National stereotypes were confirmed last week as Bastion staged a
commando survival day for European computer games hacks on a disused RAF
base in Hampshire.
The aim was to promote SWAT 3 to gaming reporters in the consumer
press.
The freebie was attended by over 30 journalists from Germany, Italy,
France, Denmark, Holland and the UK. After a night in a Basingstoke
hotel, the reporters were taken to the site in a bus, only to see their
vehicle hijacked by eight SAS men in balaclavas.
When the war games proper started, familiar national characteristics
emerged. ’The German media seemed to enjoy shooting their hostages,’
Bastion director Ciaran Brennan says, ’while the Italians kept switching
sides before surrendering with no complaints. The Danish were eventually
overrun, despite early defiance, and the Irish, including me, tried to
remain neutral.’
A day of hostage reclaim sessions, VIP protection courses, and classes
on how to storm buildings - using live flares and firecrackers - ended
in the late afternoon with the relieved scribblers heading back to
Heathrow, guaranteed safe passage this time.
