Poll: Why isn't Australia in any shooters?

[Jakub324]

I hadn't really thought of it either, but I suppose they could easily be the focus of a WW2 game, perhaps the siege of Monte Casino?

 

[Puzzlenaut]

The fact I can't name a single battle Australia has been in means the average American CERTAINLY won't (what with their education skipping over everything outside of their own country and all.

That is why.



Honestly, I'm surprised that Modern Warfare has been so heavily based around British characters when it seems the type of game to play solely as a big patriotic hoo-hah for the "Amerrrica, fuck yeah!" breed of yank (i.e, the dumb republican stereotype)

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

I was thinking the exact same thing about Ireland. We have enough military history, but no-one gives a crap if it doesn't involve America. I think it's due to public interest.

Now Ireland would be awesome. But unfortunately you could imagine the backlash since the IRA are considered terrorist to most of the international community. Unless it was from the view of Northern Ireland soldiers, it would be considered offensive. Then it would simply be one of the millions of shooting games that did the same thing.

Still, gotta say, the idea of a game based from the viewpoint of an IRA solider in the earlier days of the group, back when they where more open and less "Blow up innocents" would be VERY interesting. Sadly, unlikely to happen.

I think it would be interesting to see the Easter Rising, the Civil War, and the early IRA (the ones who weren't terrorists) but, that's never going to happen.
Also, it would probably be full of drunken leprechauns, 'cause that's pretty much how the rest of the world see us.

 

[ryai458]

Because America is actively picking fights, where as everybody loves Australians

by all means Australia doesn't have to be the good guy australia can join up with many other contrys that want america taken down a few notches.

You can't beat America if we start losing we would nuke you till you glow.

 

[Roxor]

You can say the same thing about alot of countires. I live in England and im quite surprised at how few games we feature in even though weve got alot to do with American history. We aparently make a few preatty bad ass cameos in COD but I never played them. Were the bad guys sometimes which is cool but often its not stated whether theyre English or just posh.

Cameos? Hell, it was the Brits who saved the day in both Modern Warfare games.

OP, while it would be interesting to see a made-up conflict in Australia, (idea: Let's put Homefront in Australia, with better gameplay and more varied shooting, because it would be a lot more believable) remember that most games aren't made in Australia. Most people who make things would rather set them in their own country for the sake of ease. Oh, yeah, and you could forget any notion of "blood effects".

You could do a "what if" scenario covering Australia kicking out a Japanese invasion during World War II. The government at the time did consider it a real possibility and planned to let everything north of Brisbane go if things got bad enough. There are also the remains of tank traps in some areas, built for an invasion that never came.

As for the style of gameplay, it would be guerrilla warfare. Our boys are very good at it. How good are they? Well, read the TV Tropes article about them [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery].

 

[jFr[e]ak93]

The States could annex Australia as they did Canada for the next Fall Out game.

 

[v3n0mat3]

The upcoming game Spec Ops: The Line is set in the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, specifically). It's a start, in a way.

 

[Kursura]

There was a cool Unreal tournament 2004 map which was set in Australia, complete with kangaroos. It involved beer production.

 

[cybran]

You can say the same thing about alot of countires. I live in England and im quite surprised at how few games we feature in even though weve got alot to do with American history. We aparently make a few preatty bad ass cameos in COD but I never played them. Were the bad guys sometimes which is cool but often its not stated whether theyre English or just posh.

Isn't Oblivion just copy-pasted british medieval country-side with wolfs added to it ?

- Taken from Yahtzee Croshow.
'

 

[Falseprophet]

but australia has a wealth of historic wars for example the ANZACS (Australia New Zealand Army Corps)witch fought in gallipoli and other battles. whitch is so memorable in Australian and New Zealand minds that it even has a cookie named after it or even a modern shooter made completely out of creativity sort of like 'Bulletstorm' minus the space marines.

so give me your thoughts or feelings about this I leave you with this AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI!

