? isler V?t, 30.1.2006
Digital Intifade
In August 2005 a new computer game Tahta al-Hisar (Under siege) was issued, and according to the words of the author, it depicted the Palestinian round of hatred and violence in a very faithful rendering of events. The game, whose issuing was postponed by a censure for more than a year, was preceded by a very discrepant medial image. Based on a short text and a few screenshots published on the web, it was presented as propaganda of terrorism (Jerusalem Post), an extension of an ideological conflict to a cyberspace (BBC), or a first dignified response to a flood of Western anti-Arab games (Dzaridatu-I-Arab). The authors themselves talk about breaking through stereotypes of thinking at both sides and about a dialogue between the West and Arab world. Suchlike controversy is not surprising as the topic of the conflict itself carries an inevitable contradiction in its perception. The following text depicts the works of the authors of the Tahta al-Hisar game, a Syrian studio Afkar Media, and puts it into a wider context of committed political videogames.
Zdroj: UM??LEC
