Quick Video Games Based on Iraq War
Oct. 1, 2004 — -- In this week's Cybershake, we note how one company's quickly produced video games on the Iraq war may be drawing fire. Plus, we take a look at who the top geeks at MIT think is on top of the tech dog pile.
Blurry Battle Lines?
Television, radio, daily papers and other news outlets are constantly keeping us up to date with what's happening in the war on terror. And one company thinks it's time that video games on the war could stand the same treatment.
Kuma Reality Games in New York City has produced Kuma War, a series of video games featuring modern combat in a simulated three-dimensional world. But unlike most combat games, Kuma's simulations are based on actual missions conducted by U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.
"It's almost an adjunct to the news," says Sarah Anderson, director of marketing with Kuma. "[The game is] a playable 3-D mission but there's also a video news show that tells the story and provides historical context."
Designers at Kuma use actual video news footage, satellite pictures of Iraq and publicly available reports from the military to re-create and simulate the missions in the game.
"We use satellite images to render exactly the place that the soldiers were," says Anderson. "We put you in the boots of the soldier and you are on the ground in the thick of it."
More impressively, while it takes most game developers one to two years to produce a graphic, 3-D video game simulation, Kuma claims it can develop new, accurate missions as quickly as a few months.
Last July, for example, the company released a simulation of the U.S. Army's clash against the forces of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a battle that occurred in Baghdad's Sadr City on May 23, 2004.
Although much of the images and events surrounding the games are based on real events, the company admits it does make the simulations a bit more entertaining by taking a bit of creative license — say, by adding more simulated enemies to fight against.
"They have got a tremendous ability to not only interest an audience but to interest them really quickly behind the headlines," says Dan Morris, an editor with PC Gamer Magazine. But "it's not a real picture of reality. It's the most entertaining picture of reality."
And, the unique edge that Kuma rides on — blending and bending the harsh realities of an actual ongoing war into a video game — could be a doubled-edge sword.
"There is a deep dismay over the fact that a game company is profiting within weeks of someone's death by re-creating and repurposing that mission for entertainment purposes," says Morris. "And I think that is a pretty legitimate gripe."
Still, Kuma says some of the actual soldiers who have served in Iraq are supportive of the combat game claiming it allows players to see and experience the war from their perspective.
Since the company began developing its games last year, it has simulated 20 different "missions." The retail version of Kuma War: The War on Terror with 15 missions will be available later this month at retail outlets.
Currently, the company offers service at KumaWar.com where for $10 per month, players can download and play up to three new missions every month. It has also created simulations outside of the Iraq war. The latest: a game where players can try to relive the "swift boat" mission that presidential candidate John Kerry participated in during the Vietnam War and earned a U.S. Navy Silver Star medal.
— Andrea Smith, ABC News
Meet the Top Innovator of the Year
Who is the top innovator of the year? The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology along with the editors of the university's Technology Review magazine put their heads to come up with the fourth annual list of top 100 innovators of 2004.
As in the previous four lists, candidates appearing in this year's list are under the age of 35 whose innovative work "have the promise or the potential to transform existing businesses and fields of technology or create new ones," says Robert Buderi, an editor with Technology Review.
And this year's top honoree — Scott Heiferman, founder of MeetUp.com — fits that bill perfectly, says Buderi.
Heiferman created the Web site in six short months following Sept. 11, 2001, as a way to help people find others who share the same interest and then meet off-line, in real world venues.
Last year, about 190,000 supporters of Howard Dean's presidential campaign used the site to organize meetings prior to the Iowa caucuses. Now, about 170,000 members still use the site as part of the Democracy for America, a group that sprouted from the failed Dean campaign.
And that, says Buderi, is an example of how MeetUp is changing the way people are using the Internet.
"Let's improve the quality of life by getting you away from your [computer] screen and finding people of like interest," says Buderi.
The other 99 honorees in MIT's list are recognized for that same innovative spirit.
For example, Ali Hajimiri, the 32-year-old co-founder of Axiom Microdevices in Orange, Calif., is noted for building "an entire radar system on a semiconductor chip," says Buderi. Eventually, Hajimiri's work may lead to cars with "really advanced collision avoidance systems [to help drivers] in really bad weather."
And the innovators in MIT's list aren't just in U.S.-based firms researching serious matters. Another honoree is Tianqiao Chen of Shanda Interactive Entertainment in Shanghai, China. His contribution this year: Developing a massive online multiplayer game network that has become one of the largest in China.
Technology Review's complete "2004 TR100" list is in the current issue of the magazine, which is also freely available online at: www.technologyreview.com.
— Larry Jacobs, ABC News
Cybershake is produced for ABCNEWS Radio by Andrea J. Smith.