Jaffe's 'Heartland' Was Response to President Bush

This article helps to shed light on just why Heartland got canned.
Whether or not you agree with Jaffe's views, this undeniably could have been an interesting take on an FPS.

From 1up.com:
Jaffe's cited a host of reasons why Heartland kicked the bucket, much of it stemming from Jaffe's fear of becoming involved in another game development time sink. Speaking to Newsweek, Jaffe explained Sony's mixed response to the project and how they hoped Jaffe would decide to make it for PlayStation 3:

"The game was very much a liberal person's response to the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. When I was entertaining lofty thoughts, the idea was to create an experience that would try to make the players--whom I mostly assumed would be of the Western world--feel what it must be like to have their own homeland occupied by another country."

[Silver360]

Sony would have had my money just to stick it to bush. And yeah I know he wanted to make it for the psp

[Rybnik]

I totally agree, man.

[overrated]

Bush is a fuking moron, he can sUck my fuking bollocks.

[i rule]

dems are brain donors i swear.. keep your left wing red diaper doper baby thoughts out of my games.. dems are the biggest group of collective wimps ever, may they all burn slowly in hell

[Maddens Raiders]

easy there, Mike Savage Jr.

I don't agree with the Dems either on a lot of things, but some I do...and yes I believe in responsible dissent and spirited liberalism (it's the foundation of America), but these people today [Repubs and Demo's] are not very different in principle as you may think.

I believe they are both a bunch of money hungry, stuffed suit, media whores. Neither one of the parties has done anything to stop out of control IMMIGRATION to this country nor closed the borders to OUTSIDERS. Why not????

In-fighting with each other is doing nothing but dividing further our GREAT nation. Please, let's leave the bile and name-calling to people that really want to do us harm. Like trhe Iranian leadership, Hugo Chavez, Al-Queda, and China.

We're Americans dammit. Handle it!

Cheers!

[i rule]

i guess your proof that video games kill brain cells

[Armyless]

It's bad enough we have to deal with Jack Thompson and a public at large wielding torches and pitchforks. Don't make me hate you Jaffe, I thought you were cool.

[techie]

Ha. Overrated doesn't have brains...we're talking about Bush here. Give me a reason to believe Bush has a brain and maybe Ill believe you.

[Armyless]

Sorry about that.

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

Of course you guys hate Bush...you're misinformed, rich kids who listen to the media and other kids around you. If you WERE paying attention, you'd know we found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that we've kill A LOT of terrorists that could have brutally murdered our wives/children/loved ones...

I'm terribly sorry that George W. Bush has saved your families. Maybe he shouldn't do that anymore...

Jaffe...you know full well that we're in Iraq because it's the right decision. The only people complaining are those that got their money from Saddam...and now that his administration has fallen...the corrupt business leaders aren't making money. They don't like that. You're just listening to the media...and that's really sad.

How can you sit there and think like that?

It just pisses me off when people mix politics and pretty much anything. Look at the Dixie Chicks. They've won multiple awards...not because they're good...because....they're not...but because they hate Bush...and people win awards for that now. The media's completely twisted everything the Government does.

I've lost a lot of respect for Jaffe lately. I mean, wasting your talent on mini-games isn't bad enough? Now, you have to bring Bush into it?

[Rybnik]

I knew that this might create controversy when I posted it. Still, I really didn't want this to turn into a major political flame war; that is far less entertaining and I believe more damaging than the ridiculously silly fanboy flame wars that go on here. Its important that we respect each others opinions over political matters. There is always two sides to an issue, but I believe its almost NEVER a good idea to fly blindly into a situation without fully evaluating the potential consequences first.

