WWII Based Video Games

[MrBrau1]

I've seen commercials for video games called "Medal Of Honor" and "Rising Sun". They basically are games where you're a soldier or sailor in WWII. Am I the only person offended by this. It's one thing when it's fantasy, but to base it on actual events kinda trivializes what REAL people did. If my grandfathers ever saw these "games" I think they'd destroy the TV. What's next, a "Vietnam Game" or a "Battle Of Little Big Horn" game? Fucking Sick.

 

[DaveC]

They've got Vietnam games, and lots of Civil War and American Revolution games.

I don't think they're particularly bad... I play Medal of Honor and Day of Defeat (at least I did till my brother got my IP banned for cheating ). I think it brings this period of history to a generation that may not otherwise look into it. People will want to know more about what they are playing and will go research it and develop a greater respect into what actually occurred. I know I did.

I don't think people are particularly offended by them...I know my grandfather isn't, hell he played Day of Defeat against/with me a lot until he passed away (and he always kicked my ass). He served in D-Day and in France and Holland during WWII with the PPCLI. It brought us closer together and helped him come to terms with it and also he told us some stories due to the games that he probably wouldn't have told us otherwise.

 

[MrBrau1]

Maybe they could have a game based on murderers. You could choose to kill people in the style of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, or John Wayne Gasey. Or how about a game where you're the pilot of the Enola Gay, and you've gotta drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima w/o getting shot down. I think it's wrong, especially since most of the kids playing these games think we fought Russia in WWII.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

quite recently (a week ago, in fact), I decided to play Age Of Empires 2. now I haven't played any games other than a cheap looking soccer game for ages, but I had a go at it anyway. AOE2 is based on historical figures like Joan of Arc and Ghenghis Khan, and is one of those 'gather resources, fight battle' type of games. when i was younger i'd play these games without too much hesitation - it was just a game after all, but now, i had this really odd feeling that what i was doing was not right somehow. i didn't feel right leading Saladin's army to fight the Crusades somehow. i didn't feel right liberating Scotland with Sir William Wallace. it's difficult to explain. i've since returned the game.

 

[MrBrau1]

Tell me i'm wrong please...but I'm sure some company has and Iraq War game out now. So you can play soldier, while real people are dying, it's almost like real time.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

you're wrong...i am quite disturbed by the fact it may be a reality in six or seven years though. games about the first gulf war have been quite a staple for game designers and companies throughout the 90s.

 

[nbcrusader]

What's next, a "Vietnam Game" ?

Actually, that is the subject of the next wave of video games. WWII shooters have multiple titles. Next year, some of the more successful titles will introduce new games with a Vietnam setting.

And yes, the current Iraqi conflict is appearing in some titles (usually just flight sims for now).

I've played a few of the games, and like yertle mentions, I enjoy the historical aspect of some of these games. My son gained a interest in history by watching me play AOE2.

 

[MrBrau1]

I'm sure these games are very popular at the local VFW.

 

[DaveC]

Tell me i'm wrong please...but I'm sure some company has and Iraq War game out now. So you can play soldier, while real people are dying, it's almost like real time.

There is an Iraq War game out. I think it's called Return to Baghdad or something...I played it for about 5 minutes in the local Electronics Boutique, and it was a terrible game anyways so I left it alone.

I still say these types of games can be beneficial. Sure there are some negative aspects, but there's negative aspects with just about anything. I think that used by the right person the good can far outweigh the bad in these games.

 

[Justified]

i thought i was the only one offended by the commericals for the WWII games. that pearl harbor one for some reason really bothers me.

 

[DaveC]

Pearl Harbor one?? Which is that?

 

[Justified]

i think it is the medal of honor one.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

what is the difference between a video game based on an actuall event and a movie based upon an actuall event? i think you're way off base here... i own "medal of honor: frontline" for ps2 in which the opening scene reinacts the invasion of normandy. what is so wrong about a video game reinacting a famous battle, when movies such as saving private ryan, which was a ficticious story (private ryan never existed... it was loosely based on another family that did serve in ww2). people reinact famous battles of the civil war all the time. there's no complaints about that.

this is a scene from medal of honor: frontline...

this is a scene from saving private ryan...

not much of a difference now is there? there's a good reason why, too... who created the Medal of Honor video game series? The same guy who created Saving Private Ryan... Steven Spielberg.

 

[kennerado]

A new game called Call Of Duty is awesome. You play missions from US, Russian and British perspectives.

 

[DaveC]

Medal of Honor (at least the original for Playstation nor the Allied Assault version) have anything to do with Pearl Harbor, and I'm pretty sure none of the others do either.

I was hoping someone would make the film comparison. Thanks Headache.

 

[nbcrusader]

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun includes Pearl Harbor. It should be released shortly.

 

[DrMusk]

Well in all honesty - pretending to kill another person is sick...but we can't lose track and sit there and say that video games are reality because its simply not true...just my thought - I play those games, doesn?t mean that I want to kill people. Also it does not mean that it degrades history - my favorite subject is history and I play those games...its only for entertainment value.

