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Iranian government making strategy games ... finally!
Not to be outdone by the US military's use of video games as recruiting tool, Iran's government has begun creating "propagandatainment" as well. Tehran's "Taliya News" reports that Saving the Port, released today by Tebyan, an official "information dissemination institute," is an attempt to "replace the excessive amount of aggression seen in strategic Western game [sic] with rational thinking." Who knew Iranian news organizations were so catty? On the Snark-O-Meter, that line is somewhere between Kathy Griffin and a New York Post gossip column. Looks like we'd better raise the threat level from "Elevated" to "Sassy."Info on Saving The Port is scant, but it seems to be a wargame for the PC set in World War II-era Iran. Players will relive all the legendary WWII battles that took place in the Middle East.
Iran prepping first homegrown mobiles
When your government raises tariffs on imported phones from 4 percent to a staggering sixty percent, you kinda hope there are plans in place to start producing handsets on home turf. That's exactly the bind Iranians find themselves in at the moment, but relief's in sight -- the head of Iran Telecommunication Manufacturing Company says his folks are ready to start selling ITMC-branded phones as soon as June of this year, with a full 300,000 units being thrown together by year's end. Though the manufacturing is homegrown, it appears the technology is not; Iran has contracted with as-yet-unnamed South Korean companies to get the necessary equipment and tech brought over to Iranian borders. If this means Iran gets a DMB-equipped Shine before we do, that's going to be so not cool.[Via textually.org]
Blow up U.S. tanker in Iranian game
Reuters covers the release of Counter Strike, a game that charges players with the goal of sinking a U.S. oil tanker in a critical channel, blocking the path that two-fifths of all the world's oil travels. Iran's government sponsored the game for distribution within that country.The topical nature of the game isn't new; Kuma Reality Games mirrored real-life U.S. strikes against Iraq. The anti-American sentiment isn't even new, as seen in Night of Bush Capturing.This trend of all sides using games as propaganda interests us. Are games more persuasive than radio broadcasts and dropping leaflets? When will bombers start dropping games over enemy states?
Big Brother is SMS savvy in some countries
It's no secret that China is rockin' some serious server power dedicated to filtering its SMS airwaves of unthinkable topics like Taiwan, democracy, and pornography, but other countries are getting in on the action, too. Belarus and Iran have both been called out in recent months for listening to its citizens' texts, and in Belarus' case, sending them as well. Although the technology for real-time filtering by keyword is largely homegrown (or so we hope), predictive text manufacturers like Tegic (disclaimer: Tegic is owned by Engadget's parent company's parent company, AOL) are receiving pressure from handset manufacturers to double- and triple-check their dictionaries for words that could be considered distasteful in countries with more oppressive governments than our own. Personally, discovering a word missing from T9 has never prevented us from typing it manually, but nonetheless -- between this and M-Track, we're about ready to head down into the Engadget bunker with a year's supply of Spam and just ride this whole thing out.[Via textually.org]