The game is set in Venezuela and is cutting close to the bone as players take on a political tyrant who has taken control of the oil industry. Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, has already commented on the concept as "psychological warfare".

Read this story

Latest stories

Clearly, videogame companies should not be getting into politics. This game is blatantly political. Many who have examined it, whether in Venezuela, the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, or Oceania, have concluded the same.

Is this a good direction for the videogame industry.

The obvious answer is "no". It may sell copies of the game in the short-term but it also means that Pandemic Studios will become an virtual extenstion of the Bush Administration foreign policy. Probably not a wise approach.

G

I agree. It's easy for us, sitting in a peaceful (relatively), democratic country to say that these things don't matter and that they're "just a game" but small incidents do lead to instability and worse.