The Video Game Critic

I wonder if Germans play WWII games. I hope they do and play on the Allies side. The good people of Germany today have nothing in common with their ancestors. Any Germans out there or peeps who have lived there?

Not a German, but considering you can play as terrorists in Counter-Strike, anything's possible.

I know what you mean. I always wonder if Koopas and Goombas play Mario Bros.

There were still a lot of good Germans during WWII.

I've heard almost nothing but good things about German sailors in particular. While there were a few bad apples like the captain of U-852 that ordered the survivors of one of her victims to be shot (An action that he was tried after the war and executed for), more often than not the stories show that they were decent human beings.

Stories of U-boats spotting lifeboats in the water, surfacing next to them, and providing provisions while giving a compass reading for the nearest land and offering to take the most sick and wounded with them were far from uncommon accounts. Many an Allied merchant seaman owes their survival in part to the crews of the very vessels that were forced to target them due to the war and the necessity to hinder Allied shipping.

Another captain in the waning hours of the war had one of the Cunard 'Queens', well known as being virtually invulnerable from submarine attack due to their great speed that allowed them to sail unescorted across the North Atlantic without even the need to zig-zag, in his periscope with an ideal firing solution available that all but guaranteed a kill.

The chance to destroy one of the most important vessel's for the Allied war effort was a submariner's dream (RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth routinely carried well over 15,000 America troops to Britain each trip). But instead of possibly sending 20,000 men to a watery grave with no chance of any benefit being derived from it at such a late date for the German war effort that was so obviously lost, he didn't fire.

Wargaming should use historical groups to up the emotional stakes. Compare a games like Squad Leader or Axis and Allies versus generic groups in Risk or Advance Wars. I love Advance Wars, but I have zero emotional stake in the fates of Green Earth or Blue Moon. Fighting over Europe? Now thats important.

Back in June Apple removed US Civil War games from iTunes because they used the controversial flag. They restored many of them a few days later after some thought.

When I play as a U boat skipper, it has some emotional impact...you don't celebrate sinkings of cargo ships, but destroyers can all go rust. When I play as an Allied pilot of a bomber, you don't celebrate strategic bombing runs, but the luftwaffe can all go rust. Fortunately its all just a game.