China goes after Japan in new game

Communist party hopes to facilitate patriotism among growing gaming community with Anti-Japan War Online.

In many war games today, two sides are often at odds with each other, typically one seen as "good guys" and the other as "bad guys." World of Warcraft has the Alliance versus the Horde, Halo has humans versus the alien Covenant, and several World War II games allow players to pick sides, be it the Allied or Axis factions. These games, and several others, allow players to suit up on either side of the rift. WoW depends on gamers to play as orc characters, and Halo 2 allows gamers to suit up as a Covenant Elite in both the multiplayer and single-player modes.

It seems China's Communist Party, not historically known for showing the whole picture, has a different idea toward gaming. According to Interfax China, the not-so-subtly named Anti-Japan War Online, a new game from Chinese developer PowerNet Technology, is being sponsored by the China Communist Youth League to help create a sense of patriotism among China's exploding gaming community by allowing them to crush their offshore neighbors digitally.

In the game, players suit up as one of 17 Chinese characters from all walks of life, and defend their country from the invading Japanese during World War II. Looking to see it from the other side? Not going to happen. The game not only forbids gamers from playing as the Japanese, but also, according to The Guardian Unlimited, the developers made the Japanese side more ugly.

"Our developers hate Japan, so they want to make the game very provocative, but the team leaders have tried to tone down the violence," one project manager, Liu Junfeng of PowerNet Technology, told the Guardian.

The massively multiplayer online role-playing game is currently in beta testing and is expected to be available to the public by the end of the year.

The CCLY will also be working on future titles to help "educate" young players and generate a "national spirit."

There hasn't been any comment from Japanese officials yet, but don't expect to pick up a copy of the game in Tokyo. When Ubisoft revealed the plotline of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 involved a warmongering North Korean military dictator, the North Korean government was quick to ban the game and denounce it as "propoganda." One newspaper barked, "This may be just a game to [America] now, but a war will not be a game for them later. In war, they will only face miserable defeat and gruesome deaths."

33 Comments

  • Trollbane

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 4:35 pm PT

    looks boring, and what I agree with you ymlf, what is cvo42 writing about

  • ymlf

    Posted Oct 24, 2008 9:35 pm PT

    okay... dont know what the guy below me is on about...

    but anyway, this game isnt much of a big deal... i have played it and ironically, there are more chinese players pvp-ing each other than killing japanese.

  • cvo42

    Posted Apr 29, 2008 11:21 pm PT

    one. if you are an ugly woman, do not expect a beautiful man to want you. even the ugly men don't want. i would not comment upon this, i would rather comment upon what occurs in USA, in reference to USA
    Department of Justice, The British AUthority; and the very sad phenomena of males raping, killing women int hese countries at incredible rates. What happens in war is attributable to the heat of the moment, tension of two systems of ethnic psychology. what is happening in your land britian and usa? where NONE have rights. if you think you have rights, or your daughter, look at the many dead victims who thought they had these. i do not condemn china, it is acceptable. i do NOT invite you foriegn men into my house to look at my daughter or wife, because i know mans nature. it is NOT proper to mix, we do not need another america. i do not want to hear of gangbang rape and killings every day, i do NOT want a loose society where people cannot say hi sincerely, but only YO and whats up. this is stupid thinking and communication. i wil NOT allow a foriegn people to change, subdue my ethnic culture. get out. if you are not russian. stay OUT of russia. if your objective is sex. america is supposed to be this great free country of good people who do no wrong? then why leave? as for rape of women, this country fathered modern pornography which is solely controlled by criminal male organisation; pimps and johns. russia copies model, but this model sets up sexual predative male populations, and killers; it is nationally worthless objective. soviet was better. but you need to grow up in it to realise this; you cannot foriegn comment; you do not inherently know situation. this is problem with western people; especially these english descent peoples. very filthy history! i am currently in a city called montreal; here these english, their presence devastate these people. they exists here for sexual reasons;
    they are NOT compliment people. i am a foriegn on this matter. i know it IS not working. it does not work in america, canada, anywhere.

    if you cannot live by yourself and have peace, how can, like a hypocrit, say you can live with others and have it? if even your own will kill you like you are nothing, what of another? among your own, claim of blood can move the spirit, among another; when things are comparitively bad, what cry do you have? this is the WORLD> not heaven. i do not wlecome china into russia. they are not our people. they are sexual depraved people. that is why 1.3B of them, it is like africa, and like india. huge population relative to support. too much sexual focus. where will they go? to usa? you will allow 100m chinese your country, all sexual men with requirement of 50 women a year? i think not.

    you will allow 1 million japanese men your country when they consider child pornography normal? you want to hand your english child and afrcian child to them to play with? what purpose the child? to rape, assault and indignity. what purpose this american freedom? this sexual intent society? what sane man wanta child in it? coldly rationalise it. wonder why jesus thought 'i do not want to stay here' he saw it all. your own saviour, if you believe in what he spoke, he did NOT love the world; he did not promote world peace, he promoted correct unearthly view. where they say 'peace' upon them great violence. it is not a condition inherent to man who exists apart from correct order. if you know the origin of man, you know this. if not, you are an exterior commentor; you have no right to comment upon what you know not.

