Konami's Six Days in Fallujah was only announced yesterday with scant information, but that hasn't stopped British newspaper and sad joke book The Daily Mail from jumping all over it and spreading outrage. The Fail was all too quick to get in touch with the father of a deceased Royal Marine to try and stir up sh*t, and he naturally jumped to attention and provided all the misguided rage they needed.
"Considering the enormous loss of life in the Iraq War, glorifying it in a video game demonstrates very poor judgement and bad taste," said Reg Keys, blind to the irony of talking to a paper that regularly trivializes and sensationalizes war. "These horrific events should be confined to the annuls of history, not trivialized and rendered for thrill-seekers to play out, over and over again, for ever more.
"It's entirely possible that Muslim families will buy the game, and for them it may prove particularly harrowing. Even worse, it could end up in the hands of a fanatical young Muslim and incite him to consider some form of retaliation or retribution. He could use it to get worked up and want to really "finish the game".
"I will be calling for this game to be banned, if not worldwide then certainly in the UK."
How ironic that we go to war against a country with strict totalitarian regime, then demand that our own country bans things if we don't like them. That's not even mentioning the best part, that this moron thinks it'll encourage Muslims to blow stuff up. Meanwhile, former colonel Tim Collins OBE declares that the game is "too soon" and has accused it of being an "extremely flippant response" even though he has f*ck all idea about how the game will play out.
More OUTRAGE AAAARGH after the jump.
Tansy Hoskins of UK peace group Stop The War Coalition has this to say on the subject:
The massacre carried out by American and British forces in Fallujah in 2004 is amongst the worst of the war crimes carried out in an illegal and immoral war. It is estimated that up to 1,000 civilians died in the bombardment and house to house raids carried out by invading troops. So many people were killed in Fallujah that the town's football stadium had to be turned into a cemetery to cope with all the dead bodies.
The American led assault on Fallujah pretended there were no civilians left in the city ... over 50,000 people remained in their homes and took the brunt of the violence and chemical weapons. Months of aerial bombardments, the use of thermobaric weapons and the probable use of white phosphorus turned Fallujah into fields of rubble ...
To make a game out of a war crime and to capitalise on the death and injury of thousands is sick... The massacre in Fallujah should be remembered with shame and horror not glamorised and glossed over for entertainment.
It's the fact that this carefully cultivated "outrage" was so fucking predictable, that's what makes me truly sad. The game was announced YESTERDAY and already people have decided to scream and cry about it, just because it's a videogame, and it's not even a surprise. I am sickened daily by the immaturity of this supposedly "civilized" society, that it cannot handle the idea of a game wanting to tackle something that would be perfectly acceptable in film, television or books.
Let's start with The Daily Mail first. Why not call to ban that piece of shit paper, a tabloid rag that glorifies violence more than any videogame? If these people are so concerned about trivializing war, why haven't they opposed the newspapers? Because it would be unacceptable to do so, that's why. Because that wouldn't be respectful of one's right to speak out. The hypocrisy is so thick you could choke on it.
Thanks once again for stirring up shit, Daily Fail. The sheer desperation to start trouble once again for videogames is disgustingly obvious, and shame on those people who have helped you by providing the kind of alarmist, misinformed statements that you feed off of. The game might be tasteless, it might not, we don't know yet. It's the fact that people won't even give games a chance that truly pisses me off.
I bet nobody mentioned that real-life army veterans actually spoke with the game's developers and wanted this to be made.
That would provide the whole story, and lord knows The Fail wouldn't want that.
Contest:
3:20 PM on 04.07.2009
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In the Gamepro preview it's specifically said that these veterans asked the devs to make this game so that their story could be told.
Video games will never be respected so long as topics that are fine for other media platforms to address are off-limits to game developers. Since obviously, whatever subject is approached in a video game is clearly being "glorified".
call it MEC, call it GLA, it still represents the same fucking thing.
I almost cannot breath through the stupidity (or all the pollen all over my clothes).
"These horrific events should be confined to the annuls of history"
Remember that old quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" ?
Also I love "sad joke book", that's brilliant.
If they want to protest it, fine. They can knock themselves out -- but leave veterans the hell out of this.
I think they've gone too far on a sensitive issue. I'm not sticking up with the Daily mail because I simply cannot stand them, but Konami have serious bad taste. I'm all for creative freedom, but seriously, why bother with something as high profile as the Iraq war, which has had countless causalities for both sides, and is still revered as an illegal war.
