Free Republic

Of all the games one would expect to go woke, “Call of Duty” would likely be last on the list. But the long-running shooter series now serves LGBT masters. The firestorm began when Activision Blizzard, the company behind the “Call of Duty” games, demonstrated its far-left loyalty in a series of tweets released in early June. The gaming giant gleefully crowed about how it aimed “to foster an inclusive, supportive, and judgment-free environment,” and how it was “excited to be a part of the Los Angeles Pride Parade on June 11th.”

"Nickmercs, a Faze Clan member who has 6.7 million followers on Twitch and two million on Twitter, replied to a tweet from eSports broadcaster Chris Puckett that showed a clash between anti and pro LGBTQ+ demonstrators outside a school voting to recognise June as Pride Month. "They should leave little children alone. That's the real issue," Nickmercs tweeted in response. The replies erupted in backlash from several users including Puckett himself. "Who is this 'they' and what terrible act is everyone afraid of?" he asked. "I think/hope the goal of most of 'them' is to reduce child suicides. This is...

The Highland Park gunman who killed seven people at a July 4 parade previously posted gaming videos online where he shot at people from rooftops. The eerie videos show 21-year-old Robert Crimo's gaming avatar standing on rooftops and shooting down his opponents in a game of Call of Duty. This came before Crimo himself stood on a rooftop disguised in women's clothing and opened fire 'sniper-style' at the crowd during the Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois. Crimo killed seven people with his Smith & Wesson rifle and has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder with dozens...

In yet another tragic mass shooting, Salvador Ramos, 18, slaughtered 19 innocent children and two much-loved teachers at Robb Elementary school, in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday before being killed in a shoot out with a Border Patrol officer and local law enforcement. It is the second deadliest shooting in US history after the infamous Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 - which saw 26 people killed - and has once again left people asking how someone could commit such a heinous crime. As the country tries to make sense of the tragedy, stories about Ramos are beginning to emerge from those...

YouTuber PrestigeIsKey posted a screenshot on his Twitter account of the audio ran through a spectrograph and found the words “Monsters Are Real.” And another Twitter user replied with a looping sound of Godzilla’s orca-like sound that matches the audio from the trailer. Both of these clues strongly hint at the famous kaiju making its grand appearance in Warzone The inclusion of Godzilla would represent a radical change from the semi-realistic atmosphere of Call of Duty games (excluding Zombies mode). This could be an attempt to match Fortnite’s successful partnerships with third-party properties such as Marvel, DC, and Naruto.

SANTA MONICA, CA—Activision surprised the gaming world with a new game trailer revealing the next game in the popular Call of Duty series. Set to be released any day now, Call of Duty: Rittenhouse lets you defend your home from a horde of bloodthirsty communists. “Developers have toiled this past year without sleep, food, or contact with loved ones, so we could launch this politically poignant and incredibly fulfilling game in time for the Holidays and the jury’s verdict of not guilty,” said Activision CEO, Roberto Activision. Some reviewers with advanced copies have expressed worry about how the game presents...

Clint Butler, a UK fugitive, escaped from the HMP Spring Hill open prison in Buckinghamshire in November 2020. He was originally serving a 17-year sentence for robbery and firearm possession, but the allure of the first-person shooter was too much for Butler, who was arrested after coming out of hiding to purchase the game. Butler and a friend took a trip to Martineau Way in Birmingham, England to buy Call of Duty, but were confronted by two police officers who noticed they were acting strangely. They questioned their choice to go shopping despite lockdown mandates, to which Butler replied, "I’ve...

The complaint filed against Activision states that the Call of Duty publisher copied the Cade Janus photographs, without Haugen’s knowledge or consent, and used them to create Mara in Modern Warfare. A photograph entitled “Cade Janus 16” was found in a development document called “Project Odyssey” dated Sept. 8, 2017. The same photo was found on the casting page of Project Odyssey under the heading “The Face of the Near Future.” Haugen and his representatives believe this establishes Activision had access to the images of Cade Janus and were actively aware of those images as they developed the character of...

The latest highly anticipated entry in the “Call of Duty” video game franchise seems to center around a rather anti-communist narrative - and it’s got modern American “Reds” running scared. **SNIP** After all, countless works of Cold War spy fiction are based secret plots, conspiracies and intrigue-laden moments in our history. For Kotaku, however, silly spy plots and harmless fun this was not. Instead, it was an effort to prop up supposed right-wing theories that the civil rights movement was actually a secret Soviet plot to overthrow the United States government with communist uprisings. According to the outlet: “Bezmenov’s suggestion...

