Childhood Dreams of a Dangerous Heavily Armed Helicopter

It's wonderful for us here at TMCnet to be the recipients of public relations efforts translated into English from other languages. Press releases can serve as a delightful means of cross-cultural education. This press release arrived today:

A member of United Fun Traders, J2ME games developer, HeroCraft launched new game 'Black Shark'

The announcement is sent out by United Fun Traders of St. Petersburg, Russia. United Fun Traders describes itself as a consortium with "a bulging portfolio of mobile products and services," providing marketing support for Russian mobile content developers. This particular release is sent out in behalf of developer HeroCraft in honor of the launch of its new game 'Black Shark.'

The release opens with the following evocation of nostalgia:

"In childhood everybody dreams to be an astronaut or pilot. Every pilot dreams to fly on one of the fastest and dangerous heavy armored modern helicopter -- K-50 'Black Shark.'"

Well now that I think about it, if I really try I can in fact reach back to a time in my childhood when such a prospect would have been appealing. It's not anything I'm proud of. The press release introduces us next to the game's scenario:

"Your objective is to demolish the military bases of the enraged terrorist organization 'Children of Danawa,' which, by some incomprehensible means, have run into possession of nuclear weapons."

Recognizing that this game is developed in Russia might make the source of these nuclear weapons somewhat more comprehensible.

And the release adds to the realism with:

"Ten secure military bases are ready to make a nuclear explosion. The lives of many people are in powerful arms and armored cabin of your war machine. Can you fight against endless enemies?"

That just about sums up my experience in the business world for the past 25 years.

Today's release continues with game instructions and frequent warnings not to let the enemy launch his nuclear missiles and closes with a word of encouragement:

"Good luck on the battlefield!"

Developer HeroCraft is headquartered in Kaliningrad, Russia. And to give you an idea what-all is included in the "bulging portfolio" of products, today's release gives a list of HeroCraft's other titles, which include:

"Airship Racing: Around The Globe," "Ball Rush," "Bikini Balls," "Black Shark," "Bubble Revolt," "Dragon and Dracula," "Dragon and Dracula Iceland Adventure," "Erotic Galaxy," "Governator: Unleashed Power," "Top Guy: Governator," "Kamikaze Quest: The God's Wind," "Robo,","Robo2," "Mummy and The Beauty," "Sky Corsairs."

AB -- 8/15/05