Posts Tagged ‘Controversy’
Guantanamo Game Halted In Light Of Controversy
This is why many video games take place in fictionalized countries or worlds. Picture a game set in a near-future setting where an independent prison is run by mercenaries and scientists utilizing the facility for their own unethical experiments without any sort of oversight. This sounds pretty standard doesn’t it? Presumably the plot would then follow an inmate who escapes due to some unexpected side effect or incredible breakthrough and then fights his or her way out of the facility. Doesn’t sound like anything too objectionable right? Not when it’s set in a futuristic version of Guantanamo Bay, the prison where the US government has been holding suspected terrorists for years.
I admit that I’m generally not interested in the games that cause lots of controversy. Not out of any particular bias, just that A) I don’t like the Grand Theft Auto series and B) most other controversial games turn out to be a bit crap. This game though sounded pretty interesting and I’m sad to report that it’s been shelved indefinitely. Unfortunately conservatives got wind of the game’s title and assumed that the game would involve detainees or terrorists getting their revenge against American Soldiers.
Rush Limbaugh attacked the game on his radio show and somehow bloggers and columnists inferred that since former detainee Moazzam Begg had a financial stake in the game he was going to be the main character and that the game was going to be strongly anti-American. T-Enterprise, the studio behind the game has insisted that they have no ties to terrorism and are ceasing work on the title, likely in part because when contacted for a comment on the game Microsoft said they hadn’t heard of the game before, meaning that T-Enterprise hadn’t begun getting the licensing they needed in order to release the game on the Xbox 360. With all this controversy it’s not likely that they would now either.
More iPhone Game Protests
Apple is beginning to discover the downside of dipping your toes into the vast ocean of the video games industry: it’s full of protesters who’ll nibble at your toes in outrage. They’ve already dealt with one controversy over a baby shaking iPhone application and now another game is coming under fire.
Many video games put you in a position of godlike power, while others actually put you in the role of a deity. One such title is ‘Pocket God’ for the iPhone, one of the dozens of games which cost ninety-nine cents and offer a few minutes of entertainment. Players are put into the role of a god who has dominion over ‘primitive islanders’.
The Pacific Women’s Information Network has taken umbrage against the game, claiming that the developers modeled the primitive people the player can endlessly create and destroy after Pacific Islanders. Group spokesperson Elaine Howard asked: ‘how do you think people would react if you created a game where you were God and you could create and kill as many Mexicans as you wanted? Or Asians? People would be outraged.’
The developer of the app, Bolt Creative, denies that it intended to depict any ethnic group in the game, though it’s impossible to argue against the claims that the people in the game look Polynesian.
Konami Cancels Six Days In Fallujah
The video games industry is used to criticism and controversy, yet no title in history has come under fire as heavily and as quickly as Six Days In Fallujah. Within mere days of its announcement soldiers, veterans and family members were protesting the game, calling it tasteless in its planned depiction of the invasion of Fallujah a mere five years ago.
There were some soldiers who when asked said they had no problem with a historically accurate and realistic game; many even included that there are possible benefits to the game including greater understanding of the stresses of war and training new recruits in the rules of engagement. Unfortunately however these soldiers aren’t out stumping for the game, so the publicity circling is still vastly negative.
Faced with endless complaints, petitions and accusations of poor taste Konami has decided to save face and pull out of the project. Despite the fact that developer Atomic Games collaborated with soldiers via diaries and satellite images to get the game as close to the actual events of the battle as possible none of its detractors seemed to think there could be any validity to the game.
iPhone Baby Shaking Game Causes Controversy
Browsing through the Apple app store can be a bit tedious when looking for quality content. Many companies have jumped on the popularity of the portable device by releasing floods of cheap games that are simply knock-offs of flash games or other iPhone games. Generally they utilize either a touch screen interface, tilt controls or a combination of the two, but a few games have utilized a shaking option, one of which has stirred up a hornets nest of controversy.
The game has you shaking your iPhone (or iPod Touch) in order to quiet a crying baby, an act which if carried out in real life would result in death or severe injury. As you might expect as soon as people got wind of this a fair amount of stink was raised. Apple has since pulled the application from the store after the waves of criticism from various baby shaking prevention groups.
This has since raised other controversies, including a New York Times blogger who raises the question of how far Apple will take their censorship. Unfortunately while I agree that Apple should limit censorship to truly tastelessly offensive materials the fact remains that the app store is owned and run by Apple, giving them not only the ability but the right to censor or ban any content they wish. The big question that arises out of all of this is whether or not Apple would be so quick to pull something that was generating a much larger revenue stream.
Some Iraq War Vets Support Konami Game
It’s always interesting when a game generates controversy before it’s even released. Usually it’s because of gratuitous, over-the-top violence but in the case of Konami’s Six Days In Fallujah it’s because of the stark realism of the violence that took place not very long ago. Veterans, families of slain Iraq war veterans and peace groups have all come out against the game, but not everyone is against the game.
After looking at the arguments coming from the ‘con’ side G4 contacted some members of the military who are also gamers themselves to get their thoughts on the issue. Sgt. Casey J. McGeorge, a veteran of the Iraq war who served for thirty six months over three tours of duty says that he has no problems with the game, speaking as a combat veteran as well as a gamer, stipulating that it should be made as realistically as possible.