So my new company is in the news… thanks to Hugo Chavez. According to him, Pandemic (which is owned by the same company that owns Bioware) is making a simulator designed to, I dunno, give the US youth practice for an upcoming invasion.

Venezuelan politicians have complained about a forthcoming “shoot-em-up” computer game that simulates an invasion of the South American nation. In production by Los Angeles-based Pandemic Studios, Mercenaries 2: World In Flames is based around the overthrow of an imaginary Venezuelan “tyrant”.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has long accused the US of planning to invade, something Washington denies. His supporters say the game aims to drum up support for a real invasion.

Well, you know, SOMEBODY had to be the bad guy, and using a turban-wearing terrorist overlord is SO 2001. Hugo should be pleased, his name recognition and overall zaniness makes this plot plausible to Joe Six-pack. Not to be too snarky, but the game just wouldn’t be terribly credible if it had us, say, declared war on London.