The fierce competition between Chen Shui-bian
What's more, the rapidly approaching elections are expected to bring about a political reorganization which may well twist Taiwan's political scene into something even more closely resembling that historic era.
And the computer game industry is cashing in on the occasion. Releasing several games based on this period in China's history, they have struck gold among the legions of war and strategy computer gamers in Taiwan and China.
Among the host of games that have been developed based on the age of the Three Kingdoms, however, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The defining feature of these games is largely the same: Govern a city where you train and maintain troops, then wage war to unite the whole country. They are all real-time strategy games that turn gamers into warlords, often in unique circumstances.
"The games take players back to historic scenes in China, where they themselves become the legendary heroes, generals, politicians or descendents of emperors. They command troops and charge at their enemies in a virtual Chinese landscape -- they work hard and fight hard. Their ultimate goal is to unite all of China," said Allen Lin
Fate of the Dragon, whose first edition hit store shelves last year after raising more than a few eyebrows at the E3 electronics exhibition, has since been tailored into a humorous version which satirizes current political strife. Entitled Battle of the Red Cliff
But it's not immediately clear which of the three political figures corresponds to which of the ancient heroes.
Some people prefer Liu Pei, who has the royal blood of the Han Dynasty. But arguments have arisen among players as to whether Lien or Soong more closely resembles the ancient character.
"Some say that Soong has talent and magnitude like Tsao Tsao and that Lien, like Liu Pei, is the mild-mannered successor to the throne -- albeit the weakest of the three," said Third Way's director of digital entertainment, Tseng Yi-cheng
And what about Taiwan's incumbent "emperor?"
"Chen can be compared to Sun Chuan, the leader of opposition forces who emerged from the south of China to subdue Tsao."
No easy task
Revising the original game was no easy task. Apart from changing the characters' dialogues to reflect the political speeches of the trio of politicians, other contemporary political figures had to be written into the history of the Three Kingdoms.
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