Iran has banned Battlefield 3 from being sold in the country because it depicts a U.S. military assault against the city of Tehran using tanks and aircraft. This news comes from the Iranian IT magazine.
"All computer stores are prohibited from selling this illegal game," said an unnamed deputy with the security and intelligence division of Iran's police in a statement carried by the Asr-e Ertebat weekly.
A Tehran-based IT union has also warned all shops that sell games to abide by the ban. This is the first time an official ban on the game was reported, but some computer store owners said that they never stocked the game in the first place because they anticipated the crackdown on it.
"I do not have any copy of the game," a shop owner who requested his name not be used told the Associated Press.
He adds that Iranian police overseeing public places have "raided (some shops) and arrested owners for selling the game secretly" even before the ban became public.
The Fars news agency further adds that the game had prompted an online protest by a group of "Iranian youths."
"We understand that the story of a videogame is hypothetical ... (but) we believe the game is purposely released at a time when the US is pushing the international community into fearing Iran," the group said in an online petition. That petition has 5,000 signatures.
Source: AP
Comments
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
To those of you saying Iran is horrible in this, remember Six Days in Fallujah, where a minor outcry from people who had no clue what the game was really about actually caused it to stop being made.
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
This should really hurt EA. I mean I hear they were betting the farm on profits of this game from Iran.
Fiction is fictitious Iran. Get with the millennium...
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
I'm no fan of censorship but I can almost understand this. Iran has been living with the threat of an American invasion for some time now and if I were them I sure as shit wouldn't want my countrymen sending money to a company in a country that wants to bomb me, especially when the game depicts me being bombed.
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
I recommend you don't play MW3 then. America gets invaded.... Russian Army profits.
Again I comment of BF3 and MW3... Fiction is fictitious.
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
America lives under no threat of invasion and EA is an American company. That automatically throws off the comparisons. Although I will take your advice seeing as I decided not to play it when the Infinity Ward team got dismantled.
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
Considering there's been a very real war going on with the two countries in the game, I can see where this ban is coming from.
I wonder if they would accept a version of the game without the single player aspect? It's the multi-player that people buy Battlefield for, and I don't believe the zones in multi-player are nearly as specific. I think they're between the "Russian Union" and the US, anyway. Maybe EA/DICE could even offer a discounted price since a portion of the game would have been cut.
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
That's actually a pretty good idea. Plus, if they released a discounted multiplayer-only version, they'd probably get larger sales numbers overall, too, since a lot of people don't even play single player. Somebody should start up a petition or something, I could see that being good in multiple directions.
:thumbsup:
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
Shame on you Iran. Shame on you.
Andrew Eisen
Re: Iran Bans Battlefield 3
Why "Shame on you", Andrew? Banning a game means no innocent youths will be harmed by playing the game because there is no possible way to get the game! Right?!
Ooops... *Takes my elbow off the sarcasm button*
Sorry.
Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com