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Video Games from the Middle East
The Saudi Gazette writes, "IMAGINE you're a Palestinian teenager praying in a mosque when an Israeli settler walks in and starts shooting at rows of worshippers. What do you do? This is one of the plots of Under Siege, a Syrian made videogame produced by Afkar Media. Under Siege, a sequel to Under Ash, is just one of the new videogames targeting Arabs and Muslims and stirring controversy in the West. "'This is a very positive game for children to understand what their Palestinian brothers are facing. Now they can become the heroes fighting for a just cause and not the villains as many Arabs and Afghans are depicted in Western video games... Just as they have games with Arabs and Muslims as the target we have games where Israelis are the target,' said Mobarak A-Khaldi, a Saudi father. 'Why is it politically correct for the West to have Arabs as the bad [guys] in their games while it is politically incorrect to kill Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories in our games?' "'The game gives young Muslims and Arabs a chance to see themselves in the role of good guys, which will help bolster self-esteem,' said 31-year-old Radwan Kasmiya, the author of Under Siege... Just as the violence in Western computer games such as Grand Theft Auto, Under Siege along with other war games is also facing criticism for their violent content." According to the website of the game's creator: "When you live in middle-east you can't avoid being part of the image, as a development company we believe that we had to do our share of responsibility in telling the story behind this conflict and targeting youngsters who depend on video games and movies (which always tell the counter side) to build their acknowledgement about the world." The following are images from Under Siege: 
This is a poster for the game with a quote from the BBC, "A bit like life really": 
The Saudi Gazette also mentions three other games: The Stone Throwers, Special Forces (a Hezbollah Game), and Quraish. According to the article, The Stone Throwers ends with a message showing a crowd carrying a casket draped with the Palestinian flag: "Game Over: Well maybe you have killed some Israeli soldiers in the computer world... THIS IS THE REAL WORLD. Stop the killing of the innocents in Palestine, before the game is really over." MEMRITV released an excerpt from a report on Al-Arabiya TV on February 23, 2005 about Special Forces. "Reporter: What does one get for winning?" "Interviewee: I already told you what he gets. He reaches the martyrs' paradise, and lives among the young men he had been with during the days of Jihad, who liberated the land with their blood." The following are images from the report on Special Forces: 
Quraish is a game about the history of Islamic civilization. According to the website of the game's creator, "Quraish tracks the origin of Islam in the desert of Arabia 590 A.C. through its evolution and growth until it builds a Caliphate, which defeats the greatest empires of that day and age, the Persians and Romans." "Was it AL-JIHAD, the holy war, that makes them conquer? Was it the tolerance of this spritual religion? Or is it the willingness of their gifted leaders? Well... you will have the chance to choose it by yourself!" The following is an image from Quraish: 
Posted at: 2006-12-27
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