Global Operations

Fidelis

I remember seeing this in the online supplement of pczone a few months back since then there has been some controversy.

In last weeks Sunday Times, page three in the News section, there was half a page devoted to the game Global Operations and it's controversial mission based in, and you'll love this, N.Ireland.

Jan Battles wrote the article:

A COMPUTER game pitting British soldiers against IRA characters in street-fighting scenes in Belfast has been altered to remove all references to the Northern Ireland conflict before it goes on sale.

The makers of Global Operations, which included a terrorist attack on the Channel tunnel, have taken the Irish level out of their game following reports of complaints from the UK.

The company had spent months recreating Belfast locations and inventing IRA and British characters that would make the conflict look as realistic as possible.

A report in the current issue of Computer Gaming World claimed a serious objection was raised in the UK to the Northern Ireland conflict being included in the game. It is unclear whether that came from a government agency or from a computer games distributor.

A Ministry of Defence source said this weekend that they were aware of the computer game and keen to examine its content but refused to comment further.

Yesterday, Crave Entertainment, publisher of Global Operations, refused to say what had prompted its decision to change the game. It confirmed that the Belfast level, which was at an advanced stage of development, would no longer be included in the completed game.

Jeff Barnhart, of Crave Entertainment, said: "At present there is no Belfast level and there never will be. We understand how sensitive this Irish stuff is. It is not something we want to do. Our goal was to make the game based on real combat in the world but at the same time to avoid politically sensitive issues."



Virtual war: the game's makers were forced to drop a planned scene involving the IRA and the Channel Tunnel.

Barnhart said that the product is constantly evolving. "The game is never done until it is done. There is no level that takes place in Ireland at all."

Global Operations is being developed by Barking Dog Studios, a Canadian company, using the latest technology to make the backgrounds, weapons and protagonists on both sides of the various global conflicts as authentic as possible. The Irish level included Belfast streetscapes with IRA snipers, British paratroopers and SAS soldiers.

The game is set in 16 locations worldwide, where armed conflicts have taken place. There are extensive storylines in each case involving terrorists or guerrilla forces and anti-terrorist groups, government forces or peacekeepers in locations such as Chechnya, Israel and Spain.

In Sri Lanka, for example, the Tamil Tigers engage in a bitter struggle with the Indian government and in Peru, the Peruvian Special Forces take on local "freedom fighters". In each case, there is ambiguity surrounding who are the good guys and who are the baddies.

The game is a first-person shooter, so while players will find themselves in similar situations to Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, with an impressive arsenal of weapons at their disposal, they will be involved in real-life conflicts that have actually taken place.


Politically sensitive: the recreation of IRA snipers to resemble the Northern Ireland conflict touched a raw nerve.

Several people can play the game together as part of a team on either side of the conflict. Before joining, players must purchase weapons from a pool of money.

In the Belfast level, terrorists had to escort one of their own to a safe house across town, while British soldiers tried to capture him for interrogation.

Another section involved SAS soldiers on a mission to rescue the British prime minister from the Channel tunnel after terrorists bomb the tracks. The soldiers had to get to the prime minister before the IRA.The company filmed each of the 32 weapons used at a shooting range to make the recoil on screen and the sound effects lifelike. Uniforms worn by both sides in each conflict, and the surrounding environment in each locale, were also recreated as realistically as possible.

---

Nil Desperandum

Winning Hand

Whats sauce for the goose...........

Get over it, nobodys objecting to the other locations, anyway you can pick your side. If you dont like one side then be the other, or just dont buy the game. Matter of fact get rid of all WWII games, WWI games and all other wargames as somebody is bound to be offended at each one. Kill Sid Meier for preying on humans desire for victory, Kill Peter Monileux for betraying most religions in the world by letting people be god.

Typical british tabloid/conservative press for you, the same ones that think nothing bad ever happened at dunkirk

---

I like my coffee like I like my women.......
In a plastic cup

I like my coffee like I like my women......
covered in bees

D-Generate

The makers of this game also helped with Counter-Strike in its early days.

But look on the brightside there won't be a big fuss about our multiplayer games now that the map isn't there.
Imagine playing it in Ireland. I would quit if the map came on as i couldn't stand playing as the british

Dont be at yourself

I was looking forward to that level actually.

Seeing as it is at an "anvanced stage of development", I doubt it will be canned though - rather renamed to something generic. As the IRA have no official uniform they can't be accused of making IRA characters, they basically just have to remove any specific references.

---

The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

DrunkLeprachaun

Well, it seems clear to me that the writer of that article knew **** all about gaming(he compared a realistic fps with real weapons and **** to tomb raider). I personaly wouldn't mind playing in an IRA themed level. I'm not condoning their actions, but what was done by the nazi's in WWII is far worse than the IRA have ever done.

---

If there's one thing I hate, it's people.

OConnor

hmm why are the Counter-terrorists in CS all have names (seal team 6, GSG9 , SAS and GIGN)
and all the terrorists have fake names?
maybe they should be renamed :
Phoenix Connection - IRA
L337 Crew - ETA
Artic Avengers - Ku Klux Klan
Guerilla Warface - err umm

well, you get the idea.
it would clearly be offensive.

I think a Ireland level (cs_crossmaglen,
cs_bogside, cs_fallsroad )
would kick ass!!