Posted on 09/18/2004 1:14:45 PM PDT by KeyLargo
Gamers may re-enact Kerry's Swift boat mission
Chicago Sun-Times September 18, 2004
BY CHRIS MARLOWE
Presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry is set to make his debut as a video game character when Kuma Reality Games lets online players re-enact the Vietnam military mission that won Kerry a Silver Star in 1969.
''Kerry Silver Star Mission'' will be the second in the ''Freedom's Heroes'' series, which Kuma launched Sept. 1 with ''Freedom's Heroes: Rangers Lead the Way.'' That mission featured Army Ranger Cpl. Patrick Tillman, who was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions when his regiment was ambushed in Afghanistan.
Kuma Reality Games CEO Keith Halper said the series pays tribute to those who have chosen to serve their country.
In the Kerry mission, tentatively planned for a Sept. 30 launch at www.kumarwar.com, game players lead three Swift boats through tributaries in the Mekong Delta and get ambushed by Viet Cong soldiers. The situation follows Kerry's account of events.
''John Kerry's Swift boat missions became a center point in the election,'' Halper said. ''But the level of rancor has been such that few of us know what is supposed to have occurred -- in anyone's version of the story. Kuma Games is in a unique position to bring clarity to ordinary people's understanding of Swift boats, of the men who served in them and of the events in question.''
Kuma also provides a video news show with expert military analysis and historical context.
''These will explain the issues in the current debate and, more importantly from our perspective, the mission and operations of Swift boats during Vietnam,'' Halper said.
Hollywood Reporter
I am certain that some of our great, resourceful freepers could create a game that would be an acurate reenactment of John Kerry's mission!
Is this the game where you see how many unarmed boys you can shoot in the back as they run away.
Kerry's account is that he ran behind the hut and shot a fleeing VC teenager in the back!
Donkey Kong Goes to the Mekong Delta.
"Is this the game where you see how many unarmed boys you can shoot in the back as they run away."
Yes, and then YOU, as John Kerry, run away!
The good news is that no one will play this. Assuming it's for the PC, Half-life 2 is coming out in the same time frame. Right now, there are demos of Tribes: Vengenace and Full Spectrum Warrior available. I haven't even read of this game on actual gaming news websites, professional or fan-authored.
This won't have an effect. There are literally 30 big-name games coming out in the next two months, plus a new console launch in November. Attention is focused elsewhere.
It would be really cool to re-create a self-inflicted wound by monkeying around with a grenade launcher. Then you could simulate picking rice out of your b*tt.
After that you could go to Paris and play the game - "Meet the Enemy".
After that you could play the game - "Toss the Ribbons". Or was that "Toss the Medals"? The game is good for, I dunno, 6-7-8-9 times, then you get bored and have to run for office.
Then you could play the game "Mister Kerry Goes to Washington". There you'll make up all kinds of stories about war crimes.
OOoo, I like playing games....
It won't sell because to make it create the right "Kerry" environment it will take forever to boot, be slow to load, the controls will have to change functions randomly and continuously, the mission won't have any significant purpose, shooting or enemy encounters, and after you fire your first mortar, and fire your M-16 twice, the game abruptly ends and plays a long, boring sales pitch trying to get you to buy their latest game: "Presidential Dud."
Is there a way that you can win medals by incurring self-inflicted shrapnel wounds?
I don't study the details too much of Kerry's fake medals since it turns my stomach and don't know what incidents match with what fake medals, but I do like to play games so I am curious.
How big is the rock Kerry fired his grenade launcher into? When Kerry gets injured, do they rush to administer aid to the rock first or to Kerry first?
When the little kid runs away and Kerry shoots him in the back, does the Kerry figure in the game bayonet him in the back after he shoots him in the back?
Does the Kerry figure take the loin cloth off the little boy as a souviner after he shoots him in the back?
I hear the audio is good in the game, especially where the medic uses tweezers to pull a rock chip the size of a pinhead out of Kerry's pinky finger. Is it true he screams "my pinky has a scatch--I want my mama?".
I heard a runor that instead of the game options level of difficulty being beginner, intermediate and advanced, the game has the difficulty levels as "1 Purple Heart, 2 Purple Hearts or 3 Purple Hearts." Unfortunately, you have to wait for the first patch to come out in version 1.1 before Secretary Lehman doctors up the new citation 17 years later. Too bad that was an oversight in the original version.
The game would be good for only 100 days. Includes an 8 mm camera, a 5 lb bag of rice and instructions typed on a 1972 IBM Selectric.
The point of the game being??? Get your 3 Purple Hearts are quickly as you can so you can get back to Boston?? Does it let you write up your own after-action reports? How about film yourself?
A couple of bars of Ivory soap (it floats), some chili and beer an hour before, a bandaide and a typewriter...and you're set.
If I get a scratch, do I get a Purple Heart?
How about stupid traps? Throw a high explosive into a bunch of rice and have the rice blow back into somebody's rear end? A Purple Heart for hurt feelings!
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