Or do they use technology from the Great Satan? (for a noble cause like that, it isn't necessarily a sin)

In a Quake 3 or UT mod so gamers from both sides can come together and vent their feelings through bunny hopping and l33t speak.

Hey I just created peace in the middle east...

Take your pick!

Who cares about the stupid politics involved? Is the game any good?

The Germans aren't Nazis anymore, yet the UK and USA pump out relentless games based on WWII.

So why can't a game like this make it?

Too here and now?

This is the White House press bureau mis-translation of the speech. When the speech is translated fairly, the Washington Post is a good example, and quoted properly, the statement is that the state of Israel should be wiped off the map. This refers to the government and military machine, not the Israeli population or Jews in general. The object of the comment is the administration with their policies of invasion and acquisition of land, which are about as well supported by the Israeli voters as the Iraq war was by us.

Perhaps as the next installment of their game the player could travel to the US, and install a secular democracy...

"Does this entirely Iranian product run on entirely Iranian hardware?"

I imagine it's mostly made in China?

Crikey,

That would appear to have the Iranians leading in the ARG Genre. Bravo.

GameOn ...... Peace delivered from CyberSpace? Yeah, we can do that surely. IT is not as difficult as you can imagine.

Which "Satan" are you talking about? The ones that manufacture the hardware, like Taiwan? China? Japan? Or do you mean where the hardware was invented, which, as the electronic computer was invented in England in WWII, would be the UK? Ah, maybe you just mean the graphics card, which is PARTLY an invention of the USA, with a little help from its companions across the pond...

This may come as a shock to you, dear Anonymous, but the USA is NOT the world, nor is it responsible for every invention we use in our daily lives.

i reccon they use good old fashioned communist hardware like the rest of the world

...will it be free or will it fund actual Iranian Special Forces in their effort to "help" Iraq.

What a great and interesting story the combined game would have! Two completely opposing ideals creating consecutive chapters to the storyline! Games like C&C follow the success of one storyline as you command the victorious side, but this way, you're switching sides each time, trying to undo what you did last mission!

Now, if only we could get the developers to meet without acting out a live recreation of the final chapter...

Although nearly all IT news-sites have had this headline, i have not seen a single screenshot anywhere.

I wonder how a game presentation (for a supposedly finished game) can work when you don't actually show the game itself.

I think for now it's safe to assume, that this is entirely fake.

....Well you fund one war machine why not fund another, its the politically correct thing to do. Hell our whole economies are based on military spending, oh the joys of capitalism :)

Saying they defected is a bit harsh, they could have good humored it and say a fringe militant group took them.

Hell, I think both teams should collaborate, it'd be good for international relations and bolster both of their sales... they could release episodically doing the same story but told from each sides perspectives.

hell yeah!

I guess they weren't female students then!

More often than not, if one wants to play the "good guy", the option would be to assume the role of a GI, Green Beret, Ranger, Marine, Seal, or a member of whatever other typically "valiant" US military forces. Occasionally, one might even get to play a game as a part of the SAS or other NATO special forces.

The standard villians would be the Nazis, Japanese, Soviets (or Russians, latterly), Chinese, Vietnamese, North Koreans, Arabs, Persians, and some Latin American states that have the audacity to overthrow US-sponsored dictators. Come to think of it, discounting the Nazis and Japs of yesteryear, Uncle Sam still hates the guts of probably a quarter of the world, if not more.

So, this certainly would be a refreshing role-reversal, if one could ignore the blatant propaganda. But then again, aren't the usual shooting games not-so-subtle propaganda for Uncle Sam anyway? Just look at America's Army, for an obvious example.

So, where can I download this game, eh?

Can anyone find a download link for this ? presumably it must be freeware

If the gameplay is anywhere near as good, it will be massive over here in the UK.

I don't know how many Americans will be happy with not playing "the Winning side" for once, though.

To assume a game doesn't exist because you haven't seen it seems a trifle premature. This crack Iranian games development team are probably just taking a leaf out of Ultimate Play The Game's book. Then again, it could be Imagine's book...

