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Global Thermonuclear War

Posted by Zonk on from the do-you-want-to-play-a-game? dept.

Joystiq reports that, from the makers of Darwinia and Uplink comes DEFCON, what appears to be a global nuclear war strategy title. Looks positively Wargames-tastic. From the EvilAvatar post they reference: "The new game, titled DEFCON, is a multiplayer strategy which pitches two players against one another in a game of Global Thermonuclear War. In DEFCON a player must manage their launch silos in an attempt to defend their major cities against nuclear attack while simultaneously launching their own attacks against the other player."

48 comments

  1. Uplink by GigsVT · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sounds similar to uplink. I think it would be cool to see this genre expanded, the whole "fantasy/simulator" type.

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    1. Re:Uplink by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Informative

      In any case since the summary sucked, the anonymous "maker" is Introversion software.

      They don't really have much information about DEFCON up yet. But do check out Uplink if DEFCON sounds interesting to you.. It's a cheap game and it works equally well on Linux as Windows.

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  2. Good ol' WarGames by binaryspiral · · Score: 2, Funny

    Would you like to play a game?
    -Joshua

    1. Re:Good ol' WarGames by bergeron76 · · Score: 2, Informative

      You dummy! It's:

      "Shall we play a game?" ;)

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    2. Re:Good ol' WarGames by kryogen1x · · Score: 1

      WOPR says "Have it yor way!"

    3. Re:Good ol' WarGames by binaryspiral · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected!

      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/quotes :)

  3. Useless link, heres the real one. by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 4, Informative

    That link took me to a blog with one comment and no info on it. At best it might have had some info that one of my adblock rules scrapped, but I don't care, I wan't real info, not some 16 year olds opinion on it. For those who are wondering, the real link is Here (http://www.introversion.co.uk/defcon/)

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    1. Re:Useless link, heres the real one. by Chokai · · Score: 2, Informative

      Which also contains virtually no useful information also other than the obligatory "more information coming soon".

    2. Re:Useless link, heres the real one. by Txiasaeia · · Score: 0, Redundant

      The screen shots are *awesome*. It really feels like Wargames. I loved uplink, but was one of the few that didn't "get" Darwinia... here's hoping that GTW will be a smashing success!

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      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
  4. It would be more interesting if... by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It would be more interesting if Slashdot actually linked to a Blog article that contained some sort of content. Instead, you link to an empty blog article, which means I need to hunt around on the site to find all articles by This guy and scroll down his list of recent entries....

    Sorta silly, dontcha think? Trying to generate more pageviews or something?

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    1. Re:It would be more interesting if... by wongn · · Score: 1

      An Introversion game! And Introversion game! :D My perfect gaming day is complete; not only is HL2 released, but I learn of DEFCON. Does anyone have PCG UK? I'll get it tomorrow..

    2. Re:It would be more interesting if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot's slogan for 2006: "No News for Nerds. Google for Stuff that matters."

  5. Strange game... by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Funny

    The only winning move is not to play.

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    1. Re:Strange game... by Deitheres · · Score: 2, Funny

      ARG! You beat me to that by like 2 seconds... Now I will bask in "redundant" moderation...

      Damn. Foiled again. That's a whopper of a good show, man! (or would it be WOPR?)

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  6. obligitory... by Deitheres · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

    --
    Just like driving a car:
    (D) to go forward
    (R) to go backward

  7. THERMONUCLEAR??!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so does anyone that posts in this thread automatically get their phone tappe--brb cia!

  8. Wikipedia has actual info + screens by isaac · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defcon_(computer_game )

    Damn, why was this article even posted?

    -Isaac

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    1. Re:Wikipedia has actual info + screens by BrynM · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link. The Wiki has more info than the official site even.

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  9. remember Nukewar for C64? by pizpot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the most addictive games for the Commodore 64 was Nukewar. It was very simple, almost text based graphics, but I loved it and miss it. [Welcome to the USSA]

    1. Re:remember Nukewar for C64? by nickos · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah. I liked Dictator on the ZX Spectrum too! Here's a PC port I just found!

  10. Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by bergeron76 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I had a DOS game back in the day that allowed you to simulate a nuclear blast in any given city and see the effect of both the blast and the resultant fallout.

