Red download.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-DL021_sdif2_E_20090406094130.jpg” alt=”" width=”359″ height=”239″ />Who’s ready to ship out to Iraq? Not for real, but from the safety of your own home. Soon enough, you’ll be able to with the new Konami release, Six Days in Fallujah. The game will be a third person shooter that strives to have a documentary feel, including after-mission reports with detailed photos, videos, and satellite images to remind you that all the guys you killed on screen were actually killed in real life!
Sure, that’s true of every Vietnam and World War II game that’s been a multi-million dollar blockbuster, but this somehow feels different. This is a war we are still very much involved in, with our soldiers still over there putting their lives on the line. I can’t help but feel that every death in this game would be accompanied by a sinking feeling in my chest. How am I supposed to come home from a long day to sit down and play a game that represents so much? Does it mean I support the war because I’m shooting ski-masked enemies in a video game?
But then, Konami is a good publisher. The graphics resemble the excellent Middle East settings of last summer’s Metal Gear Solid 4, which may be the greatest game ever made. Military advisers were consulted during development to make sure nothing went too far over the top.
If Konami can create a truly accurate game, it could end up being fantastic. The question is: could real life ruin a potentially great experience in a virtual life? We’ll just have to wait until next year, when Six Days in Fallujah is finally released.
Image from Konami/Atomic Games
It’s kind of like when they made a Black Hawk Down video game. That made me sick to my stomach. American soldiers’ dead bodies were dragged through the streets and thousands of Somalis died as well, so it seemed more than a bit fucked up to be reliving those events for entertainment purposes.
In case you care: Fallujah is in Iraq, not Afghanistan.
Duh. Fixed.
Interesting. I wonder if video games can ever do the politically-charged anti-war messages of the film medium (thinking of movies like Body of Lies and others). Games have done anti-war tacks before, as you’re probably pretty well aware of with MGS4, but its never very political or grounded in the present day. MGS4 used the mideast and Cold War Russia as settings but not really to provide commentary. If Six Days was a real anti-war game, that would be something incredible.
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