July 17, 2007 -
Was this the Iranian version of E3?Not quite, but the Associated Press reports that Iranian game designers and Islamic clerics shared a Tehran stage for the official debut of Rescue the Nuke Scientist yesterday.
The PC game (GamePolitics reported on it during its development) was created by the Union of Islamic Student Societies, a radical student group. It is said to be a riposte to Kuma Games' Assault on Iran mission for its reality-based Kuma Wars military series.
Mohammad Taqi Fakhrian, a leader of the student group, was in what passes for full game hype mode in Tehran these days:
This is our defense against the enemy’s cultural onslaught. We tried to promote the idea of defense, sacrifice and martyrdom in this game.
Game play, as described by the AP, is as follows:
In Rescue the Nuke Scientist, U.S. troops capture a husband-and-wife team of nuclear engineers on a pilgrimage to Karbala, a Shiite holy site in Iraq. Players take on the role of Iranian security forces carrying out a mission code-named “The Special Operation” to free the scientists, who are moved from Iraq to Israel. Players have to kill U.S. and Israeli troops and seize laptops containing secret information.
Players who lose the game receive an onscreen message which says, "With resistance, you can battle the enemy."The Union of Islamic Student Societies, which created the game, also sponsored the 2005 World Without Zionism conference at which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”
Fakhrian said the student group would market the game initially in Iran and other Islamic nations. He told the AP, however, that the group has plans to bring Rescue the Nuke Scientist to Western nations.
Ali Reza Masaeli, who leads the student group, said it took three years to create. The development team was based in Isfahan, a central Iranian city that houses a nuclear site. Said Masaeli:
It is an entirely Iranian product in response to the US cyber war against Iran.
GP: Also worth a look on this topic is past GP coverage: Is There a Video Game War Between Islam & the West?. In the second photo at left, Iranian cleric Hamidreza Mahdavi checks out his copy of the game.
Comments
Kidnapping? Pah.. Nice to see Iran and the US are similar if only in the way they both like to talk with their head entrenched up their backsides in total ignorance.
Every game I've played featuring our own historic enemies, usually gives them a good reason for their actions. Look at Metal Gear Solid games (MGS4 is looking sweat btw), you may fight Russians, but they aren't there just to kill random Russians. There's a plot there and you usually come off respecting the leader just a little. I can't think of one game I've played with a purely evil villain in a long time. I doubt this game will have any plot judging by the names used. I could be wrong.
I don't buy into the whole loss of land baloney. If they really wanted the land they used to own, they'd end up owning most of Europe. I've yet to hear any Middle Eastern leader claim that Germany has stolen the land that rightfully belongs to them.
That is, make an Iranian take on 300: March to Glory. Yeah, play as one of 10,000 Immortals, as you take on insurmountable odds...or 300 leather thong-clad Spartans.
They have nuclear capabilities because as our allies we provided them with nuclear technology up until the 1979 revolution. What modern updates they have in that field comes in from Russia and Pakistan. The same can be said of their military technology; they're capable of manufacturing their own planes and helicopters, but they're all either reverse-engineered from vehicles and technology we used to sell them or licensed production of Eastern European designs.
That's not to say that the Iranians lack capable minds, but they don't have a decades-old home-grown industry when it comes to computer software or games. Like everything else, the engine and the software they used to make this game is either going to be bootlegged, "reverse-engineered", or bought from Russia.
Seriously though, kudos to these guys for creating their own game. I'm sure it grates to see all these games where Muslims are the bad guys and they have every right to turn the tables. They do need to find someone with a little more imagination when coming up with names though ... "Rescue the Nuke Scientists"? "The Special Operation"? *sheesh*
Yes. Because that is SOOOO much more tolerant. /sarcasm"
Given that I've also heard Ahmadinejad supports Iranian Jews having a representative in the Iranian parliment, I'd say there's a good case to be made he's talking about regime change and not genocide here (especially combined with the fact Ahmadinejad has said he meant political change and not genocide).
