was denounced by several public figures: David Smith, a spokesman for Ted Kennedy, stated simply that "It's despicable." Senator Joe Lieberman was "sickened" by the game, according to his spokesman Casey Aden-Wansbury. Politician John Kasich discussed the game in his book Stand for Something: The Battle for America's Soul in a segment about graphic content in mainstream video games: "I'm telling you, despicable doesn't even begin to describe some of these things." The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning it. Presidential historian G. Calvin Mackenzie considered JFK Reloaded to be "in incredibly bad taste" and noted that "marketing it as an educational tool seems to stretch the notion of education beyond belief". The game was attacked by members of the public online, on television, and in print media. Ewing claimed to have received death threats. He responded that the controversy was "understandable given the fact that many people were alive at that time and still have vivid memories of the event" but stated that JFK Reloaded neither condoned nor glorified the event. In retrospect, Ewing said he regretted tying a cash prize to killing Kennedy, saying that he had been "naïve" and had "underestimated the deepness of affection for Kennedy held by many American people". Slates Clive Thompson lauded JFK Reloaded for its realistic bullet physics and labeled it a "remarkable" physics simulation. However, he stated that the game was a "nauseating" experience because it saw the player shoot and kill real people, some of whom still had living relatives, as opposed to other games. He further felt that JFK Reloaded did not aim at provoking the catharsis other works of art brought about. Jefferson Morley, in his editorial for Salon.com, cited an "undeniable appeal" to the game's re-enactment of the assassination and the "antisocial pleasure" he associated with it. He cited the ability to give the killing a motive as part of this appeal. The review aggregator website Metacritic calculated a weighted average rating of 69/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on four critic reviews. Fans of JFK Reloaded asked Traffic Games to also produce a game that simulated the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Notes References External links 2004 controversies in the United States 2004 video games Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Lee Harvey Oswald First-person shooters Obscenity controversies in video games Simulation video games Single-player video games Video game