9/11 Oculus Rift Game Will Leave People Speechless

Introducing [08:46], which is "a narrative-driven experience designed for virtual reality, which makes you embody an office worker in the North Tower of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 events" in the words of its creators.

[knifefight]

Those devs ah...are probably glad they can publish things themselves, because finding corporate backing is going to be hard.

[Relientk77]

Yeah, I wouldn't back it

[N4G3RZ]

I have played simulator games such as SIM CITY and I would enjoy playing a controlled demolition simulator such as this. #insidejob

[Marz]

it may come across as bad taste. But i believe the devs are trying to create something in the "VR Journalism" space. look it up. there are a few award winning VR journalism games.

As controversial as it may be, experiences like these are gaining traction because the future of journalism could be told in virtual experiences like these. The purpose would be not to undermine the sensitivity of the situation, but to provoke more conversation, empathy, and a more accurate description of historical or current events.

[HammadTheBeast]

I dunno, I see something here. This is what VR can accomplish. We can be able to experience history as if we were actually there.

It's not to everyone's taste, but it has its potential.

[Bathyj]

@HammadTheBeast

I see it kind of like watching the opening of Saving Private Ryan. No one who wasnt there can know what it felt like, but that scene is like a snapshot of history so that future generations can at least have some understanding of what went on there.

I mean we are free to read books about it, see movies about it, sing songs about it. This is how human beings pass down memories through generations and have done since we were doing cave paintings. Just because its a digital media doesnt mean it should just be written off as mearly "game" , a plaything for kids, and excluded from being allow to tackle those subjects. There are enough games on WWII, who knows, in decades to come when the sensitivity has died down there might even be games based on 9/11 but I dont think this is what there going for here.

[SonyWarrior]

this looked pretty lame and they are just using 9/11 to get controversy to overcloud a crappy game so they can get some sales

[DragonKnight]

Why is it still "disrespectful" to make games about this event?

Look, it happened. It happened 14 years ago. It sucks, but it happened. Can't change that it happened either, and guess who doesn't care about it? The people who died. That sounds messed up to say, I know, but when you're dead you don't have the ability to be offended.

We always talk about how gaming comes under attack for so many reasons like being sexist or racist or whatever. How can we expect gaming ever to move out of any kind of attack if we insist on forbidding the exploration of ALL possible options?

Making a game about 9/11 doesn't mean you support terrorism, it doesn't mean you are disrespectful of the men and women who died on that day, and it doesn't mean you have anti-American sentiments. Unless your game contains all of those things purposely.

But seriously, people really need to understand that there is a difference between respecting and remembering history, and NEVER GETTING OVER IT!

The fact that there are people who never get over things that didn't even happen to them or have any actual impact on their lives is a huge problem in this world. It drives things like racial guilt, ethnic guilt, gender guilt, etc..

/rant

[UKmilitia]

not only is it insulting to the people and families it looks shit.

[Jamaicangmr]

Yeah it looks horrid.

[JackStraw]

Sensitive gamers inc.

[Liqu1d]

I honestly wouldn't mind a 9/11 VR experience, not a game, if it was done respectfully and really showed the horror that victims experienced.

After watching and extended gameplay demo of this however, this 'game' is monumentally shit in every way. Visuals, animation, voice acting etc. are a joke. The developers should be ashamed of themselves, they are literally trying to sell a shit game by piggybacking off of a tragic event.

[NatFanBoyRestricted]

After the amount of immaturity and disrespectful comments I've read for this page, I don't feel so bad when console online services shutdown over the holidays because of people that are just about the same as the ones here. These kids deserve it

[isarai]

So make a million documentaries, books and songs about it detailing how it was to be in there and it's honoring their memory, but allow someone to actually immerse themselves in it and see first hand (to a virtual extent) how it was and it's insulting? I don't get it, this to me seems like the best possible way to really understand what these people might have went through, but what exactly makes THIS insulting and not other mediums doing the same thing?

[DarkResistance]

seriously? if you don't want to buy it then that is completely fine. It is your choice, but c'mon its just a game.

It's actually probably more against it rather than promoting it. It's putting you in the shoes of someone in that office building which was crashed into.

