Agreed. I still think that MKII is one of the deepest, most innovative fighting games of all time. How will history look upon the Modern Warfare series? As something great? Or as an annualized cash cow?

I agree with you all the way.  The difference though is that people trained better with MK2 and were able to enjoy it more in the arcade.  With MW3, i just feel that when a 8 year old comes in with actual money or gift cards wanting to buy the game, I have a hard time seeing that a parent would allow that.  Games already get a bad rap for it and things like this add fuel to a lot of politicians who want to argue about violence in games.  Like I said though, I  agree with you all the way.

Oh yeah definitely. I read it before the editors note, no worries.

I work electronics at Target, I run into this quite a bit actually. What I find really interesting is the typical justification of, "It's not any worse than television." It pretty much means that they don't really pay much attention to what their kids are playing. Very few parents come up to me and ask what's the content "really" like in a game. Almost nobody has told me that they googled the game and read up on it. 

If kids want to play a game where they can shoot things, that's fine. What needs to change is how parents communicate with their kids about why they're not allowed to play it other than you're not old enough. 

I actually thought MW2's airport shootout was shocking. Then again, I hadn't played any shooter that really shocked me with a narrative up to that point. But you'd think that parents would spend more time researching these games.

It's ludicrous that parents cry foul over games like MW3 and not other more controversial games. They complain that Mortal Kombat is too bloody, but they ignore all the brutal violence in Fear Effect. They gripe about the violence and sex in GTA: San Andreas, but they ignore the horrific headshot scene in The Darkness. I suppose it's good that nobody hasn't slapped the industry with more restrictions, but it also shows their ignorance to video games in general.

I was a bit shocked by Mortal Kombat, but I still thought it was silly. Jason's right, though. I also have to add that most of the controversy fades away eventually.

Modern Warfare is still a cutting edge, though. I think the boiling point always involves how the developer frames all these shocking narratives to rile people up. I can't imagine the shock value fading out easily. Then again, almost none of the kids remember Kill Bill nowadays.

i feel that kids now a days don't understand what makes a video games what they are.  Graphical violence my be pretty when displayed but when the parents allow their 7 or 8 year old come into a store and buy something way out their league, its something that makes you think of what the parent(s) allow.