Konami announces Six Days in Fallujah, based on 2004 Iraq battle [UPDATED]

Six Days in Fallujah, an upcoming game based on the 2004 battle in Iraq. Credit: Atomic Games.

Updated, 5:52 pm: This post has been updated to include quotes from Mike Ergo and Mike Zyda. It also substitutes the term "troops" for "soldiers" in several cases and clarifies a comment from Celia Pearce to say that a realistic game about war that is fun is an oxymoron.

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There have been books, movies, poetry and even rap songs coming out of the war in Iraq. Now, there's going to be a video game, one based on the November 2004 battle in the Iraqi town of Fallouja that left dead 38 U.S. troops and an estimated 1,200 insurgents.

The idea for the game, called Six Days in Fallujah (The Times spells the name of the city differently), came from U.S. Marines who returned from the battle with video, photos and diaries of their experiences. Instead of dialing up Steven Spielberg to make a movie version of their stories, they turned to Atomic Games, a company in Raleigh, N.C., that makes combat simulation software for the military.

Wars throughout the ages have inspired great literature, including Homer's "The Iliad," William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida," Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" and Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front." Wars also have provided grist for Hollywood's mill, which has churned out numerous World War II films with cigar-chomping soldiers played by square-jawed actors such as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Recently, movies such as "Apocalypse Now," "Full Metal Jacket" and "Black Hawk Down" presented grislier views of war.

Today's warriors are more likely to pick up a game controller than a paperback. "The soldiers wanted to tell their stories through a game because that's what they grew up playing," said John Choon, senior brand manager for the game at Konami Digital Entertainment in El Segundo, the publisher of Six Days in Fallujah.

One is Mike Ergo, who was in a Marine infantry battalion during the battle in Fallouja and is a consultant on the game. "Video games can communicate the intensity and the gravity of war to an audience who wouldn’t necessarily be watching the History Channel or reading about this in the classroom,” said Ergo, now 26 and a junior at the University of California at Berkeley. “In an age when everyone’s always online or playing games, people’s imaginations aren’t what they were, sadly. For this group, books may not convey the same level of intensity and chaos of war that a game can.”

The game, scheduled to be released sometime next year, is ground in ...

Eddie Garcia (left), a former U.S. Marine, and an unidentified former soldier consult at the Atomic Games studio in Raleigh, N.C. Credit: Atomic Games.

... the intimate and harrowing experiences of three dozen U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. As far as video game idioms go, it's a traditional third-person tactical shooter that puts players in the combat boots of U.S. troops during the multi-day assault.

At first blush, the game looks like many others in its genre, including Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. The environment is realistic, the weapons are modeled after actual guns and explosives used in Iraq, and the player takes on the role of a Marine who is part of a four-person fire team, charged with clearing the city of insurgents.

What separates Six Days in Fallujah, however, is the game's primary goal, expressed by Atomic Games President Peter Tamte, during an interview last week:

For us, the challenge was 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? 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.

A game about war that is both fun and realistic can be considered an oxymoron, said Celia Pearce, professor of digital media and director of the Experimental Game Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Making a fun game about war is hypocritical, because war is not fun," Pearce said. "That's why many shooters have cartoon hyper-violence that's just physically impossible. It's exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. And it's also done to distance people from the violence, because it's an obvious special effect."

Tamte and Juan Benito, the creative director of Six Days in Fallujah, say they're trying to broaden the scope of what's considered entertaining in a shooting game. "You can have entertainment that's not just about violence, or just about Care Bears and rainbows," Benito said.

Another game that tried to straddle the line between realism and entertainment was America's Army, developed by the U.S. military. But the game had a third objective: to help recruit future soldiers. "All art has a point of view, even America's Army," said Mike Zyda, who directed the development of the game while he was director of the Naval Postgraduate School's Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation Institute in Monterey. "The point of America's Army was subtle: You want to do right by taking weapons away from the enemy. In the end, is that propaganda?"

The developers of Six Days in Fallujah did not want to take sides in the conflict, preferring to stick with the troops' stories rather than make statements about whether the war was justified.

Tamte and Benito believe players will still find the game compelling. One reason revolves around the stories told in the game. More than a dozen Marines are featured in documentary-style video interviews that are interspersed with the game's action. The Marines reappear in the game itself, doing pretty much what they did during the war. One tells the story of how he furiously wrote a letter to his wife and begged a chaplain to give it to her if he died. Another, Eddie Garcia (pictured above), talks about how his right leg was shredded in a mortar attack, and how he suffered survivor's guilt after he was taken out of combat. Their actions are recreated in the game as players encounter the soldiers' avatars.

