November 25, 2004

BUT HOW EXACTLY DOES THIS HURT ME?

Kennedys aghast at game that lets you be Oswald (National Post, November 23rd, 2004)

Friends and family of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy condemned yesterday's release of a video game that puts players behind the trigger of his assassin's rifle.

David Smith, a spokesman for the slain president's younger brother, Senator Edward Kennedy, said it was bad enough that the game JFK Reloaded lets players stalk the Kennedy motorcade through a telescopic rifle sight.

But Mr. Smith said it was "despicable'' for the British-based maker of the game to release it yesterday, the 41st anniversary of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas.

Mr. Smith would not say if the Kennedys plan legal action. "It's despicable. There's really no further comment," he said.

In the game, players take the role of Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, watching as the Kennedy motorcade passes through Dealey Plaza in Dallas.

"Concentrate, and think like a sniper!" reads the instructions to the game, which can be downloaded for US$10. Players must fire three shots at Kennedy's black limousine from Oswald's perch in the Texas School Book Depository.

Points are awarded or subtracted according to how accurately the shots match the official version of events, documented by the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination.

Players can choose to see the results of their actions by pressing a "blood effects" option, which shows a digital image of the effects of their shots on the presidential motorcade.

Contestants have points deducted if they accidentally hit former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, clothed in her famous pink outfit with pillbox hat.

How can one condemn, restrict or ban this abomination without reference to notions of obscenity or even blasphemy? (Unworthy Kennedy jokes discouraged)

Posted by Peter Burnet at November 25, 2004 7:50 PM
Comments

I suppose we should be glad it's Kennedy you're shooting at, and not President Bush...

Posted by: brian at November 25, 2004 9:15 PM

Give it time -- they were probably just waiting to see if he won re-election. no sense trying to get people to assassinate a guy who's out of office...

Posted by: John at November 26, 2004 12:04 AM

If the target were Teddy, he's too fat to be any kind of a challenge.

Posted by: Bart at November 26, 2004 2:30 AM

"Mr. Smith said it was "despicable'' for the British-based maker of the game to release it yesterday..."

And you say we're a class-ridden society? Nonsense.

This proves quite conclusively that some of our members have absolutely no class whatsoever.

Posted by: Brit at November 26, 2004 5:20 AM

Blasphemy seems not quite the right word for offensiveness toward the Kennedys. If they do have an obscenities law, I wonder if they will be eager to enforce it against those who are obscene toward Americans?

Posted by: pj at November 26, 2004 9:23 AM

The shoot-JFK simukation should strike any normal person as tasteless and offensive, regardless of their political persuasion. And the developers' blather about its value in dampening conspiracy theories is silly: the typical open-minded player will have no way of telling whether the ballistics and other physics involved were accurately modeled, whereas the tinfoil-hat crowd will simply assume that the parameters were cooked to support the official version of events. In any event, I look forward to the developers' simulation of Iraqi-hostage beheadings, so players can judge for themselves whether straight versus serrated blades give better results...

Posted by: Axel Kassel at November 26, 2004 12:49 PM

Would a game with the look and feel of "Grand Auto Theft" be blasphemous or obscene, if a version had a bloviating Senator careening over narrow bridges, throwing empty beer cans out the window and a babe under his arm.

Just asking.

Posted by: h-man at November 26, 2004 5:40 PM

I can see how some would find the video game offensive, but it seems less so than an awful lot of other things which are similarly protected by the First Amendment.

The argument that the game debunks second-shooter conspiracy theories has some validity. Hi-Power rifle competitors have known all along that the Oswald shooting was good, but by no means great or even exceptional. Distance, angle, target speed, and elapsed time made it very do-able a run-of-the-mill military or sports shooter. The video game would help those without this experience understand the shooting involved.

Posted by: Lou Gots at November 26, 2004 6:56 PM
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