Its been quite some time since I’ve written a movie article, and since there hasn’t been much on the games I have been playing front, this is a good opportunity for me to re-watch something I have been wanting to cover for a while, but, since the summer heat usually makes me not want to do anything, it did take me a while to finally leave my extreme laziness state.
So, since AI its once more on the forefront, but, lets be honest, that’s usually every other week these days, might as well cover a movie, which on one hand covers the subject of AI, and, to an extent, gaming, so I got my elaborate excuse to cover a movie I like… Again.
So, without keeping you any further…
Shall we play a game?
During a nuclear attack drill, the US Air Force has discovered a worrying fact, many of the personnel aren’t willing to do what they are told, and will not finish the launch sequence in the event of a nuclear attack. Which is a real thing, you’d be surprised at the amount of times WW3 was avoided just cause someone decided to do a double, even a triple check.
But, Command is having none of that, if soldiers are willing to defy orders at such a crucial moment, what good are they for then? So, in its infinite wisdom, Command makes a simple change, humans will be removed from the equation, and the handling of nukes will be left to a Central Computer, managed by an advanced AI.
What could possibly go wrong?
But, Command is having none of that, if soldiers are willing to defy orders at such a crucial moment, what good are they for then? So, in its infinite wisdom, Command makes a simple change, humans will be removed from the equation, and the handling of nukes will be left to a Central Computer, managed by an advanced AI.
What could possibly go wrong?
Enter, our protagonist, David, pretty good with computers and games, pretty bad at everything else, with his usual escapades involving him hacking into his school’s system to change his grades, cause they just leave the password somewhere easily available, 1980s Cybersecurity at its finest everybody.
Watching an ad from a game company, he gets pretty hyped about its future releases, but, he is an impatient boy, therefore he decides to hack into their system, and maybe play the games before everybody else.
On his quest, he stumbles upon a pretty strange system, an unmarked one which solely asks for a password input, playing around with it, he gets some clues, so off he goes to do 80% of what hacking actually is, social engineering.
He manages to find the password, and, sees a pretty interesting list of games, raging from chess, to Global Thermonuclear War, of course, he wants to play the cooler one.
Picking the Soviets as his faction, he plays Global Thermonuclear War against the computer.
But, is it really a game? To the computer it isn’t.
Inadvertently, he had found a backdoor to the US Nuclear Defense System, shhh! Don’t tell the Soviets.
Since the computer can’t differentiate between what’s real and what isn’t, it will do what its programmed to do, to win Global Thermonuclear War, at any cost.
When David realizes what he has done, there are already FBI agents behind him, now, he must find a way to stop the AI from starting WW3, while everyone thinks he is a Soviet sleeper agent.
Watching an ad from a game company, he gets pretty hyped about its future releases, but, he is an impatient boy, therefore he decides to hack into their system, and maybe play the games before everybody else.
On his quest, he stumbles upon a pretty strange system, an unmarked one which solely asks for a password input, playing around with it, he gets some clues, so off he goes to do 80% of what hacking actually is, social engineering.
He manages to find the password, and, sees a pretty interesting list of games, raging from chess, to Global Thermonuclear War, of course, he wants to play the cooler one.
Picking the Soviets as his faction, he plays Global Thermonuclear War against the computer.
But, is it really a game? To the computer it isn’t.
Inadvertently, he had found a backdoor to the US Nuclear Defense System, shhh! Don’t tell the Soviets.
Since the computer can’t differentiate between what’s real and what isn’t, it will do what its programmed to do, to win Global Thermonuclear War, at any cost.
When David realizes what he has done, there are already FBI agents behind him, now, he must find a way to stop the AI from starting WW3, while everyone thinks he is a Soviet sleeper agent.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Did you think I would spoil this movie? No sir, this one is a good one, and, even though it clocks in at almost 2 hours long, its pacing is so good, its barely noticeable.
Even though it shows its age at times, the message and themes themselves are still relevant today, and, for good reason, it has earned itself cult movie status.
Especially when pointing out the ever increasing reliance on tech, makes this movie almost prophetic in some regards.
It would have been easy to have a Skynet or AM situation, in which the AI becomes self-aware and wipes out humanity, I mean, this movie was released 1 year before Terminator, it would have played more in line with the specific fears of technology which were becoming more and more prominent at the time, instead, this movie opted to go for a more, somewhat grounded idea, if anything, it understands computing at a more deeper level than Terminator (and even Matrix), or any AI bro from today.
