March 28, 2002

2:05 AM

After an extensive search of my personal archives (box of stuff stored at my parent's), I stumbled upon the true inspiration for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Seven years prior, video game manufactuer Koei Games released Aerobiz, an airline management simulator. Its boxart features this chilling image of the New York City skyline. I am not a New Yorker so please, correct me if I am wrong, but the positioning of the Empire State building and the Chrysler building would seem to place the office inside one of the World Trade Center towers.
posted by nathan_teske (22 comments total)

no way man, WTC is miles more down town than that is showing
posted by monkeyJuice at 4:53 AM on March 28, 2002

> no way man, WTC is was miles more down...
posted by pracowity at 5:02 AM on March 28, 2002

i stand corrected
posted by monkeyJuice at 5:13 AM on March 28, 2002

More chilling.
posted by Mid at 5:17 AM on March 28, 2002

You sound like a cheap newspaper with your "chilling image" news-speak.
posted by Spoon at 5:32 AM on March 28, 2002

I loved playing Aerobiz when I was younger. Great game.
posted by thewittyname at 5:53 AM on March 28, 2002

I love koei games, Nobunaga's ambition, uncharted waters, ghengis khan, l' empur, revolution, and of course Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

*goes to find old NES*
posted by Mick at 6:05 AM on March 28, 2002

I think the positioning of the skyline would place the office about a quarter mile above the Brooklyn Bridge.
posted by Loudmax at 6:32 AM on March 28, 2002

well any pre-9.11 pictures of the world trade center and planes or explosions or maybe just New York and a plane is prophetic. notice that the wtc isn't in the pricture ANYWHERE! bone chilling.
posted by andrewzipp at 6:57 AM on March 28, 2002

No, you're not a New Yorker, because no way is that anywhere but Midtown. And I don't think that's Empire State on the left (it's a little crude and hidden behind a lamp); if there's any reality to this image it's because they took it from a photograph taken from the ESB observation deck. If that is actually ESB on the left (looking rather short), the image is looking vaguely northwest from a location on the East River near the 34th street heliport.

What I want to know is why Donald Trump doesn't have a dispatch staff for his airline, and seems to be using a cellular phone. "Trump Shuttle 234, dis is da Donald. Please divert to LaGuardia and pick up a load of customers for Trump Taj Mahal. What? Bound for Newark? Well hand out some chocolates or something."
posted by dhartung at 7:28 AM on March 28, 2002

posted by Shadowkeeper at 7:41 AM on March 28, 2002

oh thats just nasty ShadowKeeper, but funny none-the-less... great bit wrangling...
posted by jkaczor at 8:14 AM on March 28, 2002

Dhartung's got it exactly right. (Nowhere near the Brooklyn Bridge, mind).
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:20 AM on March 28, 2002

I'm pretty sure most people who care know this, but I feel it needs to be reiterated that The Coup album cover that Mid linked was designed prior to last September.

OK, sorry. You knew that.
posted by hackly_fracture at 8:28 AM on March 28, 2002

two images from Illuminati - New World Order card game.

pentagon

world trade center
posted by darkpony at 9:59 AM on March 28, 2002

Oh, wow, I haven't played Illuminati in AGES... darkpony, can you tell us what the text says on these cards? The scan's a bit too small for me to make out.
posted by apollonia6 at 10:27 AM on March 28, 2002

insane. every last one of you.
posted by Satapher at 10:49 AM on March 28, 2002

Wow, I remember trying to play Illuminati. Never really understood it, though. All my friends just kept playing Magic.
posted by jragon at 10:50 AM on March 28, 2002

Terrorist Nuke(the wtc card): Play this card at any time to give +10 Power or resistance(your chioce) to any Violent group you control.
If used with an action, it must be played when that action is first declared, and counts only for that action. If used for defense, the bonus lasts until the end of the current turn and does not count toward Goals.

Pentagon: Each Corporate group directly controlled by the Pentagon lets you draw one extra Plot card each turn.

whew..I couldn't find these descriptions online..thats all self typed!

INWO is a Steve Jackson game....wasn't Steve Jackson games raided by the feds several years ago? hrmmm.
posted by darkpony at 11:56 AM on March 28, 2002

This reminds me of the buzz about the TV show Frazier when it came out. I was living in Seattle at the time (where it takes place). There's a lot of civic pride in Seattle, and there was much discussion about

a) how good the show was, and how nice to have a nationally-aired show that featured the Seattle skyline so prominently and beautifully as seen from Frazier's condo, and

b) how, judging from the view from Frazier's condo, the condo itself was undoubtably located in the center of a very big lake.
posted by bingo at 12:47 PM on March 28, 2002

Spoon --- exactly the intended effect :)
posted by nathan_teske at 12:48 PM on March 28, 2002

Boy, I'm glad that Frasier show didn't last long...never lived up to it's potential, you know?
posted by davidmsc at 3:15 AM on March 29, 2002