Why Russia?

[Mr. Omega]

For me, Russia being the new go-to bad guys only bothers me a little. What does bother me is that EVERY protagonist is either American, British, or occasionally Russian. THERE ARE MORE THAN 3 NATIONALITIES! And all people from non-english-speaking countries speak perfect english. Not as big a complaint, but still...

On a side note, why has no developer ever tried to make a game based on the espionage part of the Cold War? It's an excuse to go to all sorts of interesting locales, have stealth based gameplay and have great conversations impacting missions.

Developers seem to forget the Cold War was a COLD war, not an actual war!!!

 

[hawkeye52]

well all realistic settings have been used and overused and i cant imagine them taking it back to the times when you had to spend 2-3 minutes reloading your musket and i guess studios dont want to branch off into new ideas since making triple A games are to risky in terms of profits to make a massive fps out of it that does something new.

 

[joemegson94]

Because if there was a war game about shooting heavily-armed gorillas it wouldn't make any sense.

 

[Sinisterair]

Because Russians were the last enemies that America fought which were on the same technological level as the US, and which were perceived as an actual threat.

I mean, what have we had since the Cold War? A bunch of terrorists, in ass backward countries using 60 year old weapons, and home made explosives. Sure, they can kill people, but there is not threat of them ever being a serious threat to the American government.

Pretty much this but also because they are enemies that America lost/tied to. Just like vietnam where they pulled out and signed a peace treaty. So they make these games where they kick some enemy ass but in real life they lost.

....Pretty sure communisim fell and the us Won, also the cold war wasnt an actual war it was a political war in which we tried to push our influence on the already weakend euroupe...sure there was a bunch of deaths but we won!

 

[Canid117]

Yeah, why not have North Korea or something like that as an antagonist? Why Russia?

Because the North Korean military in its current state would get rolled over in a week.

And also...

I hope it comes out for pc.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/homefront/index.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B0

apparently so

 

[Spartan1175]

Yeah, why not have North Korea or something like that as an antagonist? Why Russia?

Because the North Korean military in its current state would get rolled over in a week.

And also...

I hope it comes out for pc.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/homefront/index.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B0

apparently so

Sweet.

 

[scar_47]

because the north koreans might take that as an act of war

 

[WrathOfAchilles]

Yahtzee already commented on this, be original next time.

 

[Volothos]

Why cant America be bad these days?

I know MW2 experimented with that but he's just a psycho in my eyes, i want it to where the whole damn country is evil

Off the top of my head, say America is a "Constitutionally Theocratic" nation and is at war in the name of god to purge the world of sinners or something

 

[Towels]

Why cant America be bad these days?

I know MW2 experimented with that but he's just a psycho in my eyes, i want it to where the whole damn country is evil

Off the top of my head, say America is a "Constitutionally Theocratic" nation and is at war in the name of god to purge the world of sinners or something

Reminds me of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Imperial America invades the Republic and Mexico and tactically nukes a hospital because its a sniper nest.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

WHo GivEs a CrAP.

We WAnT to PLAy gaMEs AnD evERyONe WANtS to PlaY a NeW oNE eVErY otHER weEK.

PeOPLe on ThIS siTe ***** whEn the EnEMIES arE alIENs, ZoMBIeS, NAzIs, COMMiES, TERrORiSTs, COrPOraTE EmPLoyEEs, Or ANYTHING ELSE.

MiGHt I suGGesT yOU gO HAve a ReSOUnDINg GAMe oF PeGGLe or PerHAps FaRMvILLe?

Im sorry are you having a stroke?

I'm certainly getting one trying to read that...
Sorry, but that is truly unintelligible, you cannot read them as if they were normal words, you have to go letter by letter to see what it is.

Anyways, I'm off to fantasize about a future warfare game with America as baddies, and Russians as good guys.

 

[Benny Blanco]

Because if there was a war game about shooting heavily-armed gorillas it wouldn't make any sense.