As regards the article, what IS important is that Jaffe's vision is of a game in which the player is not the gung-ho emotionless hero machine that has until now, typified the FPS main character. I'm not knocking this, these types of games are incredibly fun and are great entertainment. However, to have the option of playing something more serious and God forbid, maybe thought-provoking, I think could really help innovate the industry and change the way people view games. So far, all the game innovation (while great) has been on an abstract, intellectual level pretty much devoid of any deep emotion even though it has been creative. I know many people are quite resistant to the idea of a game that is not "purely fun" but I think until such a game exists, we cannot justify summarily dismissing such an idea as pointless or stupid.

Peter Molyneux is another good example of a forwards thinking developer similarly bold in trying to incorporate emotion for his Fable 2. These are examples of the kinds of things that need to happen to drive the diversity of games beyond just fun experiences, especially for ones which are story driven.

In the immediate future, I think upcoming games like Bioshock and maybe Haze, will lean in these new directions. If I remember from previews correctly, there are situations in Haze where the player may moral dilemma like being given the order to open fire on seemingly unarmed civilians amongst those who are hostiles. I know some games have claimed to do this already, but none has really done it effectively, yet. Sorry for the long post.

[Firewire]

Last time I checked they didn't find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, I thought the Bush administration even admitted that.
But isn't one of America's greatest strengths "Free Speach" I could care less for the Dixie Chicks but aren't you just saying that because you disagreed with their message? Don't they have every right to speak out, for what they believe just like you?

Anyways back to the game, to me it doesn't sound very interesting at all, and I don't think mixing in current politics into games is a good idea in general. You can screw with the past & with the far future, but for today, it would bring up to much of a devide. Also video games have nothing to do with politics, its all about the imagination, bringing us into other worlds were we don't think of our everyday problems!
Also if you make a game like this, some wack job will take it the wrong way, think hes been offended (either side) and use this game as justification to kill people he doesn't like. Thats all we need, to give wack jobs more ideas! I think not.....

[GameJunkieJim]

But firewire already did the major one, and I see you only have one bubble so you aren't likely to spread any more ultra conservative fallacy.

No WMDs, no direct links to terrorism (at least beforehand, there are plenty there now because of Bush)

Now, to get on topic instead of going into a Left-Right debate (which is prime flamebait in even the best of circumstances) I believe Jaffe had a wonderful intention that he probably decided against due to the potential uproar.

[techie]

Bush is a poor president and you need to do some research to find why this is so. All this nationalism and following every word of your "leader" just doesn't stick in the UK. Yeah we've got Blair but we'll criticise him to death, otherwise he gets a free ride.

The only thing the media does is twist it in Bush's favour again and again. Do some research into the history.

No connection between terrorism and Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction. Yes Saddam is a threat...but why wasn't that dealt with 12 years ago and not just using "terrorism" as an excuse to invade.

"Bush has saved our families?" Yes by invading a country that leads everyone in the middleeast to hate the West even more, thus growing tensions and increasing the likelyhood of terrorism. And also you say "saving our families"...what about all the poor people and families that were killed in Iraq.

This world is full of bad people, and some of the worst are the ones that lead us.

Back to this. Jaffe was right on. Shame he didn't get to make it.

[DirtySyko]

You're ridiculous. Calling people misinformed, rich kids. I'm far from rich, and I still think Bush is a moron. I also doubt the majority of us are kids. I'm 21, and I'm betting a lot of people around here are near that age.

Stop talking about Bush like he's a martyr. This isn't JFK we're talking about. He's a dumb redneck from Texas who has horribly prejudiced old fasioned views on homosexuals, marriage and religion. Somebody like that cannot make the free world a better place, only tamper it and slow it down. Everything Bush does just takes a huge crap on everything the 60s accomplished. Bush is a pest to America. Other countries mock us and ridicule us for good reason. The French, Canadians, and English also have a distaste for Bush. Why is that? Perhaps it's because he sucks at what he does. Thankfully we only have to deal with him for another year. Although, I don't see it getting much better next election.

I'm also glad you think we found those oh-so scary WMDs, because last I checked, nobody in America thought we had found them.

[Armyless]

Excuse me while I vomit.