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North Korea Angered Over Ghost Recon 2
Fennario writes "According to Stars and Stripes Pacific's translation of a North Korean government newspaper article, UbiSoft's forthcoming Ghost Recon 2 videogame, which envisions a near-future North Korea/China conflict with US involvement, has already attracted the reclusive country's attention. In a curt review, a North Korean government-run newspaper called the game proof of U.S. warmongering. 'Through propaganda, entertainment and movies,' read a recent online commentary in the Tongil Newspaper. Americans 'have shown everyone their hatred for us. This may be just a game to them now, but a war will not be a game for them later. In war, they will only face miserable defeat and gruesome deaths.' Given the steep learning curve of previous incarnations of Ghost Recon, it's conceivable many may face miserable defeat and gruesome deaths anyhow."
Yadda yadda yadda yadda SHUTUP N. KOREA.
Video games don't dictate foreign policy, Kim Jong-il needs to put a sock in it.
"I am a kernel in the linux army"
Most of the wars in this list of 20th century wars don't have any videogames. Maybe I should send the link to some game-makers.
From what I've heard in the past, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Kim Jung-Il is an avid gamer.Yeah, he's kinda nutz too, but he actually does seem to pay attention to pop culture and such. Heck, he may be playing copy of Ghost Recon 2 right now. I'll bet he beats his homies all the time, or else!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
So I guess by the same rationale that because of Full Throttle all bikers are bad.
Day of the Tentacle: Weird green and purple blobs are evil and want to take over the world
Leisure Suit Larry: men only care about sex (ok, maybe they're right...)
Grand Theft Auto: It's totally ok to kill a hooker as long as no cop sees you do it.
Worms: Worms are bad creature and I should use wind direction and missle bomb loft to kill them in the most efficent manner.
UT: Other people are only good for cannon fodder
I could keep going...
hey NORTH KOREA, IT'S A FUCKING GAME. I highly doubt that every game that's ever been produced over seas portrays Americans in a good light, but do you see us complaining? Hell no, because we are too busy trying to get "kill all haitians" removed from our games (because haitians are a good and kind people who deserve no ill-respect).
I don't think there's a lot of truth in the ramblings of the North Koreans. Those guys have thousands of artillery peices trained down on the South Koreans, and most of their citizens are starving because all of the food given to them as international aid is diverted to the military. Yet somehow we're the warmongers because of a hypothetical situation created in a video game? Couple that with their prediction of 'miserable defeat for us' and you should realize that you aren't dealing with complaints from a rational group of people, but paranoid ranting and chest thumping from a corrupt and weak regime.
My blog
"U.S. warmongering"?
Is this North Korean gov't-run paper aware that UbiSoft is not an arm of the American gov't? I could see if America's Army had a similar storyline due to its US Army ties, but this is a Tom Clancy game.
Even if the paper is referring to US citizens instead of the US govt, this game isn't something that a large percentage of our general population will play. This game will be played by video game players who like war games. How much of our population is that? I imagine it's somewhere around 5% - 10% at most. Also, these games seem to me to have no bearing on players' opinions of real war situations. I imagine there will be some people who would be very upset about a US invasion of North Korea who would still enjoy this game, because they have the ability to separate reality from fantasy.
The really interesting thing about this is the insinuation that China would be NK's enemy, and that the US would be on the Chinese side in this conflict. It presumes a lot about China (eg: China really wants to thaw, to become a part of the capitalist world, despite what they say), and a lot about North Korea (the idea that an individual or faction in the military could actually take power from the all-powerful Kim Family Regime).
As a furriner living in South Korea, I'd be interested to see what part South Korea has in this game - that will be the true test of its importance as speculative analogy.
And apart from anything else, this game would pretty much be reason enough for me to buy a gaming rig and install windows on it... though I'd still need to use debian for everything else, natch.
L
And where in that article does it say "the Supreme Court made them do it."?
That, sir, is why you're wrong and the AC is right.
_sig_ is away
Such a war will be fought with bombs. Hope the North Koreans understand that they will get their butts kicked.
But at what cost? You do realise that NK can pretty much destroy central Seoul (pop ~10,000,000) in the first 24 hours of their artillery bombardments... and that's presuming they DON'T use chemical/biological/nuclear weapons.
In this case, it's not about "kicking butt" - it's about finding a way to defuse the situation without massive carnage. Unfortunately, most USians, including those in office, seem not to realise this.
L
I understand it's a Tom Clancy game. Even so, it was a French/French-Canadian publishing house that made it all work, so NK might as well call Quebec and France Warmongerers, too. Since they're obviously supporting the idea by having one company produce a game with anti-NK sentiments.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
Because they realize it's a piece of software, played by an insignificant minority, written by an even less significant software company? Just guessing...
--trb
That's not the start of a slippery slope, that's the end of it.
"U.S. warmongering"?
Is this North Korean go>v't-run paper aware that UbiSoft is not an arm of the American gov't?
If you ever have the chance to actually watch the NK news or read it's papers, EVERYTHING is further proof of the US's warmongering. If it rains next Tuesday, it's proof of the US's warmongering. If a French guy eats a taco while on vacation in Mexico, it's proof of the US's warmongering. If something sitting on some guy's desk is a particular shade of red... well, you get the idea.
It's actually quite entertaining to read.
