Russian TV Program Uses Arma 3 Gameplay In Segment Celebrating Armed Forces

A Russian TV channel has just become the latest in the series of TV stations mistakenly using video game footage. Recently, Russia's Channel 1 aired a clip from Arma 3 during a segment celebrating its military forces for the Russian holiday, Defender of the Fatherland Day.

As reported by the BBC, the relevant portion of the segment was focused on Roman Filippov, an Su-25 "Frogfoot" pilot who was shot down and killed in Syria earlier this month. The quick glimpse of Arma 3 was spotted by users of Russian social media site Pikabu.

For a while, the users speculated on the various reasons why this could've happened. Some suggested that it was a deliberate move, while others stated that it was an accident that indicated a lowering of standards at Channel 1, one of the main state-run news sources in the country. Channel 1 finally cleared up the controversy, however, explaining that it was a mistake and an editor had accidentally put the wrong footage from the archive in the segment.

Such a mistake has happened several times in the past. You may remember when Halo's UNSC logo appeared in a BBC program, when a Danish TV channel accidentally used an image from Assassin's Creed during a report on Syria, or when Iranian state TV showed a clip from Medal of Honor to discuss operations against ISIS. Russia's government itself even attempted to utilize screenshots from a mobile game in order to illustrate alleged U.S. aid to the Islamic State.