|
Freaky Friday: Video Games and ID Theft |
|
|
|
Dr. Samuel Says -
Weirdness
|
|
Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
|
|
Friday, 27 July 2007 |
Videogame maker GlobalVR announced this week that it will be bringing its popular line of "America's Army" games to arcades. These games, for those of you who haven't been tracking developments in militainment , are tactical first-person shooters (FPS) developed by the U.S. Army in an effort to bolster recruitment. “America’s Army is an arcade-style training game based on actual Army training exercises designed to challenge Soldiers to hone their skills. Players are rewarded for teamwork, proper use of the Rules of Engagement, accuracy, and target identification,” says Mike Kruse, GlobalVR Producer.
 Currently, you can play any of several America's Army titles on PC or
the Xbox console. A mobile phone version is also available. The arcade
version is said to be using the latest build of the Unreal graphics
engine, which should make it pretty much state-of-the-art. I bring this
to your attention not out of any low political motives. Perhaps you
have opinions on the Army aiming violent first-person shooter games at
children as a recruitment tool; I know I do. But rather to make a
prediction: I'll bet that within, say, two years, videogame arcades
will feature several military-sponsored games, and that they will be
free to play. If you've ever read the classic science-fiction story
Ender's Game, you'll know what I'm talking about. On to other strange
affairs…
The BBC reported this week on a disturbing development in the world of
identity theft. It seems Afonwen Welch Fusilier, of Tremeirchion,
Denbighshire, had his personal information stolen, posted online, and
emailed amongst a subculture of Britons who were actually intending to
purchase him.
It should probably be noted here that Fusilier, or "Blue," is actually
a prize-winning poodle owned by professional dog breeder Lynne Day. But
still, weird story. It seems a scam operation based out of London was
trying to con people into sending money upfront for purebred puppies.
So the scammers hacked a copy of Blue's pedigree documents and
attempted to pass them off to would-be buyers. It's the first time
police can recall a case of identity theft crossing species lines.
Asked to comment, Blue replied wearily, “Look, man. I’m a dog. I don’t
need these hassles. There’s a reason we don’t use e-mail, you know.”
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
