There’s no love lost between the US and Venezuela. The country’s leader, Hugo Chavez, was overthrown by a US-backed military coup which quickly backfired when a populist uprising returned him back into power. Chavez recently kicked out the US-based New Tribes Mission accusing them of being involved in “true imperialist infiltration, the CIA, they take away sensitive, strategic information” and “exploiting the Indians”. The US, for their part, have repeatedly warned against Chavez, with Condolezza Rice accusing him of a “Latin brand of populism that has taken countries down the drain”.

But today comes an interesting story from ZDNet, who says that US gaming company Pandemic Studios’ upcoming game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is being denounced by Venezuelan lawmakers as “a U.S. government-inspired propaganda campaign against Chavez that could even help lay the psychological groundwork for an actual invasion”:

“This could be a point of departure,” lawmaker Luis Tascon said on Thursday. “The United States has an impressive media machine. In that machinery the gringos are always the heroes and their adversaries are always the villains.”

So, what’s got them all worked up? According to the blurb on Pandemic’s site about the game, it “is an explosive open-world action game” where “A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela’s oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone.” Venezuela has recently made oil land grabs from companies who refused to ensure 60% state control in any oil ventures in the country. This has caused some alarm in the US because this could create more instability in world oil markets.

Is the accusation possible? Absolutely. According to ABC News, Pandemic Studios has worked with the US military before when it was paid “$4 million in taxpayer money to create” Full Spectrum Warrior “as a training tool”. Josh Resnick, president of Pandemic Studios was quoted in the ABC News artcile as saying:

“We had subject matter experts assigned by the Army to the project from the very beginning all the way through. It was the only game that actually was commissioned by the U.S. Army.”

It also wouldn’t be the first time the US military has used a video game as a propaganda tool. The game America’s Army was developed and used as a propaganda and recruitment tool in an effort to boost the American military’s image.

This story probably has a lot more to it than meets the eye.