Next CoD possibly in Vietnam....

[Damien_Azreal]

Source.... (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/03/rumor-next-call-of-duty-possibly-set-in-vietnam/)

Treyarch's Noah Heller mentioned shortly before the release of Call of Duty: World at War that the developer was probably going to lay off World War II for a while, leaving many to wonder what the stage of operations for the next CoD would be. If a report from That VideoGame Blog proves accurate, Activision may be taking the franchise to a much groovier era -- the 1960s. (Anno Domini, that is -- though who are we to assume 1960 B.C. wasn't equally groovy?)

TVGB is reporting that an anonymous, "trusted" source informed them Activision's been looking to license "Vietnam War era tunes, as well as Cuban, African, and Soviet Union music." The source mentioned that Heller (and, assumedly, Treyarch) is involved in the aforementioned license hunting. As with all rumors spawned by anonymous tipsters, we encourage you to take this rumor with a two-ton boulder of salt -- just to be safe, we've contacted Activision for a comment.


Now that would be pure badass. :D I've been hoping for a top quality Vietnam based FPS for LONG time. I know news like this could make Hudson happy. ;)

[Echo Black]

Should be good. Pity it's not IW, though.

[Hudson]

It's about damn time!

[Damien_Azreal]

World at War was definitely a step up for Treyarch, much better than their previous work.

[Telee]

I liked CoD3, from what I played of it.

Never played WaW but I'm still excited for this.

[Damien_Azreal]

CoD3 was... average. It wasn't bad, but it was pretty much CoD2. So, it didn't really stand out.

WaW is actually good, it's fun, gritty and looks great. Only short coming is it's length... had the single player campaign been longer it would've been a much better package.

[someguy2435]

World at War was a competent game, and I liked it even though it had no new ideas. I hope this Vietnam game is good.

[Ironside]

Oh thank the heavens!

[Acid]

About time for a good Vietnam game. If it's at the same quality as WaW then ill be Happy.

[Daveman]

I can't wait for them to tell a story of how the VC were really backed by the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro. :doh:

[Damien_Azreal]

That will be the hard part. Doing a realistic story of Vietnam, but still make it gripping and fun to play as a US soldier.

[Amakou]

That will be the hard part. Doing a realistic story of Vietnam, but still make it gripping and fun to play as a US soldier.

Vietnam and fun to be an American don't do hand in hand. :p

~Amakou~

[Damien_Azreal]

That's the problem.

The US soldiers were not heroes of that war, we didn't do great things there. It's going to be a challenge to do the game properly without falling back on cheap stereotypes and making it campy.

[Amakou]

It's going to be a challenge to do the game properly without falling back on cheap stereotypes and making it campy.

Or without being completely tasteless. "My Lai minigame, anyone?"

....That's horrible....

~Amakou~

[Damien_Azreal]

Yep. Very true.

[Blue Lightning]

That's the problem.

The US soldiers were not heroes of that war, we didn't do great things there. It's going to be a challenge to do the game properly without falling back on cheap stereotypes and making it campy.

Most Americans were not doing bad things there. Most didnt want to be in that war, but fought hard for their fellow soldiers. Of course there were a few units that did some shameful things. But many of those units were getting orders from higher up. That's always the way it is.

Unlike WWII, Vietnam was HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL AND POLITICAL, all the way down to the battlefield. To do a proper game, they will have to "get political" also. Probebly it would be good to have music of the 60's going, like we saw in the flood of 1980's Vietnam movies.

Those movies I thought were accurate and very good. "Good morning Vietnam", "Hamburger Hill", "Full Metal Jacket" and "Platoon". Hell, even "First Blood" pointed out some problems that arose from that war. Plus much filming of the war was done. The devs have a lot of media to draw some ideas from...

[razgriz]

Hope we get napalm based air strikes at our command.

[Blue Lightning]

Unfortianatly, Napalm was one of those "bad things" we did.

---------- Post added at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 PM ----------

We know COD's formula...to play a soldier from a few different countries. I wonder if we will play a French soldier? I wonder if we will play an NVA soldier?

[Ironside]

I wouldn't mind smuggling drugs back to the homeland via Air America. Oh yes the battle for control of the golden triangle. damn some good drugs came out of that place and ushered in a new era of getting so damn high!

[Decker]

The only problem I have with this whole Treyarch-COD- pipeline is that they're injecting B+ titles into an otherwise AAA franchise.

A vietnam based COD does sound good, though. There's another IW title coming before it, so Treyarch can mooch off any good, new gameplay mechanics from that.

[SyntaxN]

This would be the first CoD i buy since CoD 1 :D

[razgriz]

Unfortianatly, Napalm was one of those "bad things" we did.[COLOR="Silver"]


Sorry for sounding insensitive.

[Blue Lightning]

Ah, dont worry about it. War is hell.

