Konami's Fallujah game meets controversy
Konami has come under fire for developing a game about the Battle of Fallujah while the war is on-going.
The game, titled Six Days in Fallujah, is apparently based on the stories of survivors from the battle which left 1200 insurgents and 38 US soldiers dead, with many more wounded. The game will apparently be a third-person, squad-based game with a gritty, tactical feel.
The game has had the support of some, with former US Marine Mike Ergo, who served in the town of Fallujah, saying that he believes the game will help communicate the atrocity of war to those who might not be interested in documentaries.
Six Days in Fallujah has met with fierce opposition from others however, especially the families of the deceased and some peace organisations involved with the war in Iraq.
"Considering the enormous loss of life in the Iraq War, glorifying it in a videogame demonstrates very poor judgement and bad taste," said Reg Keys, whose son Thomas was killed by a mob in Iraq told the Daily Mail. "It is particularly crass when you consider what actually happened in Fallujah."
"It's much too soon to start making videogames about a war that's still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history," said Tim Collins OBE, a former Colonel. "It's particularly insensitive given what happened in Fallujah, and I will certainly oppose the release of this game."
Not everyone has been opposing the development of the game however; famed author and former SAS soldier Andy McNab has commented that he doesn't see how the game is any different to many other games, books or films. Amid arguments that the UK audience probably doesn't understand the Battle of Fallujah in the same as the US owing to a cultural gap, McNab said that war has been peddled as entertainment for a long time and that this is no different.
"In America it is not as if this is 'shock horror' - everybody has been watching it on the news for the last seven years," said McNab. "[i]The hypocrisy is in the fact that when the media wants a 'shock horror' story they will focus on something like this. In America a 90-year-old and a 12-year-old will know what happened at Fallujah. It's on the TV, there are books about it. The game is a natural extension to that; it is folklore. The only difference being that it is presented in a different medium."
What's your view on the matter? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyMe too, though my personal opinion is that this is still a bit despicable in the way that Konami is clearly just going to sell copies based on this very-obviously engineered controversy.
If Konami do it right, this game could probably bring more to the eyes and ears of people who don't read the news, or haven't been in the line of fire.
I, personally, don't think any real-war based video games 'glorify' death on either side, which makes it harder for me to fathom where the people protesting are coming from.
sorry Reg, but that's fail on your part. Sounds like the aim of the game is not to glorify it at all, but to highlight the bad parts
Then again, that's assuming the game is done properly - guns jamming all the time, vehicles not working, pick up armour labelled as "fully functional" and only get 10% armour points, insurgents dressed as civilians, severe penalties and/or "Game Over" when you shoot an actual civilian, one hit kills to the player - that kind of stuff.
I sometimes wonder if the people who protest about whatever it is that has them annoyed have an axe to grind or are being goaded along by the media. Is anyone surprised that the Daily Mail is involved with this?
Isn't striving for higher ratings on the news companies' part basically the same thing (profit) ?
Whether the game is your standard FPS bullet-fest or a story-based masterpiece that portrays the event realy well, its still just entertainment based on a real event.
Nobody seems to have issues with movies, books, documentaries, live footage in the news etc from any past or current wars so why suddenly have a hissy-fit about a game?
Retarded imo... :/
There is one big difference. TV and Books present something to you. A game is interactive.Comparing a book to a documentary or news broadcast would be a different medium. Comparing a book to a game is much more than just a different medium.
Hypocrisy abound. I pray Konami will pay them absolutely no mind.
I don't see why it makes a diffrence that the war is still going on.. indeed it is no news that wee are getting this from people who lost children in the war or seved there themselves, but please stop comlaining about this.
I just hope Konami is not just doing this to get some PR because of this, even thoug that is properly the main reason..
where you try to run over hardbender in your taxi ;)
My brother in law (Marine) arrived in Fallujah like the day after the big push they're talking about here (I remember my mother-in-law freaking out. this was his first tour of Iraq (already went to Afghanistan once) and we knew where he was headed before the battle started, we actually thought he was already there when the news came.) I asked him what he thought of them making a game (He's the biggest gamer I know actually). He shrugged and said okay, it's no different than any of the WWII games. He might try it when it comes out.
Personally, I refuse to buy any game set in a real-world conflict. I'm not saying others should, just that I do.
If done well, it could be thought provoking and encourage discussion. If done poorly, it could be thought provoking and encourage discussion.
For better are worse, games are a form of art. Art can be entertaining as well as disturbing.