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Cuban Video Game Recreates Revolutionary History
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Guardian reports that Cuban programmers have unveiled a new 3D video game that puts a revolutionary twist on gaming, letting players recreate decisive clashes from the 1959 uprising in which many of their grandparents fought. 'The player identifies with the history of Cuba,' says Haylin Corujo, head of video game studies for Cuba's Youth Computing Club and leader of the team of developers who created Gesta Final – roughly translated as 'Final Heroic Deed'. 'You can be a participant in the battles that were fought in the war from '56 to '59.' The game begins with the user joining the 82 rebels who in 1956 sailed to Cuba from Mexico aboard the Granma. Players then fight their way through swamps shoulder-to-shoulder with bearded guerrillas clad in the olive green of Fidel Castro and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara to topple 1950s Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The game lets you pick from three player profiles, one in an olive hat similar to the one Fidel Castro was known for, another wearing a Guevara-style beret and the last with the kind of helmet worn by the ill-fated Camilo Cienfuegos in many revolution-era photographs. Rene Vargas, a 29-year-old gamer who tried his hand at 'Gesta Final' when it was presented at a technology fair in Havana last week, says the graphics were surprisingly sophisticated. 'Bearing in mind the level of technical support there is in Cuba, it looks pretty good,' says Vargas. There are about 783,000 computers in this country of some 11 million inhabitants, according to government statistics from 2011. Private ownership of computers is low, but many Cubans access them at work, school or cyber cafes. 'We developed (it) keeping in mind the purchasing power and reality of Cubans,' says Corujo. 'It doesn't require incredible technological features.'"
....German MMO developers announce an Alpha of a Reichstag recreation.
o.0
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Yeah Castro and his boy Che Che are real fucking heros. Che ran Castro's death camps and got off murdering people. HEROS!!
This could've been a great prequel to GTA: Vice City.
I heard they were fighting against Castro and had to leave. Maybe a game piece for them?
Seems no different in premise than the Call of Duty games or any of the other war games that USians love to play. Too bad it appears to be a single player game and not an MMO - that would be rather awesome.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Dance Dance Revolution - Cuban style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LkB8yqRb-k
Shame. The summary doesn't even mention what game engine was used. And you call this news for nerds?
This article has screenshots and more details about gameplay.
But I bet Americans will be all sorts of pissed that somebody else has the nerve to celebrate their military history.
Hopefully they'll truthfully portray the "freedom fighters" as also being cold blooded murderers who tortured, raped and killed innocent people as well.
That stinking murderer castro is one of them.
I wonder if it has DRM? Is it FOSS? What does that mean in a socialist state?
Maybe the Cubans could give the game platform to Viet Nam, and they could come up with a plotline where you follow Ho Chi Min to his defeat of the imperialist US invaders. There's jungles and tropical climate in both situations, right.
In China, they could have the Long March MMOG.
On a somewhat more serious note, this is somewhat an exercise in jumping the shark. If you're at the point where you promote your history/ideology by turning it into a video game, it's ceased to be current experience, and has moved into the realm of cultural myths.
In the US, the number of people who have combat experience is dwarfed by the the ranks of the FPS gamers. The real experience of war has been eclipsed by the glamorized painless video version. It's likely that the sanitized version has displaced reality in the minds of a lot of people. This can't be a good thing.
Why is Snark Required?
are the Tropico games banded there??
For all /. who think "know all about" Cuba: check this article out. From a highly-respected source (in its time), the Associated Press. Spoiler alert--there's not a single true thing in it.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200202785247365.1073741825.1084043443&type=1&l=7aa048e364
FPS game recreation of the crucifixion of Christ. Can't touch this!
So, I'm impressed and curious. Under embargo, and let's not forget severe economic hardship, Cuba should not have access to much or the latest technology. Though there does not appear to be a major shortage of Windows machines, where they can be afforded. None the less, Cuba doesn't have an environment where I would expect to find an advanced development community.
Compared to the latest games in the U.S. this one looks somewhat crude, perhaps a few years/generations old. But, it hardly looks primitive or home grown. My suspicion is that it is based on a preexisting engine. Perhaps something that was released to the public like the Source, or more likely, Quake engines.
