The Village Voice
"Steeped in a deep history of gaming and simulation, Halter's expert
tome is primarily about a long-standing American obsession with
technology, which he illustrates by examining the adoption of
video-game culture by the military. The U.S. military is enthusiastic
for things which are transformational, such as tactics and training
billed as capable of making it over into something it isn't: an
instrument for winning wars without fuss...[Halter] describes how
America's Army was an online blockbuster, a thrilling experience for
its makers and gamers, unattached to the reality of the war on terror."
Time Out New York
"Outraged parents have been complaining for decades that video games
turn kids into numbed killing machines; according to Ed Halter's
far-ranging sociological exploration of the medium's military-themed
entries, it's something that the armed forces are counting on...But
Halter is after a bigger philosophical picture befitting of the
subject's moral grey area, and he tackles the queasy coupling of the
entertainment industry and Warfare Inc. with impressive intellectual
rigor"
Tom Moody
"After exploring the intertwined histories of combat and play, from
chess to modern 'war game' exercises, Halter probes the nexus among the
US military, academia, Hollywood, and the gaming industries that led to
the development and promotion of such popular games as Full Spectrum
Warrior and America's Army. I almost wrote 'unholy nexus' but that's
probably not the phrase Halter would use. He has a deceptively calm
'just the facts ma'am' style that lays out all the information and
leaves it to readers' heads to explode."
BadLit
"An extremely engaging, well researched and fascinating treatise
bursting with intriguing ideas about war and gaming in general. It is a
scholarly book and Halter obviously knows his shit. But his writing is
punctuated by just the right amount of irreverence."
Evergreen Review (!!)
"Halter draws attention to many of the corporate entertainment/military
alliances that currently interlace the game world, noting,
surprisingly, that it is often the military that demands the most
cutting edge technological innovations...Halter doesn't give us much to
look forward to, but he is to be applauded for opening our eyes to this
grim future in his sober and sobering account."
