So setting a game in America is bad?

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Since the government and military were wiped out in the Fallout series, it might be more accurate to say that America no longer exists. Its just a collection of small towns and cities.

Personally, it appears to me that the game portrays America as the innocent victim. Its the audacity of the situation that is offending most people.

 

[Diligent]

A game set in America isn't really bad as it is unoriginal.

You know what I would like to see? A game set in Australia. How many games do you know have done that?

It's not recent, but I can think of one!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky

It's freeware, so you can get ScummVM and play it if you're into those sorts of games.

OT: Living in Canada, I have long accepted that nothing cool will ever happen in a video game that takes place where I live, so really the US is the next best thing. I don't think it's any less relatable than a game that takes place in Washington for somebody who has always lived in say Colorado. Sure it's still the states, but it's a pretty diverse Country.

 

[Geekosaurus]

It's not the fact that a game is set in America that annoys me, it's the threads they spawn. Could this game work in any other country but America? Of course it can. There's nothing overly special about your bit of land as opposed to my bit of land.

Um... Of course it could work in other places... I think you're thinking of Fallout were the lore keeps it in America. This game doesn't have lore that restricts its place, thats why they are already talking about Homefront 2 in Europe.

I know it would work...that's why it annoys me.

So... basicaly, if a game can't work in that country. It is bad? Sorry, not all games can please you.

What? No... How have you come to this conclusion? The location of the game doesn't annoy me. It can be set in America or the Mushroom Kingdom, I'm not bothered either way. What annoys me is the people that think a game will only work in one country - usually America. The classic example is Fallout. Can Fallout work in any other country but America? Yes. It'd just be a different game - it doesn't mean it wouldn't work. It's the people that annoy me, not the location of the game.

Ah, makes more sense.

We worked ourselves into quite a pickle there. Congrats are in order for working it out.

 

[Korten12]

Personally, it appears to me that the game portrays America as the innocent victim. Its the audacity of the situation that is offending most people.

But thats just the thing, if it was to take place in their country, they would have no problem. This situation probably would be in reverse.

Or, it really is just the hatered of the US on the escapist. Love the escapist or not, many people post how they wish in games, the US was the villians.

 

[Treblaine]

I just find the idea North Korea over running the USA about as believable as ohhh...mutant dolphins attacking. How bout a country with a budget and a ability to make it here...Mexico has a better chance? Canada and Mexico maybe?

This reminds me of "invasion fiction" that was popular in Britain 1890's to the start of the 1st world war. It toyed with the idea of England being invaded by various evil forces and glorious battles to defeat them. It was all very far fetched and jingoistic.

America has go to be the hardest country to occupy:
-remoteness from any enemies (so many thousands of miles between North Korea and America)
-power of US Navy (can fuck shit up globally, and shut down the seas)
-Prevalence of gun ownership (screws up occupation plans)
-Size of standing army (about 1.5 million plus 1.5 million reserve, only China has a bigger army)
-Richest army in the world (to spite spending less than 5% of the country's GDP on defence)
-Fucking... nukes...

The thing is a united Korea and Japan is the only force that could possibly Invade the USA... but invasion isn't he same as occupying, that is the impossibility part. As soon as they land on US soil they'd be hit constantly. It would just be an incredibly costly exercise surely to result in failure. I mean the supply lines that would have to be maintained, the security of the strongholds when US airpower in unleashed.

Also WHY?!? Why invade America? Invasion made sense in the 19th century, countries have nuclear bombs nowadays, if you want to get rid of a country, blow it up.

One thing that does make SOME sense is some sort of revolution in America that sizes power that INVITES foreign military over for some added muscle, only in the process they pretty much take over. Because any invading army would just be cut down so quickly.

 

[Woodsey]

Claiming to be greatly inspired by real-life events and politics and then having North Korea invade the US is cringable.

They said that about the game? xD

 

[Korten12]

snip

Well thats putting it into our real life perspective.