I don't like Ahmadinejad but please, let's not overstate his threat level, especially since I have trouble imagining Iran nuking holy sites (which Israel contains). I feel this is important because I feel hysteria over threat levels played a huge role in public opinion on Iraq and don't want history to repeat itself.
The real quote saying the Isreali regime should vanish is more like a (very wrong and agressive) political statement while the misinterpretation implies genocide and turning Israel into a glass parking lot. The latter just sounds so much better to incriminate Iran for the same alleged nuclear crimes the US and it's allies brought up to invade Iraq. Now, years later finally proven
totally unjustified
Maybe I sounded like I was condemning this article but I am just frustrated by the situation the world is in now. Ofcourse not literally everyone thinks all muslims are evil but ask yourself what you would find more suspicous: A caucasian man leaving a bag at a train station or a Middle Eastern looking man with a beard? I'm not saying you, or anyone here is racist but I know for a fact that our media (at least here in Holland) are, probably undeliberately, painting a very stereotypical image of our fellow humans in the Middle East. For example; I almost never hear anything about American casualties here on the news but all the suicide bombings in Iraq reach the headlines everyday.. Even while I know that these stereotypes of muslims aren't true it's becoming harder each day to keep judging people by who they are and not where they come from and what they believe. The world is hardening fast and it is hard to escape all the negative sentiments.
I understand that your big issue with this game lies in the fact that the inclusion of Isreal and the IDF soldiers is totally unrealistic in that scenario?
I don't agree. Don't you think the Israeli government is very nervous about Iran's newfound nuclear capabilities? If the, inevitable, attack on Iran occurs, don't you think Israel will have a roll in it? Aren't Israel and the U.S. strategic allies in the Middle East? I think the inclusion of Israel in that game is, plot-wise, quite realistic.
As it's a fictional game they need to have some backdrops for the shooting to occur. In "our" games we use our stereotypical axis of evil countries as theatres of war, they use theirs.. Why is that so different?
Yes. Because that is SOOOO much more tolerant. /sarcasm
"Why can’t these guys make a game where you shoot Americans?"
They can. They have. See my first post, this is not an issue. Hollywood frequently portrays the US government or soldiers as bad guys, no big deal. MY issue with this game lies elsewhere.
As an aside, the trouble is that even moderate Muslims are more invested in protecting their Muslim brothers than in condemning the actions of the fanatical few. The other issue is that there is no precedence for separation of church and state in strict Muslim nations. This means there is no freedom of religion possible, and culls any possibility of co-existing with other faiths. And no, not everyone here thinks all Muslims are rabid terr'ists. Don't be as obtuse as you are saying this article is.
As a second aisde: This linked site is supposedly a run by progressive Muslims. I can't say for sure, because I'm not a heavy-duty member there. http://www.muslimwakeup.com/
There are a ton of good muslim people the world over and I too have a hard time with the constant portrayals by the media that muslim=terrorist and extremist.
The media unfortunately is never going to stop this negative campaign, they make more money pushing hatred and stereotypes doing so.
What needs to happen for people to stop stereotyping muslims is the gigantic majority that you mentioned needs to stand up condemn the extremists and do something about the problem.
"These extremists are a small minority within the gigantic majority of muslims around the world."
You'd be amazed how hard it is to convince some people of that. And these are the same people who get pissy when you then bring up the crusades, or the inquisition, etc when they keep insisting that actions speak louder than words. ;)
Yeah sure, "our" games are fictional but imagine how it would feel if a shooter used American soldiers to portray the enemy. I can't imagine a publisher even thinking of releasing such a game. No, it's much easier to always use the Middle East as the place for all things terrorist related as we've already kinda written that part of the world off. Through all our subtle media propaganda we have almost collectively come to believe all muslims are no-good evildoers and that part of the world is nothing more than a place we get our oil and terrorists from.
