Modern Military Update!

Hey Everyone!

It's been awhile since we last updated this blog and I will try to maintain a regular weekly/biweekly blogging schedule. I've been busy collecting stories and topics to share with you all...and I am indeed excited on the next few posts that will be up.

Battlfield 3 Out: October 25th!

Modern-military/computer gaming fans...this post is for you! You must have heard that DICE is finally rolling out Battlefield 3 in October 2011, to much anticipation and hype. This release is certainly big, especially for Battlefield fans. I played BF1942 A LOT....primarily its vanilla campaigns and the fabled mod, Modern Combat...which spawned the venerable BF2.

The trailers are pretty slick and overflows with high production values/professional editing, which tells me how much $$$ EA is pouring into areas of the game that are outside of game development itself. They recently released one that is timed with Jay-Z's "99 Problems" (and a bitch ain't one), do check it out!

As a game that comes from the "masters of modern warfare multiplayer", who promised to combine it with an engrossing single-player campaign...BF3 sure has a lot to live up to. Worried about PC requirements? Check out this website to see if your computer can run it. For me, I can barely run it on minimum requirements...and I am debating whether BF3 is worth the plunge or not.

 

It is interesting that the small text in the video (0.17) states that the video is in no way endorsing any of the manufacturers of the vehicles featured. Defence industry is big money and even game trailers need legal lingo. The last time I felt this excited about a video-game would probably be when Modern Warfare 2 was released about 2 years ago...to acclaim and controversy.

War Beyond Guns

All of us know that war is more than just soldiers fighting (or killing if you prefer) each other. Video games have mostly covered strictly army vs. army affairs...with some exceptions like MW2 that had civilian killing. I have to admit that I seldom think about other parties involved in a war when I play war video games, especially the civilians who flee their homes or live within battlefields themselves.

Interestingly, Tony Maniaty is a journalist who covered conflicts in East Timor and Pre-Soviet Eastern Europe...and he came up with the idea of making a training video game that had players hold a camera instead of a gun.

 

You play a female war correspondent, Jesse DeMarco, who follows government troops in a fictional African country that is torn by civil war (a theme sadly too common in today's world). Even if the graphics may seem "yesterday", the trailer does a pretty good job in making some chilling scenes of war. Afterall, the team is made up of media professionals, such as Robert Connelly who did a film on American journalists in East Timor. I am really interested to see how this game turns out in the end, since it gives a really different perspective on war and here's Ars Technica's article about Warco.

Lamis and her team of cluster-clearers, true heroines of Lebanon (BBC Outlook)

True heroes of the battlefield don't necessarily carry guns. I am a fan of BBC's Outlook, a radio/podcast series that covers the personal lives of people who face extraordinary struggles from all around the world. In one episode (Sep 21), they interviewed Lamis Zein, a Lebanese former school teacher who decided to do something for her war-torn country. In 2006, Israel used cluster munitions on Lebanon and a significant number of them fell onto civilian areas...and Lamis boldly decided to leave her teaching job to head an all-female bomb-clearing team organized by a NGO.

It is really touching to listen to how she chose to get involved (because of her strong belief to help the country), and the excitement + caution she experiences in clearing out clusters. Check it out here if you're interested in hearing about Lamis' extraordinary story. I highly recommend listening to it.

I am truly humbled by those who live noble lives under the shadow of war.