The animal rights activist group PETA has apparently found cause to take up arms against Battlefield 3, which released 2 weeks ago for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
According to a press release yesterday from the group’s German office, their beef (sorry) stems around the fact that in the third mission of the game’s single player campaign, the player’s character is able to stab a rat with a combat knife and then discard the carcass.
The English version of the statement via Google Translate reads, “”The realistic computer game Battlefield 3 treats animals in a sadistic manner. The game gives players the option to kill a rat with a combat knife in the back in order to then lift it by its tail, then toss it away.”
The group goes on to say that “the killing may have a brutalizing effect…on the young male target audience.”
PETA also says that there have been repeated incidences of animal cruelty perpetrated by young males in Germany, although they weren’t able to specify how video games may or may not have played a role. No word yet either on the poor, innocent members of the People’s Liberation and Resistance Army who also perished at the cruel hands of Staff Sergeant Blackburn during the mission.