stomach-churning

Army tournament features chainsaw massacre video game.

The Army Gaming Championships, set to begin on July 4, allows people to compete for a $200,000 prize pool. But participants must be willing to be contacted by Army recruiters, providing the military with “another avenue to reach tech-savvy recruits.” Raw Story reports on one of the disturbing games encouraged by the Army:

The official Web site for the Army Gaming Championship also encourages Gears of War players to perform a move known as the “curb stomp,” which involves characters in the game crushing an opponent’s skull with their boot. […]

The “curb stomp” was inspired by the 1998 Edward Norton movie American History X, in which Norton plays a neo-Nazi skinhead who turns against his racist ways in prison. In the movie’s most violent scene, Norton “curb stomps” a black man who was trying to steal his car.

Norton opens the man’s mouth and forces him to bite down on a curb before stomping on his neck, breaking it.

Gears of War is rated M, meaning it is inappropriate for children under age 17, and Web site Double Viking rated it the fourth-most-violent video game ever made, calling the game’s gore “as graphic as it comes.”

Louise Eaton, a media and web specialist with the Army, also noted, “That is where the kids are. It’s a venue where we can tell the Army’s story.” Video Games, especially the Pentagon-produced America’s Army, provide “an experience in the simulation world of what the Army’s like.”

(Think Progress)