Gear: Ares Newsie
Ares Newsie
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Sensor Upgrades: Thermographic Vision, Flare Compensation, Image Link |
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The Ares Newsie was their first major foray into the world of PR and reporting, and of course, they put a militarized spin on it. A two seater chopper with six mounted portacams, and built in thermo, glare, and flare reduction, typical loadout is a single reporter and a single pilot. The onboard autopilot is setup to only flee the scene back to a pre-specified home base, mostly to make it a little harder for hackers to manage it (mechanically it requires a manual Control Vehicle test every round to keep it on a course, if the autopilot takes over it *always* returns to home base. Deckers are suggested to change the home base). This lack of independent control and penchant for keeping a Lat/Long coordinate of a place you feel safe makes unmodified Newsies strongly disliked by Shadowrunners. The Newsie appeared most strongly in popular culture when a trade show advertisement leaked onto the Matrix. The simsense advertisement showed an 8 year old boy in a rumpled shirt and flat cap screaming "Extra Extra! Desert Wars! Ares Rhinos crush Ridgebacks!", and the viewer is forced to approach the boy and say, "How do you always get these scoops!". A flashback filter forms over the scene and the player is forced into a game obviously using the code from Call of Duty 99 (Desert Violence - Simulated War - Black Ops) with full cigar chomping general and horrors of war mods. As the player frantically begins to shoot unknown assailents raiding their trench, the 8 year old is hanging out of a helicopter filming them. Whenever hit by a missile or bullet he screams a stock line like "GOOD THING I'M IN A NEWSIE!", "COR! THAT WAS CLOSE! GOOD THING IT'S A NEWSIE!", "OI! GUV! KEEP IT DOWN! THIS THING AIN'T GOIN' ANYWHERE!", and seems completely fine. After being leaked the ad was played as a pretty popular video game until parent groups began rumbling that it promoted child endangerment - meaning that Ares had it pulled. It can still be bought from Salish Hosts (due to lack of corporate affiliation), however because because it's considered pirated media, ownership has a penalty of 6 months in jail or a 40,000¥ fine. Virtual Disney has a ride based on the game, explaining that it's an "Important Cultural Moment" and "Reminder of the horrors of a militarized culture". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