I always enjoy the articles here on Gamepolitics and you guys really know your stuff but in this article you showed quote a bit of ignorance. Copy-pasting the false quote "Wiped of the map". The most accurate translation of what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said is: "The regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time". The translation you have used originated from the New York Times and has been picked up by the BBC who have even admitted it to be a wrong translation. But that didn't stop it from being used by all our "great" political leaders as a great slogan for war against Iran. Now you're using it too.
Maybe it seems I'm making a big problem out of this but it is this blind faith in "us" being right and "them" being wrong that quotes like these spread around the world without someone even bothering to check if it they are factually correct. Why bother, they're evil so he probably said such a horrible thing.
Don't get me wrong as i'm not accusing GP of all this but I can really imagine this neverending stream of "small" lies about the Middle East contributing to the people over there feeling like second-rate world citizens.
And, to all the people saying "Stupid Middle East" and "Stupd Islam":
Islam IS a peaceful religion when practiced by the Koran. These extremists are a small minority within the gigantic majority of muslims around the world. Like all of us humans, they are trying to live as best as they can with the values they were brought up with. I'm just happy to be born in a country that has seperated religion from politics.
You're right, not Commando, more like Iranibn al-Fischer starring in a Splinter Cell spin-off. :)
hehe
"In the fictional world that the US is already taking such drastic acts against Iran (such as kidnapping scientists), said scientists would be in GITMO so fast it would make their heads spin."
And how would you feasibly rescue them in a spectacular covert op? You're not thinking commando movie here. ;)
@Diceman
Contrary to popular opinion, this isn't all about a thousand year-old war. 30 years of occupation doesn't make it right. It just makes it hard to reverse. Both sides have their faults here. Behind the whole facade about "God's land", it's really all about Israel wanting a buffer zone bigger than Katush rocket range, and Arab countries getting mad because Israel wants to make the buffer by forcibly occupying Arab land...
We give Israel something like 5-8 billion a year that goes right into their military fund for things like quenching social unrest/terrorism and propaganda machine.If you look at it through Irans eyes we are both guilty for screwing up their social order 3-4 decades ago and giving their national enemies arms support for almost 2 decades now.How is that not "in league with them"?
Irans no angels either tho since they have a support system for blowing themselves up and just keep spreading hate from generation to generation to keep up a feud that is 10 times older than the united states.I really think they need to drop the whole "you owned use/we owned you in a war 30-1700 years ago"ignore the whole religion issue (aka your gods incorrect ours is better...see this is why separation of church and state is absolutely vital)sit down and actually talk...honestly fighting for hundreds of years over a few hundred square miles of land you lost in a war years and years ago is stupid when you can be doing things to better your way of living.
then again this is the middle east...common sense seems to have evaded them more than it does JT >.>.
Once again we disagree. In the fictional world that the US is already taking such drastic acts against Iran (such as kidnapping scientists), said scientists would be in GITMO so fast it would make their heads spin. Let's be clear: If the situation degenerates so far that the kidnapping is the US's best course of action, keeping scientists in a military prison isn't going to be the political drama it would be if said kidnapping would happen in real life. But you can make an opposing argument using the grounds of artistic license.
I have trouble pretending the inclusion of Israel in this game is simply artistic license for the reasons I've mentioned.
And I guess agree with your idea that this game is 'win' for it's target audience. But I am of the opinion that it fails at almost every other aspect.
Marlowe,
Kuma War has many episodes, most of which are directly torn from headlines of real military conflicts. Some are hypotheticals, yes, but only a few, and not the the episodes Kuma War gained notoriety (not all good) over. You might debate their accuracy; but you can't dismiss them as purely hypothetical.
"There is nothing at all anti-Semitic in the decision to include Israel."
This is a foolish ideal. No such absolute statement can be made. The group that made the game is noted for being antisemitic in the extreme. Now, I never said the only single reason for the action being in Israel is antisemitism, so please stop paraphrasing me incorrectly. Read my other response to Jabr.
