So I've been on the other side of the globe for the past few weeks and have missed the homespun furore over the Night of Bush Capturing "radical jihadist" video game, in which players are challenged to snipe the US president and UK Prime Minister using a first person shooter interface. According to Gamepolitics,
Night of Bush Capturing is an first-person shooter based on the Quest for Saddam engine. The game features six levels with names such as "Jihad Beginning", "America's Hell" and "Bush Hunted Like a Rat". A soundtrack of Jihadist music loops during play.
The comments and coverage at Water Cooler Games and Gameology are excellent. Briefly:
radovan says,
- It is an Al Qaeda propaganda game, a media message to the world as any other video tape portraying their mission worldwide, I think gamers will not get interested in it and it will not affect their believes for sure.
- I think it was developed using old version of torque engine called V12, or maybe a new mod of some old game???.
- I think it was developed by one or two programmers with no graphic artist involved.
- I was surprised that it wasn't available in Arabic, English only??????
- It reflects the view points of the most extremist Moslems in the world, I am really disturbed about such game, the game was full of hate to any opposing side.
Gameology has got a bit deeper into this issue, and reports that the current game is an adaptation of a 2003 game called Quest for Saddam.
Apparently, UK tabloids have jumped into the fray, with The Sun (who also slam the creators of the satirical board game War on Terror) and the Daily Mail throwing in their two penneth about "entertainment" which deals with controversial subjects.
As I posted yesterday, there is a fine line between what is culturally acceptable and not acceptable with regards to controversial events. In the past, I've been slammed for my thoughts on a game which recreates the tragic Columbine massacre in the USA. Yet, as games become viable means of protest and interactive sense-making just how far is too far, and do we have the right to control the content?
