Anyone tried this?

jumphonner · Oct 29, 2008

Anyone tried this?

http://www.rising-eagle.com/

Article in the SMH here: http://www.smh.com.au/news/digital-...auntlet-to-iran/2008/10/29/1224956096444.html

A Sydney-based Jewish businessman bankrolling a shoot-'em-up warfare game pitting Israeli troops against Iranians says the aim is to "throw out a challenge to Iran" after its President vowed to wipe Israel off the map.

But Kevin Bermeister, world renowned for being sued by the music industry in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over the Kazaa file-sharing program, said his intention was also to take the war between Jews and Muslims out of the real world and into cyber space.

The online multiplayer game, Rising Eagle - Gaza, was officially released as a free download less than a week ago. It earns revenue through advertising billboards peppered throughout the game environment.

The game, which contrary to its setting does not include any Palestinian fighters, is an update to earlier versions of the game set in Paris and China. It pits the Iranian Revolutionary Guard against Israel's elite Golani Brigade in a first-person shooter setting.

In an interview with Fairfax Media's Jerusalem Correspondent, Jason Koutsoukis, one of the game's Israel-based designers, Yaron Dotan, said it would be "taking things too far" if the game had Israeli soldiers fighting against Palestinians.

But Dotan, 34, was delighted at the suggestion that his game, which includes billboard-size photographs of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looking like a monkey, might cause offence to Iranians. He describes the Iranian soldiers as "the Waffen SS of today".

"I want this to upset people. I hope it causes the biggest shitstorm in history," he said.

In the game, players can choose to play either as the Israelis or the Iranians. Bermeister said in an interview he hoped this would encourage people on both sides to log in and communicate with each other in a non-threatening, virtual setting.

"People will get to know each other in a competitive battleground environment, get to text each other, speak to each other, connect with each other and figure out that they're human beings and they can get on with each other," he said.

But Bermeister conceded the game would inevitably make a political statement.

"Just like Ahmadinejad is throwing out a challenge to Israel, I think this game throws out a challenge to Iran," he said.

And as one could probably expect from a Middle Eastern war game developed by Israelis, the fight isn't exactly fair.

"Clearly the intent is that the Israeli Defence Force is the futuristic fighting force that is capable of overcoming anything thrown at it, and the challenge is for anyone to come and take a shot," Bermeister said.

He would not reveal the size of his investment in the company, Invasion Interactive.

Bermeister, a serial technology entrepreneur, has a long history in the video game industry, going back as far as 1982, when he founded what became Australia's largest game distributor, Ozisoft. The company was sold to Sega and eventually to Infogrames in France.

After settling the lawsuit over Kazaa in 2006, Bermeister has been working on a new technology designed to stamp out illegal file sharing over peer-to-peer networks.

He has also invested in various start-ups, including Skype before it was sold to eBay in October 2005 for $US2.6 billion.

Srad · Oct 30, 2008

At first reading it would seem they are doing this JUST for the shock factor and as a result putting money in their pockets

dont think I will bother

Hicks · Oct 30, 2008

I'll download it and have a look, put it in perspective it would be like being an Iraqi and playing America's army or the Insurgency mod.

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Anyone tried this?

jumphonner OLDr! Accountant

Srad Spin Doktor

Hicks Retired GC

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