Whatever Happened To Grand Theft Auto Los Alamos?

Though such video games and their ilk are primarily known for their gratuitous violence and misogyny, are there any “high-brow alternative” to Grand Theft Auto Los Angeles?

By: Ringo Bones

Grand Theft Auto Los Alamos: a high-brow alternative to Grand Theft Auto Los Angeles? Maybe, but for those fortunately old enough to remember, furor over the theft of the U.S. government’s top tier nuclear secrets – when the U.S. Department of Defense’s ultra-compact W88 thermonuclear warhead construction secrets got leaked to Beijing - are a serious issue back in 1998 before it was overshadowed by the September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks.

Well, the Taiwanese born American scientist Wen Ho Lee who had been working at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico facility since the 1970s had become headline news back near the end of 1998 when he was found out to be passing nuclear weapon’s secrets to the Beijing Government via Hong Kong. And for those fortunately old enough to remember the atomic-powered car – the Ford Nucleon – and add this to the mix, now you have a recipe for a high-brow nuclear science oriented video game reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto Los Angeles. And name it “Grand Theft Auto Los Alamos” in order to capitalize on the curious old enough to remember the “Atomic Age” first hand.

Sometimes I too wonder why nobody has though of this yet. Given the advances made in home based computer game consoles and in desktop PCs, tablets, mobile devices and what have you, Grand Theft Auto Los Alamos could have been a historically-based video game that’s both educational and thrilling. Maybe one of these days - through Crowdfunding I guess – it may suddenly dominate the computer gaming market, or maybe an IMAX 3D big-budget action movie tie-in perhaps?