At first when I heard that Luc Bernard, 21, was developing a Holocaust-themed game, I was unamused. but when I looked into it, it was a good idea gone wrong. he means it to be educational. but like “diversity training” in the U of Delaware, it has gone wrong. This isn’t a LOLocaust moment (and that term just baffles me, LOLocaust, haha Holocaust. not funny). Here’s a brief overview about the game “Imagination Is the Only Escape”:
Last month, when a 21-year-old British video game developer named Luc Bernard posted a description on his blog of a Holocaust-themed game he is writing that describes how the Nazis tortured children, the reaction was swift and visceral.
The game, called Imagination Is the Only Escape, apparently will not be distributed within the United States. It casts players in the role of a young boy in eastern France during the German occupation who seeks escape from real-life horror through a fantasy world.
Darkly illustrated and full of gruesome historical facts, it is a far cry from the normal fare written for the Nintendo DS, which tends toward games featuring cute ponies and the like.
The game is being produced by Alten8, a small, private British game company that is licensed to develop games for Nintendo U.K. The company is in the process of putting out another title by Mr. Bernard for Nintendo called Eternity’s Child that deals with a fantasy world destroyed by global warming.
In a telephone interview from France, where he lives, Mr. Bernard said, “There will be no on-screen violence in this product. I don’t see war as a game. I don’t find that amusing.” He said that his mother was Jewish and his maternal grandmother looked after orphaned Jewish children after World War II.
The Unheard 