XBL Community Game Mixes Platform Action, Puzzles and Politics

April 30, 2009

We're intrigued by Clover, a nearly-done Xbox Live Community game which its creator says was heavily influenced by the prelude to the war in Iraq.

While we don't want to give too much away, Deejay, who heads Binary Tweed, added:

The game is loaded with references to speeches by George W. Bush and Tony Blair, as well as references to World War II and September 11th...

Clover is set in a pseudo-Tudor monarchy with a welfare state, experiencing increased security measures after an act of foreign aggression, in which the lead character's mother has died.

To make things just a bit more interesting, the Clover web site has apparently been viewed by both the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Army Information Systems Command.

That's a bit spooky...

While no official launch date has been set, Clover should be available in early May for 400 XBL points.

Posted in Online Games Politics & Legislation War Xbox Live

Comments

Re: XBL Community Game Mixes Platform Action, Puzzles and ...

Submitted by AgonThalia on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 13:00.

While it's interesting to see the CIA and the USAISC looking into that game, there are a few points to consider before breaking out the aluminum foil hats.

1: Both agencies monitor massive amounts of data and routinely monitor the web "chatter".

2: Knowing a lot of intelligence type people, they have a high concentration of geeks & tech nerds in their ranks. While most of the army has very restricted "approved only sites" web surfing priveledges, intel type agencies have a much larger range of sites they can visit on their network for research. This could be one of those geeks using a government computer to look at that game info.

3: Without knowing the total traffic of the site, 1 hit doesn't make me too nervous. My old blog used to get hits from all sorts of government agencies. It could be the fact that I have friends in the Gov, or it could be routine algorithmic based keword searches.

4: Lastly, this analytics screenshot doesn't show if it's a bot or a user.

Yep, I'm a skeptic about this, there seems to be no pattern or trend to suggest any weirdness.

http://wetonstun.com My blog about the intersection video games, marketing and culture.

Re: XBL Community Game Mixes Platform Action, Puzzles and ...

Submitted by chadachada321 on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 19:28.

"keyword searches" you say? I could probably get the FBI to look at this site using a few choice words. Bomb, terrorist, down with America...the list goes on. Oh snap, there's a knock on my door, and a white van outside my house!

-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-

-Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis-It is best to endure what you cannot change-

Re: XBL Community Game Mixes Platform Action, Puzzles and ...

Submitted by Stealthguy on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 21:47.

Run man, ru

Re: XBL Community Game Mixes Platform Action, Puzzles and

Submitted by killatia on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 12:52.

"To make things just a bit more interesting, the Clover web site has apparently been viewed by both the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Army Information Systems Command."

Damn. You know you have a hot item game when the goverment is looking at the development of this game.

http://www.magicinkgaming.com/

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: That article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm

Uncharted NES: Critics: 'Left Behind' game glorifies violence- http://tinyurl.com/wu64s02/12/2012 - 4:34pm

Zen: I felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm

DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am

Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

Andrew Eisen: Toki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm

james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

DorthLous: Will do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm

Andrew Eisen: I appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

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