.Iraq war video game ignites a firestorm
RALEIGH, N.C. | A North Carolina company that plans to release a video game about one of the Iraq war’s bloodiest battles is running into a buzzsaw of criticism.
The game, “Six Days in Fallujah,” is being made with the help of Marines who fought in the battle, and its defenders say it provides a history lesson about what Atomic Games President Peter Tamte has described as “the largest urban military assault in about half a century.”
But it has hit a nerve because U.S. troops still are dying in Iraq — on Friday, five soldiers were killed in the deadliest attack in a year. The controversy raises questions about the line that divides art and entertainment. Books and movies about the Iraq war haven’t aroused similar protests.
“ ‘Game’ is the key word here,” Karen Meredith, 55, of Mountain View, Calif., said Friday.
Meredith was notified on Memorial Day 2004 that her only child — 1st Lt. Ken Ballard, 26 — had been killed in Iraq. She said the game trivializes the war.
“War is not entertainment. It just desensitizes people to what is going on. We had five people die in Iraq today and most people don’t know it.”
Gold Star Families Speak Out, a group that represents the relatives of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, issued a statement last week condemning the game and urging that its release be canceled.
“For Konami and Atomic Games to minimize the reality of an ongoing war and at the same time profit off the death of people close to us by making it ‘entertaining’ is despicable.”
The negative buzz surfaced last week when Atomic Games and its partner, video-game publisher Konami, revealed plans to release the title next year.
Atomic referred questions to Konami spokesman Brandon Cox. Cox did not return phone calls and e-mail messages.
KansasCity
Blogging is still ok, right?
The game, “Six Days in Fallujah,” is being made with the help of Marines who fought in the battle, and its defenders say it provides a history lesson about what Atomic Games President Peter Tamte has described as “the largest urban military assault in about half a century.”
But it has hit a nerve because U.S. troops still are dying in Iraq — on Friday, five soldiers were killed in the deadliest attack in a year. The controversy raises questions about the line that divides art and entertainment. Books and movies about the Iraq war haven’t aroused similar protests.
“ ‘Game’ is the key word here,” Karen Meredith, 55, of Mountain View, Calif., said Friday.
Meredith was notified on Memorial Day 2004 that her only child — 1st Lt. Ken Ballard, 26 — had been killed in Iraq. She said the game trivializes the war.
“War is not entertainment. It just desensitizes people to what is going on. We had five people die in Iraq today and most people don’t know it.”
Gold Star Families Speak Out, a group that represents the relatives of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, issued a statement last week condemning the game and urging that its release be canceled.
“For Konami and Atomic Games to minimize the reality of an ongoing war and at the same time profit off the death of people close to us by making it ‘entertaining’ is despicable.”
The negative buzz surfaced last week when Atomic Games and its partner, video-game publisher Konami, revealed plans to release the title next year.
Atomic referred questions to Konami spokesman Brandon Cox. Cox did not return phone calls and e-mail messages.
KansasCity
Blogging is still ok, right?
posted by madtom at 12:31 AM
2 Comments:
Sorry, didn't read the article yet but how do you expect future soldiers to learn from the past if it isn't taught through the expirences of those that lived it ?
some people are just serial complainers
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