    I can't remember the name of the game though, but it was fascinating (even back when I was 12). Anyone know what that game was called? I can't seem to find it on the web anywhere.

    I found it on a 5.25" floppy in my Dad's briefcase, back when he worked for the government when we lived in Arlington, Virginia (or was it the hills of West Virginia?)... Anyway, I'd love to know what the name of that game was (Dad always called it "Simulation"; but I think that's a silly name for a video game, so I never believed him).

    Thanks for any help!

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    1. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by Bob+Cat+-+NYMPHS · · Score: 1

      He does fit the profile perfectly. He's intelligent, but an under-achiever; alienated from his parents; has few friends. Classic case for recruitment by the Soviets.

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    2. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Easy enough to rewrite.

      Grab google maps API and this javascript atomic yield calculator.

      I'd consider it a public service, since most people are under the misconception that modern nuclear arms would take out wide swaths of the entire country, when in reality all modern warhead yields are under 1 megaton.

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    3. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, I think that people are under the conception that the 100,000 1-Megaton nukes shared between the former-USSR and the US could take out wide swaths of the world.

      You are probably too young to remember much about the Cold War, but I grew up in the Reagan Era, and yeah we did have incredibly paranoid discussions like "Well the Soviets are targetting the nearby airforce base but luckily we are greater then 11.7 Kilometers from ground zero." ... Seriously!

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    4. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by Psiven · · Score: 0

      I thought most government computers back in the day were built by Cray and therefore used a proprietary OS.

      Yeah, yeah, -1 Troll

    5. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by HD+Webdev · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Anyway, I'd love to know what the name of that game was (Dad always called it "Simulation"; but I think that's a silly name for a video game, so I never believed him)

      Do you mean this?

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    6. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Informative

      I remember the Cold War. A bunch of the video games and movies in the 80s were about it in one way or another.

      I don't know what megaton bombs you are talking about, we have very little that is over 1MT, and we don't have 100,000 of anything, even if you count individual warheads and not missiles.

      From the Nuclear Weapons FAQ

      The only thing we have potentially over 1MT is the B83 Bomb, but it's "dial a yield", it can be set.

      Everything else we have is under 500kt, many around 150kt We have 8300 warheads not in storage (deployed), about about 1000 more in storage.

      Russia has less than 1000 warheads. They are also under 1MT each.

      That's no where near 100,000 1MT bombs. This is exactly the kind of myth that should be dispelled.

      The entire world stockpile is something more like 10,000 warheads, with the average running about 300kt.

      If all were detonated, with absolutely no overlap, it would take out about 325,000 square kilometers. That's about the same land area of the state of New Mexico.

      Not huge parts of the world. It could deal a big blow to many major cities though.

      Fallout and "nuclear winter" possibilities are not a big thing. Fallout decays quickly to safe levels (measured in weeks), and low yield bombs do not loft dust into the stratosphere, and thus can't create a nuclear winter scenario, as the dust is rained out quickly.

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    7. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by bergeron76 · · Score: 1

      Whoa! I think that's it! I was kind of kidding, but kind of serious about that post (kind of).

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    8. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 1

      1. You are taking my numbers too literally. This is what we DISCUSSED, but what we discussed wasn't always factually acturate.

      2. Again, I said "The Reagan Era". There are far fewer nuclear weapons today then in the mid-80s, when there were 85,000 nuclear weapons in the world.

      I lived near some missle silos. While in Boy Scouts, we used to go to the military base and they would talk about the nuclear weapons program (among other things) and show us some of the non-commissioned, unarmed, unfueled missles. We got a 50-page book which tries to justify the US nuclear program-- pretty facinating book. It says the Soviets have 40,000 nuclear warheads-- I don't know if that was true or not, but it's an impressive number. And then they show the blast radius of a 1-megaton bomb over certain American cities, the threat posed by the mobile missle launching platforms on the back of a truck and train cars.

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    9. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by the_ed_dawg · · Score: 1
      Good link. That put a lot of the Cold War propaganda to bed.
      Not huge parts of the world. It could deal a big blow to many major cities though.
      In a back-of-the-envelope calculation, let's assume that the top 300 cities in the world get bombed. That's a billion people affected by nuclear weapons. Even a 10% mortality rate is a hellacious death toll. On top of that, Hurricane Katrina showed us what can happen to major cities in disasters. Several tens of percent will die as a result of starvation, disease, fallout, etc. in the aftermath, suggesting death tolls in the hundreds of millions and global economic collapse.