Clearly my friend, a Canadian studio needs to team up with an Australian one, and make an FPS where the Canadian Corps and the ANZACs team up to win World War One, since we both did all the heavy lifting for the Commonwealth in that war.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

It suprises me considering everything in Australia will try to eat you, kill you or poison you. Maybe not the sheep...maybe.

 

[superline51]

Australia doesn't do anything, ever

 

[TilMorrow]

Well Saxton Hale seems to be the embody-ment of Australia in TF2 and I'm sure using him as a symbol is a good thing...

 

[superdelux]

Well you could pester valve to make some Australian themed maps in TF2.In that universe Australia is supposed to be a utopian future country so that would be very fun.

 

[FluxCapacitor]

Aussie characters? It happens more often than our share, really, when you consider our population as a percentage of the whole world. Why aren't there more Indian game characters? Or Brazilians? They are far more under-represented...

But why can't we use Australia as a setting for an FPS? Probably because there has never been a 'proper' war fought on our soil - the only large scale armed conflicts on our shores involved lots of white guys shooting lots of black guys. Not the most appealing or appropriate scenario for a historical shooter.

But our military has certainly taken part in lots of military campaigns that would be good game scttings, though it is slightly trickier to find ones that were entirely Aussie troops. You could probably make a kickass stealth game out of Aussie operations in Timor during WW2. A few hundred guys evaded capture by the japanese when the main force was taken, and proceeded to band together with the local Timorese people to conduct Australia's first guerilla war against the Japanese. Those few hundred engaged and bogged down thousands of Japanese troops, and maintained engagement with the enemy longer than any other Aussie unit in the war. Impressive as hell, and loads of opportunities for gaming gold.

 

[radioactive lemur]

There are no guns in Australia, hence no shooters duh.

 

[bootz]

all the stray bullets would kill koalas and kangaroos can't have that now

 

[Andrew_Mac]

there would be no legitimate reason to go there...

 

[Chimichanga]

Because nobody gives a crap about Australia. When was the last time they were relevant to anything? Granted, as a gamer-centric website most of us are aware of the great land of Oz solely because of the anti-video game bullshit that goes on over there - but what else?

It'd be like having a FPS set in the Netherlands or Kazakhstan - Not that these countries are particularly bad (Okay, I'm lying: Kazakhstan is a total and complete shit-hole), it's just that places like Australia are a little absent from the world stage.

Take Africa for example: mostly a god-forsaken wasteland, but every modern FPS now has some sort of Africa-based level because of all the war, famine, plague, riots, and commonplace horrible shit that gets everyone's attention.

But I agree; I've been to Oz, and I loved the place. Even that big blank spot you guys call 'The Outback'. I actually think it would be a great setting for open-world games, or hell, anything vehicle-related a-la Mad Max.

* Must note: Even though Fallout was inspired by the Mad Max trilogy, the setting has always been uniquely American. Especially with the first two games of the series: It takes place in an apocalyptic retrofuture that parodies the US world view and futurism of the 1950's era. From the architecture, dialog, and robots to the weapons and clothing, everything was designed to evoke the trends and mannerisms of a time that many in the US still falsely (your mileage may vary) believe to be "the good ol' days" of our past. I could go deeper into what I liked about Fallout 1 & 2, but I just wanted to address the statement on Fallout in the OP.

 

[The Funslinger]

I can just imagine it taking place in the wilderness. You'd also have to contend with the wildlife as well as the people you were fighting. Just imagine, you're trekking through the undergrowth when A KOALA LATCHES ONTO YOUR FACE!!!! You snap its neck, and just as you're recovering, you're bowled over by a fucking kangaroo! It knocks you out, and you wake up, just as an enemy patrol is walking past a few yards away. Because of the fauna, they haven't seen you. If you can retrieve your gun and move quietly, you might be able to get away, or even launch a sneak attack. The problem? There's a fuck-off big spider on your chest, and it's creeping up to your face. Move even slightly too fast, it'll bite. If you slowly move your hand closer, it'll still strike.

Awesome.