The biggest video game of the year isn’t making any fans in Cuba. Here’s why…
About 5.6 million people bought Call of Duty: Black Ops when it went on sale earlier this week. The first-person shooter had a bigger opening than any movie, any video game, any… book. But not everyone was delighted about the game’s exploration of the 1960s Cold War.
The opening level of the game sends a special ops team onto the island nation during the Bay of Pigs invasion to take down Fidel Castro. That’s too much for the state-run news agencies to handle.
Allowing gamers to take a virtual run at what clandestine ops have been trying to do for half a century “stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents,” they say.
So what’s the big deal? Let’s go to the tape… unless you’re worried about spoilers.
Steven Bogos
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 1:15 PM*SPOILER*
It’s not Castro, it’s a double, so I guess even in a Video game the US can still screw this up.
*SPOILER*
What I find the funniest is that American’s are trying to glorify the bay of pigs invasion, an invasion in which they sorely had their asses kicked.
Dominic Davies
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 9:06 PMIn no way does the game glorify the bay of pigs.
popcultured
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 10:50 PM*SPOILER* (About the US)
They glorify all wars regardless of the cost and result.
Snacuum
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 1:42 PM“stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents”
This game is not for kids DERP
mattroe
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 9:36 PMBut children are a HUGE part of the audience, most probably the majority… “derp”.
Snacuum
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 12:21 AMI sure hope that was sarcasm there. The intended audience for a piece of media determines the content of that media. Whether or not children watch material not appropriate for their age is not the fault of the developers.
Jack Wilkinson
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 12:06 PMhaving kids as the majority isnt intended derp,
its just governments dont do enough to stop little kids playing these games
Mike Silvester
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 3:46 AMFunny I don’t need the government to protect my children from these games . As a parent it’s my responsibility to decide what my kids can play/watch.
Don’t get me wrong I think we need the R rating as well but I get tired of people saying the government needs protect our kids.
If you are a parent it’s your job to be well informed & make appropriate choices for your kids.
If you need government help well maybe you should have thought a little harder before buying a game console.
ripperhugme
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 4:47 PMI feel the same way about school zones… Why should we have to drive slow when the children can wear helmets?
I kid, I kid.
William Hamilton
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 1:42 PMWell its history. It’s a well known fact that America tried to assassinate Castro upon multiple occasions, and that Castro did co-operate with the russians. I mean sure the body double uses a woman as a human shield but its not Castro himself right? i felt the game used its historical cameos very respectfully, especially considering Castro himself was no saint..
weresmurf
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 7:28 PMIndeed, it didn’t even paint JFK in a positive light either. All politicians were made out to look exactly as they were… make of that what you will…
bb
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 3:03 PMthis just tells u trechyard is being a massive bully. i guess castro just doesn’t like people killing him in a video game, leave him alone man
LordLeckie
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 4:50 PMLol bay of pigs was an unmitigated disaster for the yanks and now some of them try respin it as a resounding success, woop woop here comes the cultural whitewash trainnnnnnnnnnn.
Dominic Davies
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 9:09 PMDumb comment. Play the game dude.
popcultured
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 10:53 PMCan’t wait till there’s a COD- Vietnam game, they’ll spin your head right off.
Wat
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 5:56 PM“Call of Duty: Black Ops had the launch day in entertainment history”
“had the launch day in entertainment history”
“had the launch day”
Sagarat
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 11:10 PMThis game seem to be doing what most FPS games try to do – put you in the roll of a hero.
It is just a pity that game makers are now trying to justify, and even glorifying some of the worst American aggressions in the last century, especially since both Bay of Pigs and Vietnam were not real wars, just the USA using military violence for purely political reasons.
James Von Bargen
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 11:57 AMI see what you’re angling at, but once tens or hundreds of thousands of troops are unleashed against another country-that’s war; even Korea, painted as a “police action,” was war. And when *hasn’t* war been instigated for purely political reasons? These events aren’t organised by boys at the pub..
Prof. Ake
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 12:31 PMMaybe you should actually play the damn game before saying it tries to “justify” the assassination attempts on castro. This one scene plays out in just one level and has absolutely no relevance to the main story, other than to introduce how the main character comes into contact with the main (fictional) russian antagonists. oh and also, castro was a dictator and a tyrant, and almost helped caused global nuclear war. and why on earth would game makers want to “glorify” wars in which they lost? how about you actually play the game and get an informed opinion instead of jumping on the bandwagon with “hur america is bad dur” hippy bullshit. oh and I’m not an american either, just someone with an informed opinion unlike you
mount-eerie
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:10 AMCouldn’t agree more. The game makes no attempt to justify the assassination. There is no mention of it being the right/correct thing to do. It’s merely an interesting and plausible (given the United States did attempt an overthrow of Cuba) device to introduce characters, conflict etc into the story.
dave
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 3:46 PMSagarat
November 13, 2010 at 11:10 PM
This game seem to be doing what most FPS games try to do – put you in the roll of a hero.
It is just a pity that game makers are now trying to justify, and even glorifying some of the worst American aggressions in the last century, especially since both Bay of Pigs and Vietnam were not real wars, just the USA using military violence for purely political reasons.
huh? have you even played the game? i think you may be projecting you’re own political hang ups onto the game
Jack Wilkinson
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 12:00 PMguys guys, in Australia we let 10 year olds play this game!!! dont worry we’ll get the negative impacts first!!
(need an r18 rating k thx)
Sam Timmins
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 4:46 PMCuba, CALM DOWN. It’s just a game.
Your ex-leader is alive and slowly dying of old age.
Be bigger than America (who yelled “OUTRAAAAGE!” at the game recreating JFK’s assassination (JFK Reloaded) for proof that it was only one gunman.
(Sure, JFK was dead, but still got MANY undies in a twist.)
projectmat
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 12:22 AMwhat the hell people play the single player?
blake
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 7:44 AMI lost track about half way through of all the discussions, so let me make an attempt to contribute.
Governments aren’t to blame for children playing video games full of mature content, parents are. It’s a simple lack of supervision. The governments job is to slap big classification stickers on it so parents can, without playing / watching said media, get a rough idea of the content and make an, somewhat, educated decision.
If this were literature, no one would give a damn about Castro getting shot. I wish the media would piss off and stop applying double standards all for attention grabbing headlines.
Snacuum was spot on.
mattroe needs to think before posting.
Nick
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 11:29 AMCuba’s a bunch of wussies. You dont see Russia complaining everytime theyre the bad guys in a game.
Nickolai Dyska
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 3:53 PMor movies or books
Anon
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 7:00 PMShit, Russia is a really forgiving country. You think they would be super pissed at James Bond…and yet, I have never heard a Russian complain about him.
Anon
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 6:58 PMIt doesn’t matter who it is.
The game is simulating the murder of an actual living person. It is glorifying the murder of that person as well. Of coarse that person is gonna be pissed!
On that note, I was just wondering if any one was interested in making a mod where you have to sneak into a Justin Beiber concert and assassinate him…