Worried about videogame violence? Call the Army.

[Bonobo]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0923-11.htm

"Your kids can download the "America's Army'' video game for free. Well, it is free for them. You have already paid for it with your tax dollars. In the game, kids get to kill people with cool weapons that look and respond like the real things. They get to ambush terrorists and, when caught in a firefight, they can hear bullets whistle past their ears and even hear the shell casings from their M-16s clatter onto the concrete floor.

The only thing better would be an actual war with actual weapons!

Which is pretty much how the Army hopes your kids will respond.

"America's Army'' is one of the U.S. Army's most popular and effective recruiting tools -- conceived, designed and distributed free to reach the 13- to 21-year-old crowd. It is a brilliant marketing tactic. Unlike 30-second TV ads, the game is what the ad industry calls "sticky'' advertising: Consumers are engaged for much longer periods than with traditional commercials and ads."

[bammertheblue]

1. Excuse me while I vomit...

I keep seeing these Army videogame ads on the teevee...While I am as much a fan of violent videogames as the next 22 year old, I think these are a little much.
These Army games are targeted at the same demographic that's serving in Iraq.

Can anyone say "flashbacks" and "PTSD"? I don't even like the WWII videogames; they turn my stomach. Video games should be GAMES- not shit that really happened.
I'd rather play Grand Theft Auto than this garbage.

Brilliant, disgusting marketing.

[Bonobo]

2. Self kick once for the day crowd.

[Rocknrule]

3. I'm always one to defend VVGs

but this definitely crosses the line. It's like making a first-person shooter based on the Columbine tragedy. Fortunately, no self-respecting game developer would stoop to the lows that the American army now has

[Occulus]

4. I do too, normally

but AA is just a bad game. I downloaded it, played it once, and promptly uninstalled it.

FarCry, Doom3, Half-Life2 and Splinter Cell- not to mention Call of Duty and Brothers in Arms, etc.... are much, much better games than AA.