Thoughts 20 Jul 2007 07:53 am
Iran’s video game
I found this on Al Jazeera:
There is little doubt what would happen if US forces in Iraq were to kidnap an Iranian scientist involved in Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
In the real world, Iran’s foreign ministry would probably launch a diplomatic campaign and demand the Iraqi government’s help to have him released as soon as possible.
But on Monday, the Iranian students’ Islamic association, which is affiliated to the education ministry, unveiled “Special Operation”, a Farsi language, three-dimensional computer game that offers a different scenario.
The game follows a special forces officer on a mission to rescue Iranian scientists from the US [Reuters]
Iranian video game designers have released a computer game in which the player attempts to rescue Iranian nuclear experts kidnapped by the US military and held in Iraq and Israel.
There is little doubt what would happen if US forces in Iraq were to kidnap an Iranian scientist involved in Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.
In the real world, Iran’s foreign ministry would probably launch a diplomatic campaign and demand the Iraqi government’s help to have him released as soon as possible.
But on Monday, the Iranian students’ Islamic association, which is affiliated to the education ministry, unveiled “Special Operation”, a Farsi language, three-dimensional computer game that offers a different scenario.
The game follows a special forces officer named commander Bahman who conducts a covert rescue operation inside Iraq to find Saeed Kousha, a nuclear scientist and the son of a “martyred” war-time friend, and bring him home.
The release of the Iranian digital counterattack was delayed, partly because the makers wanted it to be comparable to its international competitors, paving the way for its appearance on the international market.
“This game is unique in Iran and even in the Middle East, so if our colleagues concentrate on translating it to other languages it may now be released in other countries as well,” Alireza Masaeli, one of the game’s designers, told Al Jazeera.
But “Special Operation” has been designed over three years on a budget of only 300 million Rials, or $32,000, and that has taken its toll on the game’s overall quality.
“We have installed the game in our game-net here but its controls are not complete. I don’t see it as becoming a major hit as it is,” the owner of a computer game parlour in Tehran who preferred not to be named told Al Jazeera.
OK, overall the game is still a little sucky. If it was available in English I’d buy it, as long as it worked enough to be playable and so long as they kept working on it.
If they could get it up to the level of Castle Wolfenstein, it might be fun, if only to annoy those folks who will inevitably take it seriously. It may have started as a political statement, but, at the end of the day.. it’s just a game.