"What interested us were the soldiers' stories," said Anthony Crouts, Konami's vice president of marketing. "Some of these soldiers came right out of high school. They went from boys to men in the span of two weeks."

Benito also thinks players will find the game fun for the same reason boys love to play with miniature soldiers. "It's about having a challenge, then formulating a plan to overcome that challenge," said Benito, who co-founded Red Storm Entertainment, the developer behind games based on Tom Clancy novels. "Overcoming that difficulty is a big part of the fun."

This is where games and movies part ways as an entertainment medium, Tamte said. "The basic difference between a movie and a game is that the player can make choices in a game," he said.

One of the most difficult choices facing troops in Iraq today is identifying civilians from insurgents. These choices are often made under fire, in split seconds. Sometimes, the combatant makes the wrong decision. As a result, the military has prosecuted a number of troops, including a Marine who is charged with murdering an unarmed captive rather than take the time to bring him back to a prison. But many choices, both in the game and in real life, aren't as cut and dry. What if a woman is running toward you at full speed, and you tell her to stop but she doesn't?

"Our opportunity for giving people insight goes up dramatically when we can present people with the dilemmas and the choices that faced these soldiers," Tamte said. "It's a chance to really give them a better understanding and empathy."

-- Alex Pham

Comments

[Celia Pearce]

Great article! I wanted to set the record straight that I did not say "A game about war that is both entertaining and realistic can be considered an oxymoron." What I actually said was "A game about war that is both FUN and realistic can be considered an oxymoron." I've posted to the IndieCade blog to elaborate on this, if anyone is interested: http://www.indiecade.com/index.php?/blog/entries/entertainment-vs-fun-six-days-in-fallujah/

[Mark from Denver]

Looks great!! Can't Wait!!

[Connor]

This is the spot they're looking at on google earth :D

http://maps.google.nl/maps?g=33.345705,+43.765068&ie=UTF8&ll=33.344511,43.767364&spn=0.013157,0.027895&t=h&z=16

Seems they are looking for mosques and buildings over 40 feet :)

Guess we're going to need to do some sniping.

[Notinmyname]

Wow, killing civilians and defenders of a country against an illegal occupying force fighting an even more illegal, unnecessary, unjustifiable war of empire. Fun for the whole family!!

[Karl]

Yes, the Times also took the side of the "insurgents" also.

[Bill-Bull]

Notinmyname, you really have a very simple grasp of reality, don't you? Must be real comfortable on your throne of righteousness.

[Sid Bowman]

"Wow, killing civilians and defenders of a country against an illegal occupying force fighting an even more illegal, unnecessary, unjustifiable war of empire. Fun for the whole family!" That's not what is going on here, Notinmyname, they are recreating the war, not spoiling the blood, violence, and horrors of it. Sure, they will be in the game, but not the theme of it like Call of Duty. Actually read the article next time, please.

[folix]

I hope this is almost more documentary then game. I hope its ALOT like black hawk down when all said and done. Im looking forward to this just because its a more mature matter. Maybe just maybe games can deal with mature subject matter after all.

[Andrew]

I've been to Fallujah myself, can't wait to see this unfold!

I can't wait to get blown up at Fran and Henry like I did in real life in the actual game! :)

[Mailman]

"Wow, killing civilians and defenders of a country against an illegal occupying force fighting an even more illegal, unnecessary, unjustifiable war of empire. Fun for the whole family!!"

Yeah, let's just ignore the fact that Fallujah was filled with an international all-star team of terrorists rather than Iraqis.

Read House to House by SSG David Bellavia. Until you read that book, you know nothing about the Battle of Fallujah, if all you're going on is crap from DailyKooks, MoveOn.org, and other socialist mouthpieces. Unless, of course, you were actually there.

[marine3lar]

Please show some respect for those that died and served in this war and specify between Marine and Soldier. They are not the same thing. There is a lot of pride in the name Marine, please use troops when talking about mixed military forces. It would be like calling LA Times writers NY Times writers. I doubt you like to get them confused.

And I'm all about this game... twenty years from now.

[Batman]

Yanky, go home

[Tin]

Mailman

"Yeah, let's just ignore the fact that Fallujah was filled with an international all-star team of terrorists rather than Iraqis."

