MIDDLE EAST

Amnesty Group Slams Wii Game "Gaza Under Fire"

WASHINGTON (CAP) - The human rights advocacy group Amnesty International is urging the United Nations Security Council to take decisive action in the wake of the release of a new video game about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Gaza Under Fire by VG Sports is currently only available for Wii, but versions for Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo DS are expected soon.

"Listen, I enjoy gratuitous violence and graphic depictions of same in my video games just as much as the next guy," said Amnesty International USA senior deputy executive director Curt Goering. "But the bodies over there aren't even cold yet - at least give this thing some time to play out."

The concept behind the game is that players insert their Mii characters into the Middle East conflict as an advocate for either Israel or Palestine and then choose whether to go on the offensive against the other side or help protect their own people. The game utilizes both the Wii remote and nunchuck and incorporates updates from the Wii News Channel to keep the game current.

"My Mii was helping pull injured people out of a building in Gaza City when suddenly I thought the nunchuck stopped working," said CAP News video game expert 'Bad' Larry Castrini. "But it turns out that tank shells exploding nearby had actually blown my arm off, so naturally I couldn't use the nunchuck.

"The bummer is that I can't do Wii bowling with that Mii anymore either, because, well, I'm left-handed," Castrini added. "It's very life-like."

Some, like Northwestern University professor of Social Psychology Spaulding Wang, see the game as an educational tool that can aid in better comprehending a conflict that has waged for generations, the underpinnings of which most don't understand. Wang says this game could be the catalyst that launches Wii into the classroom.

"Rather than try to explain to my daughter something I just don't get, why not have her take Israel's side and blow up some civilians in Gaza, and then take Palestine's side and do the same to Israel," Wang said. "Then she can form her own opinion about who she thinks is right, and share that with her fellow first-graders."

This isn't the first time that Amnesty International has inserted itself into an Israel-involved conflict, leading critics to question whether the non-partisan group has become "a bunch of sissy Jew-lovers." Back in the summer of 2006, Amnesty lobbied successfully for Israel and Lebanon to settle their dispute with a game of Risk.

This also isn't VG Sports' first foray into controversy. Last year their game Vick Dogfighting '07 met with rave reviews by video game critics but was panned by the family advocacy group Mothers Against Everything despite its Mature rating.