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Vietnam - A Belated Gaming Invasion?

Posted by simoniker on from the n-n-nineteen-different-games dept.

Thanks to the New York Times for its article (free reg. req.) discussing the plethora of recent videogames based on the Vietnam War. The piece notes: "Before the year is out, the game industry will have released five major titles involving a conflict that it has largely ignored for nearly two decades", and muses: "World War II games have in principle been simple to design. But because Vietnam changed the rules of engagement, the virtual battles had to be chaotic and the goals less clear." The article ends with a quote from one of the creators of Shellshock: Nam '67, arguing: "With video games, I think you can be more neutral. You can say, this is the environment. Go and experience what it was like and then come up with your own verdict of what you think of war."

4 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Vietnam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I wonder how the pro-war people of today will act when we flashforward 30 years and kids are playing Battlefield: Iraq, with soldiers screaming as they fall to the ground from a car bomb. "Why Bush, WHY?"

  2. Re:Other forgotten wars by elasticwings · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Or howabout the Civil War? I'm surprised nobody has created a good Civil War FPS yet. They could make multiple covers of the box like Warcraft 3. They could sell one with the American flag in the northern states and one with a Rebel flag in the southern states. You know every redneck in Tennessee would have to have that game based upon the cover, even if they don't have a computer. I'm not sure if there would be too many class options, but you could make up for it with a soundtrack of the era.

  3. 1942 vs. Vietnam by FriedTurkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I find that playing Battlefield 1942 is a much better experience than Battlefield Vietnam simply by the context. Battlefield Vietnam doesn't really add that much to Battlefield 1942 with gameplay/graphics. What makes 1942 better is simply that WWII portrays a feel good war versus Vietnam which just conjures up images of horror. WWII was probably just as bloody and horrific but the image I have been presented though the media for my entire life has been of an honorable war. Playing 1942 just gives me a much better feeling of wanting to win. I gave up on Vietnam after a while. Maybe I just want to escape to something that is more black and white when I want to have fun.

  4. Re:Other forgotten wars by ronfar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well, you could always play Gods and Generals, review here.

    --
    All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)