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

[marc garrett]

Konami announces Six Days in Fallujah, based on 2004 Iraq battle.

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."

more...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/04/fallujahgamekonami.html