As if Iran-U.S. relations weren’t tense enough, along comes an Iranian video game where the hero saves a nuclear scientist kidnapped by U.S. soldiers. Is this propaganda or national pride at its most pixellated?
Digital Journal — A new video game from Iran can be regarded in two different ways, depending on the source of news. In the Middle East, reporters call Rescue the Nuke Scientist a game that “supports the country’s peaceful nuclear activities.” In the U.S., media said the release gave online gamers in Iran a chance to “play out their anti-American frustrations.”
Designed by the Union of Students Islamic Association, Rescue the Nuke Scientist, for PC users, simulates a rescue mission to find two Iranian nuclear experts kidnapped by the U.S. military and held in Iraq and Israel. Or so says ABC News.
But a dichotomous description comes from Iran-based Press TV, which it said is called Special Operation 85:
The hero of the game — an Iranian special agent — not only is to save the Iranians but catch an Israeli spy who transfers classified nuclear information to the West.
The New York Sun found that, further into the game, the plot dives into “geopolitical fantasy.” The Sun wrote: The Iranian operative discovers and rescues four of the country’s diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon during its civil war 25 years ago. Tehran has accused Israel of holding the four diplomats since 1982.
Playing politics in a new video game is part of the motivation behind its creation, according to the developers. “This is our defense against the enemy’s cultural onslaught,” Mohammad Taqi Fakhrian told ABC earlier this week.
According to Press TV, Fakhrian went on to explain why a gaming format is an ideal platform for expressing nationalistic views.
We chose computer games as the most popular appliance currently among kids to transfer (ideological) values such as sacrifice and martyrdom to our pupils while focusing on the nuclear issue.
Rescue the Nuke Scientist is a Middle East response to the U.S.-based Assault on Iran, first released by Kuma Reality Games for PC users. In fact, an interesting footnote to the Iranian game’s release is how Kuma responded: this month, it launched an updated version of Assault on Iran, which follows up the storyline of Rescue the Nuke Scientist.
But here’s the twist in the American game: the Iranian scientist wasn’t captured by U.S. soldiers — he defected.