      (Just thought I'd add to the discussion.) :)

      --
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    10. Re:Does anyone remember that old DOS game? by Dark_MadMax666 · · Score: 1

      10% mortality rate? Whose mortality are you counting ? cockroaches? If you get 300 kt airbursted over major city you get more in the range of 80% -90% mortality rate (counting deaths from radiation) .Given that there is also fallout consequences and that no major city is targeted with only one warhead (say about dozen for somehting like New York, Moscow or Bejeing ) I would say even for cockroaches it would be extremly optimistic.

  11. Screenshot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here's a screenshot.

  12. Wait.. global thermonuclear war? by OmgTEHMATRICKS · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Global.. thermonuclear war!?! OH MY GOD WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE GOODBYE FO- Oh.. Oh it's a game! *has heart attack anyway*

  13. Civilization by mnmn · · Score: 1

    I though civ did a better job of this, version 1 through 4. You have the radiation fallout, cleanup, population killed, global warming, social and political aspects etc. Plus you have to GET all that technology and manufacture the nukes too.

    Maybe DEFCON can be a mod to civ4, when the nuclear war starts, the interface switches to defcon. I'm just looking for an FPS mod to civ where I get to kill the enemy units 'personally' counterstrike style.

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  14. tick tac toe by Joe123456 · · Score: 0

    tick tac toe Number of players zero

  15. The only winning move by Progman3K · · Score: 0, Redundant

    is not to play

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  16. easter egg by moosesocks · · Score: 3, Funny

    The developers had better include an easter egg somewhere that lets you play Tic-Tac-Toe or a nice game of chess.

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  17. Uh. Dreadful memories elope. by Noodlenose · · Score: 1
    I remember dimly playing a similar themed and named game back in the eighties on my Amiga 2000:

    Defcon 5 was truly terrible, but it looks like its new namesake actually has pretty similar screens.

    Mmmh. Unusual.

    1. Re:Uh. Dreadful memories elope. by Rallion · · Score: 1

      The only similarity I see is the fact that it takes place on Earth...

  18. feels like Wargames by David+Nabbit · · Score: 2, Funny

    They should include a custom controller where you dial the phone and then put the receiver on the modem. Otherwise, it's all just pretty graphics.

    --
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  19. Ripoff! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like a cheap ripoff of the nuke wargame GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR ...

  20. Duck and Cover!!! by servognome · · Score: 1

    You are probably too young to remember much about the Cold War, but I grew up in the Reagan Era, and yeah we did have incredibly paranoid discussions like "Well the Soviets are targetting the nearby airforce base but luckily we are greater then 11.7 Kilometers from ground zero." ... Seriously!

    At least in the 80's we didn't have to watch those "educational" films about what to do in case of nuclear attack.

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  21. So 80's by servognome · · Score: 1

    I'd rather play "Theaterwide Biotoxic and Chemical Warfare"

    Strange game. There are no WMD's.

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  22. Dirty Bomb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Waiting for the Dirty Bomb Expansion: so filthy it's rated M for mature

  23. Weak Passwords by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

    The password to the WOPR computer in the movie "War Games" was "joshua"

    Always amazed me.... what's the friggin' point of having a weak password for a machine capable of controlling nuclear missiles?!?

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    1. Re:Weak Passwords by servognome · · Score: 1

      The password to the WOPR computer in the movie "War Games" was "joshua"

      No "Joshua" was the login, no password

      Always amazed me.... what's the friggin' point of having a weak password for a machine capable of controlling nuclear missiles?!?

      It was a backdoor for the programmer to get back into the system, it wasn't supposed to be there.

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    2. Re:Weak Passwords by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obligatory movie quote: "hey I know how to use this, it's a unix system."

      Paraphgrased because I am too lazy to look the exact one up.

  24. SuperPower by uncledrax · · Score: 1

    Actually I think the Super Power franchise did the whole geo-political arena thing pretty decently..

    I am looking forward to Introversion's version :]

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