SHTF video games/movies...‏

Hello Fernando,

First, I want to compliment you on having such an excellent and useful blog. I have purchased and enjoyed your book, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others who are interested in truly surviving and thriving in a world becoming more unstable on a daily basis. I discovered your site during the whole 'Coast to Coast JWR controversy', and if there's one positive thing which can be said about that incident, it's that you now have one more avid fan. Thank you for promoting a realistic presentation of survivalism rather than one that's not grounded in reality - as is the majority of survivalism currently being peddled in America.

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching and video games and DVD movies being pretty much a staple of modern day gift giving, do you know of any which you feel accurately reflect a SHTF/TEOTWAWKI scenario to a reasonable degree? While there are a TON of post-apocalyptic movies and video games out there to choose from, which do you feel comes the closest to representing what really happens in a societal collapse similar to what happened in Argentina? Or are there any out there at all?

It seems that SHTF would be a great topic to develop - especially for a video game, given the current world situation and exploding interest in survivalism . One can almost imagine the possibilities: it could be an RPG scenario with preparedness as its primary objective, or maybe a shooter with staying alive as the main focus - or of course some combination of the two. The possibilities are endless, and it could serve both as individual entertainment and of course, as training.

I hope I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here, as there may be some games/films out there which already represent what I've described. I don't mind a little SciFi, but I'm pretty well saturated to the point of madness with games/films of buxom Amazons kickboxing and blasting their way through hordes of post-apocalyptic zombies. I've seen you mention and advertise the Fallout series of games on your blog, and they look interesting. I don't have much experience with them, although I have recently picked up Fallout New Vegas. Haven't had a chance to really get into it yet.

Thanks for all the hard work that you do, Fernando, in putting together your book and maintaining your blog, and good luck in your plans on immigrating to the United States. I hope you are eventually successful in your endeavor, as such talented and resourceful individuals such as yourself should be welcomed here with open arms.

Hasta Luego

Rodrigo

Hi Rodrigo, nice to have you on board. Actions speak lauder than words and people that have met me have a pretty good idea of who I am.

 Lets just say that if, for example, you boast about how charitable you will be after the end of the world, yet you claim not to have enough money to pay those that you refer to as your “correspondents” for their work, then those words are empty indeed.

Its like we always say guys, if you just talk about how great (or generous, or brave, etc)  you’ll be “after SHTF”, that means nothing. Its what you do NOW that matters. That goes for training, personal and home security, working out, getting rid of debt, sorting out your life, your finances, your job, your relationship with your family and loved ones, taking care of things now, not later. Its specially pointless when you make all these plans for after the end of the world, specially since the world isn’t ending any time soon. Pretty convenient. Survival reality vs Survival Fantasy is topic that I’ll cover in another post. I’ve written about it before but its worth revising, specially these days where everything on TV  is “Survival” “Apocalypse”, “End of the world” and such. Unfortunately this confuses people who honestly want to prepare for real world events, yet end up wasting time, money and energy in things that aren’t useful, preparing for events that occur in movies rather than the real world.

Holydays are just around the corner indeed. Before I forget I’d like to mention something. I’ve received several emails about dropping the price of my book for a few days. Readers such as yourself have read it, liked it and want to give it away as a gift for loved ones for Christmas. The book has been selling beyond my own expectations for over a year now in spite of the high price, (Thank you SO much, all of you!) so I’ve decided to drop the price 40% ($10 drop in price) so that those interested can buy more to give away. This will not be permanent, just a couple days, after that I’ll go back to the 24.95 price which is the price that allows me to keep writing and blogging.

Back to your email, can’t say I find much practical info in most end of the world movies. Mad Max is fun but other than the fun factor what are you learning? Fun is good enough though, so I highly recommend it! :-)

Alive is a good movie and most of you have seen it already I guess. Makes it painfully clear how important it is to have food, water, shelter and means of signaling/communication. A little planning goes a long way, specially when traveling in the Andes.

I liked The Road, actually liked the movie better than the book. Didn’t like the writing style, no matter what critics say.

Savior and Empire of the Sun are both good movies that show what happens to people that get caught in a war. Savior was pretty accurate in terms of how unrealistic it was regarding facing superior forces, when hiding and evading is your only option. The Empire of the Sun has lots of good stuff in it. I’ve watched it as a kid a long time ago, saw it again this year a couple times and always found new bits of food for thought. Its based on the personal experiences of the novel author, so its realistic enough to learn one or two things from it.

If you want something from Argentina, there’s “The Take” which is a Canadian documentary, workers reopening the factory that broke, leaving them without jobs, turning it into a worker cooperative.

“Bombon: The Dog”, is about a 50 something year old knife seller that doesn’t find anyone that can afford his knives in the post 2000 Argentina, at 50 he’s not likely to find a job either. His luck start to change for better after a good Samaritan action gets him a Dogo Argentino. Haven’t seen this movie but its on my short list since I’ve heard good comments.

Regarding videogames, similar to Argentina’s 2000 crisis? I don’t think that would be a fun videogame to play. :-) Bored, jobless and worried about being mugged or shot isn’t good videogame material. Maybe they could do a free roam game with some of those elements, a bit of bartering, job hunting and shooting, but soon enough it would get unrealistic because otherwise it wouldn’t be fun. Starts to sound like GTA, and its true that criminals here get away with that kind of stuff.  I just don’t think there’s nothing you’ll be learning from them regarding real survival, but hey, as long as its fun that’s all I ask of a video game. 

I’ve been playing Fallout: New Vegas these days. It’s been several months since I turned the xbox on, not much free time to play with a family, training, writing and other activities. Maybe its missing that coolness found in the old Fallouts, I and II, but if you liked Fallout III you’ll sure enjoy Fallout: New Vegas.  Fallout New Vegas mentions that you can shoot 38 Special and 44 special out of 357 magnum and 44 magnum guns so that’s a bit of real info there. The character also uses reloading benches he finds occasionally and can put together ammo if he has the cases, primers, powder and lead. That’s as far as it goes in terms of reality.

If anyone has other recommendations, both movies and videogames, I’d like to hear them so please comment.

Take care Rodrigo,

FerFAL

PS: Just changed the price to 14.95 but it said it may take up to 5 days until the price is updated.