Al-Qaeda Web site swipes Fallout 3 pic

[Scythe]

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/show ... id=6191870

After acquiring the Fallout 3 license in 2004, Bethesda Softworks initially played coy about the game's setting. Three years later, though, the Maryland-based publisher-developer released concept art revealing that the much-anticipated role-playing game would be set in a postapocalyptic Washington, DC. Among the images it offered was a large painting (pictured) of the irradiated ruins of the US capitol, which was left scorched and partially destroyed by a massive nuclear attack.

Now, it appears the image of the ruined capitol has been appropriated for a purpose Bethesda Softworks most certainly did not intend it for. According to private contractor The SITE Intelligence Group--itself based in Bethesda, Maryland--"extremists posted the [Fallout 3] image to a password-protected forum affiliated with al-Qaeda. ... This information was part of a report describing the general atmosphere in this forum with regard to extremists' discussions on weapons of mass destruction, making its context all the more important."

The SITE Intelligence Group, which bills itself as a "leading provider of intelligence and analysis to governments, organizations, and institutions across the world" made the claim as part of a public refutation of an article appearing in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph. That piece claimed that SITE was "embarrassed" and "red-faced" because their report asserted terrorists, not Bethesda, had created the image. The article has since been removed from the The Daily Telegraph's Web site.

[eMTe]

Osama plays Fallout?

While it sounds impossible, I wouldnt be much surprised to find out that they actually have some fun between how-to-destroy-whole-world convos.