In a move that will no doubt not come as a surprise to many, the Daily Mail is leading the charge in expressing its outrage at ‘that scene’ from this years most anticipated Title ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2′ in which players ‘kill civilians in terror attacks.’

Citing support from ‘critics’ who have labelled the sixth instalment in Activision’s popular series ‘irresponsible’, the story also reports that MP (and long time critic of the games industry) Keith Vaz is to raise his concerns in parliament. Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East, said: ‘I am absolutely shocked by the level of violence in this game and am particularly concerned about how realistic the game itself looks.’

Let us know what you think – are Infinity Ward simply courting controversy (there is, after all, no such thing as bad publicity is there!)? Or has Modern Warfare 2 taken a step too far? I guess we’ll find out when the game hits stores tomorrow…

UPDATE:

Keith Vaz has raised this issue in parliament, and was met with a heartening defence of the videogame industry from Labour MP Tom Watson, who has has now set up a Facebook group, ‘Gamers Voice’ in response. The group’s mission statement reads as follows:

“Are you sick of UK newspapers and (my fellow) politicians beating up on gaming? So am I. The truth is, UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help you start one up.”

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Watson said:

“Everything that comes out of Parliament in relation to video games is relentlessly negative. There are thousands of people employed in this industry, there are 26 million people playing games. We should have a much more balanced view of the industry, indeed we should be supporting them through difficult times.”

All we can say is…here, here!

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