this will definately impress the undecideds

September 25, 2004 12:07 AM

Mekong Delta - the video game starring John Kerry and the men of Swift Boat PCF-94
posted by tsarfan (13 comments total)

Bundled with: Leisure Suit Dubya
posted by scarabic at 12:47 AM on September 25, 2004

kenny boy sent me
posted by mr.marx at 5:52 AM on September 25, 2004

That looks like an M16A2 he's holding -- a little bit of an anachronism.
posted by alumshubby at 6:20 AM on September 25, 2004

Includes broadband video news show, real-world intel, satellite images and the background you need to understand a key issue in this year's presidential election.

Key issue? The whole concept of "KumaWar" is sickening.

I don't feel like "playing" situations where real people really died. Or die on a daily basis.

(Kuma discussed previously here.)
posted by hoskala at 6:59 AM on September 25, 2004

Then don't play Civilization.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:21 AM on September 25, 2004

Anyone here play KumaWar?
posted by tomplus2 at 8:12 AM on September 25, 2004

Now, you too can be in "the shit."
posted by fungible at 10:33 AM on September 25, 2004

They should be fair and make a version for Bush's experience during that time. First you learn how to fly planes, then you learn how to sneak off base, score illegal substances and have an awesome party.
posted by cell divide at 11:06 AM on September 25, 2004

I'm envisioning an FPS titled "Election." The player starts out with the Shitflinger 9000 weapon and then earns more advanced weapons such as the Wingnut Launcher and Smear Grenade.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:17 AM on September 25, 2004

Press release: Based on the Navy's records of the encounter on Feb. 28, 1969, players take the role of John Kerry and lead three Swift Boats though the small tributaries deep in the Mekong Delta. As the boats come under fire from Viet Cong hiding in the nearby brush it is up to the player to steer the boats directly into the attack, go ashore, and battle enemy fighters using the every day fighting tactics Swift Boat Operators have been trained with as part of this elite force.

Interesting. Though it's been claimed that the standard rules of engagement forbade it, that's how Kerry "won" his mission -- or at least his Star.

I agree there's a creepiness about it, not the least similar missions available in the online world such as the attempted capture of Uday and Qusay -- but military training involves reliving such scenarios on a regular basis. I don't think it's any worse, culturally, than going to see a movie about the Alamo (or riding on a Titanic water slide, for that matter). At least with this, you can gain an understanding of the limitations under which a particular unit or side was fighting. Reliving Dien Bien Phu to win, for instance. In wargaming there's always somebody who takes the perverse role.

Given the direction of technology, it's only a matter of time before we see even more topical games with more twisted (or at least tangled) ethics -- such as the Bob Kerrey scenario. That would disturb and shock me, but I have to admit I'd like the opportunity to play it out several ways (and preferably with modifiable scenario assumptions, e.g. numbers of armed Viet Cong in the vicinity), to put myself in the same moral game square. (Insert "standing on a wall" speech here.)

I wonder about the playability of scenarios like this, and I don't have Kuma so I can't vouch for it, but others have made pretty solid claims for its overall excellence.

Jeez. I remember when people got exercised about the moral implications of kids playing Missile Command.
posted by dhartung at 11:01 PM on September 25, 2004

Cue ominous music.

I logged on to this game. I never saw John Kerry. He claimed he was "lagged". I never saw it. Supposedly this game won all sorts of awards, but the graphics were putrid, its all documented right here in this book. 250 gamers signed this afidavit. The avatar that was supposed to be John Kerry? It didn't look like him at all. He claimed he was right behind me. I looked. I never saw him.

This has been a message from Virtual Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth...
posted by owillis at 11:32 PM on September 25, 2004

owillis, that's awesome!
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:16 AM on September 26, 2004

Wow! I have this vision, its 2042. Incumbent president Hoover Walker Bush II is running for re-election. Ugly rumors surface that back in 2004, while playing John Kerry, Bush was seen virtually lighting villiages on fire and calling in air strikes on civilian targets...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:01 PM on September 27, 2004