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New Games Address Offshore Oil Drilling Industry, Sans Political Commentary

by Amar Toor on September 19, 2010 at 03:00 PM

The Oil Blue
If you care about things like the environment and the future of mankind, you probably don't hold the offshore oil-drilling industry in especially high esteem -- unless, that is, you actually work for an offshore drilling company. Potentially hazardous and life-destroying as the business may be, there are actually a lot of people who make their livings harvesting black gold from the ocean floor, and it's precisely this perspective that a new oil-drilling video game seeks to capture.

Developed by Vertigo Games, the recently released 'The Oil Blue' asks players to operate their own oil-drilling machinery. While most might expect any post-BP oil game to be riddled with a socially or environmentally conscious subtext, Texas-raised developer David Galindo tells Ars Technica that he simply wanted to introduce gamers to a different, more personal side of oil. "Certainly a lot of hard-working people in the industry enjoy their job and have families to provide for," Galindo says. "This game makes you one of those people, profiting from your hard work [rather] than, say, playing the CEO/tycoon and profiting off of the work of others."

The Oil Blue



Interestingly enough, 'The Oil Blue' won't be the only oil-themed game hitting the market by year's end. Later this year, Unigine Corp. will release a naval strategy game called 'OilRush,' set in a futuristic world where energy supplies are critically low. (See a teaser here.) And, as is the case with 'The Oil Blue,' the concept for 'OilRush' wasn't borne out of political or environmental motivation. "Frankly speaking, the initial vision of the game was a common post-apocalyptic naval battle without any social background," says Unigine CEO Denis Shergin.

While the BP oil spill may have further tarnished offshore drilling's already-soiled reputation, Shergin remains confident that the bad press won't hurt his game. "I suppose it will benefit the game," he speculates. Galindo, meanwhile, says he has some regrets about releasing 'The Oil Blue' at such a sensitive moment. "[While] I probably won't ever know how it affected sales, I do know in the long run it caused portals to pass on the game due to its somewhat controversial theme," Galindo says. "Knowing that now, if I had the financial means to do so, I would have held the game back a few months."

Tags: bp, BpOilDisaster, BpOilSpill, offshore, oil, oilrush, OilSpill, TheOilBlue, top, videogames

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