14 DAY TRIAL // Mark Lamia, who is the leader of the team working on Call of Duty: Black Ops at developer Treyarch, has said that it is unfair on the part of the media to single out video games as controversial because they they touch on significant historical or ongoing events, while other forms of media to the same thing and no one notices.
Talking to CVG the video game creators has stated, “Our story weaves itself around all kinds of controversial historical periods, but there have been many books and movies that do that, so to single out games in that way seems unfair.”
He added, “So while our story weaves its way through the South East Asia and Vietnam conflict, it’s not a game about the Vietnam War. You just happen to be there when certain things occur during that period.”
The statements come after Medal of Honor was attacked by some because in the multiplayer mode players will be able to take on the role of Taliban insurgents and face NATO and United States soldiers that can be killed.
The developers said that any game needs an opposing side and that Medal of Honor is only singled out because it is portraying a modern conflict.
Retailer chain GameStop has said that it will not sell Medal of Honor in its stores on military bases.
Despite their prevalence and their impact video games are still treated like they are somehow inferior to other entertainment products, like movies or books, with some questions whether they are art and others apparently eager to limit the experiences they can depict.
Call of Duty: Black Ops could sell better than Modern Warfare 2 did back in 2009 and is set to be launched on November 9 for a the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii and the good old PC.