I had a passing thought that someone might have one day rebooted the "STALKER" series had Japan's three reactors gone as explosively critical as Chernobyl. I also wondered how long "society" as a whole might have to wait before "too soon" became "long enough", and the peoples of Japan's wounds had healed enough for capitalization on the event to begin. Actually, it's begun already (look up "reishi mushroom for radiation poisoning"), but that's beside the point.

Anyway, I'd like to ask some of the Ukrainians here, or anyone from any of the surrounding nations given that the boundaries of Ukraine changed after the dissolution of the USSR, if there were any complaints from the survivors about capitalizing on the disaster. I've heard of "support unions" for survivors of the disaster, and I'll bet they had something to say about it.

It's a wonder we still don't have games based on the Nagasaki bombing. :\

Wasn't there a game were the (only) target was to nuke Moscow with a B 1 bomber?

Edit: Found it http://www.mobygames.com/game/b-1-nuclear-bomber

I dunno....it reminds me of Wargames though. Great film that was.

I would assume the number of people displaced or affected by the Japanese incident would be greater than that of the town of Pripyat and surrounding areas within the exclusion zone.

On that note, was there any opposition to STALKER? I know there is some talk of the effects of radiation on the children born after the disaster, and reports of an increase in cancer cases, but I don't have any hard evidence to back any of these up, just things I've heard.

That's what I'm asking. Did anyone cry foul, saying the game was insensitive to those who survived the blast and fallout?

I'm sure someone did, as everything is always going to be almost always offensive to someone somewhere.

That doesn't stop anyone. Red Alert 2 featured art showing a soviet ship launching missiles at the World Trade Center in NYC. Guess what art got pulled right after? Then there was the LACK of WTC towers in Deus Ex, a full year before the attacks. That pissed people off for the opposite reason.

The only thing that thinks that there was less controversy was the developers visited Pripyat for their development. Access into the exclusion zone has to be granted by the Ukraine government, and they would have known it was to create a video game. I think the government was torn between using a disaster as the backdrop for a video game, and liking the idea to increase tourism to their country. I think we all know which won out. The people on the other hand...most of the residents in the exclusion zone are elderly, and I doubt they care much, if they ever heard about it.

EDIT: Aha, it wasn't just the missiles flying at the WTC. It was the Soviet plane flying right at it.

It's been years since I played them but IIRC: The interior fold of RA2 had soviet ships firing missiles into NYC, although the trade towers where unscathed, and had them as buildings in the Soviet campaign, You where also tasked with destroying the Pentagon in one of the missions. Yuri's Revenge, released in October 2001, was originally going to have box art with the two towers on fire (this was changed), and had a multi-player map with the towers on it. Really, How many people do you think are actually going to go to the Ukraine to look at some abandoned buildings and take a tour of a shut down nuclear power plant because they played a video game? Almost nobody lives there, most of the people who do are squatters, and it happened decades ago, Nobody really cares any more.

As for RA2, google for the image and you will see a plane flying towards the WTC. It pissed people off after 9/11, nobody said a thing about it when the game came out.

As for Chernobyl, there are plenty of people who go to the exclusion zone because of Stalker. Or at least want to. There was an airsoft group a few years ago that put on a STALKER themed game. Of course, the photo of the reactor could have been photoshopped in, but I believe they were in the Ukraine. Also, in December, Ukraine opened up Chernobyl officially for tourism. Aside from the blog of that motorcycle girl, STALKER was the biggest pop culture reference to Chernobyl. Add in the Modern Warfare mission reaching millions of people, and I'm pretty sure video games are playing a large part in the decision to open it. Plus, not everyone there are squatters.

If I had the money I would gladly fly over there and take a tour.

Chernobyl should not be locked down, it should be presented as an example of what can go wrong with nuclear power, and the reason why more effective security measures and regulations should exist.

Well SOMEONE has to keep the mutants and anomalies at bay...duh. :p

:)