Stop trying too make this look like an "insult" to the people and its families. its more of a way to sympathize with those who passed.

Let's say someone makes a game about someone being a slave. would you say this game should not exist? it creates sympathy because now we can experience something which we were not involved in but was tragic. same could be done with like genocide. create sympathies since now people would know how it was like. instead of just reading about it in a textbook or watching a movie/tv show about it.

in a VR game you would literally be experiencing it.

[CoLD FiRE]

But brown people murder simulators aren't?

[HammadTheBeast]

It's funny how that's not ok, but games about WW1 and WW2, all the other countless wars, civilians dying in Afghanistan in CoD etc are all ok?

Like come on, if we're going to worry about insulting everyone and censoring media over it, we might as well end up in Fahrenheit 451.

[neoandrew]

They made movies about 9/11 and you needed to pay for them to watch, is this also insulting?

[Dee_91]

@JackStraw
I'm Offended for the the people that might be offended inc.

[CanadianTurtle]

Please grow some thicker skin.

[Qrphe]

Grow up

[hells_supernova]

aren't war games insensitive to the families? Storming Normandy on the back of the thousands of allied deaths? isn't that more tragic and cost more lives then this tragedy? or is this in bad taste because it was on american soil oh wait pearl harbor has been in many video games is that in bad taste?

[DragonKnight]

How is it insulting? 9/11 happened. You can't change that it happened. Is talking about a historical fact taboo now? Does the game, say, spit on the perfect virtual representations of every person that died and then say they deserved it? No, it doesn't. No, it's not insulting, it's showing you what happened. And it did happen. And no amount of "offense" is going to change the fact that it happened. Best to get over the fact that it happened and you can do nothing about it.

[jukins]

It's insulting? News outlets continously play back the events throughout the year and especially around 9/11 what's the difference between watching the news clips and wearing a vr helm and experiencing it that way

[N4G3RZ]

This game is based on a true story. Its only like playing call of duty where thousands of people were shot and killed.

[cleft5]

CoD is currently set in the future and its far removed from reality. Heck, the same is true of Battlefield. Those games may use realistic weapons, for the most part, but they arent direct simulations of real life events anymore.

Plus, when they where people did complain about how it portrayed events and how it was insulting. Remember how big of a controversy the mission No Russian was?

[ginsunuva]

Well there was that mission in MW2 where you kill an entire airport.

[dillhole]

It's only offensive when Americans die. The rest of the world aren't important.

[dillhole]

Macxb1 I think all are equally sensitive subjects as is the Holocaust and Vietnam and many other human atrocities. I just think people should have some perspective and realise that games are often centred around things that some people don't want to relive and which case they should avoid playing the games rather than trying to ensure they are not made. I would like to play this because I find it fascinating. Not because I think it is funny or I like to see innocent people getting killed but just because I find it fascinating. The same reason I watch documentaries about WW2 and serial killers. Fascination.

[dillhole]

Macxb1 Sure. Why not?

[dcbronco]

It's funny how the human mind e. Someone dies in an event deemed terrible and now you have to be careful what you say about them or the circumstances of their death. Mac just watch American news and it quickly becomes obvious they believe only American lives matter. It rarely gets reported if an American didn't die. Watch news in other nations and its a little different.

Then there's scope. It was a terrible thing, but other countries go through events of the same scale loss of life wise several times a year. Often at our hands. Our own military estimates we killed around 100,000 civilians in Iraq. The documents leaked by Manning proved it was far closer to the million civilians NGOs claim our military killed. In a country of 26million. 2,700 of 320 million compared to that. Literally everyone has a relative that has been killed. Amazingly some of them still like us.

Some of the people killed on 9/11 were women. Funny no one cared when so many of them were raped or beaten. Didn't care when they were paid less than men. Many gamers consider them bi---es, right?

People are really shi--y towards each other until something like 9/11. Then they put that event on a special shelf and pretend it means something to them while they go back to their lives of choosing someone not like them to hate based on nothing. If people want the empathy of others, make sure you give them yours. Otherwise there will always be someone who doesn't care about your particular situation.

[christian hour]

Can't wait for the expansion pack where you get to infiltrate pre 9/11 airport security and hijack a plane :3

Fever Norget!

