Cuba Criticizes Call of Duty: Black Ops

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II2

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ReaperzXIII said:
As for the controversy, guess what Cuba? It takes place at a time in history where they were trying to assassinate Castro, so guess what the game might include when you are controlling a Black Ops agent, during that time? Whats next, Germans complaining that games show Nazis?
Well, Germany has been staunchly apologist, politically, since World War II. They generally try to avoid any mention, depiction, etc, of past deeds save to sheepishly say, "Yeah, we did very wrong" if pressed. Consequently, they weather depictions of their ancestors with a tolerant reserve.

I'm not advocating censorship, but it's not unfathomable how Cuba would be upset about a ultra-mega-blockbuster smash hit depicting the (attempted) assassination of their charismatic leader, who still lives - historically accurate or not. They've been economically starved and oppressed under the boot of the US for going on half a century. I'd imagine that breeds a very different mindset about these kinds of issues.

That said, I feel sympathy for the Cuban people, not the Cuban state. Their government has had a pretty shady track record, with a few highlights like abetting the escalation of nuclear war and other times where Che Guevara (popular campus liberal freedom-fighter icon that he is) personally oversaw the operation of around-the-clock death squads who executed more political prisoners per capita than STALIN, after Castro's climb to power.

These observations are a bit off topic, but the subject got me thinking.
 

cainx10a

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Canid117 said:
Casual Shinji said:
Canid117 said:
Communist governments say the darnedest things.
Let's hope the next CoD takes place in North Korea ;)
If you recall the original Mercenaries had a similar reaction from the North Korean government after that game was released.

cainx10a said:
I was disgusted by that scene though, didn't have to shoot the other person in the room.
Didn't she try and kill the player with a shotgun?
-cough- only been watching the game missions through a youtube channel, getting my copy next week > . >

So I guess with the low-rez, I missed that.
 

Chairman Meow

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I'd say it's understandable for them to be upset about that particular part of the game though I certainly do not agree that video games breed real life violence.
Let's face it, if any country makes a video game where their military assassinates another country's leader, especially in a US/Cuba situation, there are going to be a few hurt feelings.

Though I would find it pretty funny if a nation with not-so-good relations with the US produced a populour game where the player is a soldier of that nation and murders J.F.K. or Barack Obama, just for the absolute shitstorm the American Media would create.
 

maninahat

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Major_Tom said:
I'd like a game where you play as Castro while avoiding 600 assassinations. That would be more fun than this borefest of a game.
That does actually sound like a fun game. You go around doing various presidente routine stuff, but you have to keep dodging nefarious boobie traps or snipers on the way to work.

Back to the issue of the game though. Doesn't it sound slightly tasteless to depict the attempted murder of a real life person? Imagine if it was any other president of any other country - it would piss them off too.

They should have put Castro in a robot suit of armour with gatling gun arms.
 

Fox242

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Nov 9, 2009
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AceDiamond said:
I love how he thinks the US Government contracted Treyarch to make this game just so they could watch Castro take one in the head millions of times over. Just like how Hugo Chavez thought the US Government contracted Pandemic to create Mercenaries 2 so they could simulate invading Venezuela and destroying the whole country through the power of Matthias Nillson a.k.a. Techno Viking.

As with Chavez, Castro is clearly talking out his ass and this is a fake controversy. Protip, dictatorial regimes, just because your governments have you owning every corporation that exists in your country doesn't mean it works the same way in the USA.
You took the words right out of my mouth brother. These crazy dictatorships are so paranoid about holding power that a video game can cause them to lash out. It's pretty sad.
 

Fox242

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Nov 9, 2009
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cainx10a said:
I was disgusted by that scene though, didn't have to shoot the other person in the room.
You mean the girl that faux-Castro was using as a shield? She pulled a shotgun out and tried to shoot you! What were you supposed to do? Let her wax both Woods and Mason?
 

Sepiida

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In defense of Cuba (I can't believe I just started a sentence with that) I imagine the response to a big mainstream game in which you attempt to assassinate Obama or Bush would be orders of magnitude worse than this. People (by which I mean politicians) would be calling for the game to be banned and probably for the company to be censured in some way. I'm no fan of Castro but I sure as hell don't fear him any more than I do the U.S. government.
 

Gordon_4_v1legacy

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I don't see his problem. It shows the Bay of Pigs for the disastrous fuck up that it was and Mason's rewards for his bravery to save his comrades was time spent in a Soviet gulag that is a hell few Westerners can imagine.
 

Danpascooch

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Apr 16, 2009
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Vaccine said:
Andy Chalk said:
Castro, now 84 and frail but still the head of the Cuban Communist Party, said in 1998 that he's survived so many attempts on his life that when he does actually die, nobody will believe it.
That makes the US sound so impatient, just let mother nature do her work, she's the best Assassin in the job right now.
What if she fails like we did? WHAT IF HE LIVES FOREVER!
 

MikailCaboose

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cobrausn said:
Woodsey said:
Actual communism doesn't have a government by the way.
Neither does 'actual' Capitalism, but we work with the examples we know.
Because any system dependant on a lack of government will, at some time, revert to bearing some form of government anyways (if not completely dissolving first). Absolutes like that never work.
 

Estocavio

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Oh SHIT, one of the smallest countries in the world thinks videogames are promoting violence in impressionable teens! Its not like most of the world has been arguing about this for years now.

Quite seriously now.
 

knockoutlaze

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Nov 11, 2010
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***SPOILER ALERT***

If you actually play through the entire mission, you come to find out that you killed Castro's body double. Dooped again. If you play further into the game, however, (and have the mental capacity to keep up with the most complicated plot I've ever seen in a video game) you end up killing a certain US idol... I have yet to see anything on that, oddly enough.

However, even if you didn't kill Castro it still is a disrespectful move. And for heaven's sake, the old guy is still alive. Understandably, If there was a game made that had you actually killing the leader of any current country, ESPECIALLY the US, it's not a particularily tolerated statement to make. It's just not nice. :(
 

LCP

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sapphireofthesea said:
cobrausn said:
silverbullet1989 said:
how the hell do you fail to assasinate someone 600 times!?!
By some reports. Probably meaning Cuba state media.

"Fidel Castro found a hair in his soup this morning, obviously an attempt by American secret agencies to kill our glorious leader with poisoned hair follicles."
*I grew up in the Caribbean and contrary to what US media protrays most of us in the Caribbean have no problem at all with Castro and his governement (and neither do most Cubans).
sorry but that's downright ignorance right there
 

Canid117

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cainx10a said:
Canid117 said:
Casual Shinji said:
Canid117 said:
Communist governments say the darnedest things.
Let's hope the next CoD takes place in North Korea ;)
If you recall the original Mercenaries had a similar reaction from the North Korean government after that game was released.

cainx10a said:
I was disgusted by that scene though, didn't have to shoot the other person in the room.
Didn't she try and kill the player with a shotgun?
-cough- only been watching the game missions through a youtube channel, getting my copy next week > . >

So I guess with the low-rez, I missed that.
Well that explains it there are plenty of details that are easy to miss in a small blurry youtube video.