NRA releases Practice Range game on iOS

The National Rifle Association has released a new game for iDevices today called NRA: Practice Range

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The National Rifle Association has released a new game for iDevices today called NRA: Practice Range. The free app provides rudimentary target practice, enabling players to virtually shoot 9 firearms across 3 shooting ranges. Practice Range offers both analog and gyroscope controls for their weapons.

In addition to the virtual shooting range, the NRA app also offers safety tips on gun handling, and is updated with news and legislation updates pertinent to NRA enthusiasts.

The release of Practice Range has attracted some criticism, especially as its release comes less than a month since NRA VP Wayne LaPierre pointed to video games as partly responsible for the gun violence in the country. Others are critical of the game's target age group of 4 and above.

While LaPierre insinuated homebrew Flash games like Kindergarten Killer are corrupting the minds of American youth, today's release of Practice Range shows that video games of all types can be created and distributed freely over the web.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    January 14, 2013 3:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, NRA releases Practice Range game on iOS.

    The National Rifle Association has released a new game for iDevices today called NRA: Practice Range

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      January 14, 2013 3:02 PM

      AMERICA FUCK YEAH

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      January 14, 2013 3:24 PM

      Wow, they couldn't have timed it better.

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      January 14, 2013 3:35 PM

      I sort of get the feeling the terms of the contract with the developer had a "if this doesn't ship, you don't get paid" kind of stipulation in it

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      January 14, 2013 3:35 PM

      5 min review: control is terrible and for some reason the frame rate is shit even though it's an FPS where your guy doesn't move. it feels like i'm shooting while drunk. and you get one gun-- buying additional guns in the app store costs $1 each?? fuck you.

      though they didn't bother including music, so that's good i guess
      score: 11/10

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        January 14, 2013 4:08 PM

        I'll choose to read that as 11 % 10 = 1.

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        January 14, 2013 5:27 PM

        So... it's like every other iPhone "free" advergame with in-app purchasing?

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          January 15, 2013 12:07 PM

          You have to try and find high capacity magazines before they are all sold out.

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      January 14, 2013 5:34 PM

      Fuck this stupid shit, Im not even sure why you guys are linking to the app

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      January 14, 2013 5:54 PM

      Further proof the NRA is a sad sack of shit. Great timing losers.

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        January 14, 2013 6:19 PM

        Why is the NRA a sad sack of shit? Did I miss something?

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          January 14, 2013 6:33 PM

          His parents never let him play Duck Hunt when he was growing up. His disappointment eventually developed into hatred, lashing out, and extremist behavior.

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      January 14, 2013 5:55 PM

      lol

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      January 14, 2013 6:01 PM

      Timing, whatever. There never would have been a "good" time for this for anyone who's against guns so if someone says anything about timing I'd immediately disregard their opinion as useless.

      What we really should be talking about here is why the NRA decided such an awful application was a good idea. I mean this shit looks like it's straight out of 1990. Which I guess is probably where a lot of them are stuck mentally, so maybe it is about right.

      No matter. I just wonder how much they paid for it.

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        January 14, 2013 7:53 PM

        No, timing is a pretty big deal here. This is a casual game released at the height of public fear and uncertainty regarding youths and firearms. It does seem insensitive with the Sandy Hook tragedy still ringing in our ears, and, if not hypocritical, unimpressive considering the NRA was so quick to point the finger at video games.

        I realize that their whole point is that violent games trivialize death and killing, but this app makes the use and handling of firearms themselves feel trivial and casual, removing a much needed sense of awareness that helps create an association in children's minds between guns and safety. Children aren't stupid, they can learn right from wrong, especially against the over-the-top backdrop of most violent video games. It's much harder to teach them safety and responsibility, which require difficulty and gravity to get across.

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          January 14, 2013 8:35 PM

          Its only a big deal if people make it a big deal.

          I would agree that it would be fairly distasteful if this app were a reaction to Sandy Hook stuff, but it would be basically a miracle to bring an app like this to market in under a month, so there goes that theory.

          They've probably been working on it since the election or even earlier.

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            January 14, 2013 9:42 PM

            Then why not postpone the release until the shitstorm blew over? They only have themselves to blame for this.

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              January 14, 2013 9:45 PM

              Because the shitstorm will take months to "blow over" and they do want to get word out that guns are safe when handled properly right now since the legislation brigade is in full force?

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        January 14, 2013 9:44 PM

        there would be a better time than now, however. exactly one month after the shootings. if this came out six months ago it'd get some laughs for being technically antiquated and that's it.

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      January 14, 2013 6:21 PM

      so you guys really don't see the difference between a "shooting sports" app and a "kill everything that moves" game? I would let my kids play this, but Bulletstorm not so much. Not sure why there is a controversy.

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        January 14, 2013 6:35 PM

        Because guns

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        January 14, 2013 7:38 PM

        I know I'm an odd one, but honestly, this game makes me a bit uneasy for not wholly understood reasons. Something about the casual use of more-or-less realistic guns, albeit poorly rendered, and being "approved" for young children just feels off-color to me.

        It might be that this game is too "safe." It is so casual, it almost trivializes just how careful we need to be when handling firearms. I don't care about the safety tips the app may provide, one cannot understand what safe handling of a gun means until they actually hold one. I know I didn't, especially since I found they are both harder to control and easier to use than I expected.

        As for this versus "violent" games like Bulletstorm or Borderlands (or that old favorite, Doom), the ease and lack of weight that this game presents I think prevents some valuable teaching opportunities for young gamers. There's no obvious fantastic backdrop which provides a "this is pretend"-style inlet to teach a child boundaries. There's also the complete lack of situational difficulty inherent in those shooters we love so much, difficulty which provides a sort of association between pulling a trigger and actually trying to hit something you're aiming for.

        Finally, there's "news and legislation updates," which is a covert propaganda tool, regardless of intent. The vast majority of parents will not take the time to screen the information being fed into the game and discuss it with their children, so what the NRA says will go (assuming that the child reads.) While I don't think the NRA has the intention of turning children into careless hordes of gun-waving ne'erdowells, it's probably safe to assume that the news coming in will be 100% rooting for reducing restrictions on firearms and widening access to them. This could lead to children regarding firearms with possibly not as care as is warranted. The risk here, then, is accidents, not shooting sprees, but tragic nonetheless.

        I'm not trying to put forth conspiracy theories here, just trying to analyze why /{I}/ am a bit put off by this app. If a lobbying group released an anti-gun app that would randomly shoot babies in the face as a means to show the danger in guns, I'd be just as critical. (Moreso, probably, but there could be an app released that's not quite so outlandish.) My point is that, as an adult who wants our society to have a reasoned, balanced understanding of firearms use, especially when it comes to children, this app is not innocuous.

        And yeah, bad timing. Just saying.

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        January 14, 2013 8:03 PM

        [deleted]

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        January 14, 2013 8:17 PM

        In that context, I think Receiver does a far better job. http://www.wolfire.com/receiver

        It's $5, it's DRM-free, it only has robot turrets and hover bots as enemies, and it shows all the mechanics of each gun. Also, it makes you use the iron sights to aim (which the NRA app doesn't do).

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      January 14, 2013 6:52 PM

      App is terrible. Also worth noting the game has you shooting at human shaped targets (repeatedly) in an indoor range. When you do this in real life you're probably imaging the targets are people trying to harm you. Why would you simulate a simulation?

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      January 14, 2013 7:34 PM

      I have a custom level in mind for this

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      January 14, 2013 8:35 PM

      don't care unless there are hats

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      January 15, 2013 7:40 AM

      Did no one else have rifle shooting with .22's at their summer camp when they were a kid?

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