June 12th, 2009
Have you heard about the “Six Days in Fallujah” video game that is slated to be released next year? The game, which is being produced by Atomic Games, has attracted a great deal of controversey. Konami had been the game’s publisher but has reportedly backed out of the project. The mother of a soldier who was killed in the battle that the game depicts said: “This is not a way to honor the soliders who were killed.”
Certainly war games are nothing new. We’ve had all kinds over the years, such as, “Wolfenstein,” “Call of Duty,” and “Medal of Honor.” However, this one seems a little different.
In the game, you are a Marine in Operation Phantom Fury. In the real battle of Fallujah, which took place in November of 2004 and was described as “the most intense urban warfare for U.S. troops in half a century,” more than four dozen Americans and 1,000 insurgents were killed. The coalition forces successfully took the city.
Atomic Games hired more than 30 Marines who were in Fallujah to act as consultants on the project. Apparently they helped form the basis for the characters and storylines. One Marine is quoted as saying, “From a Marine’s perspective, it’s dead-on.”
So, the big question: Is the game maker being realistic or opportunistic?