ia_2009_c_nacho

=C. Evaluation of Sources (250-400 words) Tips]=

Before the first mission within the game (the amphibious assault on June 6) an introductory video is played in which we see scenes of the first wave of the men that disembarked onto the Omaha beach. This scene ends with the last man falling on his knees (Source 1) before his body is ripped with the bullets of an MG42 in a bunker.
 * //Source 1//**

Annex 3

The values of this source are in terms of its origins that this PC game comes from one of the best gaming companies worldwide “posted 12th consecutive year of revenue growth with record net sales of more than $1 billion ” in 2007 allowing this company to revert its revenues on quality products and so being able to focus on minute details of realism. In terms of its purposes, this source seeks to represent the combat experience on D-Day in its purest realism. Nevertheless there are limitations to this source. In terms of origins, THQ is a private company which seeks economical profits, selling more copies of the game, ie. making the game addictive and enjoyable rather than an educational organization seeking an objective image of the event. There are also limitations concerning the purposes of this source. The bias of the company is seen in the ruthlessness with which Nazi soldiers finish off the dying man dramatizing the heroism, and thus the title of the game, ‘Company of Heroes’ and concentrating on the amphibious assault on D-Day and not on the parachutes, although these units are available in future missions. Source 2 //** The text from source 2 is read at the end of the first mission in the game as a debriefing. // ANNEX 4 // The values in terms of the origins for source 2 are the same as for source 1, the company has an image to maintain and would not normally give wrong facts because in terms of purpose, the producers want to reconstruct the battle for the beaches of Normandy with precision in order to sell many copies because of its excellence. Nonetheless there are several limitations. In terms of origins, this account is not from a veteran or an official account from the US Army or the US government, and also as I mentioned in source 1, the aim of the game for the company is that it sells well, rather than educating the gamers. Linking with the objectives of the company, in terms of the purposes, the dramatization within the game, represented by the probably invented names of “//Pearson, Williams, Perzinscky, all good men”// creates an emotion of revenge in the player, who must satisfy his/her vengeance by killing German soldiers in future missions and so this does not give an objective, unbiased account of the events, it gives us an account of the probable feelings of the Allied soldiers, but also that even today after more than 64 years, there is still some resentment.


 * //Source 3//**

Source 3 is the book written by Cornelius Ryan, ‘The Longest Day’ However it must be mentioned that this source is in Spanish and the relevant sections been translated by the candidate into English; it must also be said that some information used in this Internal Assessment comes from a few informative pages added by the publisher and not by Cornelius Ryan.

The values in terms of the origins for source 3 are that the author of the novel is a respected historian who interviewed many men who experienced the D-Day Landings and in terms of purpose this source sets to immortalize the facts and details of the Overlord Operation supported by testimonies and primary sources such as the diary of operations of both armies. However, the limitations of this source are in terms of origins that the extra informative pages although (when contrasted with other of my sources and the facts in the novel itself) are true, the authors are not respected and established historians on D-Day and in terms of purpose, it is done in order to provide a summary of the D-Day Landings and so the information there is selected and condensed, therefore not everything might be covered.