> No one in the industry knows just how the video-game
> equivalents of "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket" will be received, and
what
> nerves they might strike. "We're on terra incognita," Costello said.
I think it will score well in the US. The US-ers, especially males, seem to be infatuated with STAGED toughness and violent spectacle that makes them look mean and threatening: they like to talk tough, buy menacing gear (guns, SUVs, combat attire), make threatening postures, vicariously participate in violent spectacles - which give them an illusion of virility and control which they lack in their emasculated suburban and corporate lives (at the same time, they tend to be quite docile and sheepish in everyday interaction).
For that reason, these "virtually strong and brave" men would like to revisit Vietnam and turn their defeat into a virtual victory of which they will be virtually in charge.
Wojtek