Reason #7 that I don’t want to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
I love video games, and I love violent shoot em up video games more, but I just get a little squirmy about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I’ve played it twice now, at two different people’s houses, and it’s crazy detailed and intense and awesome, but I still can’t reconcile the fact that a) it’s mimicking a war real people are still involved in, and b) it takes place in a part of the world where my husband is from. I don’t think I’d be super comfy playing a Redneck Wargame that took place in the hills of NC, either. But now here’s yet another reason to not get this game: Kotaku is reporting that the Karachi, Pakistan map has signs written in Arabic, which is not spoken in Karachi. Here, let them explain:
The country of Pakistan has two official lingos: English and Urdu. With somewhere between 60 and 80 million speakers of the standard language, Urdu has more speakers than, say, Italian, Korean or Polish.
“Infinity Ward probably thought, ‘Oh hey its a Muslim country so Arabic is the language,’” says Saad.
While Arabic and Urdu use the same script, the words are completely different. For example, the noun “people” is “al-naas” in Arabic (الناس), and “log” or “loug” (لوگ) in Urdu.
“To someone who doesn’t know Urdu won’t be able to tell the difference,” Saad explains. “It’s like Spanish and English, I guess. Some letters are same, some are different but the words are completely different.”
There isn’t a single Urdu word on the entire Karachi map and no one writes in Arabic in Pakistan.
Something to keep in mind when you’re playing. Me, I’ll still be playing Borderlands, where I dispatch raiders, skaggs, and psychos with extreme prejudice.
john said,
February 7, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Yeah, this TOTALLLLYY ruins the game.
dexter said,
October 25, 2010 at 10:44 am
The most stupid thing I have ever heard. The designers as IW work hard on their games and some text on some sign doesnt make a difference. Get over it and grow up. This is pathetic.
Cookie said,
February 27, 2011 at 9:21 am
What the heck?
What do you mean your husband?
Nobody wants to hear some old housewife rant about stuff shes too old to understand!
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is the kind of thing that is going on in this generation but if you cant handle that please spare us from the rant.
And really, are the signs that big of a deal?
Does it really matter that much?
Comon get with the program,
Cookie
Let’s check in on hateful comments! « Gynomite! said,
March 21, 2011 at 10:00 pm
[...] 21, 2011 at 10:00 pm (video games) Today’s installment, a post I wrote (if you’re familiar with Kumail’s comedy, you might recognize it) about how all the [...]
Kobe said,
March 23, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I didn’t read this post initially b/c I don’t play video games, but this is really insulting. Also, if the designers were so up on their work, they wouldn’t make such a huge misstep.