Looks like they tried, but their message got lost in their zeal.

@ DCOW

Yeah, their original message is drowned in blood and gore. A shame really...

Russians whale, if I remember correctly. However, the Japanese only whale a single species of whale which is why using this game could be used as a good start but a poor source of information.

Question: Do they get to complain when this game causes more people to go out whaling? After all, it is a whaling simulaor. ;)

Seriously, this is a great idea. It shows what whaling is, and what it is used for (although a little exagerated).

We'll see how the world takes it.

@InJM

The Japanese hunt several types of whales. In December, they announced they would no longer hunt Humpback whales, after being threated by the Australian military, who claimed they would board any whaling vessel in their waters (which is basically where the Japanese hunt Humpbacks) and actively dissuade them from hunting. However, they will continue to hunt various other species. They also actively hunt dolphins, which is considered a delicacy in Japan, despite the often high levels of mercury they contain.

If this game increases the awareness about whaling, I'm all for it. I myself thought every country had outlawed whaling until I spoke with a marine naturalist from the Pacific Whale Foundation recently and then did some independent research.

LOL I will admit, the game mechanics do look fun, if you replaced those whales with spaceships you'd have just about any early 90's arcade game.

But then, I think that, in part, is the point too, games are fun, real whaling isn't so much.

That was a priceless.. a classic in the making.

@Monkeythumb

It shames me, but I believe my homecountry takes in 500 whales in one year.

Frankly I think this game should be ported to Wii so I can accutally feel like I'm throwing the harpoon at the whales.

But then Jack Thompsons said by simply playing the game I would become a whaler because thats what video games do. Turn people into murderes and or whalers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling

The Japanese arnt the only ones that hunt of whales. but eh who cares about the others

No nuke powerup, lame.

[...] Read the full article and discussion here. [...]

OMG they whale, boo Hoo cry me a river build a bridge and get over it. They use what they kill, if they left it in the water i would not be happy. But they use it

molto:

"They analyze them before harvesting them to get their numbers and stuff"??? LOL. Pity that quote never made it into the game in the first place, it would have fit perfectly alongside the other ridiculous claims made by the Japanese whaling industry. Did it ever occur to you that since they're "analysing them" beforehand "to get their numbers and stuff", that maybe they didn't then have to go ahead and actually kill them? That's the whole point of this game, the so-called research is nothing more than a front for commercial interests.

I love all the japanophile posters on this comment list denigrating the game.

@Dionysus:
"nuke the whales!"

Hey, you gotta nuke something.

And wouldn't you know it, they had to make it in the style of a 2D SCHMUP. They read the Japanese audience really well!

If you think this game is fun, then I think you got a much deeper message: WHALING IS FUN! Making tons of money killing whales is probably a lot of fun and good business, and that's why it's so hard for the Japanese to stop.

It also points out the futility of protesting: To the whalers, you're just a nuisance. And to the player, they're just a nuisance.

If you look at it that way, then this game becomes a very powerful message of sympathy for the sinners. Because now, you know that if put in that situation, you can understand why you may hunt down those whales without remorse (for money). And I think this is a far more productive way to look at whalers than just "they're evil!"

Oddly enough, while I do agree with the fact that we don't have to eat whale when there are other better alternative sources of food/meat, I cannot agree with groups like Greenpeace, who may mean what they say on the outside, but the hidden message is: "We think that whales and other animal life holds far more importance and significance on Earth than some puny humans."

That is wrong thinking, no matter how you justify it. Yes, the whales are big and have been on Earth far longer than we have, and we should hold deep reverence to the whales and a ton of respect and out of respect for the whales we don't kill them (or hold back our whale homicidal urges), but what groups like Greenpeace are trying to convey is that the whales are superior to humans in every way and that humans don't matter in the larger picture. Is that kind of thinking even right?

Well, I won't bother with your moral standing on the issue, but the game is hilarious.

Our goal, all along, has been to enable ironic whaling. Done and done.

Steve,

I don't think anti-whaling activists are all saying whalers are 'evil', but saying their activities are in violation of international law seems valid to me. Saying whaling is cruel, that using harpoons that enter the body of a whale and then explode internally, that THAT is cruel, such criticism isn't censorious or arbitrary but descriptively accurate. I am not saying whales are BETTER than humans, but that we should at least have enough compassion as thoughtful human beings in our own right to say NO to this sort of barbarism.

Killing is, killing. Taking life..? Think about this: what intelligence is based in killing? Upholding LIFE and caring for the living, is why we are here.. not to feed the ego, the taste buds, or the 'disease' of killing (whether one deems animals as 'lesser' than humans - after all, animals do not slaughter for profit, only humans do.. sad really). What apathy, unkindness and unfeeling barbarism, is bred into people!

As for a game being developed to encourage a bloodthirst for slaughtering the magnificent whales, the most gentle and largest mammal on earth.. that is simply sick. All of you, who think you are 'smart' 'humourous' or somehow 'cool' for wanting to kill these mammals, or think the thrill in killing (even by computer) a creature so magnificent... your DNA is not a very compassionate, deep or caring type, eh?

If anyone knows how to reinvent ANY creature that is endangered, and lets face it, the planet is in dire troubles (cruelty, and 'eat meat': four legs, feathers or fins, to animals is rampant), then go on, keep killing, and watch what kind of world your kids all inherit... without a sense of 'shame', and bereft of any interesting faces of creatures other than our own hard hearted ones; a world without any other type of living thing except humanoids, and concrete. Its not a very nice picture, eh?

Start with your own thoughts... stop inflicting small, cruel and unkind thoughts on other aspects of this awesome creation.. and if you don't like the world you live in, don't make it worse... do something to make the world a better place to live in... trashing, bashing and cashing, do not count for a life lived with a cruel heart.

Oh, and by the way, whales mainly eat krill.. not fish. Humans have depleted the Ocean of fish 90% since the turn of the century. Overfishing is rampant. The Ocean produces 60% of the worlds oxygen, of which whales help with.. they produce excrement which fertilises the plankton, which in turn, gives us oxygen. Whales are the 'Wisdom bearers' of the Ocean... or, is all this just too complicated for small brains of humanoids. The whales brain and heart is ten times the size of ours.... perhaps thats why they are gentle, and we are not! Let the whales live.....