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HEADLINE: Boycott the French!

“Would you like some Freedom Cabbage on your Hot Dog, Mr. Congressman?”

This is a call to arms. How dare the French disagree with America? How dare they, a democracy, bow and pander to an overwhelming majority of their people? We must punish them! Our bold Congressional leaders have taken the first step, they’ve renamed French Fries and French Toast “Freedom Fries” and “Freedom Toast”, and we thank them for it. They’re participating in a grand tradition that saw WWI era Frankfurters renamed as “Hot Dogs” and in WWII Sauerkraut became “Freedom Cabbage.” But aside from changing the labels on our French’s Yellow Mustard (to read Freedom’s Yellow Mustard) what can we, as gamers, do? I mean, aside from refraining from playing as the French in Battlefield: 1942 – The Road to Rome.

Beatdown is glad you asked! So is Conservative webpage NewsMax.com. They’re suggesting, in the name of Patriotism that you boycott French companies (and, um, send them money). This means you can’t buy—or play—anything from the following companies: Ubisoft, and Vivendi-Universal (Sierra). Beatdown would like to add Infogrames or Dreamcatcher (I don’t know, they just seem French to me) and politely suggests we add Strategy First to the list as well. They’re based on Montreal and we might as well hate French-Canadians (Freedom Canadians?) too.

So, until NewsMax says differently, nobody is allowed to play Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six: Raven Shield, Ghost Recon, Civilization III, Galactic Civilizations, NASCAR Racing Season, No One Lives Forever 2, Aliens Vs. Predator 2, Platoon, or anything that has anything to do with Half-Life! Oh, and of course, Rayman is right out.

ITEM! MOOriffic!

It was easy to tease Brad Wardell and Stardock just a few months ago. After all, his little company was making Galactic Civilizations, a space empire game with a strong Master of Orion flavor and he had the bad luck of releasing it just after Master of Orion III. Who would want a game that was like MOO3, just after MOO3 was released, if MOO3 was any good? (Got that?) Stardock looked like a victim of bad timing, before even releasing their game.

As it turns out, MOO3 was released and proven, despite some alarmingly positive early reviews, to be one of the most flawed designs ever put to disc. The game features: broken features, obscure menus, a poor interface, a lack of that “MOOness” many fans enjoyed, and planetary governors who think nothing of ignoring your orders.

Anyway, the point is this turn of events while awful for MOO fans who bought MOO3, is great for MOO fans who buy Galactic Civilizations. Or to put it more succinctly, Brad made a better game, a better MOO sequel, than the team at Quicksilver, and he did it in less time, with less money, and little marketing. Congratulations Stardock.