    do not come to me with a 'hey' or a hello' you say privet. and you leave my house when your visit is done; if i have given you visa and carefully reviewed your motives. yes i do not trust foriegn males.


    if china invaded usa and straightened you people out, returned all these liars to their father lands; it would be a better world. jefferson was wrong in relation to todays reality. he lived in an age of seperation. not gangbang pimping and gangdom. in his time NO black dated white. NONE> it was understood. you can call this racism? even comparatively the germans when they conquered italy (old age) kept seperate of the latins. it was understood. you respect ETHNIC CULTURES> to say anything that culture is not ethnic. this is very wrong. to call myself by anything by my ethnic culture is wrong. i am not interested in your sister. i am NOT interested in you in my house with my daughter. stay in your land, be free with YOUR people. NUW (never a united world) .

    amen (brotherhood in the true religion not belonging to this world)

  • Darth_Slayer

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 8:05 am PT

    Dang there's a lot of ig'nant sounding Chinese out there, probably a product of their state "education". If you're going to make Nazi comparisons, this is more like the Nazi's putting out a video game where you can smash the shop fronts of Jewish businesses, especially the way these Chinese developers have made the Japanese look ugly - exactly as Nazi propogandists drew Jews with hooked noses. Very sad in our day and age to see a government sponsor racial hatred.

    First of all, the title was badly translated from Chinese, which literally mean "War of Resistance Against Japan Online". I have played this game, now called PK 1937, and the "propaganda" in this game is no different from the various Medal of Honor and Call of Duty games, which did not allow the player to play Axis forces in single-player anyway. Did the Japanese invade your country and committed various civilian rapes and massacres, set up factories for human experiments, or used biological weapons against civilians? Considering the worst America suffered was a naval attack at Pearl Harbor, I don't think Japanophile Americans has any right to judge the Chinese or what they have been through.

    And considering how modern right-wing Japanese deliberately alter their history textbooks and justify their various WWII invasions, including Pearl Harbor as an "act of defence", and how the executed war criminals like Tojo are still enshrined by the Japanese, I think such hatred against Japan is very tame and quite justified.

  • Darth_Slayer

    Posted Mar 19, 2008 7:55 am PT

    If anyone is still interested, the game is now called PK 1937 http://www.pk1937.com/index.html

  • m1rock

    Posted Jun 2, 2007 11:49 pm PT

    Is this game really getting made? Anyone know of any screenshots? Id like to get my hands on it, not for any political reasons, but for that fact that I am a major WWII gaming buff, and im curious about it. Would be one for my collection.

  • StanAce

    Posted Sep 29, 2006 6:33 am PT

    Psycold:
    'I never knew there were that many racist, ignorant Chinese. Kinda sad.'

    You'd be surprise to find out just HOW racist so many 'ignorant' Chinese can be. Racism is practically integrated into their community. My parents for example, are racists themselves. It's just that not every racist will be blatantly racist in their actions.

    Well, I'm another guy of Chinese ethnicity, but of course, I don't hate the Japanese like those stupid Right-Wing Chinese authorities. But that just might be because of the influence I've received from Canadian society.

    It's ridiculous, wars have ended for years, yet people can still have so much hate. The Chinese people, partically those in high places, always seem to be such ignorant and pompous bastards. We can't deny that some things done during the world wars were nasty, but directing hate towards the innocent people of today's generation is not exactly justified.

  • LukeMadrid

    Posted Sep 22, 2006 1:57 am PT

    Well... the rape of Nan'jin (Nan'king) comes to mind. But making "Anti-Japan War Online" is just absurd. It's even like "China Over All Online" or "Protect China" online... but... "Anti-Japan War Online" so absurd.

  • oilrigr

    Posted Sep 21, 2006 2:44 am PT

    Dang there's a lot of ig'nant sounding Chinese out there, probably a product of their state "education". If you're going to make Nazi comparisons, this is more like the Nazi's putting out a video game where you can smash the shop fronts of Jewish businesses, especially the way these Chinese developers have made the Japanese look ugly - exactly as Nazi propogandists drew Jews with hooked noses. Very sad in our day and age to see a government sponsor racial hatred.

  • enigma_nemesis2

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    I agree with anamnawshad. I have a Chinese ethnicity, but I have no hate for the modern Japanese people. In fact, I'm a major fan of all the games, manga, anime, music, etc. that they make

    Every country has had their fair share of cruelty and torture. That includes Russia, United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, China, Japan, Vietnam, etc., etc., etc.

    Every country has sinned before, and several Japanese PMs have apologized for the war crimes during WWII in China in the past. It's time the Chinese accepted this and get along with everyone. Unfortunately, the communist party is using this hate as a means to unite the country (much like America against the Middle Eastern nations). It's disgraceful and shameful. Everyone needs to grow up.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 10:36 am PT

    Japan did a lot of horrible things to Asia during WW-II. But the current generation of Japan wasn't there, so they don't deserve this hatred for their past.......

