Kotaku
U.S. Major General Jeffery Hammond, delivering a press briefing on the progress of the 4th Infantry's efforts in Iraq, revealed the inspiration behind their current strategy for dealing with Al Qaeda operatives and Shiite extremists.
"I believe they have been degraded, we continue to PacMan, like the video game, away at their efforts, at their different levels," Major General Hammond said.While it's nice to see a video game reference made by high-ranking military officers, I have to wonder exactly what this means. I get this bizarre mental image of an overhead view of the streets of Baghdad, fruit carts spilling into the streets and the military struggling to pick up the produce for extra points. Are we the ghosts, or are we Pac-Man himself? Are power pellets sanctioned under the Geneva Conventions? With so many questions, one thing remains quite clear - we need to air drop Billy Mitchell into the war zone immediately, hot sauce and all.
4th Infantry Update from Baghdad [KXRM Fox 21]
Comments
So that's the problem. Every time one of them dies, he reincarnates at the home base and comes back out for another go.
I wonder if he ever gets asked about Stargate command??
LOl wow, watch someone say this proves video games cause violence.
MIKE FAHEY You have outdone yourself!!
This post is full of win :)
Applaus.
The modern Major General of the 21th century
Sounds about right. So many wasted quarters...
Billy Mitchell is a US-side Super-unit, able to withstand and dish out three times as much as any single normal unit.
You'd think he'd be worried about Matters of Vegetable, Animal and Mineral
And I get the image of General Pacman dying by the last remaining enemy in Futurama. The poor widow Ms. Pacman...
@AntiZERO:
Thanks. Now I've got Gilbert & Sullivan stuck in my head.
I am the very model of a modern Major-General!
The Shiite extremist leaders are reporting to their troops now: "All is well! We continue to Donkey Kong away at their efforts! And they continue to pump in the quarters and send their little men at us!"
I could go on like this all day.
"Game Over. Insert 50 troops to continue."
just like that episode of futurama...
@thewisestfool: That is FUCKED UP and I love it in a FUCKED UP, saddening sort of way.
Comment of the week.
@Holj102: The third time i've posted this on kotaku (can't stop myself if the opportunity arises):
"Tend to the widow Pac-man"
Of course you never win a game of Pacman. The Game Over screen is inescapable, it's only a matter of how long you can delay it.
I can just imagine the Commander planning out his strike with a Pac-man arcade in the war room, Lol.
"Ok so you guys head in to the tunnel on the left which should lead you to the exit on the complete opposite side of the town on the righ. LETS DO THIS!!!"
Well... we can rest content that at least they don't think they're fighting space invaders.
@enewtabie:
Yeah, I read the title and I thought it'd be about Don Davis or something.
I think he was using it as a replacement for "Eat" Maybe he meant to say "We continue to eat away at their efforts, much like the video-game pac-man" but that kind of sucks as well.
They must really be hurting for recruitment. Next he will say "Wassup home-diggle, join the hizz-army."
... Actually, I would volunteer if somebody said that. Provided of course whoever said that was in the Taliban or an insurgent. It would really give me motivation.
As much as I love the guy who lives a couple houses down from me, is stoned all the time and references everything to Pac - Man, I don't want him running the US Military.
@InsolenceAndHeresy:
Clearly it was lost on the majority who don't watch Sci Fi..lol
I've spent two years in Iraq, a good part of it in Baghdad, some in Kirkuk and Balad- This wasn't the first time I've heard this term used (other than he dumbed it down... Just in case someone has never heard of Pacman).
Some Major gave us an intel brief one day, citing Pac-man saying "We kill one, another one is coming. The longer we are there eatting away at them, the more that are going to come for us. We are playing a glorified game of Pac-man gentlemen." So- yea. Looks like the good general is taking credit for someone else again.
It would be cool if it the video game comment was unintentional and the general just grew up playing Pacman and using that reference.
Fruitcart!!!
It is interesting to hear of somebody using pac man as a verb.
Great pic Fahey. If I was gay, I'd want to have your babies.
So does that mean the weapons of mass destruction we've been looking for are actually super pellets? Then maybe Bush was right, it's just that Saddam used them too early and wasted them all?
On the Pac-Man subject, when I was flying out to California last month, I noticed that there were all these circles where farmland was being irrigated. Occassionally there'd be one that had a notch in it where the farmhouse was sitting, and instead of a clean circle it'd look just like Pac-Man.
@y2julio:
No no, this proves that violence causes video games.
Oh and please thank your sponsors for this image:
One of the more hilarious misfires I've seen.
I'm sure we all look just like that when we play games.
@enewtabie:
Indeed it was, Daniel Jackson...
Next thing you know they'll want us to pay our taxes in quarters.
It will probably be a while before General Hammond can say "All your base are belong to us."!!
Only couple comments on SG1. That's exactly what I thought of, General Hammond of Stargate and Pac Man. What a strange mix. Only to find out that it is a REAL Major General also called Hammond, and he's actually equating the war to Pac Man? You can't make this shit up.
@Billkwando: IE, really? I didn't even know kotaku had ads...
@LongDarkBlues:
LOL! I don't mind ads really (except for the icky Gawker Artistes ones). That one just made me laugh because it's worse than the worst Wii promo ads.
If you look like that when you play (with a PS1 controller, no less), you're on the road to high blood pressure. ;)
@Billkwando: If you were gay, you still wouldn't have a uterus.
I don't think pacman was ever meant to be used as a verb.
@Robotube: Let him dream, man, let him dream.
Surprised no one's posted this yet:
[www.thedailyshow.com]
Surprised no one has posted this yet:
[www.thedailyshow.com]
@Robotube:
I know, right!?!
@Billkwando: I do :)
wait, there's no blood coming out of his ears... nevermind.
does anyone know what their high score is ?
The real reason we aren't winning this war: everywhere our troops go they keep saying "wakka-wakka-wakka"...How can they NOT be overheard by terrorists?
Hey everybody, there's a kill screen coming up if you want to see it.
@Johnny.Shitbox: I think it's somewhere in the trillions.
@DiscipleofJamzy: Excellent post! Well done.
I believe they have been degraded, we continue to chip, like the delicious potato snack, away at their efforts, at their different levels
Dude...General Hammond verbed Pac-Man.
I guess that was his way to try to connect with today's youth? "What's them kids like, vidja games?"
Of course, I guess referencing Doom or Metal Gear wouldn't work as well...
Hmm, I can't remember where I read it, but the pacman verb is nothing new at all.
Maybe that's the problem with this war, they're studying the wrong video games. I think that maybe, just maybe, there'd be more to learn from say... I dunno... Supcom?
@enewtabie:
Hammond of Texas!
I prefer Hammond Eggs myself.
It's a perfectly reasonable comment to make in context. It refers to a situation where the movements of the enemy are dictating where you can and cannot go to achieve each minor victory (grabbing a few pellets here and another few there). Sometimes you gain an advantage over the enemy and assault them head on, temporarily cutting them down. You use those moments to make serious progress, but for the most part you just worry your objective away, while staying clear of major confrontations.
This wouldn't be the first time the primary strategies of Pac-Man have been recognized as an analogy for certain types of warfare.
@HonusWScruggs: Except Pac Man is a game you can't possibly win. Even if you're the best in the world eventually everything you're fighting for just crashes and burns.
Every time you have a victory in Pac Man the enemies come back at full strength, better than before. There is NO way that can end good, and thus no way that's a good analogy.
I'm not arguing that small aspects of Pac Man can be compared to what he is talking about, but it is still a bad analogy. I am sure there is something actually fits what he is talking about, but Pac Man is a very lazy attempt at relating to the public through common knowledge because people know exactly what Pac Man is about, and in this context will leave them confused.
Well,
@Bobby McPresscott:
Actually I think common sense does kick in at some point. People are generally aware that human beings don't respawn and that they probably aren't looking for magic pellets.
Nevermind that you analogized the enemy troops with the ghosts. It was directly infered that they were represented by the pellets. They sit there while our guys move through the mazes of streets, 'gobbling them up'.
Pac-Man is not a verb!
And, even if it was, this may beat out the "we own the cow" quote of Harmonix for worst analogy.
I think our forces would be more effective if they switched from Pac Man to Missle Command.
Well, the US Military gave us America's Army. There are bound to be a hefty number of geeks there