Artist Douglas Edric Stanley says his Space Invaders-inspired take on the 9/11 attack is social commentary, but the game's creators are calling it infringement. (Update: Stanley has since pulled the exhibit.)

A rep for game developer Taito told Kotaku on Friday, "Taito is seriously considering all available options—including legal actions against the infringer and, if necessary, the Games Convention exhibitor involved—in order to end this unauthorized and impermissible misuse of the Space Invaders content and to protect Taito's intellectual properties."

At the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, Stanley is exhibiting Invaders!, a game in which aliens descend upon the World Trade Center, which inevitably falls no matter how the game is played. Building occupants jump from the skyscrapers during the course of play.

Taito didn't comment on the subject matter of the game itself.

Something as provocative as Invaders! is intended to prompt discussion, and gamers are talking. Invaders! is eliciting different emotions from gamers across the Internet, with many taking Stanley's work to task, saying the piece trivializes the tragedy. Others have accused him of cheap attention-grabbing tactics.

On Stanley's personal blog, he said Kotaku and its readers have "had a very negative reaction" to the work, noting that the site's "community seems pretty pissed off."

To that, Stanley said, "I think there’s some confusion in there, as per usual."

Commenters attacked Stanley on his own blog, with some suggesting that he participate in performance art that involves shoving the Eiffel Tower into a certain part of the French-American artist's anatomy.

The New York Daily News quoted relatives of 9/11 victims, who called the work "disgusting." Stanley also replied to that, saying dialing up relatives in such a manner is "just as sleezy and facile as anything else I’m apparently being accused of."

In a Twitter message yesterday, he called the situation an "overblown brouhaha."

A press statement announcing the art exhibit, which originally debuted in 2001, stated:

"The World Trade Center attacks mark a deep cut in our recent history that is still being processed. The French-American artist Douglas Edric Stanley has found an unusual – though obvious – metaphor with his work Invaders!, which is based on the 1978 arcade original. In his interactive large installation, the players must prevent the catastrophe by controlling the well- known cannon at the lower screen border with their bodies and firing it using arm movements. Like the original, this trial is ultimately unsuccessful, thus creating an articulated and critical commentary about the current war strategy. In this regard, Douglas Edric Stanley sees Space Invaders as 'a social tale that can be related to historical tales without losing its poetic power.'"

Leipzig GC had yet to return requests for comment.

Image courtesy Kotaku.