In a recent press release this morning (edit: now last week), publisher Activision confirmed the controversial footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that’s been making the rounds across the Internet.

HERE BE SPOILERS— MANY SPOILERS, IN FACT. If you intend to play Modern Warfare 2 religiously and will gut the first person that gives away ANY of the plot to you, STOP READING THE ARTICLE HERE.

The footage in question, quite grainy in quality, depicts the familiar spinning-logo briefings trademark of the Modern Warfare series. The preview copy of the game is not in English, it appears in fact, to be in French (confirmation will come from a linguist friend of mine in due time), but occasionally legible briefing subtitles and the briefing images still in their English source language drop some BIG hints. The fairly legible letters “C.I.A.” and the identifiable CIA logo, which then ominously morphs into the Soviet Star hint perhaps at some sort of undercover infiltration of the Russian ultranationalist organization which the SAS battled in the last installment. A newspaper clipping drops the name Makarov, purported to be the name of the main villain.

What follows though is what has many swallowing nervously. The mission that follows shows the player (in first-person, obviously), walking out of an elevator into a busy airport terminal with four other armed men. They all (player included) subsequently open fire on the airport terminal, killing scads of unarmed civilians. This is actually a good part of the video, from 2:00 on to 4:45. From 4:45 onwards, the player walks across the lower floor of the airport in a manner reminiscent of the scenes from the Infamy trailer, among bodies strewn across the tile and occasionally pausing to put down a civilian still moving.

5:57 then depicts the player engaging police forces on the tarmac and the video ends at 8:57 with the player dead on the ground– the terrorists must have sniffed out the player’s CIA involvement and ended him right there.

Needless to say, once the footage made the Internet, message boards erupted into flames. Immediate contacts from game media outlets to Activision went unanswered until today.

From a spokesman for Activision UK to gaming site vg247, as to whether the footage in question is real:

“Yes it is. The scene establishes the depth of evil and the cold bloodedness of a rogue Russian villain and his unit. By establishing that evil, it adds to the urgency of the player’s mission to stop them.

“Players have the option of skipping over the scene. At the beginning of the game, there are two ‘checkpoints’ where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can’t be disabled.

“Modern Warfare 2 is a fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies. It is appropriately rated 18 for violent scenes, which means it is intended for those who are 18 and older.”

Intense, yes. Disturbing? You and the vast majority of the lit Internet think so as well. A good idea to put this kind of content in the game? Perhaps not, although the option to skip this segment is certainly a welcome add for the people who don’t want to explore the murkier, less cut-and-dry moral waters that this game gets into.

EDIT: been busy for the past week, so by now this is really old news. Still, comments are quite lusted after.