NEW YORK, Nov 21 KRT/PA - An internet game that lets players pretend they are Lee Harvey Oswald has been launched ahead of tomorrow’s 41st anniversary of US President John F Kennedy’s assassination.
The Kennedy clan has denounced it. But the creators insist that the game, which is downloaded from a website, has recreated a piece of history and will serve to debunk lingering conspiracy theories.
The game - JFKReloaded.com - charges contestants $US10 ($A13) to take aim through Oswald’s rifle scope and fire away at a 3-D image of the presidential motorcade passing through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.
It is despicable,'' said a spokesman for Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, JFK's brother. Traffic Management Limited of Scotland is proudly taking credit for inventing the game. The company is even offering a $US100,000 ($A130,000) prize to the contestant who most accurately re-creates the three shots Oswald is said to have fired from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository building on November 22, 1963. It is up to you to send the president instead to a cruel and early death,’’ say the game’s instructions, which also offer tips on how to be a better shot.
Contestants get points deducted if they accidentally hit first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, whose digital image is decked out in her famous pink-pillbox-hat outfit.
High scores will come from replicating the timing and accuracy of Oswald's shots as reported in the Warren Commission's report into the assassination,'' the game says. Kirk Ewing, Traffic's managing director, has defended the game against allegations of tastelessness. This new form of interactive entertainment brings history to life and will stimulate a younger generation of players to take an interest in this fascinating episode of American history,’’ Ewing said.
We've created the game with the belief that Oswald was the only person that fired the shots on that day, although this re-creation proves how immensely difficult his task was,'' he said. Ewing said he sent a letter to Senator Kennedy to explain he meant no disrespect to the memory of the country's 35th president. He said the game recreates JFK's last moments and challenges players to help disprove conspiracy theories that suggest Oswald was not a lone assassin. We genuinely believe that if we get enough people participating we’ll be able to disprove once and for all any notion that someone else was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy,’’ Ewing said.
The computer ballistics model says it's possible, but players will discover just how hard it is to place those three bullets in exactly the same way that Oswald did.'' A 10-man team took seven months to research and six months to program the recreation of the surroundings and events of November 22, 1963 in downtown Dallas, as specified in the Warren Commission report. Ewing said it was aware of the passion surrounding the death of one of America’s greatest heroes’’ and it was determined to promote the game respectfully.
Absolutely Sick sh*t
Just curious. How do you shoot someone respectfully?
BTW, I don’t think they need to worry about paying up on the prize. After all the FBI’s best sharpshooters failed to duplicate Oswald’s supposed feat.
I would have to agree with Charlie. I have recently been witness to some AMAZING live shooting, and none of it has come close to the ‘work’ done by LHO.
FBI’s worst drivers couldn’t replicate Teds driving…