[N4G3RZ]

Or the BONUS mission where u plant the explosives and cut the steel support beams. #insidejob

[christian hour]

Or the spin off where you are an alien ship observing the planet and laughing at silly primates still murdering eachother over claim to a tiny pebble floating in the abyss or because they insulted someones imaginary friend in the name of their own imaginary friend or because they stole and/or swindled their liquified fossils or because the silly invention of currency still exists and they do the dumbest and meanest things to get it... Ha, Humans! What a laugh!

[HammadTheBeast]

2edgy4me^

[christian hour]

4edgy2me^

I wasnt making fun of what happened on 9/11, just making fun of the idea that those numbers are somehow sacred, and the people who have knee jerk reactions to anything related to it without trying to understand what this game is first. I find games like modern warfare more insulting to the lives effected by post 9/11 america, than this. The sentiment of this game seems to come from a place of love and beauty. Maybe thats just me though.

[MrCrimson]

couldn't get a new yorker let alone an american to do the voice acting?

[Godmars290]

In the U.S. anyway, where there's likely to be a politicization or group just waiting to get wind of this.

[Relientk77]

Can't believe they are actually making this

[Gazondaily]

Controversy sells. Look @ Hatred

[MRCodey47]

And JFK Reloaded on the PC, released quite some time back. 11 years ago to be precise.

[ninsigma]

Did hatred actually sell well??

This is a very strange title and not something I'm very comfortable with. Obviously they have freedom to create whatever they want but I think there needs to be boundaries.

[DarkBlood]

boundaries on creation? eh that wont work out too well

[Ashunderfire86]

At least Hatred is just a dude in a trench coat shooting people he hates. This is 9/11 we are talking about! What fun is going through a disaster like this, which happened not too long ago? What are you suppose to do escape in just one level? This needs to get cancel, because its an insult to the families that lost their love ones! An insult to the firefighters and cops who risk their lives trying to save people!

[Scatpants]

did that sell?

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Its definitely in poor taste but as Septic pointed out, controversy gets attention. No doubt some will buy it.

[moomoo319]

@ninsigma

I think it did. pretty sure it topped the steam charts for a bit.

[Qrphe]

Except Hatred is actually a fun game

[Perjoss]

I agree that its kind of bad taste, but there are plenty of games that are based during other terrible scenarios, world war 2 beach landings for example.

[DC777]

How is burning to death at work an experience people want to have?

[garrettbobbyferguson]

How is half the crap people consume in media an experience they want to have, honestly?

[ProGrasTiNation]

Why?you only into killing germans & taliban?

[JonnyBigBoss]

Why oh why does this exist?

[JackStraw]

Because it should.

[frostypants]

On one hand, movies are often made about such things, so it doesn't seem so far-fetched for a game to be. On the other hand, it's gotta be handled correctly, and I'm not sure that's possible with a game.

On a side note, the voice work for the woman is TERRIBLE. And that's before her painful accent ("check your DrAAAHHH-wer").

[SegaGamer]

Clearly they are talented people that made this game, but of all the games they could have made, they went and made this one.

They are looking for shock value over making a decent game.

[christian hour]

It's no different than any game set in a historical time where a large amount of people died.

Timing is irrelevant, it doesn't matter if wars happened 10 or 1000 years ago, you're still playing a historical event where 1000's of people were murdered or slaughtered or whatevered, and most of the time you're the one in the role of that murdering, usually in the name of "justice".

At least with this one, your goal is to survive, maybe even help others get out? Sounds pretty terrifying and heroic all at once.

[frostypants]

You don't see many historical games featuring civilians being killed en masse. I don't think anyone ever made a "Hindenburg Simulator", for example.

[KillerPwned]

Exactly what I was thinking this could be a very engaging that really involves the player helping and trying to get out of the building in time. I don't see how that is insulting at all. This video game off like the game is meant to have a serious tone.

[yomfweeee]

Please tell me what game has ever essentially re-enacted a real terrorist event? Let alone one that killed thousands of people.

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

Can I jump?

[Revolt13]

savage

[Eiyuuou]

Try pressing spacebar.

[frostypants]

Press L3 for wing suit.

But seriously, that's why this is probably a bad idea...how do they make this anything other than exploitative? Even without gimmicks?

[TheTwelve]

Too early for me but then I'm from NY

[TheSaint]

Too early? It was nearly fifteen years ago, get over it already.

[TheTwelve]

Never forget.

[Bahamut]

Gtfo. 14 years ago, sure, but it's not something a normal person, especially someone nearby, can "get over". Nor should they. We can move forward, but we'll never forget.

You're being irrational.

[TheSaint]

No, any normal person or country is over it by now, but because it's America everything gets blown out of proportion.

[TheTwelve]

And because you have no context of what you speak, you're speaking out of the crack in the back of your neck. Hush with your internet foolishness.

[TheSaint]

Lol at no context, be more clueless.

You know literally nothing about me yet you're spewing all kinds of assumptions about me, just another typical American.

Bad stuff happens in every single country, yet it's only you candy ass Americans that can't get over it and move on, you know, like adults do.

[TheTwelve]

The cracks in the back of your neck are still talking.

[TheSaint]

Oh dear, nothing to say to cold hard logic huh, no surprise there.

GG, no re.

Actually I'm a liar, it wasn't GG at all.

[S2Killinit]

Im a very liberal person when it comes to games but i dont like this (freedom of speech). I know we game about wars where we shoot and kill people often times from specific countries, but to make a game about a SPECIFIC incident is a little different i think. Look i know we play games about actual wars where hundreds of thousands of civilians died but those games were not made to partake in an actual scenario that happened. It was to introduce the player to a war scenario, it was a setting for the player to experience war. This is a reliving of an event which we were all witness to already. I think thats what differentiates this. I think its a bit different. Im not cool with it. But thats my opinion.

[hells_supernova]

yes Normandy was not to put the player in the landing craft and try to portray what storming the beaches must have been like no not at all.

[Neonridr]

Go play Medal of Honor, specifically storming the beaches of Normandy and tell me that it was not made to partake in an actual scenario that happened...

[S2Killinit]

As I said this is my opinion. That doesn't mean I don't see your point.

But, you guys seem to be missing a couple of points. We play war games because they tell a story. We weren't there to witness war and so we make entertainment out of it. What happened on 9 11 was something we all saw already. For all intents and purposes we were there, and we saw what happened. The question becomes whether the costs of making entertainment out of such an event outweighs the benefits. If you want to know what that cost is, you need to show the game to someone who lost his father/brother/sister/mother in that tragedy.

Furthermore, when we tell stories of war, even the events of storming Normandy, we glamorize war. Its almost a retelling of a heroic story where you play, not a hapless victim stuck in a collapsing building, but of a hero who actually has a chance of "defeating" the enemy. In other words, even though the germans in that scenario might not be happy about someone playing a game where they shoot their countrymen, at least there is justification in the fact that you are playing the role of a "hero", you are becoming the witness to great acts of valor. In other words, there is a STORY there.

Lastly, this was a very SPECIFIC tragedy, and as much as every war consists of very specific tragedies, the historical narrative of war, and the fact that we don't know who and how each individual died, allows us to retell the story, so as to tell their collective story. Its not so much a disservice to anyone (at least not to the winning side) But remaking the events of what happened on 911 doesn't have that quality of anonymity. For example, a handful of people jumped from those buildings, if I had lost someone in that manner, I would not want you to play the scenario for your entertainment.

I believe there are some lines that should not be crossed. There is a cost/benefit scenario here. A loss of innocence vs. entertainment. I'm not implying that I would stop the developers if I had the power to, (I would fight for their right to make this game) I'm saying I wish they didn't make this game because its not in good taste. I DONT think the entertainment value in this outweighs the costs. And that is my opinion.

[insertcoin]

I hope it's more than just a simulation, and that we can actually escape the tower. Otherwise, it's just going to be depressing and predictable.

[WeAreLegion]

I'm pretty sure the game is meant to instill empathy and not for controversy. Just like the various 9/11 movies.

[Eiyuuou]

Now if we were the ones Allahu Akbar'ing it would be a different story.

[mushroomwig]

Yeah, I'm okay with this because it doesn't seem to be made for a joke or anything like that.

[kenwonobi]

They found ways to be respectful about Pearl harbor in the movies. I see no problem with a twin towers movie or game.

