Sonderkommando Revolt, the video game mod that reimagines an Auschwitz uprising as a bloody, pixelated shooter, may never see release, according to the project's lead creator. He blames the "emotional trauma" of media attention for its demise.

Israeli mod enthusiast Maxim "Doomjedi" Genis says the attention Sonderkommando Revolt has received from those outside the Wolfenstein 3D modding community is responsible for its cancellation. In an interview with Heeb Magazine, Genis says "Despite having no anti-jewish elements or intentions in this free pixelated mod of an 18-year old game, the project is declared cancelled at this point."

"The project is cancelled because I cannot stand media exposure of any kind," a distressed Genis tells the Jewish magazine, saying that he's experienced "very deep" emotional trauma over the scrutiny of his team's game. "I have no internal emotional powers to deal with the press, the violation of my personal privacy and life," he adds.

Genis told Kotaku earlier this month that Sonderkommando Revolt was not designed as political or social commentary, but simply as a game meant to be enjoyed by a tight-knit group of Wolf3D mod enthusiasts. He later said he regretted using the word "fun" to describe the game.

Sonderkommando Revolt was originally planned to be released on January 1, 2011. Right now, it looks like that may not happen.

Auschwitz Video Game Cancelled, ADL Overjoyed [Heeb]

An Israeli modder has turned a 1992 first-person shooter into a bloody tale of revenge set in a Nazi concentration camp with Sonderkommando Revolt, putting players in the role of an Auschwitz death camp prisoner on a killing rampage.

Sonderkommando Revolt is based on the real-world uprising at Auschwitz in October 1944—with some obvious Nazi exploitation as entertainment—and built on the foundation of classic shooter Wolfenstein 3D. The actual event in Auschwitz resulted in the deaths of just three German Schutzstaffel soldiers and the murder of 451 Sonderkommandos, a "special unit" of primarily Jewish concentration camp workers who aided in the killing process during the Holocaust.

In the video game version of the Sonderkommando Revolt, the tables are clearly turned, with protagonist and actual Auschwitz prisoner Zalmen Gradowski tearing through Nazi soldiers.

"Graphically it'll feature many themes," write its creators, "including Crematoriums, Block 11, Gas Chambers, execution, interrogation and torture areas...most of which are ripped/based off real pic from the real site."

Video game modder "Doomjedi" has been working on Sonderkommando Revolt with the group Team Raycast since 2007. The developer describes the Nazi revenge tale as "very realistic, moody, challenging and detailed." The game is part one of a planned trilogy, with Sonder 2 - Warsaw Uprising and Sonder 3 - Mission: Treblinka currently in the works.

The makers of Sonderkommando Revolt say they will release their mod for Wolf4SDL, a Wolfenstein 3D port, on January 1, 2011.

Kotaku has reached out to the Anti-Defamation League seeking reaction to the game.

Sonderkommando Revolt [MODDB - thanks to Jukio for the tip]

Sega's video game tie-in for the Captain America movie features the star-spangled avenger infiltrating Hydra's mysterious castle during the darkest days of World War II. Sounds like a What If Captain America Infiltrated Castle Wolfenstein, doesn't it?

I've trained myself to not get excited over the games spawning from Sega's deal with Marvel over its movie properties. After two bad Iron Man games and a so-so attempt at a Hulk title I have to curb my enthusiasm. It's not so easy in the case of Captain America: Super Soldier, the video game tie-in for next year's Captain America: The First Avenger movie.

Why? First off, it's set in World War II. Like the movie, Captain America: Super Soldier focuses on Cap's early years, before he became a Capsicle bobbing in the middle of the ocean somewhere. We get to see Steve Rogers in his element, before his rude awakening in the present day.

Secondly, the story is being written by Christos Gage, once the writer of Avengers: The Initiative and the current scribe of Avengers Academy, one of my current favorite Marvel books.

Of course there's still some aspects of the game that have me worried. Sega has tapped Next Level Games to handle development, for instance. Next Level did produce Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, which was a passable Spider-Man game. They also developed Transformers: Cybertron Adventures for the Wii, which was a horrible little game.

And it is a Sega Marvel game. None of them have been particularly amazing.

Perhaps I'm just being lulled into a false sense of security by the parallels to Castle Wolfenstein. It's set in World War II. There is a large, mysterious castle. Hell, check out the Arnim Zola concept art in the gallery. A Nazi mastermind encased in the body of a mech? Where have we seen this before?

All you really need to do to make a good Captain America game set in World War II is take one of the better games in the Wolfenstein series and put Captain America in it.

Hopefully Next Level Games will give us something like that when Captain America: Super Soldier comes out next year for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, and DS.