From a broader prospective, I think it’s great that video games are slowly getting to be more accepted as “adult” forms of entertainment. No single instance like this will suddenly cause games to be more mature in the view of the general public, but all the little things will add up. Combine that with the fact that more and more adults now grew up with video games, and it’s only a matter of time before people realize that there’s just as wide an array of target audiences for video games as any other form of entertainment.

@Noob: thanks for the compliments. And frankly, the level IS a draw – definitely not an experience found in another game.

-No instead you fill the shoes of an undercover CIA agent put in a very difficult situation.

-This level actually sounds like a massive draw to me, as it’s an experience I couldn’t exactly get from another game (save for GTA I suppose).

@Riddles – Yeah, even desensitized ol’ me was a bit disturbed by that section. And while I absolutely agree with you that there shouldn’t even be an argument of “should it be in there”, and while I agree with on you that children book quote, I’m still on the fence when it comes to brushing aside the interactive nature of games just as “something new”.
I agree that people do often fear video games and will use any handle reason to get rid of it, but I don’t know if the severity of watching the equivalent of that scene and actually playing that scene is the same.
In a movie, while the director can choose perspective, you still play an observer. You can put yourself in anybody’s shoes.
When you are pulling the trigger on a man trying to help his bleeding friend, you might feel for them, but you’re not in their shoes.

Now, I’m not even drawing any conclusions with that, like I said, I still don’t know where I stand in justifying the severity of interaction, I just wouldn’t equate watching to playing once “people get used to it”.

-Nice article by btw.