Thursday, December 8, 2011

Battlefield 3 Banned In Iran!

Iran is mad we virtually kicked their ass.



According to a an article in the Lebanese Daily Star, Electronic Arts’ military-based first-person-shooter,Battlefield 3, has been banned in the country of Iran because of its scenes depicting intense battles in the Iranian city of Tehran.

Interesting, though, is the fact that EA never made any plans to have the game sold in Iran anyway, meaning that all Iranian sales of Battlefield 3 were already illegal before this official ban.

The article notes that the government had received more than 5,000 signatures from “Iranian youths” via an online petition.

“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,” read a statement from the government.

Of course, since EA isn’t selling Battlefield 3 in Iran, they’re just fine with the ban, even releasing a statement on the subject reported by Industry Gamers: “In that Battlefield 3 is not available for purchase in Iran, we can only hope the ban will help prevent pirated copies reaching consumers there.”

EA and bans are best friends.

To my understanding, there’s been a long history of popular western items being banned in Iran, as depicted in Marjane Satrapi’s excellent graphic novel, Persepolis. The way Satrapi illustrates it through her own experiences in the 1980s, these bans were measures taken by an oppressive regime.

All of this leads me to wonder just one thing, though: I wonder what the Iranian policy is on using the term “e-peen”?

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