Discovery Channel's Rise of the VideoGames Episode 3: Back to the History Board..

" LEVEL THREE

• Premiere: Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/PT
  With games like Castle Wolfenstein 3-D and Doom, video games grew from their primitive 2-D roots into richly detailed 3-D worlds. These groundbreaking 3-D games led the industry down new paths, both thrilling and troubling. Designers now had the technology to create games that accurately simulated the real world. For the first time, game designers had to grapple with a difficult question — how long before a game was nearly indistinguishable from reality? For all the controversy surrounding the first-person shooter genre in video games, its popularity was undeniable. And in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the same government that fought to regulate video games quickly designed their own as a recruiting tool for the Army. America's Army was born and an even more sensitive debate arose as to the morality of recruiting young men for real war through the fun of a video game. Were games desensitizing us to the very real pain of violence and war? And more importantly, were video games leading us on a march towards virtual war? Some people interviewed in this episode include Colonel Casey Wardynski (director and project originator of America's Army) and Asi Burak (producer of Peacemaker — a computer game simulation of the Israeli-Arab conflict)"Discoverychannel...
  

Back to history, huh? I suppose that's the only place that the series could go. Problem is that there was never a controversy over the army recruiting people using video games. Taking a laser sight on to the importance of using video games to simulate military activities. Much of the REAL informaiton about technological advancement is lost. Also, trying to be hip and interesting they concentrate wholly and completely on FPS. Which isn't given credit to Mario which really was the revolution of the 3D experience and really Doom and Castle Wolfenstein were secondary. Oh BTW. everything Nazi is banned in Germany folks, not just video games.

Some of the stuff that they talk about; like the early 90s being a big boom for video games seems really insane. I was in high school during that time and I never played Doom. But I did play plenty of video games. I really didn't see the big deal over Doom. The spark of the video game controversy was Mortal Kombat which was FAR MORE POPULAR than Doom. The forming of the ESRB and the reasons for it were not well enough explained.

How old is Heather Chaplin? She talks like she's 60. All these references to kids and how they do this or that and what they think or don't. She was probably 20 when this was going on; maybe even younger she was one of these, "kids."

It's really funny how everyone in the games industry can point to these 2-3 games that are really incredibly violent or crazy. Can the same be said for the movie industry? Can somebody in the movie industry name 2-3 movies that are the worst their industry has ever created? Or are there just too many to mention? Which industry is worse?

Anyone who has fought in actual combat has really come out to say that the reality of battle is not represented in ANY video game. It's a good teaching tool, but certainly not teaching people how to kill. Killing people and their being a chance you could get killed is much different than any game or movie. The brain can tell the difference and there IS a BIG difference. To take any time to review the history of flight simulators is just TERRIBLY boring and makes REALLY bad television.

Of course, no video game show on television is complete without America's Army. The game that only people in the Army or people who want to be in the Army play. It's on PC only and has no future on the console. The participation is great in the game but how many of those people had no interest in joining the Army before playing the game? ZERO! I played America's Army back in the day, because it was free. I'm sorry, but what REAL GAMER plays the game?

It's so simple. If every console had a mandatory way of making sure that the game was being played by the person who the games is rated for, then there would be no more talk about violence in video games. How about a credit card confirmation? How about parents USING parental controls! When little Johnny watches the porn that his father leaves lying around it's the father gets blamed not the porn industry. Same should be true of video games. Doesn't that seem simple.

To use simulators as some kind of example that video games and war go hand in hand is ridiculous. It's like comparing toy guns to real ones. There is a HUGE difference between the two.

Then they show WW2 games as the private sector making war games. Then they start criticizing Tom Clancy games and their views of terrorism. Maybe they will start talking smack about 24? I guess these people can't tell what is fiction and what is reality. Which is really what the government is worried about with games to begin with. Which makes everything REALLY funny in a sad sort of way.

The amount of lightning rod information is SO LIMITED because there is so little of it. So the same topics come up over and over again. Which is kind of like trying to make statements about a country based on one book that a citizen of that country created. Then trying to take every book that is like that book from every other country and then trying to make statements about the world based on that.

There are plenty of people who have said that since WWI America has become a very militarized country and continues to. Video Games are a symptom of this not a cause of it. Think about that for a while. After all, the US is not the only country that makes video games. Not by a long shot.....

At the end of the show, they start talking about all the "Good" uses for video games. This is SO STUPID! It is like comparing a training video to a movie. Do these people REALLY believe that video games represent reality? Because if they see plumbers jumping around on mushrooms and Space Marines landing in Africa. I really want to know what drugs they have been on.

There is a marked difference between a game and a simulator. In a game you have points, a goal, and a trial and error way of getting there. There is usually a story and it usually involves some kind of action or drama. But a simulator is a direct representation of reality. There is NO STORY and usually no drama. That's why simulators are usually boring and usually used for a particular purpose. If these folks think Halo is a war simulator you are too naive to even speak to.

Finally, I want to top this off with the fact that all of these questions have been asked and answered in so many better ways in SO many other places; that to bring up this is just fear mongering and propagandizing. I really get angry when I see this kind of thing because it is SO pathetic and SO unnecessary. If you want to do video game history, try doing it without the crap.