The Sunday Times this weekend took the unusual step of illustrating an article about the failed hostage rescue mission in Nigeria with an image of a character from a computer game. The character in question, I'm reliably informed is John 'Soap' MacTavish from the popular Call of Duty franchise:
The Sunday Times protected 'Soap's' identity by covering his eyes - possibly so as not to jeopardise future missions in the Call of Duty series, or perhaps to protect his digital family.
All in all, using images from a popular video game seems a little frivolous for a story of this gravity. It follows ITV admitting last year it had used computer game footage to pad out a documentary about the IRA's relationship with Libya.
(Hat tip Dan Ilett)
Also isn't it a copyright infringement? Aren't they stealing content in which the poor old artist loses money?
I mean did they really get permission first, and then pay the owners of COD money? I doubt it.
Posted by: Diego | Mar 12, 2012 at 14:15
This sort of games make children violent.
Posted by: Job Duties | Mar 13, 2012 at 11:02
"This sort of games make children violent."
And what do they do to your command of English?
Posted by: Dmitri | Mar 13, 2012 at 19:52
@job duties: that's ridiculous. Its such a naive and sweeping statement with no facts to back it up. Reports where children have performed violent acts have overlooked that these kids have underlying mental issues. The media find it easy to blame video games as their "catch all scapegoat"
Posted by: Royston | Mar 14, 2012 at 09:32