 

[Dorian Gray]

what is the difference between a video game based on an actuall event and a movie based upon an actuall event? i think you're way off base here... i own "medal of honor: frontline" for ps2 in which the opening scene reinacts the invasion of normandy. what is so wrong about a video game reinacting a famous battle, when movies such as saving private ryan, which was a ficticious story (private ryan never existed... it was loosely based on another family that did serve in ww2). people reinact famous battles of the civil war all the time. there's no complaints about that.

I think the main difference is in the intent. While a movie like Saving Private Ryan might be a fictitious reinactment, it's intended to make a statement about war. It is entertainment yes, but it is also artistic expression, one of the better commentaries on the horrors of war.

Can you say that a video game like Medal of Honor strives to achieve the same?
I think it was made simply so you can pretend to be in war, and have fun killing bad guys, without having to experience the sheer terror inherent to such an event.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

like i said in the rest of that post... medal of honor was created by stephen spielberg, who's been hailed by ww2 vets for the work he's done, including saving private ryan, band of brothers, as well as various charity work he's done. it is not your usuall shoot 'em up blood and guts video game... ala the GTA series. it is really a history lesson. and for a lot of the people who play the games, it's more history then they'll ever learn in their every day life.

while their have been video games out there where the intent is just to pretend and shoot 'em up and beat the bad guy... i can honestly say from playing the games that the medal of honor series was made with the same intent as spielberg's movies about ww2

 

[WinnieThePoo]

medal of honor is great , i'm not talking about violence , it's about design , all the stuff from WW2 seems so real , like a history book , german subs , it's just a game ,

 

[Angela Harlem]

...its only for entertainment value.

perhaps that is the point some are making. its not necessarily applicable to folks in this thread as all of you seem to be well read on history and appreciate and respect it. what of those who dont? is it tasteless then?

 

[DrMusk]

perhaps that is the point some are making. its not necessarily applicable to folks in this thread as all of you seem to be well read on history and appreciate and respect it. what of those who dont? is it tasteless then?

It would seem to me that some people may find the concept of a game based on shooting others "disturbing" or something along those lines. And I can see the point they could make, but to me it's a little obsurd to take these games out of the context that they are indeed games; being a form of entertainment and not reality (thats just my personal opinion).

 

[melon]

It's a video game. I think people need to be a little less uptight about these things. If the VFW was offended by these games, I think they would have said so already...and I'm sure the news networks would listen, considering that ridiculous moral crusades are right up their alley.

Melon

 

[Angela Harlem]

I dont really think there is a right or wrong way to look at this. It's opinion. People are entitled to be offended at whatever they like, stupid as it might be to some who clearly dont think that way.
I personally dont care either way about violent games or movies or anything.

 

[Dorian Gray]

like i said in the rest of that post... medal of honor was created by stephen spielberg, who's been hailed by ww2 vets for the work he's done, including saving private ryan, band of brothers, as well as various charity work he's done. it is not your usuall shoot 'em up blood and guts video game... ala the GTA series. it is really a history lesson. and for a lot of the people who play the games, it's more history then they'll ever learn in their every day life.

while their have been video games out there where the intent is just to pretend and shoot 'em up and beat the bad guy... i can honestly say from playing the games that the medal of honor series was made with the same intent as spielberg's movies about ww2

fair enough...i admit i know nothing about Medal of Honor. so if it does carry the same intent as his movie, then that's definitely a good thing.

 

[MrBrau1]

It's a video game. I think people need to be a little less uptight about these things. If the VFW was offended by these games, I think they would have said so already...and I'm sure the news networks would listen, considering that ridiculous moral crusades are right up their alley.

Melon

I respect veterans, sorry if that mean's i'm uptight. My family is full of screwed up vets from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Seeing a "game" about the hell they went through bothers me.

And the film comparisson is crazy. "Band of Brothers" left me stunned at the end. At the end of these video games you just press reset and get 3 new lives.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

why is the movie comparison crazy? both are made for the same reasons... to be informative and to be entertaining. where in exactly lies the difference? yea... a video game has a reset button. vcr's and dvd players have a rewind button... slow motion buttons... whatever.

i haven't played moh: rising sun yet... but i have played moh: front line... and i must say the opening scene, the normandy invasion, is one of the most intense and difficult scenes in video game history.

again... to one his own. if you just feel that against putting a famous battle or war in video game form, then there's nothing i can say that'll change your mind. i also have quite a few veterans in my family, most of whom have already passed on. i don't see these games as disrespecting their memory, rather as a living tribute to what they went through. but that's just me. but before you simply type-cast the medal of honor series along with other more cartoonish video games, i'd implore you, if you have a video game system, to rent one of the games and see it for yourself. then, if you still feel it's just capitalizing off the memory of our veterans, then fine. i still see it as a tribute more than anything

 

[MrBrau1]

It doesn't matter how well done the game is. It's the fact that it is a game at all that bothers me. At least a film can be art, expressing some kind of emotion or feeling about an event. What's the expression here?