Kotaku: rambo

On Relevant Settings in Games

Maggie Greene — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:30:00 MDT

L.B. Jeffries has a nice piece up arguing for more relevant and provocative settings in games in order to raise awareness and perhaps do something a little greater for disastrous (real world) situations. He points out that violence isn't incompatible with this, thus many classic genres would probably be quite at home dealing with nasty current day situations (as he points out, film has already done this — though not always through violent means — though Jeffries uses Rambo 4 as a cinematic touchstone). Of course, this comes with some problems:

... Setting a videogame in a modern setting is still going to raise the issue of tastelessness. Proper writing, mature mission themes, and engaging in conduct that isn’t wanton destruction are all going to be necessary. If you’re going to talk about mature topics, you have to handle them maturely and hope that resonates with the audience. Another issue raised is simply why bother at all? Why set a video game in a modern global conflict or historical moment that could be a blatant glorification of violence in some atrocious setting? Because raising awareness alone is a laudable goal. Going back to Rambo 4 for a moment, the movie managed to accomplish several amazing things despite its incredible violence. It raised awareness of the Myanmar situation so that aid and care were given to an otherwise ignored problem. Karen rebels received an incredible morale boost from the film and even use one of the quotes as a battle cry. A less action-based example, Hotel Rwanda came out ten years after the event but its success forced people to learn about an atrocity that was otherwise ignored. How many teens, how many potential activists, could be informed and contacted by playing a video game about an event? No matter what they’re doing in the game, how you frame and discuss the events they interact with will still control their impressions. Yes, there is potential for abuse here, but there is also great potential for good.

Worth a read, as most of Jeffries' essays are.

Relevant Settings [Moving Pixels]

Rambo The Arcade Game: Hands On

Brian Crecente — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:00:00 MDT

With a bit of time to kill Monday evening the four of us headed over to Shibuya to check out a coupe of arcades. Initially we were on the hunt for Street Fighter IV but when we stumbled upon the new Rambo lightgun game we couldn't help ourselves. Check out that live action footage!

Rambo Arcade Game, So Rambo

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:00:00 MDT

Wowzers! Check out that 62 inch screen on that SEGA Rambo cabinet in the gallery below. The Japanese game developer has released a few new screenshots of the arcade title, complete with in-game scenes from Rambo flicks. The game features an "Anger System" that pissed off John Rambo shooting power-up mayhem. Yes, wee think everyone can all agree: This game looks like a helluva good time.

セガ、AC「RAMBO」9月18日稼働開始 [Game Watch]

Magical Segata Sanshiro Mullet Makes Rambo Return

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:40:00 MDT

Forget the Sega Rambo arcade game for a moment, look at that mullet! Look!! That business-in-the-front party-in-the-back belongs to none over than Hiroshi Fujiioka, the Sega Saturn's human mascot Segata Sanshiro. In the late 1990s, that character went around telling people to play the Sega Saturn — and had a truly amazing theme song. A Rambo arcade game makes this press conference cool. That mullet makes it even cooler. But that mullet belonging to Segata Sanshiro? Jeez, that pretty much seals this as the press event of 2008, hands down. Oh, that lady with him is Maomi Yuuki.

Rambo Game [Game Watch Impress]

Rambo Name Drops Call of Duty 4 To Lure Moviegoers

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:40:53 MST

How do you know when you've made it? When the marketing staffers tasked with pitching Rambo to moviegoing audiences namechecks your game. In this case, it's Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare being honored in a roundabout way by Rambo, which the Arizona Daily Star apparently called "a nasty, Call of Duty 4-style shoot em' up!"

Surely, that's gotta be a first and clear indication that Hollywood execs are looking to get gamers off their couches and into movie theaters. You can read how pleased the Infinity Ward guys are at the team's official blog.

Rambo = "Call of Duty 4 style Shoot em' Up!" [IAMfourzerotwo - thanks, Robert!]

Rambo Theme Stumbles Onto Live, Falls Down, Breaks Hip

Mike Fahey — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:40:41 MST

One of the latest themes to hit the Xbox Live Marketplace is also your worst nightmare. Four giant pictures of Sylvester Stallone trying to reclaim his youth in the new Rambo film are now yours to download and proudly display on your Xbox 360 dashboard. The Live blade features dramatic explosion Rambo, with the Games blade featuring the same image sans explosion. The Media blade gives us a pretty good idea of how badly Rambo has aged and how hard it is to get a good haircut in Cambodia, and finally we have the System blade, which showcases some sort of 8th grader Rambo fan art circa 1985. While I would gladly pay $100 dollars for the privilege of having this on my 360, some idiot released it for free. Lost opportunities, huh?

Picture Pages With Hollywood Inspired Konami Icons

Kim Phu — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:40:00 MDT

Lots of fun with picture pages, it's time to get out you crayons and your pencils!

Shamoozal has a collection of images comparing some of Hollywood's greatest action heroes with some of Hideo Kojima and Konami's greatest games. Some of the movies include Blade Runner, Escape from New York, and this one that I think is hilarious, Lethal Weapon. Too bad there wasn't a Konami copy for Freddy from Friday the 13th. Kim Phu

Konami characters and their 80s counterparts (Update 2.0) [Shamoozal]