The Soviet Gaming industry

[JohnJacques]

Wasnt that just because that in the game it is impossable for communist china to win? And cause it shows the flag of tibet. Victoria is out cause it lets you play as the empire. For HOI though i wouldent be suprised if they made a version that only lets you play as the soviet union. Also there is ton of educational value as long as you know the subject reletivly well before hand, for example you could do a bloody sealion if you want .

For some reason when thinking of this topic i get a mental image of a Call of Duty ripoff called Call of The Rodina used to get people to enlist in the army (which has all the problems inherent in the draft system). It would have to be dumbed down on the blood but i see it possable if they open up like china did (look at all the stuff china rips off of the west).

But HoI2 would show Soviet defeat!

 

[Slamet]

For some reason when thinking of this topic i get a mental image of a Call of Duty ripoff called Call of The Rodina used to get people to enlist in the army (which has all the problems inherent in the draft system). It would have to be dumbed down on the blood but i see it possable if they open up like china did (look at all the stuff china rips off of the west).

Heh, I thought America's Army was like this.

 

[Slamet]

But HoI2 would show Soviet defeat!

Unless, there's a mod where you can only play the USSR... defeating the USSR is very hard from HoI2 Doomsday upwards, yet playing as Soviet Russia, in 1941 you can have ~20+ divisions in each frontier province, and Germany only has ~7-9.

 

[ac220v]

i think we are all missing the whole guns vrs. butter thing....the USSR just isn't the type of nation to make games...While a stable, happy Russia might be, they certainly have the culture and whatnot (might some good games with the whole chess culture impact)

Well, depends. Not any AAA titles, sure (a couple, maybe, to show that USSR can do anything West does) but game hasn't to be AAA to be entertaining. In fact, when you think of it, you can make quite a few decent games for a budget of an average movie, even Soviet movie. As for hardware... That would be more difficult but by no means something USSR couldn't or wouldn't do.

P.S. And there indeed was no problems with _residental_ electricity.

 

[CanadianGoose]

the USSR just isn't the type of nation to make games...

You guys really should try to shake this image of subhiman orks endlessly tolling in dark caves of Mordor to benefit the Dark Lord. I understand, that's a challenge, a lot of members are third generation of population being poisoned by propaganda, but you should work on it. Without doing do you would be utterly unable to create even remotely plausible ATL, as far as USSR's actions are concerned.

 

[ac220v]

You guys really should try to shake this image of subhiman orks endlessly tolling in dark caves of Mordor to benefit the Dark Lord. I understand, that's a challenge, a lot of members are third generation of population being poisoned by propaganda, but you should work on it. Without doing do you would be utterly unable to create even remotely plausible ATL, as far as USSR's actions are concerned.

Relax How many Russians (who haven't been anywhere beyond ex-USSR and don't know English) understand American mindset beyond a few vestigial Cold War cliches?

And even those who had seen some of the world aren't immune. Hey, I still remember 1998 televised interview with some minor Russian celibrity who lived in France for a few years. She had talked of "The West" after seeing a few blocks of Paris, Not on a small matters either, but on attitudes towards religion, community spirit, etc. And no one questioned that. No one in the show, at any rate.

 

[Tocomocho]

I imagine an Age of Empires rip-off with Marxist theory in it. You begin in the Slave Age, upgrade to the Feudal Age, them to the Capitalist Age, and finally lead your peasants against your own parasite army and priests that don't produce resources in order to enter the Communist Age and win the game.

 

[ac220v]

I imagine an Age of Empires rip-off with Marxist theory in it. You begin in the Slave Age, upgrade to the Feudal Age, them to the Capitalist Age, and finally lead your peasants against your own parasite army and priests that don't produce resources in order to enter the Communist Age and win the game.

Hmm... You know, this indeed sounds quite like something thaat might be produced...

 

[CanadianGoose]

Relax How many Russians (who haven't been anywhere beyond ex-USSR and don't know English) understand American mindset beyond a few vestigial Cold War cliches?

I kinda sorta agree with you, but (1) we aren't talking "ordinary Joe" here, this is the history buff crowd, who even tries to dabble into dark art of prediction. And one really needs to know the subject better than feeding off stale propaganda stories. After all, none on Russian AH site is trying to create TLs based on old Sovet cliches.

And even those who had seen some of the world aren't immune.

Hey, I never said that Russians (or any other group of humans) are immune from stupidity, tendency to generalise or any other sin. However, there're cliches and there're cliches. And mowque's statement would have made even Zadornov shy away, if you know what I mean.

 

[ac220v]

even Zadornov shy away, if you know what I mean.

But Amerikos are stup-i-i-i-d!

(For the uninitiated: If we mean the same man, Zadornov is Soviet/Russian comedian, whose stage persona is kind of like Stephen Colbert's... Only Russian. And this is is his favorite line, translated, of course. )

Ok, I understand what you mean. Maybe you're right, but such things are understandable, both in Russia and elsewhere.

(I once wanted to do a New Age/usual perceptions of "The East" parody DBWI with Chinese businessmen trying to uncover secrets of success from Julius Frontinus and Chinese hippies going to great lengths on how Plato is more spiritual than down-to-earth Taoism and Zen (however it's spelled in Chinese)...)

 

[mowque]

i supposed i'm poisoned by the fact that they conquered and then sat on Eastern Europe?

