| JFK: Reloaded | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Traffic Software |
| Designer(s) | Kirk Ewing (Marketing Director) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date(s) | November 22, 2004[1] |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | Download |
JFK: Reloaded is a "historical simulation" quasi-video game, designed to recreate the John F. Kennedy assassination. It is noted for its controversial subject matter, and was released November 22, 2004 (the 41st anniversary of the event) by Scotland-based Traffic Games. The game's developers insisted their intentions were to "bring history to life", and help prove the Warren Commission's findings.[2]
Contents |
JFK: Reloaded puts the player in the role of Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The player is then scored on how closely one's version of the assassination matches the report of the Warren Commission. According to the company, the primary aim of the game was "to establish the most likely facts of what happened on 1963-11-22 by running the world’s first mass-participation forensic construction", the theory being that a player could help prove that Lee Harvey Oswald had the "means and the opportunity to commit the crime", and thus help prove the Warren Commission's findings.[3]
Players were able to submit scores, rating how close their version of events were to the Warren Commission's, for a competition that ended on February 22, 2005.[4] The competition promised winnings of "up to" $100,000, but the final prize was just $10,712.[5] Afterwards, the competition option was disabled and the cost of the simulator was reduced to $4.99. It was later offered for free download before the official website closed in August 2005.
JFK: Reloaded was condemned by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, the late President Kennedy's brother, as "despicable"; and by Sen. Joseph Lieberman who "was sickened by the game."[6] Children NOW, an organization that promotes safer media for children, dismissed Traffic Media's claims that JFK: Reloaded has educational merit. Director Christy Glaubke commented "I would think the only [lesson it teaches] is how to be an assassin."[6] The game, however, was explicitly not intended for children.[7]
Kirk Ewing, the Traffic's Managing Director, said "We genuinely believe that, if we get enough people participating, we'll be able to disprove, once and for all, any notion that someone else was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy."[8]
In "Raw", a 2005 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, "BlitzkriegKids.com", the website of a teenage neo-Nazi, has a link to the game. This catches the eye of Detective Munch, a devoted Kennedy admirer who believes many of the conspiracy theories surrounding his assassination, at which point Fin assures his partner that it is not something he wants to see.