New Video Game Recreates Kennedy Assassination

[jamotto]

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By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A new video game to be released on Monday allows players to simulate the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

The release of "JFK Reloaded" is timed to coincide with the 41st anniversary of Kennedy's murder in Dallas and was designed to demonstrate a lone gunman was able to kill the president.

"It is despicable," said David Smith, a spokesman for Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), the late president's brother. He was informed of the game on Friday but declined further comment.

Kirk Ewing, managing director of the Scottish firm Traffic Games, which developed the game, said he understood some people would be horrified at the concept, but he insisted he and his team had nothing but respect for Kennedy and for history.

"We believe that the only thing we're exploiting is new technology," said Ewing, a former documentary filmmaker and senior executive with Scottish developer VIS, responsible for games like "State of Emergency." He said he sent Edward Kennedy a letter before the game's release.

Ewing said the game was designed to undermine the theory there was some shadowy plot behind the assassination. "We believe passionately there was no conspiracy," he said.

Traffic Games said the objective was for a player to fire three shots at Kennedy's motorcade from assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's digitally recreated sixth-floor perch in the Texas School Book Depository.

Points are awarded or subtracted based on how accurately the shots match the official version of events as documented in by the Warren Commission, which investigated Kennedy's assassination.

Shooting the image of Kennedy in the right spots in the right sequence adds to the score, while "errors" like shooting first lady Jacqueline Kennedy lead to deductions.

Each shot can be replayed in slow motion, and the bullets can be tracked as they travel and pass through Kennedy's digitally recreated body. Players can choose to see blood by pressing a "blood effects" option.

Players can view the motorcade from a number of angles, including the perspective of filmmaker Abraham Zapruder and a view from the "grassy knoll" where some conspiracy theorists believe a second gunman was stationed.

The game will be available via download for $9.99.

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[Guest $iLk]

I hear you can get cash moneys if you can recreate it as Oswald did it.

I watched the History Channel thing over the weekend about the JFK assassination.

[Kevin Trotter]

I'm not suprised that this would come out given the political climate of today.

[jamotto]

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Originally posted by $iLk:

[QB] I hear you can get cash moneys if you can recreate it as Oswald did it.

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Well lucky for them one can't recreate the event.

[Guest $iLk]

I tried the demo... it looks pretty difficult... the first two shots are the most difficult, the last one is probably easier to recreate.

Chance for $100,000 to whomever can recreate it.

[Kevin Trotter]

I wonder if I modded this for a current president if more people would be outraged!It is utterly dispictable to even consider playing the demo let alone the actual game itself. No game should venture down this road. What's next? Recreate the crucifixtion of Christ? Perhaps a video game that allows you to drag a person of color behind a pick up truck till he croaks?

[Soback]

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand the whole freedom of speech thing, and that being just a "game" or a sim or whatever you want to call it, on par with Postal or Grand Theft Auto, but on the other hand there was the actual event. And this "game" is completly focused around that whole event, while Grand Theft Auto's action is revolves around other points.

Anyhow, yeah, this sim is sick.

[Captain McMahon]

Also did you hear of the 9/11 game?

[Guest $iLk]

Shenanigans:

One problem with JFK Reloaded is that it gets boring very quickly. There's only so many ways you can shoot a man in the face and cause him to wreck his car. That's why I decided to try my hand at ****ing around with the game files a bit. And from what I can tell, you can **** with an awful lot. Here's a simple edit to get you started.

Open up the core000.wad file located in your game folder (after making a backup, of course) in a hex editor and go to line 3075BF6, or do a string search for some of the text you see on the righthand side of this screenshot:

(linked for size) http://www.thetimmys.com/sa/jfkhex.png

Here we have character definitions. The bit tells the character which vehicle they're in. As you can see in the screenshot, JFK is bound to the Presidential Limo. Immediately after that is a set of coordinates, 3 numbers that define where the character should be sitting in the car. By default, JFK's coordinates are 0, -0.1, 0, which places him on the far back right seat of the limo. Jackie's are 0.05, -0.1, 0, which puts her right next to him in the back seat.

Now do this:

Change JFK's coords to 0, 00.3, 4.

Change Jackie's coords to 0.05, 00.3, 4

I realize the 00 before the decimal point is redudant, but it was the only way to eliminate the minus sign. I tried just deleting it from the file, but the game wouldn't load afterwards. Now if everything worked correctly, you should see this:

http://www.thetimmys.com/sa/jfk1.jpg

http://www.thetimmys.com/sa/jfk2.jpg

Not the safest place for the president to be, I would imagine. There's plenty of other shit you can alter, like scenery placement, character reaction times, car speeds, etc. There's also some shit in there that they probably should've left out...

There's been a lot of controversy about this game for obvious reasons. Cashing in on a presidential assassination just isn't seen as a classy move, even if the result is mildly entertaining. Some defend the game by saying "It's a simulation! They're not trying to offend anyone! They're trying to breathe life into history! Wowza!" Now, most people saw through that bullshit immediately. If it were true, the game would've been a free download. However, if you are buying into that load of crap, you'll probably change your mind by the end of this post.

Open up the core000.wad file in a text editor such as Wordpad. This will work on the demo version of the game as well. Once you have it opened, do a search for the word "Nelly". It should take you to right here:

http://www.thetimmys.com/sa/jfkcomments.png

I guess some comments just couldn't be commented out, eh? If this game were being made with an emphasis on historical education, I certainly wouldn't expect the devs to refer to the bullet that killed Kennedy as being "the money shot." And what's with the shit about Governor Connally going down on his wife? That's just ****ing strange, man.

(Pulled from the SomethingAwful forums)

[Guest Hellbinder[CE]]

This is both SICK and WRONG and a Clear sign of the times we live in today.

Sow the Wind Reap the wirlwind. This consistant moral decay is going to have a Heavy Cost sooner or later.

"All things are lawfull for me but not all things a benneficial or are useful for building sound character".

Do people have the Right do put out trash like this? Sure.. Its really to bad that in todays world to few people even have the foundation within themselves to Question if it SHOULD be done.

[Soback]

That's why the trash of US hides behind the free speech. Maybe they do have free speech, but as the people, we should have common sence with good morals and character. We know what's wrong, and when they tell you that it's ok because it's free speech and they are expressing themselfs, listen to what you know best, put your foot down and say enough is enough, shut that garbage up...Eventually the mess will have to get cleaned up and garbage thrown out.

[Guest Grayfox]

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What's next? Recreate the crucifixtion of Christ?

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i remember seeing some time ago (few years at least) a FPS based on the great war in heaven between lucifer and his minions and god and his. you played Michael i think or gabriel, cant remember which and you went around stomping the shit out of evil...

of course the catholic church called it an outrage (why i have no idea... i thought banishing evil was a good thing), yadda yadda, and the game was never completed... looked pretty damn good too. oh well figures with the way the church is nowadays.