<p class="title">The latest version of the popular US video game "Call of Duty" met with widespread anger and calls for a boycott in Russia on Wednesday for depicting Russian troops as brutal sadists.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Since its release last week, state media and gamers have railed at what they see as anti-Russian "propaganda".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"They have shown our men as scumbags," influential professional gamer Ilya Davydov, known as Ilya Maddyson, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You have to be a complete monster to play a blatantly criminal game that says directly that the army of our country are terrorists," Maddyson tweeted, suggesting it should be banned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A news anchor on Channel One state television complained that the game depicts Russians as "real sadists" who "bomb, burn and destroy everything" and kill innocent people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Published by US company Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty is a highly realistic "first-person shooter" game.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In one section, a young girl called Farah witnesses her father's murder by a Russian soldier in an imaginary country in the Middle East called Urzikistan that closely resembles Syria.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After avenging her father's death, Farah leads a rebellion against Russian occupation. Other scenes in the game depict Russian troops carrying out executions and bombing civilians.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The game has met with a wave of criticism from Russian gamers on review sites such as Metacritic.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is propaganda against Russians... I'll never buy one of their products again," wrote one user called Kolyazinov.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sony has opted not to put the game on sale in Russia for its Playstation 4 console. But it is available on PC and Microsoft's Xbox One.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Activision Blizzard already ran into controversy earlier this month when it banned a Hong Kong gamer from an international eSports tournament after he expressed support for the city's protest movement.</p>
<p class="title">The latest version of the popular US video game "Call of Duty" met with widespread anger and calls for a boycott in Russia on Wednesday for depicting Russian troops as brutal sadists.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Since its release last week, state media and gamers have railed at what they see as anti-Russian "propaganda".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"They have shown our men as scumbags," influential professional gamer Ilya Davydov, known as Ilya Maddyson, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You have to be a complete monster to play a blatantly criminal game that says directly that the army of our country are terrorists," Maddyson tweeted, suggesting it should be banned.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A news anchor on Channel One state television complained that the game depicts Russians as "real sadists" who "bomb, burn and destroy everything" and kill innocent people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Published by US company Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty is a highly realistic "first-person shooter" game.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In one section, a young girl called Farah witnesses her father's murder by a Russian soldier in an imaginary country in the Middle East called Urzikistan that closely resembles Syria.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After avenging her father's death, Farah leads a rebellion against Russian occupation. Other scenes in the game depict Russian troops carrying out executions and bombing civilians.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The game has met with a wave of criticism from Russian gamers on review sites such as Metacritic.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is propaganda against Russians... I'll never buy one of their products again," wrote one user called Kolyazinov.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sony has opted not to put the game on sale in Russia for its Playstation 4 console. But it is available on PC and Microsoft's Xbox One.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Activision Blizzard already ran into controversy earlier this month when it banned a Hong Kong gamer from an international eSports tournament after he expressed support for the city's protest movement.</p>