Iraq Game Controversy

Konami are teaming up with Atomic Games to help create a game depicting one of Iraq war’s bloodiest battles, but has naturally hit a wall of criticism on the way. Troops are still dying in the country as we speak, and while there are a lot of war games out there; very few are based on wars that are still ongoing.

‘Six Days in Fallujah’ will be primarily a third-person shooter, but has also been quoted as a "survival horror game" of sorts. The game will focus on the second battle of Fallujah, which saw 10,000 US troops storm the city, which had previously been held by al-Qaeda. One of many controversial aspects, however, comes from the fact that a lot of them came back either dead or injured, not to mention 6,000 Iraqi civilians were killed along the way.

In an interview, Atomic Games president, Peter Tamte, stated that "Fallujah was the largest urban assault since Vietnam," and "just under half of the Marines in that battalion were killed or wounded. When they came back from Fallujah, they asked us to create a video game about their experiences there." Tamte continued “It's time for video games to do what movies, music and television have done: give people insight into this war that is shaping our world.”

Karen Meredith, of Mountain View, California, disagrees though “‘Game’ is the key word here,” stating that “War is not entertainment. It just desensitizes people to what is going on. We had five people die in Iraq today and most people don’t know it.” She then went on to state that “For Konami and Atomic Games to minimize the reality of an ongoing war and at the same time profit off the death of people close to us by making it ‘entertaining’ is despicable.”

Her words are sure to be echoed by many, and it would be pretty amazing if this game was allowed to be made without further hiccups. When you’re dealing with such a sensitive subject for many; it’s only natural for controversial issues to come to the forefront.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed