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View Full Version : Black Hawk Down Controversy


Steve
06-12-2002, 03:12 PM
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/06/10/war.games.reut/

"critics question that aim and whether the game risks blurring the line between history and entertainment and altering perceptions about the bloodiest firefight in U.S. military history since Vietnam."

to read more go here >> http://www.dfhq.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2712

Steve
06-12-2002, 03:12 PM
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Coming soon: a video game based on the botched 1993 raid in Somalia now known as "Black Hawk Down" and etched in American memory after two dead United States soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.

The company producing the game, Calabasas, California-based NovaLogic, said the game was patriotic, intended in part to educate the public about the U.S. mission in Somalia.

But some critics question that aim and whether the game risks blurring the line between history and entertainment and altering perceptions about the bloodiest firefight in U.S. military history since Vietnam.

Some even speculate it could lead to games about other tragedies -- maybe even September 11 -- and NovaLogic says it has a game in the works about U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Mark Bowden, the author of "Black Hawk Down" the best-selling book about the Somali raid, said he declined to be involved with the game because it was not in line with his purpose in writing the critically acclaimed non-fiction book.

"We were approached by them and I just told my agent I didn't want to be involved," Bowden told Reuters. "To me there's a qualitative difference between making a game and telling a story."

NovaLogic said the upcoming military adventure game "Delta Force -- Black Hawk Down" would center around a series of U.S. commando raids against Somali warlords, allowing players to take on the role of special forces troops.

In the real-life battle that inspired the book and a hit movie based on it, U.S. troops hunting for Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid entered Mogadishu on October 3, 1993, and were caught in a fierce firefight after a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. A total of 18 soldiers were killed.

"The whole notion that you would make this part of your entertainment regimen strikes me as a little creepy," Prof. Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, told Reuters.

NovaLogic said it would publish a version of the game for PCs in the fourth quarter of this year, with versions expected for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox in 2003.

'Logical progression'
Marcus Beer, a spokesman for NovaLogic, said the last mission of the game is the one depicted in "Black Hawk Down," though he said it will steer away from the actual fate of that mission so as not to offend anyone, and will exclude scenes of bodies being dragged through streets.


Creators of the "Black Hawk Down" game say they will alter the ending so as not to offend anyone.
"For us this is actually a logical progression," he said. "This is our take on the whole 'Operation Restore Hope'," he added, referring to the name of the American military's early-1990s operations in Somalia.

"We've had a lot of positive feedback from the military community about this," Beer said, noting two former members of the elite Delta Force are advising NovaLogic on the game, including one commando who actually fought in Mogadishu.

He also said a version of "Delta Force 2" is in use as a training exercise at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and that the company has a retired Air Force general on its board.

The game "re-educates people to a certain degree" about the U.S. mission in the strife-torn east African country, he said.

Beer also said the company will be donating a part of the proceeds from sales of the game to two military charities, with specific details on those recipients expected soon.

NovaLogic is also working on a "Delta Force" game that allows players to fight as U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and in late May the U.S. Army unveiled a game it is designing that will allow users to take on the role of American soldiers in typical combat missions.

Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Muninn
06-12-2002, 06:44 PM
Ok but.... Why complain about it when NovaLogic is still going to release it anyway? They can not stop that can they? But who cares because TFD is about over in the middle east and thats a important issue too. So why complain about BHD?

:confused:

:barf: CNN

Black6~ODA~
06-12-2002, 07:16 PM
For one BHD was a lot more serious and only a handful of people made it out on their own two legs. The rest were all casulties, about 75 wounded and dead out of 99 that went in. In comparison to what is going on now in the middle east, well there is no comparison especially to the loss of life in civilian terms and in our own military casulties. I mean in Mog there were quite a few thousand civilians dead, wounded, and dieing at the hospital in Mog after it all happened mainly from US bullets and grenades and whats worse the whole population was involved in it, just about every man, woman and child came down to kill rangers that, probably in the 100,000 person range. Unlike what is going on now where we just bombed the hell out of the known terrorists first then moved in and finished them off with special forces and infantry which could not be done in a big city like Mogadishu.

Dirt*PR*
06-13-2002, 04:24 AM
let CNN worry about news. let nova worry about their game. good/bad it doesn't matter too much...its a GAME.
the only game i can see that MIGHT have any thing general public would have a complain about, and they have, is Grand Thief Auto only because it seems, i don't know for sure because i don't have nor have played it, to glorify violent crime. but in the end, it too is just a game. why don't they complain about RTS games like age of empires...war is in those also is it not? as for it being based on real events...so was the book and the movie so what the he$$?! if a game is so wrong then so should the book and definitely the movie.
what is the difference in watching a war violence oriented movie than playing a game where it puts u in the game seeing the same thing thats in the movie, actually less real or graphic due to no dead bodies being paraded around in the streets?! get real CNN! "whoever said life is fair?" or "life would be a bed of roses?" things happen in life that are in the news and it is shown on tv, the real events. if thats somehow ok and right then why are games always getting dragged through the mud? grow up CNN! :rolleyes:

Black6~ODA~
06-13-2002, 08:31 PM
Oh come on, if you were there you would be singing a different tune, to have someone make a GAME about how your or your friends died is an insult.

Dirt*PR*
06-13-2002, 11:36 PM
so are u saying this as to no matter if they won or lost? then how do u feel about all the flight sims or FPS games based on WWII? are they all wrong also? i see what u are saying but as long as it doesn't depict actual names of those fighters then i don't see any difference in it and any other real life war game events like WWII.

so think about this then... do u play DF or any other real life war based game? if so then ur controdicting ur statement above for the simple fact that in war people die. u don't think a single delta force man went down yet there are soon to be a total of 4 DF games. anyone else have any comments on this besides me and black6???

Black6~ODA~
06-14-2002, 09:23 PM
lol, i got another comment, I don't play WWII games for that same reason, especially medal of honor, I just don't think its right I mean the earlier delta forces were not based on actual events like BHD will be, i mean just one man going out on a mission to kill thrity terrorists or one man disarming a nuclear bomb within a five minute time limit ain't what actually goes on with towel heads, and TFD is not so much based on actual events either, its just loosely based on what is going on in Afghanistan. I think they would have been better off not calling it Black Hawk Down and they could have kept it very very loosely based on what happened in Operation Gothic Serpent but its just going a little too far.