What a difference a letter makes: change “smuggle” to “snuggle” and the game about taking clandestine immigrants across the border becomes…a game about cuddly creatures escaping the wilderness for the comfort of a zoo, where they are provided plenty of food, shelter and “state of the art healthcare.”
The developers of Smuggle Truck changed the name and graphics to Snuggle Truck to gain Apple approval for sale in iTunes.
This is the absurd journey of game “Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration” from Boston company Owlchemy Labs which had tongues wagging for months before it was even ready for submission into the iTunes store.
In the original, players navigate through what looks like the U.S.-Mexican border. As the truck drives over cliffs, mountains and dead animals, immigrants fall off the truck bed. Scores were calculated by the number of immigrants helped into the U.S.
This may be one case where too much press proved to be bad press, there were over 500 articles about Smuggle Truck in just a few weeks.
The developers are making the best of it by offering the original Smuggle Truck for sale in Mac and PC versions, as they explain in the video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A84MUl0e1_8&feature=player_embedded
The real problem? Once again, Apple’s lack of a clear policy about what is suitable for sale in iTunes and what isn’t.
As a few of our readers pointed out, a similar game called “Jose Comes to USA” has been available since January. It’s a more light-hearted take but the premise is similar:
Jose, a good Mexican kid, meets the love of his life Penny, a beautiful gringuita, on the Internet.. But when Penny invites Jose to her prom, the love story goes south as Jose decides to go north! The immigration officer in charge turns out to be none other than Penny’s father and he unjustly denies Jose entrance to USA…
Should Apple have approved the original Smuggle Truck?
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
40 responses to “Smuggle Truck Immigration Game Makes Cosmetic Changes, Crosses iTunes Border”
Of course it should be approved. I’ll always point back to how there’s a Suicide Girls, semi-nude stripping and flirting video App that is in the store. If that can get approved, then why not this?!
Sure why not lets make light of a major problem all over the us and make a game of helping the illegals out…while we are at it lets make one where you have to guide jumbo jets into skyscrapers.
morons
I don’t see the problem with this. It is clearly satire. If the game involved shooting immigrants like a tower game then that would be offensive and just plain wrong, but in its current form it is satire.
Apple needs to lighten up. The original concept was hilarious.
The original concept was racist! What’re you talking about. You can’t be part of a country so proud of it’s rights for woman and coloured people then NAIL mexicans with the other end of the stick. Doesn’t work like that.
The game developers weren’t being satirical. They were being racist. What a pathetic stereo type about Mexicans. Like they all need to be illegally smuggled to the US or something. Apple denied this app because there’s people at Apple with things in their heads called brains. They didn’t deny the other app because it wasn’t a CLEAR AS DAY stereo type. The other app is more about the trials and tribulations of love then it is racist satire. Just because the dudes name is Jose doesn’t mean anything. Anyone can be denied entry to any country for any reason. Good job Apple…for a minute there I was picturing an Apple Ad with large letters saying “Apple App Store, Now 10% more racist!”
I don’t see how this is racist. Smuggling people over the United States border is something that really happens almost every day. Please look up the actual definition of “Racist”.
Maybe I’ll make an App called “The KKK Truck!” and run over blacks and gays with a Chevy. If it’s too racist for you I’ll rename it “The OK Truck” …cause that’s okay right?
It wouldn’t be a racist app if a broad range of people were smuggled. But the developers decided that there’s only one race that needs to be smuggled.
Snuggle truck is now worst than racist!! It teaches children that all animals in the wild are in danger and we must CAGE THEM IN A ZOO to protect them!! What are we teaching the youth!!
white people die in so many video games, they must be racist as well. We should only make video games about protecting mother earth and hugging each other! All other games abuse animals, people and promote evil in society.
Illustrate yourself.
You have the right to be racist, produce racially insenstive games.
companies have a right not to distribute those games or your ideology.
likewise consumers have a right to not buy it.
That’s because in reality, only one race IS smuggled into America. It simply wouldn’t make sense to attempt to smuggle other nationalities.
What about war games such as Call of Duty? Do you call that racist because your team is attempting to kill another team that is a different nationality?
lmfao “…only one race IS smuggled into America.” Case, in point.
you’re clearly excellent at making a fair and persuasive argument. You may wish to read this though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A…
Stereotype is one word. Just sayin’.
1 app out of 300,000+ apps would not equal 10%.
Check your math, kid.
Look up satire. Jesus Christ, you must have no sense of humor. Do you gasp at the thought of a black joke?
I don’t like offending people, but I enjoy stereotypical jokes and such. I like the idea of the game and think it’s funny, although it is satire and offensive. It is hilarious, but what’s even MORE hilarious is how they flipped it to SNUGGLE and fuzzy animals.
If those snuggles come with plush-toy sounds, I’m going to LMAO for sure. For absolute sure.