Political group asks Bono to halt Mercs 2 production

Political activisits are calling on U2 singer Bono, as an investor in Pandemic Studios, to halt the development of forthcoming shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

The game is set in Venezuela and sees players taking on a political tyrant who has taken control of the oil industry. It's already attracted criticism from the country's president, Hugo Chavez, who labelled it as an example of "psychological warfare".

Now the Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign has written an open letter to religious leaders asking for their help in stopping production on the game.

The VSC claims that Pandemic has previously been subcontracted by the US army to make training games, and observes, "The aim of [Mercenaries 2] is full devastation, so any 'person' who moves should be 'shot,' and all the buildings, such as the headquarters of PDVSA, the Venezuelan public oil company, can be 'destroyed.'

"Our concern is that this game will only deepen an already antagonistic relationship between the US and Venezuelan governments. Millions of Venezuelans fear an invasion from the US; knowing that a company that works for the US military has created a game in which their country is completely destroyed will increase those concerns."

Bono, as the letter notes, is one of six members of Elevation Partners, which recently invested USD 300 million in Pandemic. The VSC is asking the pop star to use his "considerable influence" to stop Mercenaries 2 from going on sale, adding, "We hope that his history of involvement in justice issues such as debt and famine relief will sensitise him to the problems with this game."

In a statement sent to website Gamespot Pandemic co-founder Josh Resnick said that Mercenaries 2 is "just a videogame", with a fictional storyline and characters - claiming that none of them are "based on any real political figures". He conceded that the game's environment has "the overall look and feel of Venezuela" but said it does not feature "an accurate street-by-street depiction".

"It's common practice in the entertainment business, both movies and video games, to set fictional storylines in real places. This isn't any different than setting a movie like Goodfellas in New York," Resnick said.

Mercenaries 2 is due out later this year on PC, PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360.