So, we all know of the infamous "No Russian" level in Modern Warfare 2, hell some have even boycotted playing the game just because of the level. Well, if anyone actually took the time to play through it and look at it in context they'd see that it is actually an integral part to the story and completely necessary.

"No Russian" wasn't done any favors by the fact that it was leaked way before the release of the game, because all that caused was misinformation. All people saw was you, gun, an airport, civilians. The end. Then the judgment came, and boycotts started happening, Infinity Ward was all the sudden the anti-christ in some eyes, so on and so on. But its not as simple as that.

From the loading screen it is revealed that you are in fact an undercover CIA operative. You are told that you must do all that is necessary to remain close to the main terrorist Makarov and that "you'll loose part of yourself" Once you start the level in a Russian airport (as opposed to what all a lot of the critics assumed, a US airport) Makarov states for some reason "Remember, no Russian." Blah blah blah, you go through and commit atrocities, we all know that part. And that's where a lot of people stop and chose to judge the scene. What they don't see is at the very end of the level where Makarov stops you just as you're about to hop in the escape vehicle and shoots you at point blank range. He says something along the lines of "The Americans thought they were sending a message, THIS is sending a message. When the body of that American is found all of Russia will cry for war."

So yeah, Makarov knew you were CIA the whole time, he knew exactly what was going to happen, thus why he said "No russian." The body of an American is found and then all out war starts. It was a bigger plan, just as the level itself was a bigger plan.

For the sake of a story, a war needed to happen, thus it needed a tipping off point, and I believe the way Infinity Ward went about it was nothing but masterfully told. The events after the "No Russian" level lead to some of the most breath taking moments I've played through in video games. Right before I started writing this blog, I played the level where you emerge from a safe house into a burning DC with all out war happening everywhere set to a somber orchestral piece. I literally stopped to look around at just how crazy it was.

The thing people need to realize is, this is nothing but a story. The only reason why this is controversial is that its a playable section in a video game. It wouldn't gain as much attention as it would if it was in a movie, tv show, book, etc. And if IW pussied out and just did it as a cut scene, you wouldn't get the point really, and you'd be completely detached from what you're doing. You're supposed to feel bad about what you are doing, just as the CIA agent would have if it was real.

IW was really at a disadvantage when trying to explain this scene, because all they could say was "you're supposed to feel the atrocities of war" which is true, but for the sake of spoilers they couldn't say the context of the level was in and how much it affected the entire game. Because they were at this disadvantage, they were left wide open for a gang bang of attacks from outraged, misinformed critics.

So I applaud IW for having the balls to do this. "No Russian" is completely different than what you'd do in games like GTA. It has depth and meaning, the events that happen in the level changes EVERYTHING within the world the game happens in where GTA, you're just killing civilian for no reason.

Hopefully all the gamers who are for some reason offended by the level actually take the time and play through the level and judge it properly instead of refusing to play it and saying how wrong IW was for putting it in the game.

*SIDE POINT* I couldn't figure out and good place to put this within the argument, but if anyone will sit here and tell me with a straight face that an undercover CIA agent has never done something fucked up like that (albeit not as big) then I will sit here and laugh straight in your internet face.

Well, yesterday I originally brought you this post. Today, with Bayonetta's japanese release only hours away, we have more costumes for everyone's favorite giraffe legged sexy TOTALLY NOT Sarah Palin librarian lookalike. Now they're just starting to range on DoA "why would you wear a bikini to fight?" level of ridiculousness...

but never the less...

MUST BUY BAYONETTA!!!

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPOIL ANY PART OF MODERN WARFARE 2'S CAMPAIGN! SERIOUSLY, THIS SHIT BE BIG, AND CONTROVERSIAL. EXPECT THE MEDIA TO RUIN IT FOR YOU ANYWAYS WITH THEIR LACK OF SPOILER TAGS.

Anyways, I hope I've taken up enough room to make sure no one reads any of the real meat to this blog on the cblogs home page. Anyways, be prepared for Fox News to (try and) rip Modern Warfare 2 a new asshole in the coming weeks. We all saw how some tight asses here from the US got all up in arms over a fucking trailer that showed war in Washington DC, but oh man, that was nothing compared to what you're about to see in this video...



Yeah, that's right... remember the first trailer of Modern Warfare 2 where there were Russian terrorists opening fire in a crowded airport... YOU PLAY THAT. You fucking mow down unarmed civilians.

Now, being a level headed person, I don't really mind that. I know how to separate fact from fiction, story telling from gratuitous violence, and so on. But I can still see how this is a huge risk for Infinity Ward and Activision. I'm honestly surprised this wasn't cut out, the amount of potential shit that could be given to the game, given how huge it already is, could be tremendous.

At least they don't have an achievement for mowing down X amount of civilians...

I just saw these posted on kotaku... There's not much to really say except this: guys and gals, we might not see Sterling for a few days.

Oh the fall season, I love and hate it. I love it because there are so many goddamn games coming out, and that’s pretty awesome. I hate it because there’s always that game that gets left behind and I never get around to completing it or even getting that far into it. I’m going to take a look at the games I plan on playing this season and try and determine which might be left behind, just so I can be conscious of the fact and try not to forget about them.