[Damien_Azreal]

Most Americans were not doing bad things there. Most didnt want to be in that war, but fought hard for their fellow soldiers. Of course there were a few units that did some shameful things. But many of those units were getting orders from higher up. That's always the way it is.


My wife's dad was in Vietnam... he told a few stories before he passed away. Trust me... the American soldiers did horrible things over there. Truly horrible.

[hanged_man]

Most Americans were not doing bad things there. Most didnt want to be in that war, but fought hard for their fellow soldiers. Of course there were a few units that did some shameful things. But many of those units were getting orders from higher up. That's always the way it is.


You're justifying the killing, raping and invading people who are living in a different continent just for protecting their buddies !!! if they didn't invader other people's land then they wouldn't have to "protect their buddies" in the first place

[Daveman]

I think what Blue is saying is that it's not the fault of the soldiers that they were there. I think the "bad things" go beyond the worst atrocities (which can be blamed on the soldiers); it was a crime that we were there at all, and that much can't be blamed on the soldiers.

[Damien_Azreal]

Yes, I agree that many soldiers did not want to be there, and it wasn't their fault.

But to say that most soldiers were not doing horrible things, or that it was just a few units... that's really ignoring a large portion of what happened during that conflict.

And it's going to be a big challenge to make a game that feels heroic or patriotic when fighting a losing battle. Specially with so many horrible things happening around you, caused by people you are supposed to be fighting along side of.

That's what I would like to see. A depiction of the war form the view of a soldier who's truly caught in the middle. Someone who didn't really want to be there, who's just trying to survive... but is forced to fight for his life and witnesses his fellow soldiers doing such horrible things.
If a studio did a Vietnam based game and did it properly... they could make an epic, and very emotional war game.

[Daveman]

Also, there should probably be a suicide segment a couple years after returning from the war...if we're going to be faithful here (http://www.brianwillson.com/awolvetmemo.html).

[someguy2435]

About time for a good Vietnam game. If it's at the same quality as WaW then ill be Happy.

Vietcong and Men of Valor. Good Vietnam games were already made.

[Damien_Azreal]

Vietcong is good, but can be very boring and dull. Plus the US release was edited. Men of Valor... ugh... huge letdown.

A fun shooter, but as a Vietnam shooter it's a filled with bad stereo-typical soldiers and overly campy dialog.

[Phait]

VC2 was quite cool how it wove in story/narrative with the scenes between action, I oughta get it again.

[Blue Lightning]

Yes, I agree that many soldiers did not want to be there, and it wasn't their fault.

But to say that most soldiers were not doing horrible things, or that it was just a few units... that's really ignoring a large portion of what happened during that conflict.

but is forced to fight for his life and witnesses his fellow soldiers doing such horrible things.

You make it sound as if most or all of our troops were doing terrible things! It was the exception, not the rule. Yes, a few units were doing shameful things, but certainly not a large part of US armned forces. The dropping of napalm and agent orange was another bad thing that still to this day haunts Vietnamese in the form of birth defects, so I guess that has to be included too. But that was pentagon stratagy which shouldnt of been implemented.

I'm not defending that we were there, hell we shouldnt of went. I'm saying that you shouldnt lump "bad deeds" to the whole US armned forces.

[Damien_Azreal]

Blue... I didn't, never and never will say all the US soldiers were other there doing horrible things.
But a fare share did truly disgusting and absolutely terrible things to the innocent people that lived there.

And yes, at times commanding officers on the field (not back in the bases and such) did tell the soldiers kill everyone. The men, women and children... no matter how young.

But there was a large portion of soldiers that would either crack under the stress or get a taste for bloodlust going and did horrible things.

[Hudson]

I think Battlefield Vietnam did it perfect, however it was a MP game..

[Blue Lightning]

Blue... I didn't, never and never will say all the US soldiers were other there doing horrible things.
But a fare share did truly disgusting and absolutely terrible things to the innocent people that lived there.

And yes, at times commanding officers on the field (not back in the bases and such) did tell the soldiers kill everyone. The men, women and children... no matter how young.

But there was a large portion of soldiers that would either crack under the stress or get a taste for bloodlust going and did horrible things.

Well before you had said "most" were doing terrible deeds, and that I would disagree with. However, the general term you use here "a large portion"...that I can agree with, since "large" isnt defined as "most".

I know a guy who was in Nam....Dave is his name. We were having a beer one night at a local tavern. He is a real mess...psycological damage is telling, but he is a real nice guy. He is sick though with a tumor...I dont think he will make it much longer.

Anyway, we were drinking, and he started talking about Vietnam, which he does a lot when he drinks. He was telling me about a night when his unit came upon a village. They surrounded the village and gathered up everyone in the middle. Later, he was guarding the outskirts of the village, when he heard some screams. He ran into the village to see what was going on and several of the huts were being burned down. A couple of soldiers took a women and her kids and threw them in a ditch. She was crying, and one of the soldiers was "getting ready" to rape her.

