How Games Became Obsessed With Nuclear Weapons - Loadout 

No mention of Defcon? Academic papers on strategy, ethics, and psychology have been written about how horrifically accurate this game is.

nuke logic: I want to put an explosion over there over where? yes

Is our obsession with nuclear weapons really separate from our obsession with violence in general?

In a lot of games with nukes they tend to I always be ground detonations in the real world this strategy Is far less effective than an air burst Delivered from a missile

"How things begin, is not nearly as important as how things end..."

Really liked how you covered this series, Dave. Keep up the good work.

"difficult decision of whether to drop a nuke or not" > Fallout 3 > "difficult decision" lol

Great episode, thank you! How about en episode on melee weapons in Season 2? Being from Japan, I nominate the katana!

Japan: you wouldn't do it again America: I'm going to do what's called a pro gamer move

5:53 damn those dudes just predicted hoi4

M8 this is like the only thing I watch from GameSpot channel, you guys should do season 2

I think the appeal of the post-apocalyptic genre is that it speaks to our lizard brain and strips away cultural norms and pre-conceived understandings of society. It allows us to experience the core of human emotion. Nuclear weapons and pandemics (even though zombies are pretty damn far-fetched) are the more realistic ways of getting to this situation, so it serves the suspension of disbelief.

Maybe a world of in ruin where every day is a struggle to survive is an appealing fantasy because of what it doesn't have: A nine-to-five job, a boss you don't really like, or a tax return to fill in. It's just a variation on the old pioneer fantasy.

I actually really love this series. You guys should definitely do a episode on scythes.

It's also curious that, like gatling guns, nukes tend to be nerfed in games in contrast to their real counterparts. Part of it is that nukes have a minimum size. The US has Dial-a-nukes that can be set to as low as five kilotons, but that's a lower setting of a bomb that can deliver over twice that power. The fat man launcher, the _Borderlands 2 Nuke_ style weapons are both rather minimal compared to how a nuke would hit (and incinerate the entire town). Even the Chinese superweapon nuke in C&C: Generals is the weakest of the superweapons (longest charge time, takes power, doesn't hit any harder than the GLA SCUD storm).

One of the better Gamespot background series about gaming tbh

As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong) - a "mini nuke" isnt even possible IRL. Because you need a critical mass. This is how Nukes work. They have multiple small radio active masses detached. And when they go off, there is a small explosion in the warhead, that let's them get together - creating a critical mass, that leads to the explosion. So there is a limit on how small a nuke can get (I don't know how small that limit is, compared to little boy)

They should do one for "How games became obsessed with laboratories"

honestly a game that i really love that deals quite well with nuclear weapons is the game highfleet. you are given 2 nuclear missiles from the very beginning and you get to choose weather you use them or not i mean you can sell them off immediately or you can stock pile them and make ships just for all out nuclear war. the part about using nukes in game is that once you've used them the enemy will too and they will nearly always have more than you. without spoiling the end game ill just say it has quite a lot to do with nuclear war and your decisions will matter a lot. so for anyone who likes strategic, technical war games with interesting lore check it out

The most strong and shocking movie that I have ever seen about a nuclear war, was "The Day After" (1983). When I saw it for the first time it was in the 80s. I was a kid, about 13 years old. It kept me awake for several nights.

you should have included the footage of the end of lonesome road dlc in new vegas where you can choose to nuke two major factions in the mojave

keep them going, good and entertaining content

The day after(imo) is the BEST movie or just anything in media having to do with nuclear warfare, it literally made me realize how important my life was during addiction/recovery. It was a television movie shown all around the us to show people what it would be like if the us and Russia nuked each other, and months and months after. It made millions of people realize that nuclear warfare would truly ruin us as humans, and eventually they even had it on tv In Russia on one day like it was shown over here. This movie changed the world, everyone I know who watched it during the Cold War told me it changed the way they looked at life and many things. It even made me realize a lot and that my time here is precious, it must have been so scary living from world war 1 to the end of the Cold War. In fear that the country you live in will be just absolutely obliterated along with your enemies. It’s like suicide. Anyways I know no body will read this but watch the damn movie if u have time it is on RU-vid and helped me with depression seriously.

Let’s not forget that borderlands 3 turned radiation into the most destructive element on your gun if it comes with it. Enemies near the irradiated enemy take damage, and the irradiated enemies explodes if killed while irradiated, dealing more damage to surrounding enemies

One of the things ignored by games is the radiation, which, IRL can't be magicked away with heals or injections. Radiation from typical bombs decay over years. (There are salted bombs that will make fallout extra long, and neutron bombs that shorten the half-life, but these are atypical.) While a place is highly radioactive, nothing can really live there, and they are very unexciting. So when we fantasize about post-holocaust environments, we not only give the heroes plot shielding, but we also create a fictional world that is less dreary than a real post-nuclear-holocaust. Often one with pretty mutated animals who aren't sick or dead.