I dunno, maybe I'm getting old, but even when I read the press release yesterday I was quite surprised that they were looking to release it.
Not every game idea has to come to fruition.
Yes, the game makers have every right to make this game. It is a decision devoid of taste and class though.
A name was released. That's it. While this is an issue of gaming getting shitty press, it's also an issue of censorship. There's been movies, comics, books, etc on this subject (that have all got the same sort of flak) but as soon as a game tries it it crosses that boundary in a way that's somehow worse than the rest of the stuff that did it already?
Like Jim said on Podtoid (or maybe Podcastle) people should have the right to release tasteless games. If someone makes a baby raping game it should be put on shelves so that gamers themselves can denounce it and show people that we have enough sense to find such things abhorrent and that even when someone has the right to do it we won't support it. That's not quite the issue here since this premise has potential value but the underlying point is the same; if it's tasteless then it will fail and it will be gamers that make sure it fails.
So where is the supposed "time frame" to say what is "too soon" for this type of medium? Noone would have a problem if it where a movie, but since the player takes control, there's a problem with it? Shit COD4 has half the campaign take place is a middle-east type of setting that looks kinda like baghdad and happens to get nuked, but noone has a problem with that. But put it in a real place and a real battle and people lose there shit.
Its just like when Jack Thompson learned of Bully, jumped to conclusions without any actual knowledge of the game.
Also yes, nonsense. Do want to play the game if it's like COD4 and I get to play the freedom fighters ;)
please tell me you were kidding and that you don't believe we are fighting for other people's freedom...please
Do we get to go to baghdad in the game or are we only stuck in fallujah? if so how will they address the problem of repetitive environments? and can we capture saddam?
Indeed, this is more hypocritical bullshit at its best, and its reactions like this, that stop video games from maturing.
I honestly have to say, kudos to Konami. I've felt that Konami have played it too safe, with their game development for far too long, so much so, that beyond MGS, Pro EVo, Catslevania and DDR, we forget just how talented they are.
So far, I like the sound of this game and I'll check it out. If it use the MGS engine, its going to be one to watch. I guess in a way its already working for Konami. The Rockstar effect is in motion, with tabloids and muppets already protesting. All Konami need do now, is get a demo of Six Days ready for E3, kick some ass with it and blow the press crap over.
Hey, Madworld and RE5 have done their share of feather ruffling, long before launch day, and both have done wonders for Sega and Capcom, while the pitchforked people disappeared to nothing. I think this Six Days game is just what Konami needs. After all, MGS has been delivering a war story for some time now, so we should all look forward to, what Konami have lined up for Six Days.
So yes, if controversial subject matter is good enough for movies, books and tv, its good enough for games, end of. Go, Konami, and thanks for making something original, again. Make us proud.
With veterans involved, just as other previous era war games have had, Konami stand to really make an impact, and bring the subject matter to audiences in a new way. I'll look forward to hearing the stories of these good people, who put their lives on the line, so we can enjoy our freedoms (yes, games included).
I was being sarcastic. Of course we *say* we are fighting for people's freedom, but in reality we only fight when other people have something we want.
Curse those bastards!
...I need another beer...
@fozzyozzy: Excellent observation. Exactly my point, as well. I will enjoy this game if it makes me want to go and end the war in Iraq myself even more than I always do. Hell, maybe I'd even recommend it to some of my anarchist friends.
Reflection of reality is something that has rarely been done well, from my experience, so to see such an under-appreciated art medium accurately and flawlessly present something normally presented in the works of Noam Chomsky and Ward Churchill would be quite an accomplishment. Maybe I'm just jumping the gun, though... pun not intended. Regardless, I'm just going to have to watch this very closely and stay on the lookout for future information.
The Mail is a very commercial newspaper. Many companies advertise within its pages, companies owned by the same umbrella-corporations that own many Video Game publishers. The goal is always to ban it, because as soon as politicians follow their money-masters and talk of banning, it's automatically number 1 for months.
Why else would they do it? A newspaper that doesn't understand the way publicity works? These are the same people who've placed Jade Goddi[sic] on the same level as Mother Theresa!
Call of Duty 4: You went to the Middle East and Mowed down a hell of alot of Arabs as well...
Yet this game is Announced, and because it has the name Fallujah in its title everyone is firing up the protest wagons...
Guess we have to wait till 40 years after the fact to release games about it, like Battlefield: Vietnam, Shell Shock etc...I mean Vietnam has been paralleled with Iraq, but there was no Outrage when those games about another Illegal and Immoral War came out.
Bunch of Dickwads.