They don't like it up 'em!

[Scrobbs]

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=128537

In September 2006 Al-Qaeda became a game developer.

Its first release? First-person shooter "Night of Bush Capturing", a game free to anyone with an Internet connection and an open mind. Its six-mission campaign is constructed from genre features familiar to any gamer: work your way deep into enemy territory, shoot enemy soldiers before they shoot you and assassinate the leader.

Only, in this case the territory is America, the enemy soldiers are US troops and the leader in question is George W. Bush. Oh, and the developer is a notorious Islamic militant terrorist alliance.

The US wants it banned.

[miffy495]

Damn, hell of an article. Really interesting stuff there, man. Thanks for the heads up. Of course, the title of this thread worried me a bit, but as it wasn't started by Ginger I figured I'd take the chance and see what it was about.

[Roderick]

Superb article.

I did miss a step in the logic of Bilal Wafaa's thinking though, when he called it 'hypocritical' when the US deemed the anti-Bush game propaganda and the anti-Saddam game not. Yes, it is technically hypocritical, but the implication is then that context is meaningless, whereas context is everything. Changing one little thing can make all the difference in the world in terms of how a game (or anything for that matter) is perceived and experienced. That's how humans work. That doesn't make his points any less true, but it's another example of how video games are approached from a rather facile angle; 'you shoot someone so it's bad, m'kay', disregarding context entirely.

[twmac]

I particularly liked the comments section because the almost completely polarised opinions of all the posters.

I can't tell who is more wrong.