4:55 the nuclear bomb was not really involved in MW2 it was an EMP in MW2 the nuke was part of MW1 with the original "90's time jump" mission the stealth and sniper mission...

Technically the person that dropped the nuke on Hiroshima has the highest kd in the world

3:54 how could the Soviets have found out the US had Nukes

Its kinda weird that you say you are find killing innocent people in Fallout, but have reservations about blowing up the whole town?

The video game Nuclear War was based on the card game of the same name. You draw game cards and population cards, then try to steal or nuke your enemies' populations. Tagline for the game: "Excuse me, do you have change for ten million people?" "It's Christmas at ground zero There's music in the air The sleigh bells are ringing and the carolers are singing While the air raid sirens blare It's Christmas at ground zero The button has been pressed The radio just let us know that this is not a test Everywhere the atom bombs are dropping It's the end of all humanity No more time for last minute shopping It's time to face your final destiny It's Christmas at ground zero There's panic in the crowd We can dodge debris while trim the tree Underneath the mushroom cloud..." -Weird Al Yankovic

First episode, liked it and yes I would appreciate a season 2. Thanks👍going to watch the other ones

The song " protect and survive " by the dublaniers

How do you make a video on this subject and not once bring up DEFCON: Everybody Dies, but you bring up a single line of dialogue in Wolfenstein: The New Order...? I... what...?

I think its more about wanting to see our reality in a different way. this is why The Walking Dead/zombie games are so prevalent... how resident evil has been able to make SO MANY games. Half-life, Fallout, Wolfenstein, Far-Cry, Resident Evil. a simple occurrence or change in the timeline. completely throwing the world into devastation. for us to try and survive in. I have yet to even see survival games get as large as DayZ. unless they play on other tropes, simplistic of Minecraft, or the total reimagining of survival as is with Subnaughtica. Best story and theme. Half-Life. it not only revolutionized gaming but its story was catching, sci-fi-able, and still grounded in realisticness. Fallout, an alternate timeline where the Transistor wasnt invented till much later in time.

More of this, by the way. The whole series has been interesting and informative.

I mean seriously who Invented Friendly Nuke which only kills enemies and spares you and your allies in reality everything turns to ashes whether it Friend or Foe .

This was fun Do make the second

Ha ur kidding me right? Fallout is like the only game you can play with Nukes freely. There’s nowhere near enough games featuring nukes, especially the ability to play with them. I’ve been craving soooo much more nukes in games and movies, especially after Fallout 76. They’re definitely nowhere near “obsessed” - I wish they were obsessed.

in video games I would say its also just we love big explosions and the big one needs only four letters. As soon as a player sees the word Nuke they know what they are getting, The biggest boom of all. its also sometimes the only way to be sure.

I truly believe our "morbid" curiosity is an evolutionary imperative. Facing what scares and thrills you trains you to deal with it without losing your mind when push comes to shove, on top of helping you to have a closer understanding of the dangers to be avoided and opportunities to be taken. Our ancestors with "morbid" curiosity had an intellectual and emotional advantage, that's why we inherit this psychological trait. Even if our "holier-than-thou" presenter here might say "To each its own" with an "I don't even like explosions, I'm better than this" attitude, in reality he's a human being too. A human being that's obssessed with weapons and violent games but still act all "oh, no, nukes exploding in the desert without killing anyone, that's too much!"

When i play a fallout game im like a cat...i take my time looking around, when im at a door im not sure if i want to stay inside or go outside, if ANYTHING! runs from me i hunt it down and kill it and i spend far to much time in my cat house (bace)

The whole current tensions with the nuclear saber rattling between Russia and Ukraine is what made me go back and replay the entire call of duty modern warfare trilogy, call duty four to Call of Duty® modern warfare three

Hesitant to deploy nukes ? Bro, i detonated 7 nukes in just a single province to break thru a line in Heart of Iron 4

They should teach 'duck and cover' in schools today, just by replacing nuke warning with climate change. Scare tactics, it always works.

When you set a story in a post apocalyptic setting, it boils down the human experience to the barest of essentials. Who are we when The Rule of Law is replaced with the Law of Nature (again)? Who are you when no one is watching? What would you become? It's almost like a second birth. A person lives a normal life, then they must live by entirely new rules.

I do think 1 more important factor in play here is especially in early game development is the people who made a lot of these games lived through some of this (cold war in particular)

I literally paused half way, watched the 2019 Godzilla, and un-paused this video

Please show us a season 2!

