Despite Smoke 'Six Days in Fallujah' Doesn't Have Much Fire

Stanley A. Miller II - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A new video game called "Six Days in Fallujah" was officially announced last week, although the hype has been swirling among gamers for a while.

The game -- for the Xbox 360, Windows PCs and the PlayStation 3 -- puts the player in the role of a U.S. Marine squad leader in charge of a fire team fighting insurgents in Iraq.

It's the kind of controversial game the press likes to freak out over, especially when the subject matter is so recent (and the game publisher so cooperative). The game's creators aren't shy about promoting the realism they claim will make this game, which is due next year, such a big deal.

The title's credentials include the input of more than three dozen Marines, after action reports, photos, videos and satellite maps.

To drive the point home, Konami, the publisher, and Atomic Games, the developer, describe the game in a statement as combining "the action of a military shooter with the realism of a documentary film to create a new kind of experience that is both historical and engaging."

The game's designers even told Kotaku.com, a gaming Web site, that insurgents helped contribute to the development process, although the vagueness and coyness of the claim cast serious doubt as to exactly what role real insurgents might have made.

We'll see, but frankly, based on what's been revealed so far, I don't see this game breaking much new ground -- if any -- when it comes to re-creating modern, real-life warfare in a game.

There are plenty of modern warfare games ranging from "Call of Duty" to "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter." The U.S. Army has its own military shooting game that it uses as a recruitment tool, and, for years, "Kuma War" has offered modern military shooting games with scenarios ripped from the headlines.

What "Six Days in Fallujah" does have is excellent marketing behind it. Whoever OK'd the phrase "experience what it was like to be a Marine on the ground" deserves every penny.

That's the kind of absurdity that gets non-gamers worked up. As a player, my mind automatically translates that nonsense, but to the casual reader -- especially someone who has lost someone in the Iraq war -- it's potentially offensive.

It's important to remember that, despite the hype, "Six Days in Fallujah" is a video game. The main goal of the game isn't to glorify war, pay tribute to America's fighting forces or offer a historical record of events.

The goal is to make money by selling as many copies as possible. And nothing sells games quite like controversy.

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