Welcome to Outrage, Outrage, Outrage! A 5-part documentary podcast that looks into controversies in different aspects of our media.
In the inaugural episode of the podcast we take a look at a little game that told us war has never been so much fun... and ruffled a few feathers along the way.
CANNON FODDER.
So listen in as your podcasting host chats to game producer Jon Hare and magazine editor Stuart Campbell, who tell us about the furor surrounding the game and its marketing.
The game itself is a simple shooter, tasking you with controlling a small platoon across a map in order to wipe out the enemy. It’s retro gaming heaven.
But it was this promotional image which caused upset when the game was released for the Commodore Amiga in 1993. The British Legion took umbrage with the use of the poppy, and tabloid The Daily Star spotted a juicy story, and poor old Jon came under fire.
But if that wasn’t enough, The Star went after Amiga Power, too, due to their having the poppy (the Cannon Fodder version anyway) on the cover of the December 1993 issue.
This is not the original cover, but rather the hastily altered version that publishers cobbled together to dodge the ire of the British Legion.
And before we even get to all that, we take a little stroll through the annals of controversial video games past, such as Mortal Combat and Night Trap. These two games so worried people at the time of their release that congress took up the issue, ultimately resulting in the establishment of the video games ratings system.
The guests
Jon Hare is a legendary computer game producer, known for his time with Sensible Software, and particularly flagship games like Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder - now retro gaming classics - among many more.
These days Jon is still making killer games, and you can find the Sensible Soccer revival, Sociable Soccer, here… and here…
Stuart Campbell is a games designer and former journalist, who was the editor of Amiga Power at the time of Cannon Fodder’s release. He then went on to join Jon is Sensible Software, working on Cannon Fodder 2 among other titles.
Stuart now writes on his political blog Wings over Scotland https://wingsoverscotland.com/
And on video games, media, politics, snacks and other things here http://wosland.podgamer.com/
OUTRAGE! OUTRAGE! OUTRAGE!
In the beginning there was an explosion, that filled an impossible void. And then there were planets that defined something from the nothingness. Then came life… first minute, then large and cumbersome, and then… man. And man had to learn to survive, to make fire, to find meaning in life. And once all that was sorted out, man learned to get annoyed about stuff. So this is a podcast about some controversies… not the big stuff… not war or politics or corporate fraud or any of that… controversies you may not have even know happened, or how weird they were.
So join Andy Smith on a five-part miniseries delving into four little controversies in four different aspects of our media.