Is Payback free or does it fund actual Coalition Special Forces in their effort to "help" Iraq.

>"This refers to the government and military machine, not the Israeli population

> or Jews in general."

Indeed, surely Pres. Ahmadmaninajacket just wants to move the Jews off to a new life in the east solving the Jewish question once and for all....

...what does Paris Hilton think of all this.

I think we should be told :-)

She was to review the game but broke a nail while using the retractable coffee cup holder on her PC and so need emergency peticure treatment.

At a later date she will be give a computer with the game pre installed and the CD ROM drive removed :)

surely Iran producing games like this are better than nutters blowing themselves up isnt it?

after all, we have been pumping out manhunt, bioshock, RE etc for years - they all depict acts of wanton violence and destruction. I think games like this build are a little better than the No22 going boom at 0845, dont you?

Forget Paris and her flimsy nails, can it run on iPhone? this is the real question!

Why of course. And Kim Il-Sung invented the bicycle, among many, many other things..

Steve - I notice you didn't mention any Iranian computer manufacturers. Exactly. And, most modern components may be manufactured in eastern countries, but it's mostly countries located in the 'Great Satan' that specs them out, orders them, and funds them.

More to the point, I wonder what OS it'll run on. The evil US Mac, the evil US Windows, or the evil US Unix (or pick a lesser evil, a Unix distro created elsewhere...say, a Finnish one?).

This isn't all that new. EA Game's major cash cow from a couple years back, Battlefield 2, is still popular today and I still play it all the time. A C4 laiden jeep is still a great tank/troop killer regardless of you being on the MEC side or the USMC side. I enjoy playing both really, even though the vocal language barrier adds a another level of difficulty in command.

Here's the important note regarding that game and the general mentality of the people. There isn't a "good guy." Good guys are all relative to a particular point of view. There are only sides. The internet has effectively reduced borders to mere physical barriers between countries. Culturally there is nothing there to stop the flow of information. We are now more than any other time in history a huge conglomerate of people and we need to start acting like it. We all have our differences, but there's nothing wrong with that. Accept that Islam is a major aspect of Middle Eastern lives just as some form of Christendom is for the rest of us. Is either one better than the other?--no. Deal with it. Will there be times that someone's opinion may belittle another?--sure. Deal with that too.

I think that a cooperative venture between both sides would be a great thing. There'll be more cultural detail between both sides and that in the end neither would look better or worse than the other. They just need to say any polite apologies to one another about cultural misconceptions and hammer out a nice contract with each group providing content for each side. Of course if we could spread this to the political side, we can have a group of game players from each side meet in Geneva to settle any disputes and duke it out on a sanctioned game network...

...well, one can dream can't they?

Well, i can think of a far worse way to duke out your differences (see Afghanistan and Iraq for examples).

Shoot the crap out of each other in games, sounds like a plan to me!

I'd have no problem playing this game, if it was good. If I did object, I'd be a hypocrite for enjoying Grand Theft Auto.

Nice story. Nicer still if some info about the distributor was provided.

Does anybody know where the game can be purchased or downloaded?

Its worth noting that the MEC faction Chris Pasiuk mentions is in Battlefield2 is the fictional Middle East Coalition (MEC),sort of a united arabian states if you like.Not exactly the same as playing as Iraq/Iran or anything.

All mainstream games which play in the Middle East always have you attacking places like Durkadurkastan. The large companies do not always want to stir up controversy by deliberately setting things in Iraq/Iraq etc. despite the awareness that this is on people's minds and is something they want to do.

You have to look to the smaller independent games like this and the new Source mod: Insurgency, for a more close to the bone depiction.

Don't know about Iran/Iraq being to close to the bone for games companies, it seems half the games on the shelves have Arabs as the bad guys, along with films, tv series even shows for kids.

Hope its good, yet another 'ooh its pretty...and crap' game is all we need... not. And if its released for a certain Finnish OS then I'll be getting a copy on the day of release :)

Cheers