In Modern Warfare, the latest entry in the Call of Duty first-person shooter series, an infamous U.S. attack is fictionalized as Russian, rather than American, violence. In the Modern Warfare single-player campaign's eleventh mission, players engage Russian snipers along a wartorn highway in the fictional country of Urkistan. Strewn with burnt out vehicles and bomb craters, a rebel leader named Farah leads players in an attempt to capture a terrorist leader known as "The Wolf." While the country and characters are fictionalized, Farah's description of the setting directly references a real-world event.

Activision officially unveiled the next Call of Duty game this morning. Call of Duty: World War II is being developed by Sledgehammer Games, the makers of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. That was a good game, and I'm excited to see what Sledgehammer can do with a World War II setting. Prior to Advanced Warfare, the developer had been working on a Vietnam-era game which was ultimately scrapped when Activision promoted the studio to one of its three regular Call of Duty developers. We know nothing about the game at this point beyond the setting and name. A livestream is...

University of Montreal study finds video game players navigate the screen using a key area of the brain Millions of boys could be at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other mental illnesses in later life through playing action video games such as Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, according to new research. Scientists say players navigate the screen using a key area of the brain called the caudate nucleus, which leads to loss of grey matter in the hippocampus. Previous studies have shown reduced volume in the hippocampus, which controls memory, learning and emotion, is associated with neurological and...

As video games grow ever more violent and realistic, the latest sign of "progress" is the arrival of female characters you can take into combat in the latest version of the war game "Call of Duty." You may watch a hundred commercials selling this product, but no one tells the audience what's really in it. There's a reason: You'd be shocked. A panel of young pundits on the gaming website IGN.com recently pondered the question "How does it feel to have a woman get stabbed in the face?" One young man admitted with a bit of shame that "I'm so,...

Military futurist Peter Singer -- and consultant for the forthcoming Call of Duty -- reveals what kind of dark assumptions are baked into the next blockbuster game. The Internet has been abuzz over details -- and several intriguing YouTube videos -- of the upcoming "Call of Duty: Black Ops II," scheduled to hit shelves in November. A sequel to the 2010 blockbuster "Call of Duty: Black Ops," the latest iteration of the video game continues the saga of American and Russian operatives immersed in a complex 1960s Cold War plot. But much of the sequel takes place in 2025, when...

Note: Video included. "Bin Laden's Son Is Hospitalized After He Hears His Father's Voice Omar Bin Laden Is Treated for Schizophrenia, Wife Asks for Divorce" July 9, 2010 SNIPPET: ""It's true that he was put on medication but released himself early," said a spokesman for Zeina Al Sabah, Omar's wife. The spokesman confirmed that Omar had bipolar disorder and was on anti-depressants." SNIPPET: ""Omar loves and hates Osama at the same time," she said." SNIPPET: "Omar, 29, has denounced his father's terrorist tactics and ideology. But he still maintains an emotional bond..." SNIPPET: "Much of Osama Bin Laden's family, comprising...

Vanity - I purchased Call of Duty Black Ops for Wii for my son. I'm not familiar with playing this game. Will he need any special wii controllers or accessories to play this game easier?

[...] And then last week, he went home and was watching a game when a new commercial for "Call of Duty: Black Ops" came on his television. Seen through Walker's eyes, the content was bad enough. A woman in high heels, a hotel concierge, a guy in a fast-food worker's outfit -- they're all shooting automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in an urban warfare setting. He was already disgusted, but about halfway through the spot, Walker did a double take: Wait! Wasn't that Kobe Bryant? Seriously, is that really Kobe Bryant carrying an assault weapon with the word "MAMBA" on...

HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba harshly criticized a new video game in which U.S. special operations soldiers try to kill a young Fidel Castro, saying Wednesday that the violent role-playing glorifies assassination and will turn American children into sociopaths. The island's state-run media also took a dig at the CIA's real-life efforts to do in the island's revolutionary leader, who has survived dozens, perhaps hundreds of attempts on his life. "What the United States couldn't accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to do virtually," said an article posted on Cubadebate, a state-run news website.

For the Pentagon, to hitch a free ride off of the video game industry is actually quite savvy. Gaming companies have spent tens of millions of dollars developing technologies designed to re-create battle, as well as easy for the average teen to use. More importantly, these teens enter the military already "trained up" in a certain way. I recall meeting a commander of a Predator drone squadron, a former F-15 pilot, who described the younger generation of remote drone pilots with awe. They had less training and experience than him, but he felt their years of video gaming had made...

Activision and Infinity Ward's new multi-platform video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, forces players to be complicit in acts of terrorism to advance the storyline. If the player makes any attempt to stop the terrorists from slaughtering hundreds of innocent airline victims, the story resets from the beginning.