Dave put his rifle in the guys face and told him to walk the other way and never look back. The guy (who's face turned white), and his buddy couldnt believe it, and started to ask him "what the hell he think's he's doing"? Dave told them to start walking, and he was not going to tell them again. Litaraly shaking, the two guys left. Then he helped the lady and her kids out of the ditch, and kept an eye on them for the rest of the night until their unit left the next day.

There were a lot of soldiers like that also.

[Damien_Azreal]

Vietnam was horrible. If you were a good soldier... or one of the ones who lost it... a truly horrible experience.
And the various illnesses brought on from exposure to Napalm and such... just very sad. :( People in the family said that when Ken (my wife's dad) came back from Nam he was completely different.
Started drinking bad and lost his calm, prone to fights of anger and horrible flashbacks. Holding up in the basement of the house out of fear and anger.


And yeah, I know I said most... because even those who were just trying to survive or fight for their country... they were still ordered to do truly vile things. If by choice or not... a lot of good soldiers were still ordered to kill innocent women and children and horrific ways.
Documented cases of bashing babies heads in with rocks and such. :(

Doing a realistic depiction of Vietnam in a game could be incredibly challenging. I hope they are up for the task, I really do... as I would love to play it. But I hope they don't chicken out and go the campy, safer route.

[Sang]

That's what I would like to see. A depiction of the war form the view of a soldier who's truly caught in the middle. Someone who didn't really want to be there, who's just trying to survive... but is forced to fight for his life and witnesses his fellow soldiers doing such horrible things.
If a studio did a Vietnam based game and did it properly... they could make an epic, and very emotional war game.

So basically: Play as Charlie Sheen from Platoon? Yeah something like that could be cool.

As for the horrible actions: Perhaps you can show some but the question is how far can you go with that without having it border on being tasteless?

[Damien_Azreal]

Yep.
It'll be a difficult task to pull of properly.

[Daveman]

I'm going to go ahead and say there's no way they'll actually put anything like My Lai in the game. Yeah, it's unfair because a movie could get away with it, but I don't trust any developer to capture the horror of it all faithfully, so it's probably good that they just stay way.

[Superczar]

Raping and pillaging isn't something that we just invented during Vietnam. Been happening for just about every war that ever took place. Why cry about it now in a war game?

[Lt.Havoc]

Hehe, its about time we get a decent game set in Vietnam. "You gotta love the NAM chees *censored*"!

"People always asking me, what are we doing in Vietnam. WE are trying to win and we would, if the politcans wouldnt let us fight with one hand tied around our balls all the time!"

Just some random Vietnam Movie quotes. I would really like a game set in NAM.

[Ironside]

Yeah a good Nam game will go down nice. Booby traps galore!

[Sang]

Raping and pillaging isn't something that we just invented during Vietnam. Been happening for just about every war that ever took place. Why cry about it now in a war game?

Because the Vietnam War is probably best known as the war where the US did some pretty ****** up shit.

[ultimatemurder]

I had jainator at my old high school and one day he just lost it and had a flash back to nam and he just broke down they had to call the police.

But yeah I've been waitning for an above average vietnam shooter scince bf:v

[Nessus]

I don't see why they have to get political or address the war as a whole. Just tell one mans story, him and his unit. I don't need to hear a bunch of game designers opinion on the whole thing anyway.

I'd love for them to recreate some Carlos Hathcock sniper missions too. Marine Sniper was on the best war books I ever read, there are some truly great scenes in it that would be awesome to play.

[engineer]

Oh yes, a game that brow-beats the player with constant My Lai recreations and telling him what a bad person you are for fighting in the war! That'll sell!

Injecting a syringe of "My Lai Syndrome" into a Vietnam game would make the game less of a CoD title and more of a really crappy and slanted moral puzzle with some shooting mixed in. It's plagued most Vietnam movies to the point they're un-watchable.

[Sang]

Oh yes, a game that brow-beats the player with telling him what a bad person you are for fighting in the war! That'll sell!

Why wouldn't it?

[LadiesAndGentlemen]

When they're done with this game they should consider making Concentration Camp Tycoon.

[engineer]

For the same reason a game about the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocides wouldn't sell.

Also, players want to kill a "clear" enemy- they do not want to worry if the 8 year old kid he's handing a chocolate bar to in a cutscene has a Makarov/hand grenade in his pants.

[Sang]

For the same reason a game about the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocides wouldn't sell.

Which is?

Also, players want to kill a "clear" enemy- they do not want to worry if the 8 year old kid he's handing a chocolate bar to in a cutscene has a Makarov/hand grenade in his pants.

Obviously a game like this might not be intended for your typical run-and-gun FPS fan. Personally I am quite intrigued by the thought that anyone can be an enemy and that you have to be on your guard at all times. If that is executed well that's a timeless classic right there.