Marine Corps Artillery

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=8T_OW9NHJ84

The pilot episode of Iconic Arms. • A history of the Desert Eagle and a cultural context within games. • Next up: the AK-47: • AK-47. • Beware, major plot spoilers for the COD: Modern Warfare series within. • -- • The Desert Eagle isn't a very good handgun - but nonetheless it is remarkably popular: it features in hundreds of movies, television shows and video games. • So how did such an unwieldy weapon become so iconic? Why is the Deagle a trademark of many first person shooters? And is bigger always better? • The Desert Eagle was designed as a semi-automatic rival to large-frame, high calibre revolvers: a gas-operated pistol able to feed from interchangeable magazines and with superior capacity to a typical 6-round cylinder. • Design started in 1979 at American co Magnum Research, Inc. - with the first finished pistols produced in 1982 by Israeli weapons manufacturer IMI. • The latest iteration - the Mark XIX - emerged in 1995, and like some kind of fashion accessory, even comes with a number of choices as far as finish is concerned. • Amongst them, the most demure is plain Black: others include three chromed options of various lustres; nickel either satin or bright; and gold both 24 karat and in a more durable Titanium variant; and if either gold finish isn't suitably ostentatious - then there's always the tiger stripes. • There are also more practical options, such as the choice of either a 6-inch or 10-inch barrel: and your calibre preference, either .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum or .50 Action Express. • The latter cartridge was designed specifically for high-calibre semi-automatic pistols, and indeed the Desert Eagle was the first handgun chambered for it: a performance jump from the already mighty .44 Magnum round, and right on the cusp of calibres deemed legal. • The .50 cal chambering set the pistol above most other magnum options, which in turn has led to it finding popularity in action films since the 1980s - supplanting Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum as the most powerful handgun in the world. • For almost as long as video games have existed, they have been influenced by cinema. • While the firearms in early games were often made generic through lack of resolution, as the number of polygons possible to push on-screen grew, weapons were able to be rendered in ever greater detail - giving rise to games with realistically rendered arsenals. • However, due to concerns over the use of trademarks, the real-steel Desert Eagle's name hasn't always matched its in-game appellation. • Sometimes it's known by generic terms that allude to its higher calibre - the 'magnum pistol', 'heavy handgun' or '.50 AE' offering a clue as to the handgun's power. • Sometimes the name is a mite more imaginative: and while the 'Silver Talon' in Soldier of Fortune, 'Desert Ranger' in Tomb Raider, or Counter-Strike's Night Hawk .50 cal' might not be instantly recognisable by name, the imposing sillhouette of the Deagle is unmistakeable. • • Counter-Strike in 1999 was one of the earliest realistic depictions of the gun: the game was originally a mod for Half-Life, and eventually graduated to a full retail release. • The weapon's digital rendition mirrors the real steel's power: while magazine capacity was limited, its high damage and one-shot headshot potential more than made up for any shortcoming. • The game graciously overlooks the weapon's impracticality for combat use, with the firearm eventually becoming a fast favourite for use in tandem with a primary weapon. • The powerful pistol returned in Counter-Strike: Source, and once again more recently in Global Offensive - each time filling a similar high-powered backup role. • Stylish, powerful and capable of skillfull headshot kills - the Counter-Strike depiction is a definitive one: with the game enjoying huge popularity over its lifespan, particularly in a world before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. • In the opening scenes of COD4 the Desert Eagle is very prominent: as a deposed president, you're bundled into a car, given a none-too gentle buttstroke, frogmarched to a pillory - and then, after some posturing - shot in the head by the golden high-calibre pistol. • It's fatal punctuation for a coup d'etat: a show of force in public execution - and that's what the Desert Eagle is all about: exhibition. A vulgar display of power. • It's a compelling moment, and the Desert Eagle is the totem of such potential: setting the story in motion in an explosive fashion. • It's not until the very end of the campaign that the pistol makes a return: this time as a grim portent of doom, executing a squadmate and moving towards your position with similar intent - only diverted by a timely distraction and some quick-thinking by Price. • It seems like every do-or-die moment in the Modern Warfare series simply must include the weapon - but I suppose if you're going to threaten the player with a gun to the face, there are few weapons with as imposing a profile as a .50 calibre Desert Eagle.

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