The only reason we don't just bomb that whole freaking disaster back to the Stone Age is that bombs can't bring a civilization UP to that level.
I'm a Canadian. I'm just curious what your reaction would be if someone in Canada made a game that depicted a revolution against a tyranical US President (just for argument's sake let's say George W), and put you in the role of a terrorist/revolutionary?
Or how about a game that let you play as Osama Bin Laden. How do you suppose Americans would like the game? Would there be a public outcry? Would the government try to censor it?
Perhaps he would prefer videogames that are cell-shaded?
Lasers Controlled Games!
I think it's because China allows some degree of free business now, so the people tend to realize that not all companies and media are tools of the government. North Korea, as far as I know, still keeps pretty firm control of the economy, so its easier to tell the people that it works that way everywhere else too. Not that the people neccessarily believe that, but it isn't the people that get mad and yell and throw bombs around.
From Pandemic's Site:
Mercenaries is a revolutionary 3rd person action-shooter game set in the near future and inspired by real world events. On the eve of a historic reunification of North and South Korea, a ruthless general stages a military coup to take control of North Korea and threatens the world with nuclear war. As one of the top operatives for a private mercenaries company called Executive Operations, you have been called in to help collect bounties on the general's top military and scientific advisors.
http://www.lucasarts.com/games/mercenaries/
"You should never have your best trousers on when you turn out to fight for freedom and truth."
-Henrik Ib
Calm down, it was a flippant remark. Besides, have you ever considered what kind of effort will need to be made to bring the people of N Korea out of the psychotic society they are currently in? Have you looked at what Kim Jong Il has done to those people? When that fuel train exploded, there was one grainy ass cameraphone picture and estimates varied between no damage and 3000 dead. Anyone that has actually escaped from N Korea has needed severe psychological help just to adjust to S Korean society.
After looking at what a freaking mess N Korea is in, any sane, rational mind trying to look for a solution would be prone to some very cynical thinking. Given that bombing N Korea back to the Stone Age would slightly upset both the Chinese and S Koreans, and the current prickly issue of credibility behind US military action, not to mention a general malaise for support of genocide in the US, I would think the absurdity of the statement would be obvious.
Arrogance is Confidence which lacks integrity. -- me
Like all good dictators, they don't want the people to get it. People who live under oppression with spoon fed government media long enough tend to be disbeleive that it's any better anywhere else. The NK government knows full well that Ghost Recon isn't a government project (at least SOMEbody in there has to have enough brains to know that and delude the people who matter), but the people aren't likely to be intimately aware of the inner working of capitalist systems.
The US posuturing over Iraq and Afghanistan may convince 90% of the world that they're warmongers, but remember that North Korea has been promising the world bitter defeat and sea of flames and all that shit for better than fifty years, now, so they have to really raise the bar on warmongering by grasping onto every violent video game, every explosion in every action movie, every killer robot on TV, and every dead cat in a car commercial as proof of the sheer scale of foreign warmongering, lest they themselves become warmongers.
Look at the stuff that THEIR GOVERNMENT creates!
http://www.epicentregallery.com/DPRK_posters.html
------ hi mom
I'm not the original poster, but I am an American.
I'm a Canadian. I'm just curious what your reaction would be if someone in Canada made a game that depicted a revolution against a tyranical US President (just for argument's sake let's say George W), and put you in the role of a terrorist/revolutionary?
Sounds like a cool premise actually. I do recall a recent game that involved some bad stuff happening in the US, and you taking control of a band of freedom fighters. Think it was a PS2 game.
Or how about a game that let you play as Osama Bin Laden. How do you suppose Americans would like the game? Would there be a public outcry? Would the government try to censor it?
There would be outcry, but they could no more censor it than they could Ferenheit 911. I doubt it would sell well. Not just for the outcry, but for the fact that hanging around in a cave and releasing taped statements every few months isn't exciting gameplay.
In other news, Satan has filed an official complaint against ID Ssoftware for the unfair and unlicensed portrayal of his dark minions in the DOOM series. ID Software released a brief statement, saying "IDDQD, motherfucker!"
You do realise that NK can pretty much destroy central Seoul (pop ~10,000,000) in the first 24 hours of their artillery bombardments
You'd be surprised just what kind of developments we've made in the past few years in counterbattery technology. Using tools like the AN/TPQ-47, our forces can detect incoming artillery shells, pinpoint the point of origin of those shells, and have a firing solution to destroy the artillery emplacement that fired them, all before the initial incoming shell hits its target.
Against a modern counterbattery force, a fixed artillery piece would be lucky to get two rounds in the air before being destroyed. And as the Iraqis learned, the same applies to mortar teams that aren't smart enough to fire and move, fire and move.
We have such counterbattery forces all along the DMZ. The artillery barrage by the DPRK wouldn't last anywhere near 24 hours, and the damage inflicted while significant wouldn't be anything like what you're intimating.
And the next big thing is a weapons system that can intercept and destroy incoming artillery shells. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, and I think it's still in the proving-ground stages, but it's coming soon to a theater-of-war near you.
I write in my journal
Actually, yes, yes he is.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
This malignant slander and hate speech against green tentacles has gone way, way WAY too far! It's time that we, as a community, draw a line in the sand and say; "This far, but not further! Don't slander the green tentacles!"
What's next, hate rallies against Monkeys?!
That is what we were told about Vietnam and Iraq as well.
God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?