How they were able to invade the US is by their timelien:

(off of wiki/backstory video)

2011: "North Korea's weapons program continues to intensify... has surpassed 1000 missiles" This shows that North Korea is arming itself. Some countries want the UN to put severe sanctions on North Korea.

2012: "This morning comes the news of Kim Jong-il's death" Kim Jong-il has died. "North Korea greets their new leader, Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-un"

2013: "Kim Jong-un has united North and South Korea" This now forms the Greater Korean Republic.

2015: "Costs at the pump are ready to break the $20 mark" This forces America to become destabilized.

2017: "Civil unrest has intensified with the demise of the US dollar" There are many riots in America and the military has started to pull out of Asia and other countries.

2018: "Under threat of annihilation by the Greater Korean Republic... Japan has surrendered" Japan now joins the Greater Korean Republic. Riots continue during 2018-2022.

2022: "The President ordered a freeze on bank withdrawals." The US economy has completely failed.

2024: "North Korean annexation continues to spread" North Korea takes over many Asian countries.

2025: "The Greater Korean Republic has launched its latest communication satellite claiming it will bring a message of peace" This satellite is really an EMP weapon that knocks out all electronics in North America. The Greater Korean Republic begins the invasion. Greater Korean Republic starts by taking over Hawaii and San Francisco.

2026: "US military scattered" This is due to communications being down and the surprise attack.

 

[Xanadu84]

I just find the idea North Korea over running the USA about as believable as ohhh...mutant dolphins attacking. How bout a country with a budget and a ability to make it here...Mexico has a better chance? Canada and Mexico maybe?

But it's not North Korea invadeing America. It's a united North AND South Korea. You have to give a certain leeway for fiction, and South Korea at least has something going on.

I'm curious about this game myself. So the setting in America is annoying? Didn't the guy who wrote this game also do a certain movie called...Red Dawn? Yeah, right there, there is the reason why it has to be set in America. Its that guys thing. Is it unoriginal? Maybe. But who cares, because Red Dawn was awesome, and I will let no facts take off my rose colored nostalgia glasses

 

[Carlston]

I just find the idea North Korea over running the USA about as believable as ohhh...mutant dolphins attacking. How bout a country with a budget and a ability to make it here...Mexico has a better chance? Canada and Mexico maybe?

But it's not North Korea invadeing America. It's a united North AND South Korea. You have to give a certain leeway for fiction, and South Korea at least has something going on.

I'm curious about this game myself. So the setting in America is annoying? Didn't the guy who wrote this game also do a certain movie called...Red Dawn? Yeah, right there, there is the reason why it has to be set in America. Its that guys thing. Is it unoriginal? Maybe. But who cares, because Red Dawn was awesome, and I will let no facts take off my rose colored nostalgia glasses

Russia I can see with resources of the time getting here. As my later post say need to see what they got going with the story.

 

[Carlston]

snip

Well thats putting it into our real life perspective.

How they were able to invade the US is by their timelien:

(off of wiki/backstory video)

2011: "North Korea's weapons program continues to intensify... has surpassed 1000 missiles" This shows that North Korea is arming itself. Some countries want the UN to put severe sanctions on North Korea.

2012: "This morning comes the news of Kim Jong-il's death" Kim Jong-il has died. "North Korea greets their new leader, Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-un"

2013: "Kim Jong-un has united North and South Korea" This now forms the Greater Korean Republic.

2015: "Costs at the pump are ready to break the $20 mark" This forces America to become destabilized.

2017: "Civil unrest has intensified with the demise of the US dollar" There are many riots in America and the military has started to pull out of Asia and other countries.

2018: "Under threat of annihilation by the Greater Korean Republic... Japan has surrendered" Japan now joins the Greater Korean Republic. Riots continue during 2018-2022.

2022: "The President ordered a freeze on bank withdrawals." The US economy has completely failed.

2024: "North Korean annexation continues to spread" North Korea takes over many Asian countries.