Wow u re well disinformed, spewing propaganda, there were no terrorists in that city the only real terrorist were the american soldiers that used all sorts of iligal weaponary against civilians and there r no insurgents in Iraq they r called defenders.

German generals called the resistance in the ww2 terrorists and bandits.

[humungoly]

you know how to make it more realistic, give the player a choice between freedom insurgents and marines, and have different plots.

[TheBigHerm]

I know that most everyone here thinks that it was just marines at this battle, but it isnt true. I spent a good week before and didnt leave until a week after the fight was over. I served with the Army's 1st Cavalry Division. If you are going to have a "historically acurate" game...might as well get the history right.

[Ozhan]

I wonder if they will choose the easy way and target the patriotic feelings of Americans by showing poor USA troops fighting heroicly againt impossible odds for freedom of strangers and save the day.

You know after all, they are many products like that but I think Konami is better than this

"...stick with the troops' stories rather than make statements..." I hope they dont forget this and show us soldiers' stories without and salade dressing.

[David Kobash]

"38 U.S. troops and an estimated 1,200 insurgents."

Since when did you start counting women, children and elderly as insurgents? This is sickening, and I cant believe Konami is making this glorified massacre simulation. What's next ? Abu Ghraib Prison torture Simulation ? Rape simulation of Iraqi children made into non-humans?

[SensuousLettuce]

This could be a seminal game in all of the history of gaming. If they do this material right- show the American side, the Insurgent side and then the civillian side of the conflict, that would make for a compelling statement as the ability of games to have meaning and change perceptions.

For example, if there were multiple campaigns in the game and one was from the Civillian perspective...starts with you waking up from being knocked unconcious from an American artillery bombardment. You find your your cousin and brother dead next to you and your only thought is to get back to your home to find your family. That would be incredible. Absolutely incredible.

[Nidi]

"Wow, killing civilians and defenders of a country against an illegal occupying force fighting an even more illegal, unnecessary, unjustifiable war of empire. Fun for the whole family!!"

Considering that most of those "defenders of a country" were foreigners themselves who illegally crossed the border for the purpose of waging war, I say let us kill them all we want

[DKC]

This makes me really happy. Not only does this look to be a great game, but it seems to also legitimize gaming as a rising art form. I would love to see more groups/artist try to realize their ideas in interactive game form. In this case, I feel making the experience interactive definitely gives someone a better sense of what is happening in Iraq than passive media like print or film. Personally, playing the Russian campaign in the first Call of Duty opened my eyes and made me truly appreciate the sacrifice made and the conviction shown by the ruskies in WWII (which it seems is overlooked by many westerners). I am very excited for this game to achieve the same level of immersion and insight. Good luck Konami!

[Television Spy]

I anticipate how they broach the events and whether they will tread with caution perhaps having actual arabic spoken by NPC characters to add to realism?

Also looking to seeing how this is received by the gaming community.

[JG]

If your interested in this game, you should also check out Armed Assault 2. Anybody know if there will be tanks in this game? There better be if they want it to be realistic.

[Nick Arnett]

I am angry. Any sane person who has lived with the horror of deadly violence knows that it cannot become entertainment. The fact that it is based on real events makes it intolerable as a game. Peter Tamte's boasts about it have re-traumatized hundreds of thousands of survivors, at a time when violence is on the rise in our nation.

Nick Arnett, grief counselor with the Bay Area Critical Incident Stress Management Team and extended family of a Marine killed in action in Fallujah 11/10/2004.

[John]

I really do hope it is made as real and gruesome as possible. I think movies like Saving Private Ryan might make same young people think about what they may be getting into when they volunteer for armed duty.
Maybe make the game characters have to make a choice - follow an order to the letter which will result in mass civilian casualties or find another way to defuse the target.

The problem is it is much easier to bomb a target, then send in a small quad to clean up than to commit a whole company for taking out a single compound. Unfortunatly there would probably be more US casualties the second way, but just maybe fewer children killed in the collapsing building.

[TokyoYugo]

Where have we gone wrong? Actual war should not be reincarnate into video game entertainments. Actual humans did die in this war. I personally think it's a bad taste, but I'm not going to go around telling others that they can't play this game. As long as killing stays within video games, I'm okay. I just choose not to play.

A wise man told me that 'nam vets had movies/books, it only makes sense that our generation would want to use games to tell their story...

Writing from Tokyo