Infinity Ward has managed to infuriate a number of communities between their lack of features and their insensitivity. They angered gamers by excluding the highly anticipated N0M4D feature, by excluding a colorblind option (which its predecessor, World at War, had) and by their ill conceived “Fight Against Grenade Spam” advertisement. Well it’s time to add another group to the list: Pakistanis.
The game features a map in the city of Karachi. To add authenticity to the map, Infinity Ward wrote the store signs in Arabic; and that’s the problem. Pakistan’s native language is not Arabic, rather English and Urdu. Both Arabic and Urdu use the same alphabet, but the words are different.
Kotaku reader Saad stated that “Infinity Ward probably thought, ‘Oh hey it’s a Muslim country so Arabic is the language.’” He went on to explain that, “To someone who doesn't know urdu won't be able to tell the difference. It's like Spanish and English. Some letters are same, some are different but the words are completely different.”
This is just another case of Infinity Ward’s insensitivity to their audience. If they were hiring someone to write the Arabic in the game, perhaps they could have just checked Wikipedia beforehand? Is that really too much to ask?
Via: Kotaku
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It really does seem like it is too much to ask. Coincidentally, they are also the only company that has refused to talk to AbleGamers.
I don't know what the people over at Infinity Ward are doing, but I'm guessing someone somewhere responsible for their PR probably shot themselves by now.
A lot of the gaming magazines that I've read are just saying that the game was rushed to get more money into their pockets. Which, they achieved, I'm just not sure at what cost.
I know one thing, even if I could play this one, I would just as soon play something else like medal of honor.