2025: "The Greater Korean Republic has launched its latest communication satellite claiming it will bring a message of peace" This satellite is really an EMP weapon that knocks out all electronics in North America. The Greater Korean Republic begins the invasion. Greater Korean Republic starts by taking over Hawaii and San Francisco.

2026: "US military scattered" This is due to communications being down and the surprise attack.

Huh...right...

So all this happened and the rest of the world didn't act?
You know why nukes and emps aren't thrown around today? Because a emp would knock out not just a US's comm sats, but multiple countries and you think they would all stand for that? Total global black outs? Hey sure...I'm game. Now I got a little back story, sure every other country that linked aid, food, medicine, heck the UN would just let Korea do whatever. Sorry exmilitary in me thinking. But could make a heck of a game.

But it's a game, the I believe button is in full effect. I might check it out.

 

[Treblaine]

snip

2013: "Kim Jong-un has united North and South Korea" This now forms the Greater Korean Republic.

2015: "Costs at the pump are ready to break the $20 mark" This forces America to become destabilized.

2017: "Civil unrest has intensified with the demise of the US dollar" There are many riots in America and the military has started to pull out of Asia and other countries.

My face when fuel already costs over £1.30 per LITRE over here, that's already equivalent to $10 per US gallon, and adjusting for exchange rate we don't on average earn more than Americans nor are all the other costs of living cheaper. We earn less and have to pay more. So we're half way there and somehow struggling on. I don't understand how you can have such cheap petrol, it boggles the mind.

America has got a LOOOOOOONG way to go down from where it is at the moment. You don't know how good you have it.

 

[Korten12]

snip

Well thats putting it into our real life perspective.

How they were able to invade the US is by their timelien:

(off of wiki/backstory video)

2011: "North Korea's weapons program continues to intensify... has surpassed 1000 missiles" This shows that North Korea is arming itself. Some countries want the UN to put severe sanctions on North Korea.

2012: "This morning comes the news of Kim Jong-il's death" Kim Jong-il has died. "North Korea greets their new leader, Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-un"

2013: "Kim Jong-un has united North and South Korea" This now forms the Greater Korean Republic.

2015: "Costs at the pump are ready to break the $20 mark" This forces America to become destabilized.

2017: "Civil unrest has intensified with the demise of the US dollar" There are many riots in America and the military has started to pull out of Asia and other countries.

2018: "Under threat of annihilation by the Greater Korean Republic... Japan has surrendered" Japan now joins the Greater Korean Republic. Riots continue during 2018-2022.

2022: "The President ordered a freeze on bank withdrawals." The US economy has completely failed.

2024: "North Korean annexation continues to spread" North Korea takes over many Asian countries.

2025: "The Greater Korean Republic has launched its latest communication satellite claiming it will bring a message of peace" This satellite is really an EMP weapon that knocks out all electronics in North America. The Greater Korean Republic begins the invasion. Greater Korean Republic starts by taking over Hawaii and San Francisco.

2026: "US military scattered" This is due to communications being down and the surprise attack.

Huh...right...

So all this happened and the rest of the world didn't act?
You know why nukes and emps aren't thrown around today? Because a emp would knock out not just a US's comm sats, but multiple countries and you think they would all stand for that? Total global black outs? Hey sure...I'm game. Now I got a little back story, sure every other country that linked aid, food, medicine, heck the UN would just let Korea do whatever. Sorry exmilitary in me thinking. But could make a heck of a game.

But it's a game, the I believe button is in full effect. I might check it out.

I think why no one did react was because they might have already invaded all the other world powers. Hence why they said that Homefront 2 will most likely take place in London.

 

[Fearzone]

Of all the games and movies set in America, I can't understand why people would suddenly become worried about the setting. If the story and gameplay are good, when has that ever been an issue before?

Unless, Homefront intends to force feed us a bunch of cloying faux-patriotic garbage.

