New Video Game Recreates Kennedy Assassination 832
theodp writes "Lee Harvey Oswald-wannabes will be able to simulate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy when Traffic Games releases the $9.99 JFK Reloaded on Monday to coincide with the 41st anniversary of Kennedy's murder in Dallas. 'It is despicable,' said a spokesman for Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the late president's brother."
Warren Commision. (Score:5, Informative)
If you can, they offer a $100,000 reward. [jfkreloaded.com] Sounds like it's bot time to me...
Re:If it were a different president (Score:3, Informative)
even tasteless chuckleheads deserve entertainment (Score:2, Informative)
Re:'It is despicable,' (Score:2, Informative)
Just like Teddy.
Anyone notice: The Competition WIN UP TO $100,000 (Score:1, Informative)
Here's the text from the webiste:
Could Lee Harvey Oswald have murdered John F. Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository?
A familiar component of modern police detective work is to reconstruct the crime in order to establish the most likely course of events and with JFK Reloaded, you can be part of a forensic investigation reaching back over 40 years.
By entering our prize contest, you can help to establish the facts of what happened on November 22nd, 1963 and win up to $100,000 in the process!
How it works
To win the competition, you need to most closely match the shots taken by Lee Harvey Oswald, as concluded in the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK.
Accuracy of your shots (in terms of trajectory and timing) will be judged purely by the JFK Reloaded server, which is programmed to audit each shot for timing and injuries, and thereby arrive at a total score. The higher the total, the closer you are to Lee Harvey Oswalds actions and thereby the more clearly you prove that Lee Harvey Oswald had the means and the opportunity to commit the crime.
Your shots will need to have exactly the same timing and cause exactly the same damage as the shots described in the Warren Commission Report in order to score the maximum possible total.
Note that you are NOT obliged to enter the competition in fact, after you have unlocked JFK Reloaded you can have as many practice runs as you like, and you will have all the feedback and action-replay tools that are available for competition runs.
Entering is simple. After you have paid to unlock your copy of JFK Reloaded, you are given 10 Competition Entry Tokens, allowing you 10 attempts to match Lee Harvey Oswalds shots. Within JFK Reloaded, click on the Enter Competition button, and you will be asked to confirm that you want to spend one of your Tokens. Once you have confirmed this, its like pushing a coin into a slot-machine: theres no going back. Your competition-entry run will start, so concentrate, and think like a sniper!
The prize fund will grow over the three months of the competition (which closes at 12:00am (CST), February 21st, 2005) to a total of $100,000, with the fund increased every time somebody buys JFK Reloaded. There is already at least $10,000 in the prize fund!
And if you feel you could do better with just a few more chances, then dont worry: more Tokens can be purchased from within JFK Reloaded as soon as your current consignment has run out.
Research the JFK assassination
Competition rules
Re:'It is despicable,' (Score:1, Informative)
For a more tasteful take, try XIII (Score:4, Informative)
Re:If it were a different president (Score:2, Informative)
Here's the story on Reuters. [reuters.com]
Re:'It is despicable,' (Score:2, Informative)
In-depth Snopes info [snopes.com] (TRUE)
(not same AC)
bullshit (Score:1, Informative)
Ted found his lawyer and spent the night trying to figure out how to weasel out it instead of trying to contact authorities in order to save his passenger who was still alive, but trapped in the car.
Teenagers driving recklessly and accidentally killing one of their friends is nothing new. Quite different.
Re:'It is despicable,' (Score:3, Informative)
Well, that's pretty much off the topic--so what? That doesn't change the fact that what he's saying is correct.
But if we're merely trading partisan barbs, it is fascinating how many prominent politicians are guilty of drunk [thesmokinggun.com] driving [thesmokinggun.com] and vehicular manslaughter [usatoday.com].
If you RTFWS (Score:5, Informative)
Unsolved History: JFK - Beyond the Magic Bullet (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sequel ideas? (Score:3, Informative)
Grover Cleveland [wikipedia.org] was the only president to be elected into office(1885-1889, fail at his first re-election* then run again 4 years later and win a second term(1893-1897), making him both the 22nd and 24th president.
*Interestingly enough he lost under the same scenario that Al Gore fell victim to in 2000, namely that he got more popular votes, but lost in the Electoral votes.
Re:Sequel ideas? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Guys, read the site before you jump to conclusi (Score:5, Informative)
Except it's already been done. It was covered on either the History Channel or the Discovery Channel a while ago. They made models out of ballistics gel with pig bones inside, and had a shooter on a crane to get the same angle and distance Oswald had, using the same model gun from the same year, firing the same model bullets. He made the shot, the "wounds" on the ballistics gel model matched the wounds on Kennedy and Connely, and the damage on the bullet was almost identical to that of the so-called "magic bullet".
Wrong (Score:1, Informative)
You're completely missing the point of the game, which is to point out how damn near impossible it is to do it. There's even a $100,000 prize for someone who does it.
It's to point out how implausible the government's explanation was.
Re:Guys, read the site before you jump to conclusi (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, the authors are trying to show exactly the opposite, that the Warren Commission made perfectly reasonable conclusions. Perhaps you should actually read what the game's authors said before you spout off your tired old conspiracy theories.
Funny, when I visited Dealey Plaza, it seemed so... small. Then I visited the Sixth Floor museum and stood next to that window. That shot was easy! The only mystery is how he actually managed to miss one shot out of three.
