Posted on 11/21/2004 10:58:27 AM PST by yonif
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A new video game to be released on Monday allows players to simulate the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
The release of "JFK Reloaded" is timed to coincide with the 41st anniversary of Kennedy's murder in Dallas and was designed to demonstrate a lone gunman was able to kill the president.
"It is despicable," said David Smith, a spokesman for Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the late president's brother. He was informed of the game on Friday but declined further comment.
Kirk Ewing, managing director of the Scottish firm Traffic Games, which developed the game, said he understood some people would be horrified at the concept, but he insisted he and his team had nothing but respect for Kennedy and for history.
"We believe that the only thing we're exploiting is new technology," said Ewing, a former documentary filmmaker and senior executive with Scottish developer VIS, responsible for games like "State of Emergency." He said he sent Edward Kennedy a letter before the game's release.
Ewing said the game was designed to undermine the theory there was some shadowy plot behind the assassination. "We believe passionately there was no conspiracy," he said.
Traffic Games said the objective was for a player to fire three shots at Kennedy's motorcade from assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's digitally recreated sixth-floor perch in the Texas School Book Depository.
Points are awarded or subtracted based on how accurately the shots match the official version of events as documented in by the Warren Commission, which investigated Kennedy's assassination.
Shooting the image of Kennedy in the right spots in the right sequence adds to the score, while "errors" like shooting first lady Jacqueline Kennedy lead to deductions.
Each shot can be replayed in slow motion, and the bullets can be tracked as they travel and pass through Kennedy's digitally recreated body. Players can choose to see blood by pressing a "blood effects" option.
Players can view the motorcade from a number of angles, including the perspective of filmmaker Abraham Zapruder and a view from the "grassy knoll" where some conspiracy theorists believe a second gunman was stationed.
The game will be available via download for $9.99.
I'm looking for the video game that re-creates Chappaquiddick.
This is disgraceful. It lends credibility to assassinating presidents.
I love the internet.
They had a documentary on the History Channel last night. This guy who studied the Secruter (SP?) film has made a computer similation of the assasination. According to him, he firmly believes that there was no conspiracy and Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
This nation is losing its dignity.
I think that is what voters lament.
Back and to the left...back and to the left...
How many Magic Bullets do you get?
Not exactly what I would call "challenging" gameplay, unless you get to go to a bar and then driving with Ted in the next level.
And for the almighty dollar.
Disgusting...I fully understand Sen. Kennedy's feelings on this...I don't like him but I'd be pissed as hell if someone made a game recreating the killing of my brother aswell.
Zapruder, I think?
The assassination of a president strikes at the very core of the legitimacy of our government, the extension of our revered self-determination.
To make light of that, is in essense disrespecting the very core of what we are as a nation.
This truly disgusts me. May this exercise in free enterprise bring financial ruin to the idiots involved.
That was the first thought that popped into my head!
Zapruder film. I think I've seen the documentary you're talking about and it was pretty good.
By the way, this video game sounds despicable.
Every friggin November we go through this JFK drama. He's dead. Lets move on.
I think Oswald had help. How come Kennedy was shot three times which came from different angles? I know Oswald lived in Soviet Union. Also, the assassination happened one year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is possible that the Communists were angry about it and they wanted revenge. I heard Fidel Castro was involved.
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