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Underground > Switchboard >

Now War Really *IS* Like a Computer Game

  
 
Cherry Bomb
10:18 / 10.04.03
And you can play at home!Shock and Awe - The Game!

Japanese electronics giant Sony has taken an extraordinary step to cash in on the war in Iraq by patenting the term "Shock and Awe" for a computer game.

Other goods planned for sale in the US include an "Axis of Evil" board game, "Iraqi Freedom" crockery and clothes as well as "Shock and Awe" trainers and dolls.
 
 
waxy dan
14:12 / 11.04.03
On a complete tangent, does anyone actually remember the boardgame "Axis and Allies"?
 
 
Chubby P
14:16 / 11.04.03
This Iraq War computer "game" was online before the war started. Gulf War 2.
 
 
grant
17:32 / 11.04.03
I had a copy of Axis & Allies, actually. One of those too-hard-to-figure-out Avalon Mill games, wasn't it?
 
 
MJ-12
18:02 / 11.04.03
I think as Avalon Hill games go, it wan't too bad. you may be thinking Third Reich, which was the perfect convention game in that it took three days to play a game.
 
 
grant
19:41 / 11.04.03
Hill, yes.

It was definitely Axis & Allies... came out in like 1941 or 1942, I think, had a map so's you could follow real troop movements while playing the game. (If I remember right.) Found in the attic of a lady 30 years older than me who had been living with her parents. It was old.
 
 
Jack Fear
19:44 / 11.04.03
Phew! Now THAT's what I call morbid opportunism!
 
 
Brigade du jour
20:40 / 11.04.03
You see? Just when you think the unexpected demolition of a couple of skyscrapers and a few thousand untimely murders might prompt some dominant US mindset to acknowledge that other countries aren't cute little places in somebody's imagination ... mind you, you've got to admire Sony's balls. No, actually this is a bastard thing to do.
 
 
Jack Fear
23:25 / 11.04.03
dominant US mindset

As already noted, Sony is, of course, a Japanese company.

Not that it makes a difference: if anybody should understand the horrific effects of wartime bombing, it would be Japan. But still.
 
 
Poke it with a stick
15:29 / 12.04.03
Slightly less hi-tech, but infinitely more realistic: US Forward Command Post"
 
 
bio k9
18:49 / 12.04.03
Heh. I can't tell you how many times my 12" G.I. Joes took over my sisters Barbie pool party playsets.
 
 
Brigade du jour
01:01 / 13.04.03
Re: Japanese company. Yeah I know, but I would imagine the brains behind this big clever idea are probably American. Still, I could be wrong. Either way it sucks ass.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
10:05 / 13.04.03
It may well (and indeed does) suck ass, but... (God forgive me)- I am so gonna get the Axis of Evil board game.

Cashing in is only to be expected. Remember "Raid over Moscow", the old Spectrum/C64 game, where you blew fuck out of Moscow? Then glasnost happened, and they re-released it with all references to Russia taken out. And that game (I forget the name) where you were flying a helicopter during the first Iraq war? (Although, on a somewhat spookier note, I read an interview with Warren Spector, the creator of Deus Ex- released in 1999- in which he pointed out that in the New York skyline in the game, the twin towers are missing. Because they forgot to put them in. And it's a game about a conspiracy dealing with a war on terrorism. Coincidence, obviously, but it freaked me for a couple of minutes.)
 
 
Jack Fear
16:21 / 13.04.03
...but I would imagine the brains behind this big clever idea are probably American.

Why?
 
 
Brigade du jour
20:11 / 13.04.03
No clever reason, just because from what I've heard the game puts the player in the position of a US military-type person. Then again, maybe it was thought up by an Australian, a Nigerian or a Canadian.

Whatever the nationality, I just think the whole thing stinks, though I admit I'm probably a little oversensitive because my job entails reading newspaper articles all about Iraq and the inexcusable atrocities taking place there, so anything that cashes in on it is by definition fucking disgusting as far as I'm concerned. I'm paraphrasing stuff I've already said, but I think it's worth repeating. Like a mantra. Until somebody listens. Whoa dude. Short, clipped sentences time.
 
 
grant
15:21 / 14.04.03
Actually, according to this FAQ, Axis & Allies was only introduced in 1981. Which is weird. I suppose I could've been suckered by the design + the aging effects of a South Florida attic, or I could've gotten it mixed up with some other WWII-era memorabilia also in the attic. Hmm.
 
 
Poke it with a stick
20:28 / 14.04.03
I'm waiting for the revised edition of Escape From Colditz, featuring Private Lynch.
 
 
fluid_state
01:38 / 16.04.03
It's hardly surprising. After 9/11, there was a massive army propaganda blitz, and a big chunk of it was the Army's videogame. Used the latest technology and totally free. It may have begun development before the aforementioned date, please correct me if I'm wrong. And if I remember correctly, the most interesting thing was that no matter what side you were on, you were always fighting "for" America. The other side always looked like "terrorists". Bit of the Invisibles right there...

So, anyway, while it's conceptually horrible to anyone with a healthy empathic quality, "Shock and Awe - the Game" is a logical progression. Should move a lot of units. When they start developing sequels before the actual wars take place, then you should be really scared.

Oh, and a game of Axis and Allies is 8-16 hours of your life you'll wish you'd used fighting an actual war. It's mind-numbing!
 
 
mixmage
03:43 / 16.04.03
Being cynical, one of my first thoughts was "when will they make the game?"... enough 3D modelled maps appeared on TV news to make me wonder if modders were already working on CS maps.
 
 
Jack Fear
12:22 / 16.04.03
Plans to produce a "Shock and Awe" video game have been scuttled.
 
  
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