discovery-channel posts

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time to the Discovery Channel. The cable TV network was running a quick-and-dirty documentary on the recent heroic ditching of US Airways flight 1549 on Jan 15. in the Hudson River. However that's not all they were doing. The "Hudson Plane Crash: What Really Happened" documentary was supposed to also have a tie-in game where you get to become Capt. Chesley Sullenberger and land the damaged plane in the Hudson.

The game was apparently done and posted on the Discovery Channel web site with the title "Miracle on the Hudson" but the New York Post, after being critical of the game's taste, has now reported the game has been pulled from the channel's web site. Of course there's no reason why you couldn't do the same thing with a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator X but that's neither here or there.

[Via Evil Avatar]

A couple months back, the Discovery Channel spent an entire hour of its 5 part documentary "Rise of the Video Game" analyzing the relationship between the United States military and the video games industry. It's been a long and profitable tradition, with military simulations making up a big chunk of video game sales, and with recruitment games like America's Army proving to be very effective for the military.

Australian military officials must have been inspired by that example, because their online recruitment initiative DefenceJobs has launched a website full of military-themed Flash games. The games are designed to pitch a 12-month, post-secondary-school stint in the army as a viable choice to teens. So, far, over 300,000 users have signed up at the site.

The games aren't nearly as complex as America's Army, but they're still fun, and there are several of them. Some of them even have multi-player options. The blending of military and gaming culture is a complex subject, and a lot can be said both in criticism and acceptance of the trend, so mull over that if you like. Or, if you're more the shooting type than the thinking type, just play the damn games.

[Via Joystiq]