Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

[Spawndemon]

It seems the pressure got to Konami and they have decided to drop the upcoming game based on the Iraq War called Six Days in Fallujah. VG247 reports below:

Whoops. Konami’s dropped Six Day in Fallujah after the completely unexpected heavy criticism levelled at the Iraq War project.

“After seeing the reaction to the videogame in the United States and hearing opinions sent through phone calls and email, we decided several days ago not to sell it,” a Konami rep told Asahi.

“We had intended to convey the reality of the battles to players so that they could feel what it was like to be there.”

That was kind of what got the kids antsy, Mr Konami. The title was supposed to release for PS3, 360 and PC in 2010. It’s being developed by Atomic Games. There’s a good opportunity there, Mr Struggling Publisher Looking for Easy Money. It’s certainly got “buzz” behind it.

Do you think this was the right move by Konami? Will another publisher pick the game up? Let us know what you think.

[[GCA]Tim270]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

Wow... So its ok to actually invade a country, but it is in bad taste to make a game about it! wtf is wrong with people.

[MrKLM]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

very unfortunate, I really hope to see another publisher pick this up who isn't afraid of controversy.

[=98=]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

This is good news. It's a little too soon to trivialise the events that took place there. Maybe in the future, but not now, i'm glad they listened :)

[imported_Whiskey]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

Wow... So its ok to actually invade a country, but it is in bad taste to make a game about it! wtf is wrong with people.

It's in bad taste to make a game about an extremely controversial incident, where both soldiers and innocents, along with terrorists/insurgents, were killed. Especially since it happened relatively recently.

It's painful for the families of the soldiers, and would be another propaganda tool for those in the Middle East who hate the US and/or are trying to recruit more terrorists. For many, no matter how the game is made, it's glorifying the events that took place.

A "general" game about war in the Middle East? Yes, that can be done, with some careful changes to particulars here and there. But something specific? That's a powderkeg. You'd see a similar public reaction if a game were made about the events of 9/11. It's still too soon, and still too painful for a lot of people. And a game is interactive...players would be doing the killing and being killed, all over again. Unlike a movie where a story is told, once, and you just watch it. I think that's a big part of the objections as well.

[=98=]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

It's in bad taste to make a game about an extremely controversial incident, where both soldiers and innocents, along with terrorists/insurgents, were killed. Especially since it happened relatively recently.

It's painful for the families of the soldiers, and would be another propaganda tool for those in the Middle East who hate the US and/or are trying to recruit more terrorists. For many, no matter how the game is made, it's glorifying the events that took place.

A "general" game about war in the Middle East? Yes, that can be done, with some careful changes to particulars here and there. But something specific? That's a powderkeg. You'd see a similar public reaction if a game were made about the events of 9/11. It's still too soon, and still too painful for a lot of people. And a game is interactive...players would be doing the killing and being killed, all over again. Unlike a movie where a story is told, once, and you just watch it. I think that's a big part of the objections as well.

Well said.

[[GCA]Tim270]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

It's painful for the families of the soldiers, and would be another propaganda tool for those in the Middle East who hate the US and/or are trying to recruit more terrorists. For many, no matter how the game is made, it's glorifying the events that took place.

A "general" game about war in the Middle East? Yes, that can be done, with some careful changes to particulars here and there. But something specific? That's a powderkeg. You'd see a similar public reaction if a game were made about the events of 9/11. It's still too soon, and still too painful for a lot of people. And a game is interactive...players would be doing the killing and being killed, all over again. Unlike a movie where a story is told, once, and you just watch it. I think that's a big part of the objections as well.

However that could be said for many a game, insurgency etc. I do understand your point though, but still, the game does not have to play out the events exactly, you could for example be a fictional character there, and have all the other characters based on the real people, but fictional.

[TGL|TXGrunt]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

It's in bad taste to make a game about an extremely controversial incident, where both soldiers and innocents, along with terrorists/insurgents, were killed. Especially since it happened relatively recently.

