Just about a day ago, Konami began what I’m going to call a rather brave venture, when they announced Six Days In Fallujah, a first-person shooter set during the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 in Iraq. Rather than play itself out as a guns-for-glory FPS in the vein of Call of Duty or Medal of Honor, Six Days In Fallujah is aiming to do for war games what Generation Kill did for war TV shows last year.
The thing is, the war in Iraq is still on-going (although to a far lesser extent than it was at the time the game is set in). With this in mind, is it a little too early to start documenting it all as a a game? See if you agree with what I think after the break.
Generation Kill was shown on FX here in the UK earlier this year and was one of the finest pieces of TV I’ve ever watched. Rather than play itself out as a “yay the good guys win” sort of drama, it was very much a down-to-earth portrayal of war; funny, gritty, sad and generally overwhelming when compared to some of the other telly you see these days.
Six Days In Fallujah is, as far as I can see, trying to do much the same thing for war games. According to the folks at Atomic – a newly-reappeared developer specializing in tech for the military – the pitch for the game came from the troops themselves who had taken part in the combat the game aims to relay to players. It’s being pitched as an interactive version of something you’d watch on the History Channel rather than Johnny Squaddie single-handedly picking his way through an entire country’s army in the course of a day or two without rest.
It’s hardly an understatement to say that the Iraq War is still very much a touchy subject, not least because there’s a still-ongoing conflict going on in nearby Afghanistan. However, the Second Battle of Fallujah is rather more sensitive than most battles of the war because of the huge death counts. Over 100 US and Iraqi troops died in the month and a half of conflict, and civilian casualties were easily ten times this, if not more.
All in all, it was not the prettiest of battles and Fallujah took a pretty hard knock. How could this work as a game? Atomic figures they’ve got it sorted, so read about it over the page.
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COD4 gave me a good enough experience of what war is probably like. I don’t think I want/need to get any more realistic than that was.
Why not? If WW2, Vietnam etc are fair game why shouldn’t Iraq be. As long as they are tone of the game isn’t glamorizing what happened I am all for it.
I am angry. Any sane person who has lived with the horror of deadly violence knows that it cannot become entertainment. The fact that it is based on real events makes it intolerable as a game. Your boasts about it have re-traumatized hundreds of thousands of survivors, at a time when violence is on the rise in our nation.
Nick Arnett, grief counselor with the Bay Area Critical Incident Stress Management Team and extended family of a Marine killed in action in Fallujah 11/10/2004.
@ Nick Arnett
Umm, WWII games? Only difference is 65+ years
Personally, I think this may turn out well. I mean, this isn’t some CoD game, this game is going to show what war is really like.
i dont see why people get all silly over stuff like this. ive known people in the army (many family memebers) always telling me stories of what happend to them. they say how horrible war is and how they never want me to join, but they will happily sit watching a war film screaming “kill em” “tap tap”. what im trying to get at is i never see anyone have a go at films, but as soon as you bring in a controller and a xbox? everyone goes WILD!
i think people have a go just for the sake of looking better than the rest, grow up. if you dont like it, dont buy it. then it wont affect you, why try to govern other peoples lives?
I agree completely with AaronW.
Although I do understand how people can be upset because of this. It may be just a little too soon and a little to close to home for some people. Of course our gaming time should not be controlled by others. It should be governed by the gamers themselves.
i think it’s a very sensitive issue and could possibly bring up a lot of conflict if the game handles it’s self in an insensitive manner however if it is done like a war movie (for instance Saving private Ryan) and it shows the horrors of war and not just glamor i think it could be ok
Too soon, too soon. COD4 is fiction, Fallujah wasn’t. I don’t think realizing it for a profit really honors the lives of the people lost fighting this battle.
I think it will depend on how they make the game. Will you just play as marines and what are the motives for this war.
Like will the marines say its for the oil or something and will the Insergents say its for god?
Like I said it will probobly depent on the games Political views not the actual fighting.
I’ll play it as long as it’s epic.
why don’t they name it like the real thing
Marines- Forever in Falluiah.
Army- 12 Months in Fallujah.
Air Force- Vacation in Fallujah.
Navy- Where the hell is Fallujah?
As long as the game content is fun to play then it won’t matter to the troops what it’s about or where it it is placed. Most likly me and the rest of the guys out there will be playing it on our game systems out there like we do COD 4 or HALO.
Flying High into the wild blue
E4 Scalper