Comments on: Comprehensive reviews of jihadi video-games

By: 13strong

13strong — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wish people would stop using the term “Jihadi” in this context, as if it is a direct synonym for “violent militant Islamic war”. It’s not. The concept of “jihad” is a complex one with many meanings, from a personal, moral struggle, to “sacred war”. To employ it in such a consistently simplistic way betrays ignorance of Islamic terms and ideology.

I’m not in any way an expert on Islam, for what it’s worth.

You can learn a little more about this, and its relevance to issues of censorship and cultural conflict in the most recent edition of the freedom of expression journal Index On Censorship.

By: dculberson

dculberson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Damn that was bad. Especially the boot. Holy crap.

By: Antinous

Antinous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

techNmore,

If your link appears in your comment again, you’ll be disemvowelled.

By: bobsyeruncle

bobsyeruncle — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I like it! Sort of reminiscent of a lot of bad 80′s action movies where the final battle with the old, flabby leader is the battle that gives the hero the most trouble; and not the heavily-armed and trained mercenaries preceding him. LOL.

Even better, the boss’ hideout is a Porta-Potty!

By: PaulR

PaulR — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

#12: “Almost every militaristic game available in North America consists of a US soldier killing the Russians, Chinese, but mostly in recent times, Middle Eastern people.”

I beg to differ. They’re usually aliens or other non-humans. Notable exceptions to this rule are mercenaries, nazis, and just about everybody in GTA.

By: toxonix

toxonix — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nice touch there at the end. The only way to exit the level is to commit suicide.
That is possibly the worst FPS ever. I’m going to get working on NBOC2.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ha! When they speak of putting “boots on the ground”, they mean the most secret, kickass weapons ever developed!

By: eustace

eustace — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I can just glimpse, in my imagination, the levels these guys will be building for Little Big Planet.

By: joelphillips

joelphillips — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

But the developers … completely passed up the opportunity to stoke their target audience’s anger. … Bush simply attacks you with no apparent master plan.

That’s pretty much exactly what makes me angry about Bush.

By: slummy

slummy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

if they paid me right, i’d make them a real game.
what do you think the legal ramifications are for that? would it be considered treason? wow. it’d be light years beyond any GTA controversy. i’d probably make enough to buy the presidency. :P

By: jonathan_v

jonathan_v — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“”Bush simply attacks you with no apparent master plan, shooting away with his M16.”"

So they went for realism… they should be commended.

By: retchdog

retchdog — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well the production values seem a little higher than "our" analogous Quest for Al-Qa'eda based off the duke3d "build" engine. Then again, engines have matured over the years, so it's hard to call. QfA had more levels and a little bit more creative jingoist design (gib-able scenery-camels; the bad guys shout pseudo-Arabic babble at you), as well as better though-still-very-amateur level design from a technical view. It seemed more challenging to me too, but maybe I'm just a noob. But for all this it had an even worse ending: Osama never makes an appearance at all (apart from posters), which is just inexcusable. Final grade: C-.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Say what you will about the motivations and possible effects of of a game like America’s Army it is an incredibly slick and playable game to be offered up essentially for free and it is far beyond these offerings. Regardless of your feelings politically AA is game worth playing, particularly at its price point. I have trouble accepting that you have actually tried AA given your ‘review’ of it in this context.

By: EllisGL

EllisGL — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Anyone finding this to be a bit hypocritical?

1.) Electronic computers were a western world created device.

2.) The first video game (which wasn’t all that great) was created in the US.

3.) The music is westernized…

Also this map reminds me of all the crappy doom maps I played back in the day.

By: oxymoron69

oxymoron69 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I kinda like it, It’s refreshing to see a western leader demonized in a video game.

Far too many times the ‘enemy’ in games is from an unpronouncably named eastern-bloc country or from the middle east.

Who’d have thought that jihadi video-games would promote equality like they do?

By: retchdog

retchdog — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@7 And algorithms are a totally western concept... Oh, wait! Seriously, how long does a technical innovation give its mother country claim to validity? Even without mentioning Konrad Zuse, or the Brits who invented RSA in the 1950s and kept it a military secret, do you think computers are today primarily built (or even designed) in the US?

By: IamInnocent

IamInnocent — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A proper ending for the game should have been the vein of the Wizard of Oz.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The development of “jihadi good guy” games is simply proof that the violent “western good guy” games really do produce anti-social behavior.

By: RevEng

RevEng — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Is it just me, or do we have a double-standard at work here? Almost every militaristic game available in North America consists of a US soldier killing the Russians, Chinese, but mostly in recent times, Middle Eastern people. These are slagged for being unoriginal and idealistic, but they don’t take much heat for always emphasizing the Americans as the good guys.

Now we see similar games, but with the roles reversed, and suddenly these are terrorist recruitment games? I bet half of these games were made by Americans and are played by Americans, not because they want to become terrorists and strap on explosives, but because Bush isn’t even liked much within the country he runs.

Feel free to call these new games terrorist recruitment and propaganda, but let’s not forget that changing who plays on what side doesn’t change the game; the pro-American games are just as bad.

By: Antinous

Antinous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

RevEng,

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.
– Mel Brooks