As to your other correction of Gameboy, I agree with your assesment of an Iranian stance on Israel's occupation of the lands once held by Palestinians.
However, this has no merit in the discussion of Iran's rebuttal to the US's 'cyber-war.' Which is what this game supposedly is. And which I've made an argument saying it fails at this. That is open to debate, as Jabr was kind enough to point out.
sigh...stupid middle east >.>
Anyhow Is there a Release date for America? :P
Now I have to go and find it.
"The Kuma games strive to be reenactments," I really can't see the argument that a game about a hypothetical near-future conflict that may never happen can be called a "reenactment."
"Last I checked, Israel doesn’t have a military force in Iraq," this is once again a delicate matter whose validity has been debated to no avail for decades and as such should not to be debated here, however some cultural clarification is necessary. While it is true the Israelis do not have forces placed in Iraq in the eyes of Iran (as well as the majority of the Middle East) Israel is in fact occupying the territory they currently are sitting on, it's not about them being Jewish it's about them supposedly occupying territory that rightly belongs to the Palestinians. Therefore, if you were to ask an average Iranian, the Israelis are just as guilty of invading and occupying Muslim lands as the United States currently is in their Iraqi occupation.
"We aren’t talking about real middle eastern conflict, where it would be remiss to exclude Israel. We are talking about Iran’s answer to our (the US’s) supposed cyber-war.... I am arguing that their inclusion of Israel as a target is rhetorically unnecessary in the context of the tit-for-tat video game war-off, it’s an unbelievable plot-line, and is sullied by it’s antisemitic roots."
Why not include Israel? If you were making a fictional WWII game, it would actually be historically inaccurate to be US vs. Germany. It would be Allies vs. Axis. Germany, Italy, Japan vs. US, England & Commonwealth, France, Russia, etc.
Just like policy makers lump Syria and Iran as being "in league" with each other in terms of interfering in US interests in the middle east, so do Arab nations lump the US and Israel together as being "in league" with each other.
Also, think about it. They cannot have the scientists be moved to Oman, SA, or any other regional US ally, because those are Arab nations, and would work against Iran trying to promote the game in their countries. So the only country in the region who is both pro-US, and non-Arab, is of course Israel.
Wow, that is some craptastic gameplay right there.
@Iran
Make a note, increase your tech capabilites and get some real devs in there and actualy make a game that is able to stand up against the current generation of games. That looked like a cheap knockoff of Goldeneye with bad animation. I was going to check out the game at first to see what it was about but I think I will just stick to BF2 for all my FPS needs.
I'm not surprised to see this to be honest, I was in WHSmiths the other days and there was about 1 'Anti-Terror' game for every 2 other sorts of game.
I suppose, in a way, it's no worse than some of the 'War Songs' that were released in the UK, US and Germany during World War 2, they were all very 'patriotic', and, obviously prejudiced.
I suppose the only reason the UK didn't release 'The Falkland Isles' as a video game is because you can only hide behind a sheep for so long....
We aren't talking about real middle eastern conflict, where it would be remiss to exclude Israel. We are talking about Iran's answer to our (the US's) supposed cyber-war. Where has Israel taken sides in the cyber-war? Why not make a game where you infiltrate US bases, defend your homeland from US 'invaders,' or the like? Those ideas remain rhetorically part of a moral ethos, leading to believability. The Kuma games strive to be reenactments, and the Battlefield series tries to remain strategic, and not just wholesale slaughter of terr'ists. A group that sponsors a "World Without Zionism" conference is the epitome of antisemitic. I am arguing that their inclusion of Israel as a target is rhetorically unnecessary in the context of the tit-for-tat video game war-off, it's an unbelievable plot-line, and is sullied by it's antisemitic roots. These things combined allow me to dismiss the game as an ineffective volley in the cyber-war.
Why include Isreal?