Does anyone know what this is based on?
The glorious Cuban revolution continues to this day. The propaganda ads and constant near daily "celebration" of minor individuals and events is somewhat bizarre for foreigners to see. That the Cuban government has "rewritten" history to suit their vision and goals is no surprise. Neither is the fact that most Cubans, having grown up under it and exposed to this propaganda for the past 50 years, whole heartedly believe it and embrace it with a nationalistic passion not unlike; 'meruca. Fuck yea!
But, while the video game and the propaganda may bend the reality beyond any truth, the rebels did wind up forcing Batista out and remain firmly in power to this day. A single scraggly bearded PoS remains in charge even after 50 years. And, they love him!
Why?
Murderous Marxist Madmen come to power and State sponsored programmers make a video game.
Our education system is sorely lacking if this is what we find newsworthy.
Why wait for this when you can already experience the glorious revolution in NES format! (or the revolution in glorious NES format, if you prefer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_War_(video_game)
Also thanks captcha for making me type in "pervert" to prove my identity. I think I have some tin foil here somewhere...
I'm sure his fanboys will make excuses, but here are the words of Che Guevara:
"The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have maintained their racial purity thanks to their lack of an affinity with bathing, have seen their territory invaded by a new kind of slave: the Portuguese."
"The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations."
I read a book on Castro's revolution and what impressed me was the similarities between Castro and Jesus (complete with Granma as the legendary donkey). Both were certain they were destined for power but didn't know exactly what they'd do with it. Both countries were ripe for a revolution, only Castro took care of the tactical alliances with competing rebel groups while Jesus tried to go it alone. In the end, Jesus' followers managed to storm the temple and hold it for a few hours max before they had to run and were arrested after a brief melee.
In Castro's regime you can see what Jesus' regime would have been like if his revolution had succeeded. We would have seen the apostles live the good life for decades and divvy up the spoils. In their dreams, they could have kept the Romans at bay just like Castro managed to keep the U.S. at bay (no pun intended).
Oh boy, I sure hope this game lets you blind fold and shoot people that didnt go along with the glorious Cuban revolution!
http://www.therealcuba.com/page5.htm
Python
Did anyone else read this and think about the Robot Chicken "counter revolution" skit? The one where some kid is playing a dancing game, and Fidel then rushes to the arcade to show off his own moves AND to give the kid the "gift" of lead?
It should include the Bay of Pigs battle. You start off a counter-revolutionary stooge of the US, foolishly believing the US will support your invasion of Cuba. You land your boat, but are surprised by the brave soldiers of the revolution. You use the radio to call in air support. The cutscene plays showing the corrupt playboy american president ignoring your call in favor of spending time with his hollywood movie star girlfriend. You futilely fight on, but the end comes for you. If you survive long enough, you experience a jail cell slide for a few seconds, but regards of your outcome, then a suitably patriotic cutscene plays showing the deliriously happy people of cuba celebrating there new freedom.
There already was a video game about the Cuban revolution. It was called "Guevara" and one player was Fidel Castro and the other was Che Guevara. Here in the US, they called it "Guerilla War" and changed the names of the main characters so people didn't notice that it was about overthrowing a US-backed regime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerilla_War_%28video_game%29 for more.
I blame McKinley.
Yes, I am somewhat surprised that the Nazis seem to get all the hate, when I imagine it's likely that Stalin killed more Jews overall than Hitler did (yes, I count the Holodomor, etc, as genocide). Why does Stalin get a lower "evil score" simply because he was an equal opportunity genocidist? Is it because Stalin had the "right side" choose him as an ally during the war, and we can't handle the cognitive dissonance of thinking about World War II as more complex than "right vs. wrong"?
For the record, I think that all these leaders should be abhorred for the pain, suffering, and death they caused for millions: Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc—and their ideologies with them.
I'm the only guy that knows that SNK made a Cuban Revolution game for arcades called "Guevara" and was changed for outside Japan as "Guerrilla War" for not hurt US sales? :P http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8024