I first got news of  ”shocking” footage from GamePolitics and felt the muted CNN iReport to be nothing more than people up in arms. Watching animated videogame footage of people being mowed down, even if they are unarmed civilians is, what some might say sadly, not new to me.

We’ve seen controversy play out like in Six Days of Fallujah; the player needing to make a moral decision on the battlefield with the media and non-gamers (and some gamers) saying games about terrorism in ultra-high-def-realism is too soon. So going back to COD: MW2 found by way of TheEscapist I saw the actual gameplay, with sound.

That’s where my attitude changes; maybe I’m getting grandpa old because once I heard what was going on in the background it became much harder to keep my belief people just need to get a grip. I hope I don’t now fall in that crazy crowd. I’m not going to say this goes too far, but I think it certainly comes close to the line.

You guys know I’m all against censorship, especially in games so you tell me what you think…

[RuTube]

UPDATE:

Activision responds:

From GamePolitics

Players have the option of skipping over the scene. At the beginning of the game, there are two ‘checkpoints’ where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can’t be disabled.

Modern Warfare 2 is a fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies. It is appropriately rated 18 for violent scenes, which means it is intended for those who are 18 and older.

About the events taking place in the scene itself, Activision explained:

The scene establishes the depth of evil and the cold bloodedness of a rogue Russian villain and his unit. By establishing that evil, it adds to the urgency of the player’s mission to stop them.

The new PSP is Go! Quite literally, this is the new PSP Go, the next iteration of the PSP line, and it has just been leaked unto the internet. Much like with Nintendo and the DS/Game Boy, Sony says its not trying to replace the current PSP with the Go and that they will live together happily every after on the store shelves. Here’s what we know so far:

Read more!

What is it with leaking videos this week huh? Today’s leak is the first video of Trico, the next project from Team Ico, the people behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. You know, both of those games were looked at like artsy masterpieces of gaming and on most reasons for this I agree. However this footage of Project Trico shows us an asian looking male, in this case a kid, wearing raggedy tribal-ish clothing in a world full of giant structures covered in moss. Sounds familiar?

There’s even a giant furry creature you climb and also happens to be your companion, which will probably die at the end of the game after the developers try their hardest to make you bond with it. So you know… while the game does look impressive visually, specially the camera work, Team Ico is gonna need to step it up a notch on the originality factor lest they end up like Zelda: great games but really unoriginal.

Maybe if team Ico went with the complete opposite of their formula we could come up with something nice. Lets see, give us a girl, in a flat desert, with tiny little creatures that try to climb on top of her. You know that doesn’t sound half bad!

[Offworld]

Woa woa WOA! Looks like someone stole Valve’s Intelligence Briefcase. The video above, courtesy of Kotaku, shows the recently leaked Meet the Spy video. This video, part of the Sniper/Spy update, marks the longest, most action packed Meet the Team video ever. It also finally answers the question of where exactly is the spy from? For those still wondering, he’s french. This leaves only the Medic and Pyro left for their respective videos and Valve keeps raising the bar with each one.

Valve, why don’t you just make a feature length movie about Team Fortress 2 and spare us the shame of all the recent franchise movies? Or you know, just release some more photos of Scout’s mom, you wont hear complaints from us!

[Kotaku]

For fans of the best tower climbing simulator since Tower Climbing Sim 2000, the scoop on the sequel to Assassin’s Creed has been leaked into the interwebs. The story was to be the exclusive of Game Informer magazine’s next issue, however someone got an advance issue of the mag and leaked the story into the Ubisoft forums, where it was promptly removed by the moderators, granting more credibility to the info.

Here’s what we know so far:

Read more!

A member of the NeoGAF forums posted a couple of screenshots he claims are from Rare’s upcoming game Banjo Threeie. The supposed leak happened at an Italian forum, which should make you take them with a grain of salt. They are consistent with the style shown in the teaser for the game and if real it means the game will look beautiful. Also after reading ‘Mumbo’s Nuts’ plastered over the first screen its pretty obvious that Rare’s good ol’ sense of humor is still there, alive and well.

[NeoGAF]