A new game based on the current Middle East conflict announced

[StarPilot]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/04/06/konami-announces-six-days-in-fallujah-game-based-on-real-batt/

Sourcing dozens of US Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, the Atomic Games-developed Six Days in Fallujah was announced this morning for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Set for release "next year," the third-person shooter takes place during the real-life 2004 US Marine-lead battle for the central Baghdad city and attempts to recreate the battle on a day-to-day basis.

"We replicate a specific and accurate timeline -- we mean six days literally," Atomic Games president Peter Tamte told the Wall Street Journal. "We track several units through the process and you get to know what it was like from day-to-day." Unfortunately, for all the realism touted by the game's developer, Konami's VP of marketing, Anthony Crouts, gives the impression that the publisher's still playing it safe, saying, "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. At the end of the day, it's just a game."

With little go to on other than the handful of screens you can see below in the gallery, we'll just have to wait and see more on Six Days in Fallujah before we cast any judgments. One thing's for sure: With the battle this game is based around having occurred so recently, its developers have a built-in audience to appease (who grew up with video games, mind you) and we wish them luck.

A shitstorm of controversy is surely going to happen. Still, controversy is another way of saying "free publicity", so I'd imagine that it would be heard of in circles that don't normally hear about gaming.

If you look at the comments on the blog, a lot of people are saying "too soon", but a few other people are reminding us that games like CoD4 and GTA also take place in our current time, they just happen to be heavily fictionized in the story area. I'd have to agree with those saying "it's just a game", as trying to censor a game like this is a double standard when compared to other games that take place in the here and now.

[Geno]

Yeah read this on Gamepolitics this morning