Controversy
In March 2008, the United States Department of State published a report to Congress, "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism", that described Return to Castle Wolfenstein as an "anti-Semitic video game" with no qualifications. The report picked up on an article originally written in 2002 by Jonathan Kay of the New York Times regarding the recent introduction of "Nazi protagonists" in the online gaming market (referring specifically to Day of Defeat and Wolfenstein). The article was published just 19 days before Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was released which shares many similar features, and the Nazi protagonists in multiplayer.
Todd Hollenshead, chief executive of id Software at the time of the original article stated:
"The trend you're seeing with new games is, to some extent, a reflection of what's going in the culture ... For instance, you've now got games with terrorists and counterterrorists. And World War II games such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Day of Defeat reflect what you see in popular movies... I don't doubt there are going to be people that go out and distort what the multiplayer gaming experience is and say, 'Oh, I can't believe you guys did this.' There are a lot of critics of the game industry, and they look for things to criticize."
The game was nominated at 2002 Game Developers Choice Awards in the "Excellence in Programming" category (Sherman Archibald, John Carmack, and Ryan Feltrin).
Read more about this topic: Return To Castle Wolfenstein
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