Israel is seen as the US's only major ally in the region. The US heavily supports Israel, no matter how badly they screw up. Israel is also the only country in the region that the US has no objections to having nuclear weapons. Israel has also said in the past that it would resort to bombing Iranian power plants if it was required to prevent Iran from building it's own nuclear bombs. So it doesn't seem that far fetched that a captured Iranian nuclear scientist would be flown to and held in an Israeli military facility.
So, just like in the Cold War where you couldn't mention "communism" without bringing up Cuba, you can't mention "western powers" in the middle east without including Israel.
Killing Jews has nothing to do with it. It is possible to be anti-Israeli without being anti-Jew.
Polish (In my mind) refers to overall things such as interface (Response, design, ect ect), smoothness, completion of features, buggy, completion of additional tools and such, quality of things such as net code, and refinement of game play.
You may have the biggest most healthy shrubs in the world, but your neighbors looks better because he trims them on a regular basis and mulches around the base.
Basically a game with good polish doesn't make you think you got an unfinished product.
Ex: Gta 3 was rather polished, Vice city? Not so much San was sorta between the 2.
Its not localized to one area of the game. Its just the feeling that you got a well made finished product, it is also very objective, and I don't really think you can divide it along commercial vs mod lines.
Now, I've definitely got some ethnocentric feelings because of this. I'm thinking to myself, "What the hell is wrong with these people? And why do they think that any of this 'culture war' BS will work?"
Definitely a messed up way to try and lash back at us for perceived attacks, but they're really not going to accomplish anything with a game that will probably never leave their country.
I guess we are differing on what 'polished' refers to. Care to cite an example of 'commercial polish' from your perspective? Saying Gears isn't polished is kind of silly IMO, so I think I am misunderstanding what you mean by it.
I realize that many of the Xpacs for Battlefield were less than worthy, but the original release (and several expansions) -one of the major 'guilty parties,' from an Iranian perspective- most certainly were well-constructed and presented for their time, hence why I said "commercial polish." And it seems, from what Jabr and JoelWhy posted that the Iranian riposte is lacking in similar quality.
~the1jeffy hit the nail on the head. They are including Israeli soldier's for the sheer joy of killing Jews, in my opinion. Last I checked, Israel doesn't have a military force in Iraq. So where's the basis of including them in it?
Nah, I've been playing the original Unreal recently and I assure you that it's not even up to par with the first Unreal engine and certainly nowhere near Half-Life 2. To see my where I'm coming from, look at the way the characters (in the video) shuffle rather than walk and the lack of much of a knee joint in the model's legs during the cutscene.
As far as them hoping to ship it around the world, fat chance. Even excluding the cruddy plot, etc., I doubt many retailers would be interested in carrying it. I'd say that there are better chances of finding Quake or Quake 2 at the local EB than this heap getting anywhere near the western market.
When I say polish I am not talking about graphics. Let me rephrase, post 1942 and expansions, BF ceased being polished. Not to mention the fact that running it on lower end, or mid range hardware when it came out tended to be rather painful.
Gears of War isn't the first thing that comes to mind when someone says polished either.
I never said the fictional-killing of Israeli soldiers is inherently antisemitic, only that their needless inclusion of Israel is suspicious, coupled with the creator's quoted goals of wiping Israel off the map. Like I said before, if the U.S. is waging the 'cyber-war,' why bring Israel into it? Israel is a US ally, for sure, but not in the video game production arena. That's what we are discussing here.
@ Brokenscope
I realize Battlefield isn't Gears of War by any means, but it was made to run on lower-end hardware, it's older, and still has the polish one expects with a commercial release as opposed to the usual cobbling together of parts you see with other political games. So my questions still stands, and no one seems to know: Is this game well-constructed, or not? It's not really a politically relevant question, but one I am interested as a gamer.
Wow, that DOES look like Half Life. They can't make a game without using the infadel's engine? Why don't they just put out antisemitism pogs?
I hold no candle for the Iranians, but I think you can take it as read that a country capable of building a nuclear reactor, probably wouldnt struggle too hard to write an FPS in 3 years.