Lazaro Fraga

Third Edit: Read Nick Breckon’s story about the Konami press event I’m holding back on forming an opinion since I wasn’t there. Breckon was there, and makes the WSJ story look like it was written by Konami’s PR firm.

Atomic Games’ latest project, Six Days in Fallujah, is based on the composite of stories from dozens of U.S. Marines who took part in the 2004 Battle of Fallujah in Iraq.

Their trying to set their third-person shooter apart from the dozens of other third-person shooters by making it more like a documentary. A “game-amentary” is what they called it.

The original story on the Wall Street Journal points out that dozens of games, such as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, base their plots around real battles from World War II. But Atomic Games says their game will be as realistic as possible, even noting that parts of the game will be used to create training software for the military.

The story also mentions that the devs are talking to Iraqis, but hope it’s more than lip service. If they want it to be more than a pro-war puff piece, they should try to humanize both sides of the conflict.

“We’re not trying to make social commentary. We’re not pro-war. We’re not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience,” says Anthony Crouts, vice-president of marketing for Konami, the game’s publisher. “At the end of the day, it’s just a game.”

They want to compare the game to a documentary, but prepare us to receive “just a game.” I hope it’s more than just another war game.

I’m still looking forward to experiencing an accurate portrayal of what Marines went through in Fallujah, even if that’s all it is.

I picked this article up from Robert Ashley of a Life Well Wasted.