A NEW video game mocks Brit tourist balcony deaths by encouraging players to control "drunk" avatars in Union Jack shorts.
The controversial game, called Balconing Simulator 2020, allows players to try and jump from the uppermost floors of a multi-storey hotel into a swimming pool.
There have been numerous injuries and deaths as a result of Brits – including teens – plummeting from balconies in Spain, particularly across Majorca and Ibiza.
Indie online video game store Humble Bundle has released a trailer of the Fancy + Punk video game to announce its international launch on December 13.
So too has IGN, the American video game and entertainment media website.
IGN suggests players can “run, flop and drop your way over the railing and into the pool (hopefully!) with this physics-based game from Fancy + Punk".
But it has been slammed by unimpressed gamers – one of whom criticised it as "100 per cent garbage".
They said that IGN should "be ashamed for having a video of this on [its] site".
The trailer shows a basic, computer-generated character wearing swimming shorts, who is in a hotel bathroom, gazing at himself in the mirror.
The man – clearly drunk – then clumsily walks towards the balcony of the bedroom.
He bumps into furniture before reaching the balcony and jumps towards the hotel swimming pool.
The figure is seen making several somersaults in the open air, but the trailer is cut before you find out whether he actually manages to dive in to the pool.
The trailer also shows a message saying: "People of all kind have been asking themselves one single question: If I jump will I reach that pool?
"Embark in [sic] an adventure to discover the truth behind those balconies.”
One of the figures in the images can be seen in Union Jack shorts, but there is clothing representing the flags of other countries too.
The trailer has already been watched tens of thousands of times on one platform alone.
Honestly this game is a bit weird.
Viewers have been quick to connect the game to holidaymakers visiting the city of Magaluf, where this summer local authorities filed 11 complaints against tourists who jumped from a balcony or between them.
With multiple Brits dying in Spain as a result of so-called 'balconing', one viewer commented: "Honestly this game is a bit weird."
But some trolls made sick jokes about the game, suggesting, "at least they will get some practice before they come to Spain."
The game has been developed by Fancy + Punk and the publisher is Humble Bundle.
FINES IMPOSED
The UK government has cautioned holidaymakers against taking risks around balconies, particularly when under the influence.
Some Spanish councils impose fines on those jumping from balconies into swimming pools.
The government has safety advice on its foreign travel pages, saying there have "been a number of very serious accidents, some fatal, as a result of falls from balconies in Spain.
"Many of these incidents have involved British nationals and have had a devastating impact on those involved and their loved ones."
Among the many who have died this summer was Freddie MacVicar, 20, who died after falling from a Magaluf balony.
He was on an all-expenses paid three-day trip with Bristol-based Heat Recruitment as a thank you for meeting company targets.
In July, Luke Freeman, 19, from Reading in Berks died instantly after falling from the fifth-floor balcony of apartments in a Costa Brava resort.
Last year, Thomas Channon, 18, Tom Hughes, 20, and Natalie Cormack, 19, all plunged to their deaths at the Eden Roc apartments in Magaluf.
Source: Read Full Article