Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Want to practice your illegal alien smuggling skills? There’s an app for that

A new iPhone/iPad app is set to be released next month. This new controversial game is called “Smuggle Truck- Operation Immigration,” and it allows gamers to fill their truck with as many illegal “immigrants” as they can and race across the desert landscape into America.

“Smuggle Truck was inspired by the frustration our friends have experienced in trying to immigrate to the United States. With such a troublesome issue being largely avoided in popular media, especially video games, we felt the best way to criticize it was with an interactive satire,” said app creators Owlchemy Labs.

“This idea originated as a result of learning that the process of legal immigration was not as straightforward as we had assumed,” the game designer said. “As we lived through a painful 12 months of our friend struggling through the absurd legal minefield that surrounds U.S. immigration, we felt that we should create a game that touches on the issue.”

The satirical game came about after immigration discussions sparked a very real concern. "It's so tough to legally immigrate to the U.S., it's almost easier to smuggle yourself over the border."

The game’s goal is to load up a truck with passengers and quickly speed across a fictional border. Drive too fast up-and-down the hillsides and your “immigrants” will fall off of the truck and reduce your illegal alien tally.

The game’s designers claimed that they kept a “meticulous eye (in order) to avoid depicting stereotypes and specific locales. Through user testing and feedback from fellow developers and random strangers, we worked to represent the game in a more abstracted form.”

Owlchemy Labs hopes the fictional, satirical game will spark attention to America’s very real immigration issues.

To preview the iPhone or iPad app; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_wBzcnoRPag

For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/kimberly-dvorak

© Copyright 2011 Kimberly Dvorak All Rights Reserved.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Want to practice your illegal alien smuggling skills? There’s an app for that - San Diego County Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/want-to-practice-your-illegal-alien-smuggling-skills-there-s-an-app-for-that#ixzz1DUWbwSZy

No comments:

Post a Comment