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John Deere American Farmer - The Game 102

Posted by simoniker from the hale-and-hearty dept.
Thanks to GameSpot for its story discussing the new release of agriculture-themed PC videogame John Deere American Farmer, "the first game to be licensed by agricultural equipment manufacturer Deere & Company", which "charges players with establishing and maintaining a successful farm." The official videogame site has much more information on this Harvest Moon-esque value-price PC title with a great box cover, noting the player must "overcome bug infestations, unpredictable weather and disgruntled employees", all the while "purchasing and controlling authentic John Deere branded equipment - tractors, combines, planters, cultivators and more."
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John Deere American Farmer - The Game More

John Deere American Farmer - The Game

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  • 3D Engine (Score:5, Funny)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:19AM (#9568974) Journal
    These guys buy their 3d engines from Destineer Studios, who made the Halo engine. Guess it could be one kick ass tractor game.

    • Re:3D Engine (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      These guys buy their 3d engines from Destineer Studios, who made the Halo engine. Guess it could be one kick ass tractor game.

      That, or it could be the ultimate redneck FPS... John Deere Hunter.
      • That, or it could be the ultimate redneck FPS... John Deere Hunter.

        A sequel to Redneck Rampage?
    • If I could get a farming sim with Warthogs, I'd be all over it. :D
    • I'm pretty sure that Bungie made the Halo engine.

  • The Straight game (Score:4, Funny)

    by InsaneCreator ( 209742 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:19AM (#9568977)
    Does it require you to take a 260-mile trip across state border on a Jon Deere lawn mower/small tractor to visit your brother you haven't seen for the last ten years?
    • I have been trying to remember that movie for years now . . . the ending, when it comes, is wonderful. Now, just to ruin it for people (trust me, you don't want to wait for the movie to finish, it goes slower than the tractor-literally) he meets his brother, they say goodbye, and the credits roll.

  • Cool (Score:4, Funny)

    by Senator Bozo ( 792063 ) <gki149@yahoo.com> on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:20AM (#9568979)
    This sounds just like Warcraft, but without fighting, more base management and rednecks instead of orcs. ;)

    • Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)

      by MoonFog ( 586818 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @04:42AM (#9569180)
      and rednecks instead of orcs

      The difference is.. ?

    • Re:Cool (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Quill_28 ( 553921 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @08:48AM (#9570342) Journal
      You must live in the city.

      Farmers are not rednecks. Rednecks are not farmers.

      Most farmers don't think that getting drunk every weekend is fun.

      Most have family, kids, and could work your butt off any day of the week.

      The list and differences go on.

      • Rednecks (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Detritus ( 11846 )
        My Uncle thought it was entertaining when people thought he was a "dumb redneck". He had a law degree, realtor's license, taught courses at the university, ran his own farm, owned a bunch of real estate, and always seemed to have several successful part-time businesses in operation. He may have looked like a redneck, but he was one of the smartest businessmen that I've ever known.
      • Having been through Montana (and from a family of people from Montana), I learned what a true "Cowboy" or "Farmer" looks like. It's not what you see at a country concert. A farmer, rancher, cowboy works really really hard and usually looks really really weathered. A redneck/fake cowboy/country star only works really really hard at looking like they're the real deal.

        To those of us who've seen the real deal, it's a joke. Good post Quill_28, most farmers are not all about getting drunk or riding rodeo or l

  • I'd play it, as long as it's not a mere excuse for John Deere promotion.

    The way I see it, gameplay could consist of a real simulation of the farming business/activities or a simple "make money so you can buy a kickass tractor which in turn will be the equivalent of a 4X powerup".
    • Who remembers SimFarm [the-underdogs.org]? Not really great, not really bad. The game had some flaws, if you would buy livestock in a cold climate the animals would never go outside and never eat since the feed was outside. They would still procreate and grow up though.
      • Who remembers SimFarm? Not really great, not really bad. The game had some flaws, if you would buy livestock in a cold climate the animals would never go outside and never eat since the feed was outside. They would still procreate and grow up though.

        and strawberries were harvested with a threshing machine :D
      • Heh, random story about that game, I managed to make it lock up on a divide by zero error...
        I was just starting to program and figure I would create a program that would insert random bytes into datafiles for various games. Doom didn't appreciate it too much(though it's always fun getting the ascii smiley in your game name), and sim farm surprisingly loaded it, though after a few minutes I guess I did something that caused a divide by zero.
        memories....

    • Re:Farm simulator (Score:5, Funny)

      by Ford Prefect ( 8777 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @04:16AM (#9569120) Homepage
      Nah, they need to tailor it to match the discerning tastes of today's online FPS player.

      Behold - l33t f4rm3r!