By the way, I've actually read the Warren Commission report. Have you?
Re:If it were a different president (Score:2, Informative)
I will most certainly set you straight. The National Rifle Association is very fond of the second half of the second amendment. They deliberately choose not to mention the first half of the second amendment. The second amendment states "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Are you a member of your state's militia? No, you're probably not. As such, you have no constitutional right to own a firearm and 'bear arms'. The constitution was written 200 years ago. Had they been psychic, they would have written it better so that we don't need to have this discussion, but like us, they were human. Do I think we should make it illegal to own a weapon? No, because then only criminals would have weapons. Fight for your right to defend yourself, don't use the constitution as an excuse.
As for this video game, it may be in poor taste, but it's perfectly legal. There are many people that don't want be reminded of JFK's death, and they'll shy away from it. That's their choice. You have the right to free speech, but I don't have to listen to you. That's how free speech works. If you don't like what someone is saying, don't listen to them.
And, if it matters, I declined the opportunity to moderate this discussion so that I could set you straight. Feel special.
Re:Why stop there? (Score:2, Informative)
Here are some screenshots [selectparks.net]
Re:Doesn't Sound Fun to Me (Score:5, Informative)
Verbing weirds language....
Re:Guys, read the site before you jump to conclusi (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Guys, read the site before you jump to conclusi (Score:5, Informative)
As someone who lives in Dallas and has been to the six floor museum several times I can definitively say you are full of B.S.
The entire six floor is dedicated to a museum covering the event. Until a couple years ago, you could actually crouch down at the window, in the exact position Oswald was in. They had to block that area off (about a 10'x12' area) with glass walls because idiots kept trying to "rearrange" things or "leave momentos" that they had been there. I believe that you can actually still get into the area, you just have to pre-arrange it with the curating staff.
The six floor museum is actually the best museum on a political subject I have ever seen. I really expected it to be highly biased, one way or another, however, it turns out to be an incredibly unbiased and thorough review of all the credible work that has been done on the assasination, as well as a good, unbiased review of Kennedy's life and presidency. I was overwhelmed the first time I went through with all of the information presented. I've been back 3 times, by myself, just so that I could spend timing examining some of the displays and presentations, rather than rushing through with visiting family and friends from out of town.
Even if you aren't really interested in museums or the assasination, I would still definate recommend a stop at Dealy Plaza and the museum if you pass through Dallas.
Re:Cartoon Physics sure helps get it accurate (Score:5, Informative)
Re:If you RTFWS (Score:1, Informative)
And even if you do somehow buy the bullshit that's been force fed to the public, then you still have to account for the following questions:
1. Why was the parade route changed on that day? - A president's parade route is determined early on for the purpose of allowing the secrect service and the supplementary military unit to check out the area and have their people along the route ready to handle any situation. The route was changed 2-3 hours, not days, but HOURS before the President arrived. Speaking of military units...
2. Why was the 112th of Fort Sam Houston in Texas, a unit that's purpose is to provide protection for the president when he is in that area, ordered to stand down? And this over the protests of the unit's commanding officer? This is a recorded fact, check it in the WC's report. As a son of a former military intel officer, I know that you can't simply call and tell an entire unit to stand down. You have to know the proper code words, something I highly doubt that Oswald had access to.
3. Why did the news organizations around the globe have biographical data and a studio photo shot of LHO and were pretty sure he assassinated the president, and all this BEFORE HE HAD EVEN BEEN CHARGED WITH THAT CRIME? I mean for God's sake, papers had entire pages of LHO data, such as he lived in Russia and was a Marxist, etc, etc. Where do you think they got data like that? LHO wasn't exactly Frank Sinatra so how the hell did anyone know who he was? Hell, the papers in America didn't even know anything about LHO until DAYS later, and yet global news had this unknown guy's birth records? For a comparison, look at the global paper's news reports of Hinkley immediately following his attack on Ronald Regan. You'll find that all they really knew was there was an attack on the US Pres, by one man.
4. Why did the House Select Committee on Assassinaions in the 70's find a probable conspiracy? If the lone gunman theory was so plausible, if there wasn't any evidence to the contrary, why then would the House put its names on report summary that stated there was a "probable" conspiracy?
I could go on and on, but of course, I must be a cospiracy nut, because all I've done is simply look at the evidence in front me and ask questions about issues that simply don't make sense or have not been properly explained.
Re:But that's all irrelivant/invalid (Score:4, Informative)
Using lots of new technological goodies unavailable to the Warren Commission, they were able to show that with Kennedy sitting higher than Connally, and Connally sitting slightly to the left, the bullet would have passed through Kennedys throat and into Connallys arm then wrist then leg. Exactly as the Warren Commission said.
They even used someone who was approximately the same height and weight as Kennedy and by putting small pieces of metal on a shirt, and then doing an x-ray, the bullet wounds were exactly as were done in real life. They even had this model sit in a position just like Kennedy had been and did the x-rays with the same result.
They even used a nearly identical rifle and fired a round into specially made recreation of the human body. A firm in Australia does it I believe. The bullet, when examined, came out almost intact. Just like in real life.
In the past I always poo-pooed the single bullet theory. However, after looking at the Zapruder film and comparing it to the model and the computer generated recreation, I have my doubts. It does look plausible that a single bullet could have done what was done.