) who needs to do whatever is needed. A sort of kill one save thousands type of situation. However, at the end, just as you're about to leave they put one between your eyes knowing full well you were undercover.

[condorstrike]

I love all the disagrees...

HIppies....Lmao...lol

[dkgshiz]

There disgusting people.

[bullaaaa]

If I had a choice between being a peace loving Hippie and a fire-breathing bigoted zealot, I will chose being a Hippie in a heart beat.

[djtek184]

that was the best part

[2cents]

War is ugly. If ur gonna make a game on it then parts will be ugly. When I played that mission it did stir some emotions, and made me honestly think about what I should do.

As to wether it should have been in the game in the 1st place is a hard one. Offensive visceral violent yes it is, so is war. So to fictionalize a war for the purpose of a video game would allow for any number of imagined scenarios involving any nation. Either way someone will be offended.

I have enjoyed my experience with MW2 and wouldn't change it but I'm not the one being exploited. Wonder how I would feel if I was.

[ironwolf777]

Now Russia is going to invade.

[i3eyond the Circle]

From my understanding Vladimir Makarov is a terrorist cell based from former Ultranationalist members. (One of the apposing sides in MW1 lead by Imhran Zakhaev)

In MW1 Imhran Zakaev is killed and Russia is no longer split...but unfortunately the new government was one that found Ihmran Zakhaev a hero.

Makarov doesn't work alone and usually gets paid for his terrorist acts but this one seems to be one on revenge for the death of Zakhaev due mostly because of the U.S. interfering with Al Asads takeover of whatever Middle Eastern country that was.

Al Asad's nuke led the SAS to Zakhaev.

So to get revenge Makarov demises a plan that will make the Pro Zakhaev country wage war against the killers of their leader....but mostly wage war against the WEST.

Murdering off an entire airport then leaving the body of an American CIA operative/ US Army Ranger was the perfect set up to make the Russian government wage all out war against America sending over 270 Airships over the West Coast and 85 to Washington DC.

Your blind if you can't see that "No Russian" builds the MW2 story.

Sorry for the spoilers but I hate these morons who asking why is it in the game.

[Consoldtobots]

well its the same people that think conspiracies don't exist and the world of deep cover operations is just make believe.

[BO WALEED]

I just played the game for fun .. I never keep in mind this is true or anything ... they didn't banned the cod 4 in middle east :P

and we loved it !

[HDgamer]

So this is what they meant by no russian lol

[Cobex]

wtf? I dont understand the whole big deal about it. The Media of TV and films have been making millions of different ideas in ways to shock and entertain audiances. Is this any different? Just because you control the character does not mean that its any way more offencive. There's an off button on your TV. Theres a stop button on your dvd remote.

[Dark General]

I wish I could discuss this more in depth but I haven't played the game. I think if video games are to grow as a entertainment medium things like this will HAVE to be discussed, simply having something like this in a game for s**ts and giggles could be offensive. But from what have been hinted at it serves as some type of purpose in the context of the game. I think this could and should be the next big video game discussion since the original GTA3 showed up in 2001.

[ZBlacktt]

If they don't like this game. Then they are going to hate BFBC2 then, lol O_o

[djfullshred]

lol, a war game with intentions to not offend anyone. Yes, death & destruction sanitized to make as much money as possible.

[DiLeCtioN]

did Makarov mean dont kill any russians or leave no russians alive?

[Bob Dole]

He meant don't speak Russian.

[Gago]

It shows there country in a negative light. Fictional or not.

[sensor21]

We make movies and games on all story fronts so whateva

[bjornbear]

With the grudge they already have for the U.S.A, it was quite a low jab putting terrorists in as Russians, and have a mission where you play as a russian killing american (am i right?) civilians =P

Then again, how many AMERICANS have made movies about AMERICANS killing AMERICANS / OTHER PEOPLE

I guess it depends on the culture's ability to take something like this in.

[BIGBOSS08]

i can understand where they are coming from, hell even i was kinda offended at the gore of it! say if it was the other way round with americans as the terrorists, then the game would never be allowed in america, so the russians do have a point. i had no idea what was gonna happen because i never watched trailers or anything and as they were in the lift i was lighing a cigarette, looked at the screen and was like what the hell are we doing around all thse people, next thing you know everyones getting shot and i was like WHOA! thats defo too far!

[szngamers]

The Russians are funny folks

[Uzesgelen_Goo]

there is a choice in game that you can skip offended missions from story when you begin the game message pops up.
i wish that missile landed in US not freaking EMP :) /s

[Silentmerc3nary]

Absolutely Ridiculous. If IW puts out a patch for the console version, I think I'd have to..break something.

[DiLeCtioN]

well i was off there then