In the Deus Ex games, technologically-enhanced individuals are called "Augs," which is short for augmented. In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, they're called modified.
That's the message of the new teaser trailer for Black Ops III, which traces the modern history of modifying the human body through drugs and decoding the human genome, up to a future where entire limbs and other body parts are willingly replaced in the name of progress.
The trailer uses actual historic footage of things like Lance Armstrong on the Tour de France and the debuts of wearable technologies like Google Glass and Apple Watch.
As it progresses forward in time, it soon jumps to a fictional reality, but continues airing "historic" clips from science and pop culture to illustrate a world where modified athletes are allowed to compete in professional sports.
But then things take a darker turn. An Edward Snowden type figure is shown being interviewed, and his message is to modification what Snowden's was to surveillance: the government is saving all the best tech for itself and using it to transform human soldiers into living weapons.
It ends on an ominous note, and the message is clear: this is a very plausible speculation of our own future. It's a fascinating idea, albeit one that the Deus Ex games are already exploring in depth. What does the future of warfare look like when technology is used to enhance basic human abilities far beyond their normal limits?
You have to wonder why Black Ops III's developers went down a road so similar to Deus Ex's, but it does have an organic growth, considering the 2025 setting of Black Ops II. With future technology already coming to bear on that title, it's logical that human augmentation modification would be the next step.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is expected sometime this Fall.
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