It's painful for the families of the soldiers, and would be another propaganda tool for those in the Middle East who hate the US and/or are trying to recruit more terrorists. For many, no matter how the game is made, it's glorifying the events that took place.

A "general" game about war in the Middle East? Yes, that can be done, with some careful changes to particulars here and there. But something specific? That's a powderkeg. You'd see a similar public reaction if a game were made about the events of 9/11. It's still too soon, and still too painful for a lot of people. And a game is interactive...players would be doing the killing and being killed, all over again. Unlike a movie where a story is told, once, and you just watch it. I think that's a big part of the objections as well.

Well said.. As a Fullujah Vet myself it would be tough. I live with these things daily that happened there. Losing some of my friends and fellow warriors. Not a day goes by were I don't think about them.

If a game company was to do one in general over OIF I can see that being done. But picking one battle isn't the way to go.

For those that want to know more about what the battle was like. Feel free to read this link.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-wofall0220,0,1258099.story

[[GCA]Tim270]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

It's in bad taste to make a game about an extremely controversial incident, where both soldiers and innocents, along with terrorists/insurgents, were killed. Especially since it happened relatively recently.

It's painful for the families of the soldiers, and would be another propaganda tool for those in the Middle East who hate the US and/or are trying to recruit more terrorists. For many, no matter how the game is made, it's glorifying the events that took place.

A "general" game about war in the Middle East? Yes, that can be done, with some careful changes to particulars here and there. But something specific? That's a powderkeg. You'd see a similar public reaction if a game were made about the events of 9/11. It's still too soon, and still too painful for a lot of people. And a game is interactive...players would be doing the killing and being killed, all over again. Unlike a movie where a story is told, once, and you just watch it. I think that's a big part of the objections as well.

Been thinking about this a bit more, In my opinion I treat games (sp) like a movie, its a medium to learn and understand a story. Any war game glorifys killing people to an extent. It might still be painful for family's of WW2 vets, however there are still countless ww2 games portraying their story.

This post from another forum sums up what I think mostly

This is just simple BS, really.


It's fine to shoot hordes of terrorists in a Middle-Eastern country and see it blown up with a nuke in CoD4.

It's fine to set Japanese soldiers on fire with flamethrowers in CoD5.

It's fine to burn German soldiers to death by molotovs in CoD5.

It's not fine to have a game about Iraq even though we don't really know what's actually in it yet?


Grow some brains people!

[Webs961]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

Battlefield: Vietnam anyone?

However, I agree with Whiskey and Grunt on this one. Allow me to respond to the other points raised.

1. Call of Duty 4 is a "generic" war in the Middle East with no real specifics mentioned. Therefore, it's a bit difficult to link it to what has actually happened in that region. Because it is not directly linked with such a conflict, you lose some of that emotional involvement which can be associated with a real life event.
2. As for WWII, it's simply a matter of the time between the actual event and the production of various media which directly reference the event. Let me liken it this way: The movie industry does essentially the same thing. I turned to my folks a couple of weeks after 9/11 and said, "They're going to make a movie out of this."
   
   Lo and behold, a movie comes out a few years afterward. Even though they probably could have released it a good deal before when they did, the public outcry in general would have been so great that the filmmakers would most likely not recoup their costs. By contrast, if Konami thought that this would be a blockbuster hit despite the negative press surrounding it, they'd be pressing ahead right now. At this point, it's just a smart business decision on their part, but just don't expect that such games will never exist; they will, but after time has begun to (at least partially) heal the wounds the conflict has caused.

[MrKLM]

Re: Konami Drops Six Days in Fallujah

one of the many things I don't like about modern warfare games is that they do not have a historical basis. I would be more interested to have a game based on real operations lie Kuma War I believe it was that was developed as a mini series game as the war was happening.

I really hope to see another publisher pick this up quick as I really look forward to this game just on the historical background alone. I am a big WWII game fan because of the historical content, same goes for Red Barron series because of WWI.