  • Psycold

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 9:38 am PT

    I never knew there were that many racist, ignorant Chinese. Kinda sad.

  • SilV3RSix

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 7:20 am PT

    AfterAscon
    "@ Ali_Bubble_67 you may be able to forgive them for Pearl Harbour, but thats nothing compared to the scale of what America did by dropping Nuclear weapons on two cities."

    The decision to drop nukes was a political decision to keep Russia out of Japan. If we had invaded the mainland, the Japanese population would have fought to extinction, and Russia would have been happy to take the northern part of the Japanese empire in revenge for the Japanese naval victory over the Ruskies in the (20's?I think). The bottom line is far more people would have died (Japanese, Americans, and Russians) without the nukes.

  • mrtywalsh

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 7:00 am PT

    Tom Clancy games is propaganda.

  • AfterAscon

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 5:48 am PT

    I take it most of you don't know that the next prime minister of Japan has stated that when he gets into power he will repudiate the countrys official apology for the war. This isnt just a recent turnabout either, its an issue that been around for a while now. So how can you forgive a nation who isnt sorry for what it committed?

    @ Ali_Bubble_67 you may be able to forgive them for Pearl Harbour, but thats nothing compared to the scale of what America did by dropping Nuclear weapons on two cities.

  • Ali_Bubble_67

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 5:27 am PT

    Japan Killed 10 Million Chinese during the Occupation of China,, The Japanese preformed medical experiments on live Chinese..The Japanese Raped Chinese women young and old, Killed innocent men and children..Yes, China is a Horrible Communist Country and easy to Attack the Chinese Government..But Consider the Chinese people...Do Jews Forgive Nazis ? Why should Chinese Forgive Japan ??..The Game is Fine !!


    If we can forgive them for Pearl Harbor, then China shouldn't be saying anything.

  • DorotimusWitik

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 3:42 am PT

    Japan Killed 10 Million Chinese during the Occupation of China,, The Japanese preformed medical experiments on live Chinese..The Japanese Raped Chinese women young and old, Killed innocent men and children..Yes, China is a Horrible Communist Country and easy to Attack the Chinese Government..But Consider the Chinese people...Do Jews Forgive Nazis ? Why should Chinese Forgive Japan ??..The Game is Fine !!

    First, there are no more nazis really to forgive, second, Jewish people don't harbor any hatred at all towards Germany and more live in Berlin than the vast majority of other cities with exceptions only in places like New York City...

    Second, the Japanese are a people. If the China were simply harboring hatred of the WWII Japanese military ruling presence, that might be acceptable. But this... this is just racism.

  • Bmaa

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 12:59 am PT

    XDXDXD

    I'm gonna play this game as soon as I can. Not that I hate Japan or anything... Just for the comedic value.

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Sep 20, 2006 12:52 am PT

    HAHAHA, THIS IS FUNNY!

  • tehbighead

    Posted Sep 19, 2006 10:11 pm PT

    this is more akin to the jews' ongoing hatred toward present day germany. . . which doesn't exist. regime change is a beautiful thing.

  • OhlalaCapitaine

    Posted Jun 29, 2006 3:27 am PT

    Japan Killed 10 Million Chinese during the Occupation of China,, The Japanese preformed medical experiments on live Chinese..The Japanese Raped Chinese women young and old, Killed innocent men and children..Yes, China is a Horrible Communist Country and easy to Attack the Chinese Government..But Consider the Chinese people...Do Jews Forgive Nazis ? Why should Chinese Forgive Japan ??..The Game is Fine !!

  • warrior1010

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:28 pm PT

    A Video game about the Nationalist Chinese vs. Japan would be cool. If both sides were represented. But this??? This is ridiculous!

  • DrKill09

    Posted May 31, 2006 4:09 am PT

    what a title!

  • TorugotoShinsan

    Posted May 31, 2006 3:40 am PT

    Really if any videogame should be banned, that pile of racist crap should be

  • Argama7

    Posted May 31, 2006 1:16 am PT

    I think this is quite possibly one of the lowest moments in gaming history. How the hell does prejudice make a game fun?

  • chinaguy2003

    Posted May 30, 2006 11:20 pm PT

    This is really sad.

  • whateverman1579

    Posted May 30, 2006 4:57 pm PT

    why can't we all just get along? :-P that'll never happen...

  • bladewarrior7

    Posted May 30, 2006 3:31 pm PT

    so its a massively multiplayer game with one faction. whats wrong with this picture. add to that the insane racism and this is just a terrible game.

  • KamaKase

    Posted May 30, 2006 2:43 pm PT

    That's a pretty disgusting pile of prejudice right there.

  • Jamaipanese

    Posted May 30, 2006 2:12 pm PT

    this game serves no purpose what-so-ever

  • alpha_company

    Posted May 15, 2006 10:36 am PT

    Go go go. Nuke em guys.

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Tags

china

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!

Related Game

Anti-Japan War Online

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close

Related Games

Recent News

See All News »

Site Blogs