[Scatpants]

Funny how people talk about creative freedom until someone makes something they don't like, the it's all yay censorship!

[KwietStorm_BLM]

They easily could have made a simulator that embodied an event like this without specifically being September 11th. That doesn't do anything good or better for your game. It just creates controversy and beats a dead horse over something that really just isn't necessary for a game. Has nothing to do with creative freedom or cencorship. This is just stupid. Have a little context.

[spicelicka]

No it's not funny because I haven't read a single comment saying it should be censored or boycotted.

People are merely expressing their dislike towards this concept, and they're allowed to do that.

I have the creative freedom to write shit about your mother but i wouldn't because I don't need to, and you definitely will let me know that you don't like it. Just giving an example.

[LeCreuset]

@spicelicka

True, people aren't really calling for censorship (from what I've seen). But the overall tone of the conversation is markedly different than the discussion surrounding other games, like Hatred.

[Lonnie18]

Why create this, does it need to be relived?

[2pacalypsenow]

Same thing can be said about WW2 games

[Dewitt]

This is not a war, it was a cowardly attack by people who hate everything about our country and innocent civilians that were just going to work.

[2pacalypsenow]

So was pearl harbor they were Innocent people that died.

Nothing about WW2 should be relived.

[spicelicka]

This is unnecessary and doesn't make the gameplay at all interesting.

We have games about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan don't we?

[Neonridr]

@Dewitt - it was a war in the eyes of the attackers minds. They were on some sort of crusade...

whether or not you agree with it is subjective because of which side you represent.

[beans]

This is to much! Soon we will start seeing games that put us in the minds of serial rapists and killers. There is simply no purpose for this unless I'm missing something.

[ginsunuva]

Well, 99% of the games out there today put you in the hands of serial killers already.

[beans]

We could go over the reasoning back and forth but I would find games that put you in the role of real life killers and rapists a little disturbing. Of course I don't have to buy it but that's my opinion nothing more. If someone wants to live moments in a game like this out, then so be it. Really I'm not understanding the purpose of even making this other than to remind us of this heinous act.

[LeCreuset]

@beans

Hatred was essentially a murder simulator cobbled together from real life incidents, right down to the clothing. Those parallels are apparent. I don't think such comparisons can just be dismissed because it isn't a recreation of a specific event, especially if you aren't playing as the murderer in this 9/11 VR game.

[Antifan]

Trevor. GTAV. Nuff said. It's no different than making a movie based on 9/11.

[Neonridr]

ever play Manhunt?

[Dewitt]

My uncle died in the 9-11 attack and I have no idea why people would want to relive this tragic day. Very disrespectful to make this type of a game.

[MrFisher21]

Or just not buy it. They should also make no more games based on any real events where people have died. Ever. Problem solved. This nation is so soft anymore.

[isarai]

Look, some people just want to really get a good sense of how these people experienced this, not for some form of "fun" or pleasure but for a basic form of understanding. We as humans always have a want to understand points of history, each other and each other's situations. Films/books/theater/documentar ies/and biographies have been doing this for centuries. So i really don't see how this is disrespectful when it's really just about allowing people to reach a better level of understanding about the whole situation, just like war reenactments and concentration camps turned museums.

[kenwonobi]

I understand why you personally would not play it. There are many games however made of real wars and tragedy. It's how we all learn to remember the dead and move on. We turn their events into learning experiences. Sometimes entertainment is had out of it.

[Neonridr]

thousands of grandfathers and great grandfathers died in WWII yet how many games exist detailing those accounts? Some with a great deal of accuracy and detail.

Is it disrespectful for those families who lost loved ones there?

[MrFisher21]

Can't wait.

[KillerPwned]

Bring it on! I would love to play this, it could be a highly engaging and informational experience. Plus its been 14 years lets move on.

[kenwonobi]

That's what I want. I want realistic real world vr situations. If you are gonna make some of these games short indie experiences? Then do it completely different and in a grander scale than other lesser peripherals llike Kinect or motion controls could do. Virtual Reality in even the smallest niche games have infinitely more interesting ways to create smaller stories and Smaller games than a light gun, Kinect camera, or motion controls could ever create. Just make sure a few AAA titles are sprinkled in as well as 3rd party games support at times.