I absolutely love these series... Amazing host, informative yet simple-to-understand content. So, when we have these things that we enjoy, let the people who've made this possible that they've done a great job. Who knows when another poor informative video drops, say watchmojo for example.

It would be nice to have a follow-up video on what games get wrong about nuclear weapons. The sheer magnitude of misrepresentation of their effects in media is insane.

would love to see some more loadout

Love to see a season 2 with Laser Weapons

Why people forgot the movie that inspired Godzilla, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)? Anyway, here's a reminder. Cold War, nuclear bombs, ICBM, and arm race helped giving birth to video games.

What with how things are going, looks like Fallout GO is going to be the next hot viral "enhanced" reality game...

And in the first 33 seconds you just described a major plot point of both gundam seed, and the og gundam timeline.

JUST a brief mention of Metal Gear? It was the granddaddy in my opinion and way before Fallout, started in the 80's and followed the trend through to modern age. I mean a 'metal gear' is a Japanese mech capable of launching nukes. Yeah Fallout is probably more relatable to gamers now...this makes me feel old...

Command and conquer games have nukes

I just like the big explosions haha.

You should do one about Xbox ahoy [Don't take this harshly, but your videos are almost on par with his 8 ] the guy did the gun guides back in the day early RU-vid. I hope you grew up with him because he was great. The golden age of call of duty and RU-vid. PS I've only started watching in the last few days. I love your comment and thank you for the hard work. Hope you have a great new year… Slay you on the battlefield

Fun fact: ICBM's do NOT have an abort option. Once it's launched, it's over.

Wheres Jonathan with the royal armouries nuke sample on his desk?

What's the song when the Loadout Logo appears on the TV?

You should play the DEFCON game.

Big iron on your hip > nuclear warhead

I just love that we are capable of creating such a destructive thing.

ive always had reoccurring nightmares of nukes detonating. the fear of seeing that flash is very real and ive never seen an explosion bigger than a little bit of tannerite lol. itd odd how real dreams can be. you dont even know youre dreaming

wonderfull

How could you ignore Metro?

Nice time to watch this

Great series

Season two!!!

What about an episode on planets?

Funny how you didn't mention who dropped the nuclear bombs

How are games obsessed with nukes? I can count the amount of actually Good games with nukes in them on my hands, and they aren't even entirely about them, they are a big part but they're not nearing obsessive levels

Everyone describing early nuclear test described a blue glow.

The game most obsessed with nuclear weapons is *Far cry 5* Watch the end

How could you have a video dedicated to nukes in video games and not even mention in passing DEFCON?

i cannot believe there wasn't a single mention of defcon

7:06 CoD 4 MW i have fully finished and it was pain but it was fun

Season 2 idea: the grappling hook

Season 2 please!

In some ways, nuclear weapons are toned down by most games. Consider the cost in civ 5 to make one ICBM vs a stealth bomber? The ICBM does realistic damage. Well, for a single warhead anyway. The stealth bomber does more like the damage of a whole fleet of them and is reuseable, able to destroy cities in one or two turns. Yet in Civ, the ICBM, a single use weapon, costs more than the stealth bomber. In reality small ICBMs cost like $20 million dollars. Large ones cost $100 million. A single stealth bomber, that is, one single airframe, costs $1 billion. And that's not even including R&D. In video games there's a strong tendency to attempt to make nukes balanced. In real life they are just inherently not.

Using those two bombs against foreign country should always appear as stain in US history. No other country has done same, and will always hope that no-one does the same idiotic self-centered move as USA did

9:12 No, that's just you man.

Wait this was 2 years ago?!

You might not want to set the world on fire, I on the other hand ... let's just say ... nuking humanity into oblivion wouldn't actually be the worste thing that ever happened in the universe

No crysis nuke and nuke mods on it ???? biggest nukes in gaming history

Atom Bomb baby was playing while I was watching this

I think that it would be like this in almost any and every society, unless it was kept a secret. Of course we'd want to portray and "show off" the terrifying and utterly horrible power of a nuclear weapon.

i apreciate you mentioning fallout so much in his, it's my favorite RPG SERIES , call of duty is my favorite FPS series, and terraria is my favorite non- series game

You can switch black pete with our „krampus“ he also punisches the bad kids and as a bonus looks better

So glad I got the joke in the first 5 seconds. Maybe not a joke but it made me laugh.

those nukes 'boutaa increase from all the pro players popping a 25-kill streak and nuking the entire city

Why don't I ever see Titanfall in Loadout?

Well what if my living room window IS a tv screen?

It's strange that half-life has this name and don't even mention nukes besides Opposing Force expansion

Metro was left out, you forgot Metro. METRO

I would argue that compared to every other medium, video games cover nukes less than anything else.

Underrated!

Yeah, Second Temp pls :D