 

[Blind Sight]

It shouldn't matter where the game is set, as long as they make it fun and cool, doesn't that matter more?

If it comes at the complete cost of plausibility in a game, then the plausibility should matter a bit more. Come on - the North Koreans can hardly feed their country with the military sponging up all of their resources. They have no force projection past the Korean Peninsula, and are hemmed in by the Chinese and South Koreans on either side. They wouldn't even dare attack the United States using conventional forces.

I'm sure the Romans said the exact same thing about the Visigoths, Vandals, and Huns.

From one of the dev diaries I saw, their plot focus is on the concept of an empire 'falling from grace' quickly, which has happened many times throughout history. Honestly, the only reason why people think it's implausible now is because the United States is currently the world hyperpower. But hyperpowers throughout history have been crippled and even destroyed over the course of a few years or decades. Alexander the Great leveled the Persian Empire, the Romans drown in barbarian hordes, the Byzantines were destroyed by nomadic Turks, etc.

 

[AssassinJoe]

A game set in America isn't really bad as it is unoriginal.

You know what I would like to see? A game set in Australia. How many games do you know have done that?

It's not recent, but I can think of one!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky

It's freeware, so you can get ScummVM and play it if you're into those sorts of games.

Hmm

Looks interesting. I will definitely look into that, thank you.

 

[Carlston]

Of all the games and movies set in America, I can't understand why people would suddenly become worried about the setting. If the story and gameplay are good, when has that ever been an issue before?

Unless, Homefront intends to force feed us a bunch of cloying faux-patriotic garbage.

Honestly, With all the games set all over the world...
Why is this either "A game in the USA is patrotic babble."
Or "No other country will like it"
I don't see the problem with it...

 

[Blind Sight]

I loved all the Americana in Fallout 3 I'm not American but I think I was literally whistling dixie. America has tons of iconic places.

Canada is the one who really gets no love... a snowboarding game once in a while yay :|

There's a Canadian campaign in Call of Duty 3, and you get to control the Royal Canadian Artillery Division in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Oh, and Kaidan in Mass Effect is from Vancouver. That's all that comes to mind.

 

[Scout Tactical]

Two words: Bioshock Infinite.

Feels good man.

 

[Korolev]

There's nothing wrong with setting a war game in the US. I can't imagine why a foreigner such as myself would have any trouble with a game set in the United States. Americans might have a problem.... but I can't imagine why they would either - it's just a video game.

Frankly, I like America as a setting. I like Americans, mostly. I don't much like your politics or over-seas policies (but I gather that many of you folks don't like your own foreign policy much either), but I generally have nothing against America. I recognize that the US is a huge cultural force in the world, and that its culture has shaped my upbringing considerably. What's popular in the US will almost certainly be popular over here.

So I've got no problems with a game being set in the US. Why would anyone? It's just a setting, like any other.

Homefront doesn't interest me, however, because I've had my fill of shooters and I find the plot to be as ridiculous as MW2's. North Korea cannot invade the US, and won't for the conceivable future. The can't even feed their soldiers properly. They have no blue-water fleet. Their missiles cannot reach the US, and they don't even have a hydrogen bomb. Now, Russia and China COULD invade the US (although it would be extremely unlikely for those two countries to attempt such a thing, and it would almost certainly fail), but North Korea? Please.

Japan hates North Korea almost as much as North Korea despises Japan. North Korea also hates the Chinese, despite the Chinese being their one and only lifeline to the rest of the world. North Korea is an incredibly racist nation, with their government focusing on the "purity" of the Korean race, which rules out any strong alliance with any other nation in Asia. Until the North Korean government changes, they will never grow, they will never be accepted by the Asian community and they will never be prosperous. Their doctrine of "total self-reliance" has ensured that they are self-reliant at nearly nothing.

Maybe North Korea will turn around and become a Super Power in 70-100 years. In as little as 10 or 15 years? Hah.

I know it's "speculative" fiction, but please make the speculations a little plausible.