      Jump into your nitro-boosted tract0r and race round the generic post-apocalyptic countryside idyll, chasing off campers with your laser shotgun! Powerups, headshots and sh33p await those who can master the 'g1t 0rf m01 l4nd!!1' gameplay! Collect the EU-subsidy Quad-bike Damage and obliterate your evil foes the supermarkets - and maybe, just maybe, capture control of the elusive c0mb1ne h4rvest0r, and win the game!

      Ahem.

      tract0r!!1
    • The same for America's Army!

      Um... Heck, who cares! As long as I can shoot my teammates!

      -grin-

  • Cool, but..... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Steve Cox ( 207680 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @03:36AM (#9569016)
    Looking at the game feature is appears to be missing a couple of important items you would have to deal with:

    1. GM crop protestors attempting to destroy your crops whilst wearing fake biohazard suits (do you get these people in the US? [bbc.co.uk])

    2. Travellers setting up their caravans on your land, leaving rubbish around & allowing their dogs to attack your livestock. (is this another UK thing?)

    Yep. If it had these, I'd buy it right away!

    Steve
    • afaik "travellers" are very much a uk thing. Some of them may have made it into Europe (southern france etc.) but I don't think too many will have made it to the UK.
      • last UK = US
      • Every once in a while you'll hear a news article about an "Irish Traveller" in a southern US state committing some kind of fraud or petty theft. They definitely exist in the US, they're just rare compared to in the UK, and limited to certain regions of the country. They aren't really nomads here who would be camping out and bothering farmers. They're more likely to settle down in areas with cheap real estate and take odd-jobs. Of course, a subculture like that can only persist when enough people stay to
    • We get animal rights terrorists who vandalize farms and farm equipment.

      Fur farms are often targetted for attacks.

      In most places, "travellers" would quickly end up in jail for criminal trespass. Any dogs that attack livestock would be shot.

      • > In most places, "travellers" would quickly end up > in jail for criminal trespass. Any dogs that
        > attack livestock would be shot.

        Nice :) In the UK, the police will generally come around and convince them that its in their best interests to leave - it can take time though. Prosecuting someone who doesn't live in a fixed place gets tricky - especially when most of the vehicles they use are not properly licensed (ie - no address - no insurance. No insurance, no road tax (license). At this poin

        • Re:Cool, but..... (Score:3, Informative)

          by Inda ( 580031 )

          As for the dogs - well I wouldn't be too surpised if something similar happens in the UK - farm owners will generally own shotguns to protect livestock from foxes etc.

          I spent the first 18 years of my life in a British farming village. Farmers would shoot dogs that were harassing sheep regularly (once or twice a year). The locals, often Londoners in their weekend homes, would complain to deaf ears. I know a single sheep was worth hundreds of pounds to the farmer - they had no qualms about shooting them.

      • "travellers"

        I'm not familiar with these "travellers", not being in the UK--are they what used to be called Gypsies?


    • GM crop protestors attempting to destroy your crops whilst wearing fake biohazard suits (do you get these people in the US?)

      You're kidding, right?

      I saw the film on friday and was really impressed. But while it speaks much truth, and has many funny parts as well as truly heartbreaking ones, I don't know how many votes it will sway. But since there is very little other news so far today, why not talk amongst yourselves!

      Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda [slashdot.org]
      Sunday, June 27, 2004

      These people are everywhere, dude - they

    • Re:Cool, but..... (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      GM crop protestors attempting to destroy your crops whilst wearing fake biohazard suits (do you get these people in the US?)

      No, we keep our crazy protesters on either coast, and our mad scientist farmers in Iowa. Even if they were determined enough to make the trip (probably three layovers on the flight from San Francisco), they would have to be well prepared. Restaurants and stores in Iowa aren't allowed to sell anything but pork, beef, and chew. They could starve to death looking for a salad.
    • Well I'm sure it's localized for the USA.

      So if it has Farm Aid and getting paid not to grow crops, it'd be a plus.

      Also co-ops cause the in-game farmers can't afford an overpriced JD combine...

      Hopefully there will be mods so that New Holland, International, Belarus and Ford can be represented in the new Farming Sim genre.
    • How about getting GM pollen and seeds blown onto your crops to infect your fields, and then getting sued by Monsanto for "stealing" their IP? That'd be fun.
    • The travelers here don't stop and camp on the land. They just drive around and do doughnuts in the corn fields at 2 AM, then leave and hope nothing identifying broke off the car.
    • Don't you guys have shotguns in the UK?
    • 1. GM crop protestors attempting to destroy your crops whilst wearing fake biohazard suits (do you get these people in the US?)
      2. Travellers setting up their caravans on your land, leaving rubbish around & allowing their dogs to attack your livestock. (is this another UK thing?)

      Farmers in the U.S. generally have weapons and dogs. Furthermore, local law enforcement tends to be friendly towards farmers, and tresspassing is a serious crime.

