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Populär Culture Review
chance; an animated armadillo who takes off his Shell and “flashes” the
player; and an animated Version o f a stereotypical oil tycoon, complete
with ten gallon hat and big boots. Two o f the great issues o f this and the
last Century— the issues o f who owns or Controls means of energy and
who deserves to do so— are reduced to a juvenile game in which players
watch their cartoon oil wells spout, then count their profits afterwards. In
the world o f Texas Tea, G ulf oil spills never occur; instead, a loud, goofy
oil tycoon and the animals on his ranch provide an escapist experience
for the player.
The player has a similar experience playing Bombs Away.
W hether s/he leam ed about the horrors o f war either in the abstract in
history d ass, or in their stark reality when parents or siblings lost lives or
limbs in W orld W ar 2 or Vietnam, perhaps retuming home with
survivor’s stories— the player who sits before a Bombs Away slot
machine sees the monstrous machines o f war reduced to painless,
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