NRA releases Practice Range game on iOS
The National Rifle Association has released a new game for iDevices today called NRA: Practice Range
The National Rifle Association has released a new game for iDevices today called NRA: Practice Range. The free app provides rudimentary target practice, enabling players to virtually shoot 9 firearms across 3 shooting ranges. Practice Range offers both analog and gyroscope controls for their weapons.
In addition to the virtual shooting range, the NRA app also offers safety tips on gun handling, and is updated with news and legislation updates pertinent to NRA enthusiasts.
The release of Practice Range has attracted some criticism, especially as its release comes less than a month since NRA VP Wayne LaPierre pointed to video games as partly responsible for the gun violence in the country. Others are critical of the game's target age group of 4 and above.
While LaPierre insinuated homebrew Flash games like Kindergarten Killer are corrupting the minds of American youth, today's release of Practice Range shows that video games of all types can be created and distributed freely over the web.
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replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, NRA releases Practice Range game on iOS.
The National Rifle Association has released a new game for iDevices today called NRA: Practice Range-
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Wow, they couldn't have timed it better.
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I sort of get the feeling the terms of the contract with the developer had a "if this doesn't ship, you don't get paid" kind of stipulation in it
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5 min review: control is terrible and for some reason the frame rate is shit even though it's an FPS where your guy doesn't move. it feels like i'm shooting while drunk. and you get one gun-- buying additional guns in the app store costs $1 each?? fuck you.
though they didn't bother including music, so that's good i guess
score: 11/10-
I'll choose to read that as 11 % 10 = 1.
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So... it's like every other iPhone "free" advergame with in-app purchasing?
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Further proof the NRA is a sad sack of shit. Great timing losers.
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Why is the NRA a sad sack of shit? Did I miss something?
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His parents never let him play Duck Hunt when he was growing up. His disappointment eventually developed into hatred, lashing out, and extremist behavior.
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lol
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No, timing is a pretty big deal here. This is a casual game released at the height of public fear and uncertainty regarding youths and firearms. It does seem insensitive with the Sandy Hook tragedy still ringing in our ears, and, if not hypocritical, unimpressive considering the NRA was so quick to point the finger at video games.
I realize that their whole point is that violent games trivialize death and killing, but this app makes the use and handling of firearms themselves feel trivial and casual, removing a much needed sense of awareness that helps create an association in children's minds between guns and safety. Children aren't stupid, they can learn right from wrong, especially against the over-the-top backdrop of most violent video games. It's much harder to teach them safety and responsibility, which require difficulty and gravity to get across.-
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there would be a better time than now, however. exactly one month after the shootings. if this came out six months ago it'd get some laughs for being technically antiquated and that's it.
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I know I'm an odd one, but honestly, this game makes me a bit uneasy for not wholly understood reasons. Something about the casual use of more-or-less realistic guns, albeit poorly rendered, and being "approved" for young children just feels off-color to me.
It might be that this game is too "safe." It is so casual, it almost trivializes just how careful we need to be when handling firearms. I don't care about the safety tips the app may provide, one cannot understand what safe handling of a gun means until they actually hold one. I know I didn't, especially since I found they are both harder to control and easier to use than I expected.
As for this versus "violent" games like Bulletstorm or Borderlands (or that old favorite, Doom), the ease and lack of weight that this game presents I think prevents some valuable teaching opportunities for young gamers. There's no obvious fantastic backdrop which provides a "this is pretend"-style inlet to teach a child boundaries. There's also the complete lack of situational difficulty inherent in those shooters we love so much, difficulty which provides a sort of association between pulling a trigger and actually trying to hit something you're aiming for.
Finally, there's "news and legislation updates," which is a covert propaganda tool, regardless of intent. The vast majority of parents will not take the time to screen the information being fed into the game and discuss it with their children, so what the NRA says will go (assuming that the child reads.) While I don't think the NRA has the intention of turning children into careless hordes of gun-waving ne'erdowells, it's probably safe to assume that the news coming in will be 100% rooting for reducing restrictions on firearms and widening access to them. This could lead to children regarding firearms with possibly not as care as is warranted. The risk here, then, is accidents, not shooting sprees, but tragic nonetheless.
I'm not trying to put forth conspiracy theories here, just trying to analyze why /{I}/ am a bit put off by this app. If a lobbying group released an anti-gun app that would randomly shoot babies in the face as a means to show the danger in guns, I'd be just as critical. (Moreso, probably, but there could be an app released that's not quite so outlandish.) My point is that, as an adult who wants our society to have a reasoned, balanced understanding of firearms use, especially when it comes to children, this app is not innocuous.
And yeah, bad timing. Just saying.-
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Yeah, I'd say that is.
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But, that's my off-handed feeling without playing the game or caring enough to read a review. In contrast Hitman games are great, but without the story and difficulty, they present no effort of awareness, and truly trivialize the actions of the player.
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* the Hitman games. Not "any and all hitman games," of which this would be included.
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Ugh. I just read some more about "Contract Killer" and I'm feeling a bit disgusted.
"Target your Facebook and Gamecenter friends, put them in your crosshairs, and take them down... permanently"
That's just a bit too much.-
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In that context, I think Receiver does a far better job. http://www.wolfire.com/receiver
It's $5, it's DRM-free, it only has robot turrets and hover bots as enemies, and it shows all the mechanics of each gun. Also, it makes you use the iron sights to aim (which the NRA app doesn't do).
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App is terrible. Also worth noting the game has you shooting at human shaped targets (repeatedly) in an indoor range. When you do this in real life you're probably imaging the targets are people trying to harm you. Why would you simulate a simulation?
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