      • Farmers in the U.S. generally have weapons and dogs. Furthermore, local law enforcement tends to be friendly towards farmers, and tresspassing is a serious crime.

        My aunt and uncle found some squatters on an old, unvisited section of land. They evicted them (although the squatters attempted to sue for property rights), but one night while my relatives were away the losers burned down their house for revenge. Fortunately the same idiots raided my aunt and uncle's deep freeze first and stole several hundre

  • This would be a childhood dream come true. Spending the summer on my Grandad's farm in NW Georgia. I just wish you could choose other tractors like my GD's Allis Chalmers Model C [oldengine.org] Maybe there could be a side game where you have to run the piglets out of the corn field and the only way you can tell where they are is by watching the tops of the 6 ft corn move. Scary thing is I am not joking.

  • SimFarm (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BigZaphod ( 12942 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @04:00AM (#9569077) Homepage
    Sounds maybe a bit like SimFarm... My girlfriend was just playing it tonight, too. Fun old game.. old... Gosh.. I remember when it was a modern game! Wow..
    • I enjoyed running over the cows (with the tractor i think) in SimFarm. Damn, its been a long time since I've played that game.
      • I've got a copy of it around here somewhere, but it won't run on OS X. My favorite trick for shits'n'giggles was to build a road out to the farm, get cars going on it, then demolish one square leading back to town. The cars would be stuck there. Then I built a fence around the road and purchased livestock to go in there with the cars. Whee!

        I never could figure out how to use the cropduster either. It would just take off, fly around the edge of the map until it ran out of fuel, then crash. I think I may eve
    • And for those people who missed the fun of SimFarm (perfect game to do in the background, watching crop grow is a beautiful, yet slow thing) here's a link: simfarm [oldgames.org]

      And for those people who are into livestock try out: SimSHEEP! [downloadfreegames.co.uk] I don't know but it mentioned SimFarm as well so I ran into it while googling.
  • Do the John Deere products break down often, as they do in real life?

    And don't tell me I'm wrong about them doing that. My grandfather has a farm and constantly has to have work done to his tractors.
    • And how old was his equipment, and how rough did it get used?

      I've seen John Deere equipment used and abused, and if one keeps up the regular maitiance, the only problems come up are due to user stupidity, and parts simply wearing out at their normal rate.
  • I noticed it has livestock. Does it get into all the icky details of raising livestock that would be inappropriate to describe in detail on slashdot?
    • > Does it get into all the icky details of raising livestock that would be inappropriate to describe in detail on slashdot?

      I've read descriptions of people having sex with livestock here on Slashdot. So I am wondering what sick detail you could possibly be talking about that is worse than that. I thought I had a sick imagination, but congratulations dtfinch, you've stumped me.

      • I've read descriptions of people having sex with livestock here on Slashdot.

        But most of those are modded down because they're sick and inappropriate. On a _real_ farm they do castration, artificial insemination, tail removal (pigs), beak cutting (chickens), and to save money and improve meat tenderness pack all the animals into small crates to reduce movement. To counter the infections caused by all these, heavy amounts of antibiotics are used, which means that if they do ever get sick it's because you've
        • > On a _real_ farm they do castration, artificial insemination, tail removal (pigs), beak cutting (chickens), and [...] pack all the animals into small crates [...]. To counter the infections caused by all these, heavy amounts of antibiotics are used [...]

          I have pierced genitalia, my parents used a fertility clinic to conceive me, and I am typing this from a tiny cubicle in a sea of identical cubicles. Oh, and I'm on Amoxicillin right now for a virus, which is stupid because antibiotics don't do anythin
  • ...and disgruntled employees

    I've had enough of this, I'm going Agricultural on yo' ass!

  • How long will it be... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by howman ( 170527 )
    before Caterpiller gets into the action? I am really supprised that none of the auto manufacturers have not put out their own games. I mean, you buy a mini van and it comes with a tv screen now, and some of them come with playstations... so how far is it for General motors, or Ford to use some of thier profits to create a game to go with the car...
    I guess the one down side could be that they will want to keep everything proprietary just like their on board computer diognostics...
    Good for Deer, anyone
    • Ford did it a long time ago. (1987) It was a driving simulator that let you test drive their new models.

      Sim Ford [acid-play.com]
      • You cab allready ask for a free copy of the Toyota Prius demo of Grant Turismo 4.

        It also happenes to be the only way you can play GT4 on an stock PS2 right now till the full game comes out in November.

        The Demo though is quite boring, and only worth maybe an hour of gameplay at most.

  • Farmer 2: Dept of Agriculture (Score:3, Funny)

    by Bluesman ( 104513 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @07:05AM (#9569574) Homepage
    Manage a farm, or even two, while fighting to maintain subsidies that will ensure that your alfalfa is profitable.