[BitbyDeath]

I'm ok with the concept if it can teach what to do in such an event.

[sullynathan]

I'm waiting here like "blow up, dammit".

[NewAgeisHere]

Hmm, I'd rather have them focus on what really happened on 9/11 - it was an obvious false flag that was used to illegaly invade multiple countries in the Middle East........

[kenwonobi]

Make us question our existence. Scare us out of our wits. Give us real world emotions. That's what VR can do that things like Kinect, motion controls, regular add-ons in past consoles could never do. Bring on more. Better yet put us smack dab in the middle of the invasion of Iraq right afterwards. Let us watch bombs dropped on Baghdad in person.

[PlatinumGX]

Hopefully you can play as the pilots.

[level 360]

Very sensitive issue here, even if this wasn't 9/11 think people are still going to make comparison.

Think it's way too early to tackle highly political matters on VR, especially if you want to sell it's attributes.

[immabadguy]

What a fucking awful idea.

[Elda]

Sensitive folks aren't going to like that.

[blakstarz]

This sounds all sorts of wrong!

[Enigma_2099]

It's hard enough talking about it. Why would I play this?

[CanadianTurtle]

I have to say, that was the shittiest explosion effect I've seen in my life.

[Ra3030]

This is gonna BOMB! ......sorry no pun!

[Tankbusta40]

Meh I saw the media show it over and over on 9-11 how is this any different then watching it on TV?

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

There were literally documentaries that claimed 9/11 was an inside job almost immediately after it occurred. Yet this is 'too soon, and inappropriate' Jesus people have gotten to be pansies.

[KurtRussell]

I wonder how many ppl here believe in the official 911 fairytale.

[TorpeAlex]

The only way the public is going to be okay with this is if the game is free.

[garrettbobbyferguson]

Man, all those Pearl Harbor movies and African Genocide movies I had to pay for.

[MartinB105]

So making movies based on real-life events is OK, but making games based on real-life events isn't?

[formanbradley]

This is brainwashing propaganda... unless they show who was really behind the attacks (hint: it wasn't fanatical Muslims)

Here's some related comedy that's 100% serious.
https://youtu.be/jLXyB5GtfB...

[phozon]

i have big hopes for this. since long b4 anyone made this demo.
on the day 9/11 i was hoping i could experience it in the future
it will take some time to make an accurate copy of what happened.. my guess it'll take more than 5 years till we'll see something like that

[MikleDemi]

This is in poor taste.

Moreover the game looks and feels bad, and so should the devs.

[il-JumperMT]

9/11 was an inside job so George Bush can have an excuse to continue his fathers legacy on War in Iran just to steal oil.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Only ignorant people think 9/11 was a terrorist attack.

[ProGrasTiNation]

Do you believe that those 3 buildings were brought down the way the media showed/told ye?
From our perspective across the pond they were melted by explosives,would you want the game to show the bullshit story or the truth?
I hope they finish it,would be cool to run around in those buildings trying to disarm the bombs that brought them down.

[cfc83]

I don't have any problem with a 9/11 VR experience. Who's to say it doesn't have the potential to give some people closure ?

[Loadedklip]

The Twin Towers had very BIG windows if I recall. It should be very bright and have tons of light since 9/11 happened in the morning after sunrise.

[Eejanaika]

wow

[ABBAJESUS]

9/11 doesn't deserve special treatment. It's just history like WW2. Buy it or not i don't care.

[scark92]

Let the devs create this, if you are offended do not buy it, nobody will judge you if you buy it and if they do, there not worth your time.

[big_dom_part_2]

Coming to a VR experience near you soon, the Great Irish Famine of 1845, and classics such as Auschwitz, and the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia in 1995. Yes, that's right: you too can experience what it was like to starve to death, or watch your friends and family get gassed or shot in the face by armed executioners.

Americans: when will they ever f*cking learn to leave a tragedy alone and respect the dead? Stop milking your own atrocities for attention and money! Extremely poor taste.

[esmittystud101]

So maybe one player flies the plane, one player detonates the bombs in the building, one player is the disstressed office worker, one player plays roll of Illuminati?

An article of this nature get comments like this.