Heavily-armed gorillas? You mean like Planet of the Apes?

 

[Chrinik]

Because these games are made to appeal to americans, and americans number one punchclock villains are in order:
Terrorists/Islamists/Arab people in general excluding Israel.
Communists (most likely russians)
Soviets (always russians, because the Soviet Union apperently didnt span over most of fucking asia...)
Russians (in Post Cold War settings where the Soviet Union doesn´t exist.)
Nazis
Other americans.

So you have russians occupying three slots of these, so the probability of russians to appear is pretty big.
Well, COD-4 didn´t paint russians as the antagonists...it was russian Ultranationalists, and other russians helped you because they didn´t like em either.

And after a 50 year long struggle and arms-race and near nuclear war, you think that now that the wall fell everything between the participants is hoity toity?

 

[Antari]

Because cold war propaganda is still very much alive and kicking?

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

It's because they were recent enemies, we're still tense with them, and they could plausibly serve as a threatening foe to the US if war ever broke out between us. However, you'll notice a trend in these games where the Russians are actually being used by some American Big Bad who is revealed at the very end. In fact, despite being crude stereotypes, the Russians are actually often shown sympathetically as tools of this main villain. It's still offensive, implying a lack of autonomy and intelligence on the Russians, but I suspect this is because we don't want to say outright that the Russians are evil, so we pass the blame away from them at the absolute last minute.

Why cant America be bad these days?

I know MW2 experimented with that but he's just a psycho in my eyes, i want it to where the whole damn country is evil

Off the top of my head, say America is a "Constitutionally Theocratic" nation and is at war in the name of god to purge the world of sinners or something

Meh, we do it more for money, politics, and international influence.

 

[The_Echo]

Simply because they aren't imaginative enough.

Military games (or your preferred term) are so boxed in to norms that they never venture out and try something fresh. I mean, wouldn't it be a lovely change of pace to play as the Mongols while they were mowing down their enemies? How awesome would that be?! Or games based in the future, where they can use other countries (say, North Korea) that aren't too threatening now, but they could make them so with a little creative writing. Alternative timelines too. Not something as trite as "what if we lost WWII?", mind you, but something like, "What if Mongolia had taken over the known world, and there was another great power in the American continents, and they went to war for ultimate control?" I think that could get really spiff. (Sorry to use Mongolia twice in one post, but I can't be arsed to think too much on history of war. It's not my forte.)

So yeah, basically because they aren't using their imagination.

EDIT: Just occurred to me. Civil War-era game, anyone?

 

[Dancingman]

Having Russians as the bad guys is what Hollywood and thereby writers are used to so that's one strike against them. Plus it sidesteps any nasty arguments of racism that crop up when you use Islamic terrorists or Chinese villains, everyone knows you're only allowed to use Asian bad guys in WWII game.

 

[stealthsniper29]

You want to know why Russia is the antagonists in a lot of games. Because Russians are biggest assholes the world will ever have.

 

[Benny Blanco]

Here's a really "edgy" opponent for you: Israel.

-American-made weapons
-Significant nuclear arsenal
-Really aggressive foreign policy.
-Regularly shoot foreign nationals for fun.

Just to point out, Israel makes it's own weapons, and they're AWESOME.

Israel makes most of their own small-arms and yeah, they do quite a good job of it (Galil, Uzi, Desert Eagle) but supplement these with a lot of weapons made in the US and other countries.

A lot of their planes, artillery and armour are also US-made.

You want to know why Russia is the antagonists in a lot of games. Because Russians are biggest assholes the world will ever have.

I dunno man, have you ever met a South African?

 

[Nomanslander]

Whats the deal with games like MW2,BFBC2, and Black ops having Russians as the antagonists? Have game writers really run out of ideas?

In todays world, Russia is still probably one of the few countries that could go toe to toe in a war with America.

Same can be said with China, but since millions of dollars have been invested there building cheap factories and businesses, politics wont allow it...lol