Anyway, i think you missed the spirit of my post. I'm not saying the Russians can't do it, it in fact i think they have culture that would make great games. Bu the Soviets? The same people that bring us the Berlin Wall and what not? Not exactly abotu entertainment...

 

[Faeelin]

Anyway, i think you missed the spirit of my post. I'm not saying the Russians can't do it, it in fact i think they have culture that would make great games. Bu the Soviets? The same people that bring us the Berlin Wall and what not? Not exactly abotu entertainment...

But they did. (This came up under Stalin, actually, who broke with the earlier policy and promoted something like fun for the sake of fun.)

 

[ac220v]

Anyway, i think you missed the spirit of my post. I'm not saying the Russians can't do it, it in fact i think they have culture that would make great games. Bu the Soviets? The same people that bring us the Berlin Wall and what not? Not exactly abotu entertainment...

Err... USSR had the same people you're calling Russians. Believe me, there WAS entertainment in the USSR, including movies (not all of them politicized), stand-up comedy (mostly satire onn domestic matters, and yes, that was allowed), sports (Everybody either watched or played soccer at some point), and you could buy ice-cream. (although in the crisis times it was more like water popsicle, not the creamy, delicious one from USSR golden years...)

Maybe there wasn't any dating in the USSR too, and I was born on the Party orders? No, really... There were things in the USSR no one is proud of (at least no one in his right mind), but people in their day-to-day lives weren't some grim robots programmed by propaganda rays.

 

[Alexius]

Because there is not a notable British industry.

No notable British computer-games industry?
There's Eidos and Rockstar, just to mention the really big ones. And if we're going for impact on computer games in general, Elite was British.

 

[JohnJacques]

And yet, where are the major markets for those games? What are the cultural influences?

GTA, for example, is way more American than British- in humor, in style, in setting.

My point was that there is not a section of the industry automatically recognizable as British. I was talking about the big emphasis on localization they were positing- which I don't see. Russian gaming will look much the same as Japanese and American gaming.

 

[ac220v]

And yet, where are the major markets for those games? What are the cultural influences?

GTA, for example, is way more American than British- in humor, in style, in setting.

My point was that there is not a section of the industry automatically recognizable as British. I was talking about the big emphasis on localization they were positing- which I don't see. Russian gaming will look much the same as Japanese and American gaming.

Well... Part of it would, I was the first to say that USSR might be savior of Nintendo ITTL, and prolong the life of NES/SNES. On the other hand, even now there are distinctly Russian games, produced for Rusians by Russians. And USSR had that... "Napoleon's complex" Soviet leaders wanted to prove that USSR can manufacture anything, from combs to racecars to Space Shuttle better than those capitalists... (Sometimes they did BTW. But most consumer products were indeed low-quality. )

P.S. And USSR was major market. 5 UKs population-wise...

 

[CanadianGoose]

i supposed i'm poisoned by the fact that they conquered and then sat on Eastern Europe?

Bu the Soviets? The same people that bring us the Berlin Wall and what not? Not exactly abotu entertainment...

Are you Eastern European psssed off at Soviet occupation? Well, let me broaden your horizons a bit and disclose to you that USA, Great Britain, France, Spain, Netherland, Portugal (the list goes on and on) killed or starved uncounted millions of peoples worldwide in last 500 years and 3 leading entrants in this list likely did it when you graddady lived (if you're old enough to graduate high school). What does make you believe that you are superior over some Bengali starved in 1942 famine or Vietnamese peasant fried by American napalm in 1975? However, somehow you don't doubt existence on entertainment in USA, Great Britain, France, Spain, Netherland, Portugal (the list goes on and on), despite all those horrible things they did.

 

[Stalker]

But Amerikos are stup-i-i-i-d!

Sounds very much like him.
You should also have added: "Only the nation that stupid can live so well. We can't because we think too fast..."

i supposed i'm poisoned by the fact that they conquered and then sat on Eastern Europe?

Reckon, we should stop here. Because we are stepping on a very risky ground here which may initiate total flame over the terms "liberation" and "occupation", "help and assistance" and "pumping out all juices"... Let's agree that the Russians are not ogres but people not alien to any sins and merits all other nations enjoy.

Maybe there wasn't any dating in the USSR too, and I was born on the Party orders? No, really... There were things in the USSR no one is proud of (at least no one in his right mind), but people in their day-to-day lives weren't some grim robots programmed by propaganda rays.

Well said! I concur.

But most consumer products were indeed low-quality.

Yes, true but many of them were still better than Chinese ersatz nowadays. Strangely, when speaking about guns vs butter, both these Soviet items had a very good quality. And butter was butter - not something unidentifiable we have now.

 

[CanadianGoose]

And butter was butter - not something unidentifiable we have now.

It is just there wasn't enough of it around to let everyone to have as much of it as they wanted. It is interesting, really, last 20-30 years of Soviet system there were no malnutrition problems to talk about. Would you look at per capita consumption of each food group and general structure of consumption, you would find that Soviet diet wasn't substantially different from Europe (especially less developed parts of it, like Greece, Portugal, Spain and good parts of Italy). But system produced 5% less consumer goods than needed and was ineffective as distribution tool. Which immediately spawned hoarding, lines and empty shelves. However, we're touchg completely separate topic, which should be discussed in a separate thread.

 

[Stalker]

Yes, I remember that I had to have come to the shop buy certain time to be able to by some butter while it still was there. And I consumed it several times less than now. Still, that was butter, and now... it's more like spread with certain, I don't think, always healthy, additives.