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Atomic Games, Konami Announce Fallujah-Set Shooter
by Chris Remo [PC, Console/PC]
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April 6, 2009
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Treading much closer to reality than most modern action game developers have dared, Atomic Games and publisher Konami have revealed plans for Six Days in Fallujah, based on the experiences of U.S. Marine veterans of the Iraq war.
The third-person shooter is in development for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Atomic, a well-regarded wargame developer primarily throughout the 1990s, re-announced itself last month from its current location in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The company has developed combat simulation tech for the military, and has an investment relationship with the United States intelligence community.
Six Days in Fallujah is primarily set in the Second Battle of Fallujah, which took place in November and December 2004. According to an interview by the Los Angeles Times, the game draws heavily from individual wartime accounts by members of the Third Battalion First Marine Regiment.
Atomic hopes that its game will give players an understanding of some of the realities of modern urban combat, in a way that more fictionalized games cannot. For example, it will contain highly destructible geometry, to allow representation of the unusual tactics and unpredictable environments that are intrinsic to the setting.
"How do you present the horrors of war in a game that is also entertaining, but also gives people insight into a historical situation in a way that only a video game can provide?" said Atomic president Peter Tamte to the L.A. Times. "Our goal is to give people that insight, of what it's like to be a Marine during that event, what it's like to be a civilian in the city and what it's like to be an insurgent."
And Konami notes that the idea for the game came from the veterans themselves, because that is the entertainment medium they know -- said senior brand manager John Choon, "The soldiers wanted to tell their stories through a game because that's what they grew up playing."
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looking here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Iraq_War_films
I don't see any that got particularly wide distribution or acclaim. I would say Three Kings is certainly one, but that refers to the older Gulf war (if one can argue that that war ended and this war began).
I'm happy to be proved wrong though!
This sounds very ambitious, and I hope they don't misstep here. CoD4 did a good job from the soldiers' perspective, so if they can work on these other perspectives a bit, they may have something.
ce-deaths/
It's an interesting question to ask, whether we are ready for a game that deals with the Iraq war in a more serious manner. Brandon is right that the movies haven't done well, I hadn't heard of half of them, so maybe it's a marketing issue?
Most of the civilian deaths occurred during Operation Phantom Fury because civilians opted to stay in their homes to protect their belongings (residents were ordered to leave).
I highly doubt the game will feature that reality. Say, a mission where you have to storm a house and attack everyone inside even if they were civilians.
In the end it will end up just like any movie out there, a shallow experience. I don't think there will be a videogame as true to life as say, a good documentary.
by Sgt David Bellavia - Hardcover (Free Pr; Sep 4 2007) was an incredible book. There were scenerios in the book that as a game designer I never would have thought of, only the minds of men in combat could ever come up with such destructive methods. IE. Insurgents built a house around a Russian su Fuel pod ready to blow up an entire neighborhood!