The fact they went out of their way to have consultants on set for anything computers, goes a long way.
It is refreshing to see an actual understanding of Machine Learning, instead of all the buzzwords and almost magical attributes its given these days.
Yet, the movie, even though is dealing with such complex ideas, it doesn’t forget, that it must first and foremost, be entertaining, at first glance, its a pretty simple execution of complex ideas, yet, this is a movie which can make you think about the application of AI in warfare, and about Machine Learning, and what uses it could have, among many other things, which is why this movie is so good, it will make sure you remember it, solely by thinking about what it presents to you.
The way the AI is handled in this movie, is how someone like Asimov would have done it, sober and logical, instead of all the crazy and impossible capabilities that are given to AI which have infuriatingly become common tropes for AI, which is what pretty much all Sci-Fi has taken as gospel.
It is quite interesting, the way the use simple games to teach certain things to the Machine, like tic-tac-toe to explain the essence of MAD Doctrine, although fiction, its application can be feasible, good Sci-Fi should always have a certain degree of feasibility after all.
Makes me wonder what kind of abuse we can give to a learning AI, maybe have it play through The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy adventure game to teach it absurdism, or have it play I Wanna be The Guy so it learns frustration, the sky is the limit.
Also, there is a sequel… Which sucks, so lets move on.
If you are interested on another movie which tackles Nuclear Warfare in a more political matter, check out Dr. Strangelove, a personal favorite may I add.
Even though it shows its age at times, the message and themes themselves are still relevant today, and, for good reason, it has earned itself cult movie status.
Especially when pointing out the ever increasing reliance on tech, makes this movie almost prophetic in some regards.
It would have been easy to have a Skynet or AM situation, in which the AI becomes self-aware and wipes out humanity, I mean, this movie was released 1 year before Terminator, it would have played more in line with the specific fears of technology which were becoming more and more prominent at the time, instead, this movie opted to go for a more, somewhat grounded idea, if anything, it understands computing at a more deeper level than Terminator (and even Matrix), or any AI bro from today.
The fact they went out of their way to have consultants on set for anything computers, goes a long way.
It is refreshing to see an actual understanding of Machine Learning, instead of all the buzzwords and almost magical attributes its given these days.
Yet, the movie, even though is dealing with such complex ideas, it doesn’t forget, that it must first and foremost, be entertaining, at first glance, its a pretty simple execution of complex ideas, yet, this is a movie which can make you think about the application of AI in warfare, and about Machine Learning, and what uses it could have, among many other things, which is why this movie is so good, it will make sure you remember it, solely by thinking about what it presents to you.
The way the AI is handled in this movie, is how someone like Asimov would have done it, sober and logical, instead of all the crazy and impossible capabilities that are given to AI which have infuriatingly become common tropes for AI, which is what pretty much all Sci-Fi has taken as gospel.
It is quite interesting, the way the use simple games to teach certain things to the Machine, like tic-tac-toe to explain the essence of MAD Doctrine, although fiction, its application can be feasible, good Sci-Fi should always have a certain degree of feasibility after all.
Makes me wonder what kind of abuse we can give to a learning AI, maybe have it play through The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy adventure game to teach it absurdism, or have it play I Wanna be The Guy so it learns frustration, the sky is the limit.
Also, there is a sequel… Which sucks, so lets move on.
If you are interested on another movie which tackles Nuclear Warfare in a more political matter, check out Dr. Strangelove, a personal favorite may I add.
What About a Nice Game Of…
Unsurprisingly, this movie had a few videogame adaptations, well, loosely based and inspired by is the best we get, but, its something.
As for their quality, well, you know how it goes from movie screen to game, so, quality all over the place, as you would expect.
Coleco made one, which they had for the ColecoVision and later ported to the C64 and Atari 8-bit, just looking at gameplay of it… Pretty confusing, its played from the perspective of the US and you have to intercept Soviet attacks, if you think about it, its kinda like the game in the movie, surprisingly, this is one of the most accurate ones, I guess.
There is also WarGames: Defcon 1, which is an RTS for the PS1, its on The Repo btw, but, console RTS, that’s a big nope from me, its loosely based on the movie, so more like its own thing rather than being connected.
A UK Studio made Computer War for the Atari 8-bit, it has some similarities with the Coleco one, being about intercepting Soviet attacks, but, this one, also has a light puzzle element, in general, pretty similar to one of The Last Starfighter games I covered last time, I mean, there is only so much that could be done with the Atari 8-bit.
