Guantanamo Bay: Coming to an Xbox near you

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Monday, June 1, 2009

The Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison is coming to an Xbox 360 and Windows PC near you in just a few short months. But, it’s not what you think.

This is the most initially-horrifying-but-not-really-that-bad news item I’ve come across since that curious chocolate-vanilla flavored, Obama-themed ice cream treat.

The game, Rendition: Guantanamo, is being developed by Glasgow studio T-Enterprise, better known for Web-based flash games and topical, viral fare. (See: Puck Palin, Bush’s Boot Camp.) Set in 2010 (“because that’s when we think the camp will be closed,” studio executive Zarrar Chishti told Game Politics), the story is based on the experiences of Moazzam Begg, a British Muslim man who was captured by the CIA in Afghanistan, wrongfully sent to Guantanamo and held for years without charges.

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In the game’s story, the United States has sold the prison to mercenaries calling themselves the very Bushian-sounding “Freedom Corp.” The Freedom people then brought in scientists to experiment on the inmates. The main character, who does not bear Begg’s likeness, is captured and brutally tortured, then shipped off to Guantanamo.

Begg, whose wife gave birth to a son six months after he was imprisoned, did not meet his progeny until the boy was three years old. Similarly, in Rendition, the main character’s driving pathos appears to be news that he’s got a son on the outside.

So … “It is time to fight back,” declares the trailer.

Watch it:

 

Begg reportedly has a financial stake in the game but has not yet received any money for it. Quoted by Game Politics, he appears to tread lightly on its sensitive subject matter:

The only thing I am concerned about it making sure the game does not misrepresent the prisoners. This will not demean the reality of Guantanamo but it could bring those issues to people who would not usually think about it.

The developers also say that U.S. and British military personnel are not the target of the main character’s escapist rampage, only mercenaries.

Come to think of it, this could be the start of a positive, if not at least interesting trend in mainstream gaming.

That is, if it doesn’t suck.

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