    Fun for the whole family!

  • I'm not into farming or anything like it, but I think a tractor farming game is way over due.

  • My thoughts (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Jediman1138 ( 680354 )
    I remember years ago when I was 5, I discovered SimFarm for our Mac Classic and bought it because I lived on a farm and thought my dad was the greatest guy in the world. I remember showing it to him the first time and he said it was harder than actual farming.

    I don't think he was used to playing sim games.

    Anyways, I honestly can't see this game ever having any commercial success. It looks like it is destined to become one of those bargain sub $20 Wal-Mart games. Farming doesn't attract mainstream gamers

    • Anyways, I honestly can't see this game ever having any commercial success. It looks like it is destined to become one of those bargain sub $20 Wal-Mart games. Farming doesn't attract mainstream gamers.

      "Deer Hunter" cost $75,000 to develop and sold over 3 million copies. I think we tend to forget that Slashdotters are not truly representative of the gaming mainstream.

      • Deer Hunter was something revolutionary in the way of games. That is still the only game that my dad played and actually liked that was an action game. Deer Hunter wasnt just another hunting sim, it made it much more realistic.

        And yes, I still have the original copy.

    • It looks like it is destined to become one of those bargain sub $20 Wal-Mart games.
      Well, you're really not venturing out too far on the limb with that prediction, considering the suggested retail price of the game is $19.99.

  • Simpsons Did It! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Bravo_Two_Zero ( 516479 ) on Wednesday June 30, 2004 @08:38AM (#9570242)
    Oh my gawd, it's the "Virtual Reality Yard Work Simulator" from the Simpsons:

    http://www.snpp.com/episodes/5F08

    Homer: Ooh, ooh, I want to see Lobster Boy and Shrimp Girl!
    Lisa: I want some fried sugar!
    Bart: I want to go to the Yard Work Simulator.
    Marge: But when I ask you to do yard work... [Marge sighs heavily]

    Still, I'll consider getting it for my dad.
  • while it's possible that this game could turn out to be a lot of fun (I'm not betting on it), I doubt it will be able to capture the quaint feeling of the harvest moon games.
    While Harvest Moon involved farming, the game was more of a life sim than a farming sim. Growing crops was not inherently challenging, and wasn't intended to be. Instead the challenge came from balancing work, socializing, and recreation. Planting enough crops to be able to pay for that new house edition, or buy a horse, while stil
  • I see CmdrTaco posed for the box cover.
  • ...does it has a scenario where you must protect your smokin' hot daughter from random traveling salesmen whose cars had broken down near your farm?
  • The game features a virtual benefit concert by Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp when your farm tanks and the loan payment comes due.

  • What aspect of farming does it simulate? The "getting up before the sun to do mindless chores"? The "growing corn because the government pays you to" part? The "having to sell the family farm to the huge agribusiness" part? The "paying Monsanto through the nose every single year for GM seeds"? The "getting an arm caught in a thresher"? The "doing unnatural things to livestock so that profits are maximized" part?

    I'm really annoyed by the advertising embedded in everything today, but at least this g

    • Yes the game will probably suck. But I hope you don't believe the statements you quoted to be true of most family farmers. I grew up on a farm and much of my family still farms, most family farmers in the south are small operations and farm because they love the independence. They don't treat livestock badly because it's their livelihood. Similarly most small farmers don't do corn anymore because corn is expensive to grow (sucks a lot of nutrients out of the ground) and doesn't pay that well. Most farmers i
  • "overcome bug infestations, unpredictable weather and disgruntled employees"

    They forgot, 'and incredibly boring gameplay'
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • yeah... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Rage Maxis ( 24353 )
    okay, so I downloaded it, blatantly pirating of course, and tried it out.

    Having grown up on a farm, I noticed there were many concepts totally missing.

    I.e. manure management (and the ability to use manure as fertilizer), custom cropping, equipment RENTAL, pig farrowing, etc.

    The next problem is that the game is so damn limited in terms of what you can buy and what you can do it is repetitive in under an hour. Wow! I can get a slightly bigger tractor! and 4 different leisure activity items which can't
    • You just know this is exemplifying the trends the corporations are pushing in farming - you need to own $500K worth of equipment to even start, you need to be a million in debt to the bank, and lots of chemicals and fertilizers are the best solution to crops!

      Darn, hadn't I spent my mod points already, you would have got an "+1 Insightful"!

  • Jeff Minter's Hover Bovver 2 is probably much better! :)

    Game description [blackcatnetworks.co.uk]

    Demo download [blackcatnetworks.co.uk]

  • this should be an online game. they take the best people from it and hook them up to actual tractors, and then fire all the farmers. all the work gets done, no extra pay.
  • to the extreme!
    word!

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