When video games make the horrors of nuclear war seem real – Reader’s Feature

Fallout 4 – war never changes (Bethesda)

A reader looks back at how nuclear war has been portrayed in video games, from Missile Command in 1980 to the modern Fallout titles.

On the list of things that might ruin your day, nuclear war is probably right up there. I doubt anyone could argue that nuclear weapons aren’t mankind’s worst invention and it defies all logic that any country would keep a nuclear arsenal, let alone use it. However, I am drawn to the subject of nuclear weapons and nuclear war in fictional scenarios. Whenever nukes are involved in a story, tension and drama can be ratcheted up to unparallelled levels because the risk to humanity’s continued existence is under...