In the coming months a well-known videogame developer Ubisoft Montreal will be releasing a new game called “Watch_Dogs” that deals with the very real problem that most citizens and the government are concerned about. How dangerous is the cell phone really? The videogame depicts different scenes of protagonist Aiden Peirce using two cellular devices to hack security systems, access banking codes, or initiate a city wide blackout. Being an employee at a local GameStop I’ve seen the gameplay, trailers, and realism of Watch_Dogs and it frightens me to think that all of this is possible. Even the city the game takes place in Chicago, Illinois is a real place. Plus the fact that the overall plotline revolves around a specific person corrupting a computer system through the use of an everyday digital device is almost unthinkable. I’m sure it comes up in our government’s board meetings about the ramifications of launching a missile from a cellular device as means of quick retaliation should the USA be attacked by a foreign nation.
In hindsight this is very dangerous field to play in, especially when one considers it a means of entertainment that gets shipped out to hundreds of different retailers to sell to the masses. As our technology advances throughout the years we’ve really got to stop and think how much of it will lead to our country’s downfall. As the game progresses in the storyline the thought about whether or not Aiden should be captured gets put into perspective, since the system he begins to take control of-codenamed C.t.O.S. (Central Operating System)-beings to invade the citizens of Chicago’s privacy. With that in mind, it’s hard to find oneself rooting against Pierce since he’s taking out the very computer system meant to control their digital or online lives. However, does that mean in order to protect ourselves from the online systems we must break/hack them? Perhaps only time will tell as technology advances throughout the ages.