Iran bans Tehran invasion first-person shooter
Shopkeepers arrested for stocking Battlefield 3
EA's Battlefield 3 has been outlawed in Iran, with police allegedly arresting shop owners that secretly stock the game.
If reports are to be believed, Iranian cops are cracking down with a vengeance, raiding shops and arresting owners found to be selling pirated or imported copies of Battlefield 3, Agence France-Presse reports by way of the Lebanese Daily Star.
The Iranian ban is hardly surprising considering Battlefield 3 depicts a fictional US invasion of Tehran.
"The locals made sure I got stoned... help"
Iranian youths have created an online petition to campaign against the game's sale too. "We understand that the story of a videogame is hypothetical," it reads, before insisting "the game is purposely released at a time when the US is pushing the international community into fearing Iran."
Either way, EA doesn't seem too bothered and claims the ban may even be good for anti-piracy measures.
"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," the publisher said in a statement.
Not sure exactly how it works that out, though. ®
COMMENTS
err no we wouldn't and a good job too
Resistance had battles in Manchester & York, MW3 has battles in London... and we don't ban them.. and why, because at least most people know the difference between fantasy and reality...
I'm off to blow up Paris on BF3
You can try and ban a game in the US but the courts will and have struck down suck bans.
this one?
http://www.underash.net/en_download.htm
Not banned, as far as I know.
A list is here, if anyone knows any that are missing then go ahead and add them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games
"At an extremely sensitive location, at a factual and extremely sensitive time eg. 9/11."
So America's sensibilities are more important than those of other nations?
Failure of logic
"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,"
So zero sales is a good thing because it also means zero piracy? That just proves to me that certain corporate entities have completely lost thier minds when it comes to piracy. I'm not saying piracy is good, but surely having some income and a lot of piracy is better than no income and no piracy.
