UPDATE: Russia has not banned Modern Warfare 2

"No Russian" provokes anger


16 November 2009 17:19 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Russia has reacted with anger to the infamous "No Russian" level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, by banning it outright and recalling all copies. In the level, you infiltrate a Russian terrorist's gang while they undertake a massacre at a Moscow airport.

It's proven very contentious, with the Daily Mail and Labour MP Keith Vaz claiming it allows players to "plot terror attacks". In defence of the title, and other video games, Labour MP Tom Watson formed a "Gamer's Voice" pressure group. However, Russia has taken things a step further.

The country has recalled all copies of the game from stores, and effectively banned it, after both Russian gamers and politicians reacted angrily to the portrayal of Russia as aggressors. Russian site GotPS3 criticized the game as catering to a largely American audience with disrespect towards other cultures.

Developer Infinity Ward has released a patch for the PC version of the title that removes the mission from the game entirely, and a new version of the game for consoles, which has the "No Russian" mission removed too, is expected to be released within a month.

UPDATE: Activision has issued a statement saying that reports of a ban are erroneous. The company said: "Activision only released a PC version of the game in Russia which went on sale on Tuesday, Nov. 10". Presumably then, everything else in the story remains true - a patch has been released, and a censored console version will be coming out soon.

Via: hellforge.gameriot.com

Full tags
Gaming, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2, Russia, Politics

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