EA Defends Cop Killing in Battlefield 3
EA has issued a statement in regards to an objective in Battlefield 3 that requires players to shoot police.
Last week the ESRB rated EA's upcoming shooter Battlefield 3 with an unsurprising "Mature" rating. The board noted realistic gunfire, splashes of blood, stabbing soldiers to death with knives, and even a sequence where a restrained character's throat is slit off-screen as a cause for the rating. No real big surprise, honestly.
But then the ESRB also revealed a mission objective to be completed that now has EA explaining itself: shooting police officers. This revelation actually conflicts with comments made by the game's producer Patrick Back earlier this year who said the experience needed to be built so that players are not put in a position to do bad things.
"If you put the player in front of a choice where they can do good things or bad things, they will do bad things, go dark side - because people think it's cool to be naughty, they won't be caught," he explained.
Of course, there's now speculation that the game's cop-killing feature will likely spark an outrage from the press and government officials. Similar game features like the "No Russian" level in 2009's Modern Warfare 2, the chase scene on the London Underground in the upcoming game Modern Warfare 3, and the Taliban multiplayer option in last year's Medal of Honor have caused enough controversy to force Activision and EA to alter the games and/or issue defending statements. Controversial situations are seemingly great for advertisement.
However on Monday EA issued a response to the police shooting objective, although it's not one you'd expect. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. For God's sake, there is a nuke in Paris! Millions of lives are at stake!!"
Battlefield 3 arrives on October 25 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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jezus53 I'm sure it's not just a level wear you shoot police officers for an hour, it probably has something to do with the story line, so big deal. In MW2 you shot American soldier's in the final part of the game. For Christs sake you throw a knife at a three star general. I know I know, he's dirty, but still, no one complained about that. If people don't like, then don't play it. I, on the other hand, don't really care so don't punish me.Reply -
killerclick George Carlin said killing policemen (and raping teenagers) are necessary activities. Maybe they should say they are George Carlin fans?Reply -
RabidFace I hate all this political correctness in the past few years.Reply
IT'S A GAME!!!
I'm tired of it all. You are killing people, end of story. Favorite genre since 10 years old (25 now) is FPS and always will be. I am such a peaceful person. Games do not make me want to go out and kill people.
HUGE example of political correctness is in Socom 4.
No more Demolition, Escort, and Breach game modes. You have regular Suppression, Bomb Squad (bombs are already placed and a bomb tech defuses them) and Uplink (you steal the data and upload to your computer).
In my honest opinion, if people make such a big deal about all this crap, just ban all games where killing is involved. All this crap about WHAT is getting ridiculous, IT'S ONLY A GAME!!! -
Maximus_Delta Why don't they just show a tank rolling over a baby and it's brains popping out under the tracks... that would get some publicity.Reply
They won't of course because that crosses the line, in the same way that I am willing to bet in this section that you shoot male police officers, not a sweet looking female one. Why, becauase that would cross the line.
Seriously, its good if developers don't cross the line because there are a lot of impressionable, below average intelligence gamers out there that this stuff may affect. Don't assume because you think it's not affecting you it isn't effecting others.
Publishers need to be responsible, and given the EA statement this sounds within the realms of plausible reasonable cause rather than a poor excuse for something dispicable. -
nikorr Maximus_Delta...its good if developers don't cross the line because there are a lot of impressionable, below average intelligence gamers out there that this stuff may affect.Could not agree more.Reply -
Rizlla It is a game!!! Seriously, if people do what they do in games in RL the world would be dead long ago, but they don't, because it is not the right thing to do. Politics must stop meddling in with games. Most of us play games to escape it all and to just have fun and relax.Reply -
Mystre316 Only reason for this is because parents just give their 13 year olds money to go out and buy the game, stroll past the child's room and see them doing some "horrific atrocity" then start bitching about the game.Reply
I love how parents blame the game when its the parent's complete disregard for PARENTING when they let their children buy games.