Oswald the Educator. Puh-leaze.
A Scottish company has created a game called "JFK Reloaded" that lets players be Lee Harvey Oswald and squeeze off three shots in Dealey Plaza, reports Canada's National Post. The Kennedy family is understandably upset. Arguably the most disturbing element of the game, apparently available for a $10 download, is the phoney-baloney rationale the makers are mouthing:
The company calls it an educational "docu-game," designed to undermine the countless conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.
"We've created the game with the belief that Oswald was the only person that fired the shots on that day, although this recreation proves how immensely difficult his task was," said Kirk Ewing, managing director of Traffic.
"We genuinely believe that, if we get enough people participating, we'll be able to disprove, once and for all, the notion that someone else was involved in the assassination."
I'm no fan of the Kennedy clan and I don't get outraged at disturbing popcult. But come on, already: If you're going to traffic in something like this, at least have the guts not to wrap it up in a pedagogical package.
Whole thing here.
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This is total bullshit that probably should be ignored. I bet anything that the graphics and play won't come close to even a $10 price tag. What they're selling is pure hype, nothing less.
I'm concerned this is going to get the nannies pissing their panties again over banning video games. I really hate these fuckers.
Halo 2? Total pleasure overload. Get it.
What about a JFK Jr Flight Simulator??
Flight simulator. Brilliant idea.
When someone blurts out the typical "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" speech to me about things like this, I usually ask for an example of the offending item being embraced. Where are the lines of people outside Game Stop waiting to buy it? Where is the overblown ad campaign? If they don't exist, you've got little to worry about.
Besides, it's obvious that this games attempt to dispell conspiracy theorists is all just part of the cover-up...
This is crunk. Pure crunk. It seems that the "sheild" for most 3rd-person shooter games
is the relative anonymity of the victims of the mass violence that takes place.
But what of that game where your goal was to infiltrate Iraq and assassinate Hussein?
What of the many games where you're re-creating actual-life horrific warfare?
Quite frankly, I don't share the sentiments of the majority of this country regarding politician worship. In fact, I harbor more disdain for them than anything. Especially the president, whoever he may be. I'm not approving of the killing of JFK, I'm simply saying, why is this so abhorrent, while 15-year-old kids can run through the jungles of the Viet cong killing throngs of "gooks" indiscriminantly?
They'll have to pry GTA: San Andreas from my cold, dead hands.
Comments not mine, courtesy of Slashdot:
"I for one am looking forward to 'Chappaquiddick II: The Game' "
"or drive Mary Jo home... which is less fun. "
Halo 2 is very good. Halflife 2 is ridiculously good.
BTW, there might be a Reason-esque story in the distribution method Valve software has chosen for Halflife 2. To wit, you have two ways to buy the game - go to the store and get a CD, or have the game served to you by utilizing an electronic software delivery platform they call Steam.
The catch is, even if you buy the CD, you must have an active internet connection every time you play the game so that Valve can verify that you aren't using a pirated copy.
I got the game free as part of a promotion when I upgraded video cards earlier this year, so I just went ahead and tried the served version instead of waiting 10 weeks for the CDs. It isn't bad at all except for the initial download (about two hours on DSL). It updates versions by itself as patches come out, and it gave me access to a ton of other Valve software I wasn't expecting to get. The CD-less future of software may finally be here.
I'll comptemplate the meaning of this while listening to a Dead Kennedys CD.
Sorry, I know this isn't the correct forum, but I'm such a game-head.
Half-Life2.. decent story mode, or is it primarily a multiplayer?
You have to have your internet active while you play it?! Doesn't that slow things down??
Better then Doom III?
actually, the reviewer on slate said that 'jfk' actually has excellent physics and is even enjoyable in an icky, 'must wash hands afterwards' kind of way...
Nice Guy,
HL2 does a better job of creating an interactive world with real physics than anything I've ever seen. Running through aqueducts, I was being chased by a gunship. I hid behind cover only to have it blasted through and demolished by the helo's cannons. The helo distorts very real water very believably as it makes passes. You can use telephones on street corners. You can interact with vending machines to get a drink. Interactions with other characters are jarringly real - kind of like playing through the cut scenes in most games.
No experience with Doom3, but the hubbub is that HL2 has better physics and is more dynamic in play.
There is only story mode now. The likely scenario is that you will get the HL2 equivalent of Counterstrike shortly.
since a tiger got jfk (my favorite theory), and since you can't disprove that, this speculation on this really fucking annoying family can be put to rest.
and the jackie o-face exhibit at the field (or is it science and industry) will not be getting a visit from me.
how many of these quibbeldicks are left before we once and for all get to stop hearing about the kenndey klan???
I could see how it might be dangerous if, say, the people who made this game got together with the guy that lets you shoot his rifle over the internet.
Bill Hicks had a fun routine on Oswald's sniper's perch. Hicks imagined a gun-knowledgeable American sitting in the closed-off spot in the Repository building, taking aim, then sneering "No way it could be done! It must have been the grassy knoll."
I wonder how the descendants of German soldiers killed in WW2 feel about the shoot-em-up Castle Wolfenstein?
actually, you don't have to be connected to play the single player halflife 2...only to "register" and authenticate and "unlock" the game...
great game though...the physics isn't that great. It's high school stuff. But i'm a physics grad student
"great game though...the physics isn't that great. It's high school stuff. But i'm a physics grad student"
Aww, come on Dr. Freeman. We are comparing it to other engines, not to reality.