There is also an Australian game named Thermonuclear Wargames, a text adventure with graphics, which loosely follows the events of the movie, although, with some small changes to avoid a DMCA, its more like, copying the homework but changing little things to make it believable kinda situation.
As for their quality, well, you know how it goes from movie screen to game, so, quality all over the place, as you would expect.
Coleco made one, which they had for the ColecoVision and later ported to the C64 and Atari 8-bit, just looking at gameplay of it… Pretty confusing, its played from the perspective of the US and you have to intercept Soviet attacks, if you think about it, its kinda like the game in the movie, surprisingly, this is one of the most accurate ones, I guess.
There is also WarGames: Defcon 1, which is an RTS for the PS1, its on The Repo btw, but, console RTS, that’s a big nope from me, its loosely based on the movie, so more like its own thing rather than being connected.
A UK Studio made Computer War for the Atari 8-bit, it has some similarities with the Coleco one, being about intercepting Soviet attacks, but, this one, also has a light puzzle element, in general, pretty similar to one of The Last Starfighter games I covered last time, I mean, there is only so much that could be done with the Atari 8-bit.
There is also an Australian game named Thermonuclear Wargames, a text adventure with graphics, which loosely follows the events of the movie, although, with some small changes to avoid a DMCA, its more like, copying the homework but changing little things to make it believable kinda situation.
For a while, it was all quiet on the gaming front.
Until, Introversion made Defcon in 2006, which has clear influences from this movie (and Dr. Strangelove), yet, once more, this game is more based on the Global Thermonuclear War game rather than the movie itself, making use of simple graphics, but, this game does have its accolades, mostly cause it has been used in a scientific study regarding its impact on people, very interesting read, only 40 pages.
If you are interested on that, just look up Concordia University’s Defcon study, the article’s full name is “Education from inside the bunker: Examining the effect of Defcon, a nuclear warfare simulation game, on nuclear attitudes and critical reflection.”
A TLDR of it, is that the way DEFCON plays, gives a hands on experience on what it would be like for someone in power to deal with a Nuclear War, showing how haunting death tolls in the millions can be, juxtaposed with how easy it is to solely move pieces on a board, making the people examined understand what the AI in the movie came to understand, the only strategy for Global Thermonuclear Warfare.
The game reflects the movie’s themes and message, rather than be a direct adaptation, and it shows a lot of understanding of MAD Doctrine and Game Theory.
Until, Introversion made Defcon in 2006, which has clear influences from this movie (and Dr. Strangelove), yet, once more, this game is more based on the Global Thermonuclear War game rather than the movie itself, making use of simple graphics, but, this game does have its accolades, mostly cause it has been used in a scientific study regarding its impact on people, very interesting read, only 40 pages.
If you are interested on that, just look up Concordia University’s Defcon study, the article’s full name is “Education from inside the bunker: Examining the effect of Defcon, a nuclear warfare simulation game, on nuclear attitudes and critical reflection.”
A TLDR of it, is that the way DEFCON plays, gives a hands on experience on what it would be like for someone in power to deal with a Nuclear War, showing how haunting death tolls in the millions can be, juxtaposed with how easy it is to solely move pieces on a board, making the people examined understand what the AI in the movie came to understand, the only strategy for Global Thermonuclear Warfare.
The game reflects the movie’s themes and message, rather than be a direct adaptation, and it shows a lot of understanding of MAD Doctrine and Game Theory.
Finally, the Wargame series by Eugen Systems, although themed around the Cold War, has no relation to the movie.
Well, there is a mobile game, but, who cares? Its a mobile game.
Well, there is a mobile game, but, who cares? Its a mobile game.
In Global Thermonuclear War the only strategy is to…
And that’s that, I didn’t expect I will be covering a game which has been used in a study, I just wanted an excuse to cover this movie.
Still is worth a watch, and its interesting how relevant the topics of reliance on AI are now more than ever, it just comes to show, that old movies were built different, and, even thought made with obvious fears of the time, they can still be relevant in the future if handled properly.
Will you give it a watch?
Still is worth a watch, and its interesting how relevant the topics of reliance on AI are now more than ever, it just comes to show, that old movies were built different, and, even thought made with obvious fears of the time, they can still be relevant in the future if handled properly.
Will you give it a watch?
Last edited:
.