Demon's Souls
Out Now

Demon’s Souls is an interesting game, I bought it on a complete whim. I really wasn’t looking forward to being beaten mercilessly by a game. What I didn’t expect was liking being dominated by the game. Sure I fucking die a lot, but I keep playing, and I have no fucking clue why. Literally 20 minutes ago I looked at a bloodstain, saw the guy just die in the middle of a bridge, heard a dragon and then deduced a plan. I would run out, draw out the dragon, run to cover and as soon as the dragon left I would hoof it to the next safe point. Yeah well… that worked until the fucking dragon came back to waste my ass in fire half way across the bridge mid sprint.


Brutal Legend
10/13

I’m a fan of heavy music, I’m a fan of Tim Schafer, and I’m also a fan of the lolz. This game is a fucking no brainer for me. This possibly could be my GOTY just based on concept and writing alone. I’m excited to see the RTS elements of the game but still sort of hazy on the multiplayer aspect. Seems like it was one of those “Okay, give us some replay valuez!!!” on EA’s part. Regardless, I’m excited for tomorrow.


Uncharted 2
10/13

I was originally going to rent this game, but then I remembered just how much fun I had with the original, and also realized that I have a 37” 1080p TV that I didn’t have when I played the original Uncharted. Nothing is new about the game, but what it does, it does well and on top of that it has top-notch production values. Nathan Drake is a fantastic character, and I would rather see an Uncharted movie rather than Indy 5.


Way of the Samurai 3
10/13

Another game I’m buying a complete whim. I have barely any knowledge of this game. I just read some cblogs here and the game sounded cool. I even just decided to get it for the PS3 due to my 360 collection heavily outweighing my PS3 collection. In the absence of Yakuza: Kenzan, this game seems like it will fill the void.


Borderlands
10/20

I like RPGs, I like FPS, I will probably like Borderlands. I have to say I like the Crackdown like visuals, and I like the fact there’s about a billion different weapon combinations within the game. The only thing that worries me about Borderlands is the fact that not a whole bunch of my friends are getting the game. And I’ve been sort of burned at times trying to get as much as I can out of a game based on co-op but solely playing single player.


Tekken 6
10/27

This is another no brainer. I like fighting games, I like Tekken, my roommates like Tekken, I like alcohol too, those nights with nothing else to do but drink and play Tekken are going to be AWESOME.


Dragon Age: Origins
11/3

I’m a sucker for BioWare. I love them. They’re RPGs are just so fucking good. The story telling is top notch and the worlds they create are just fantastic. I still don’t know that much about how its going to play on the console side of things, but I’m excited none the less for a BioWare fix before Mass Effect 2 next year.


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
11/10

This game needs no justification


Left 4 Dead 2
11/17

Oh boo hoo, Valve hates the fans and loves money. Its just a reskin! Just... fuck off

And that’s it. I got a lot on my plate that is for sure. Now for the games that I worry about loosing track of.

First, Demon’s Souls. I know I said I enjoy the sadistic nature of the game, but that’s honestly because I have nothing else better to play at the moment. I know that after tomorrow if I suffer a frustrating death, I would rather pop in Uncharted to my PS3 then try and figure out how not to die.

Way of the Samurai 3. It seems like a cool game, I just don’t know too much about it. I’m really hoping what I’ve heard about this game is true, and that I can stick with it, because it does sound pretty fucking awesome.

Borderlands. Just because like I said, I’m not sure how me playing the game mostly single player will work out. That and this little game called Modern Warfare 2.

Dragon Age Origins. While I might skimp on the time I give this game, I know that I’ll keep in my library and come back to it ever so often to go deeper into a DnD nerd’s wet dream.

Regardless of anything, I need to play this games! Especially with all the games that were delayed from this season to next year not too far behind.

I've never owned a PSP. And though the DS has been giving it a consistent pounding for... well forever, the amount of high quality games within the library as well as future releases like Persona 3 Portable, and the new Harvest Moon have gotten me to take the plunge and buy a PSP.

I obviously went for the Go, because I just didn't want to deal with switching UMDs and carrying them around, I wanted something that was actually portable, and I had saved up the cash for it. And I have to say, so far I'm pretty pleased with the thing.

The system itself is a looooooot smaller than I thought. I knew it was going to be small, but no where near as small as it is. It's not much larger than m Blackberry and I have to say I kind of like that. Though, for someone with big hands like myself I can see the system causing some aches and pains here and there, but I've come to accept that being that it happens with my DS as well. I was worried with the slide top that it would be cheap feeling and kind of sketchy, but its actually pretty damn sturdy which is another plus.

Now being that I never did own a PSP thus had no old UMDs, I have to say I fucking love the fact that I don't have to buy physical games with this. Sure it takes away from my ability to trade in games for some spare credit, but I never really traded in handheld games to begin with. So, thats another plus for me... but there is an issue

The games. I'll give credit where its due, sony did launch a bunch of games with the system, but hardly any top tier games outside their first party games. Sure games like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite were launched on PSN today, but for every good game thats on the PSN right now, there's a whole bunch of shitty ones as well. 300 the game? WOOOOOOO That's what I want to buy for my new system.

If Sony wants to make the PSP Go a success they need to consistently put out more games onto the PSN. Keep on pushing out the old PSP games onto the service with the PSN weekly updates. I'm not talking three here two there, a good sizable amount needs to launch every week. I don't care about the licensing, sony needs to put forth the effort and get that shit done. As well as that every new game that launches with the PSP needs to hit the PSN too, that seems like common sense, but I can see stupid shit happening and that not going down.

Overall I'm happy with the Go. I'm just sitting here with MHFU, Fate/Stay Night, and some PS1 games. I'm just waiting for more games to hit the service!