Iraq’s Fallujah conflict chronicled in new Konami game

Can video games tackle sensitive subjects surrounding the current conflict in Iraq? Konami seems to think so, having signed up US independent Atomic Games and its new game Six Days In Fallujah.

The 360, PS3 and PC game is inspired by US Marines who served during the November 2004 battle in the Iraqi city and is developed by a studio which usually makes combat simulation software for the military according to the LA Times.

The horrors of such conflicts have been portrayed in every other medium – now it is games’ turn to tackle such themes, according to a US Konami rep, brand manager John Choon.

He told the LA Times that those in the war are now game savvy. He said: "The soldiers wanted to tell their stories through a game because that’s what they grew up playing."

One of the soldiers who was 22 and fought in the battle has been drafted in as consultant on the title.

"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 Mike Ergo, who is now 26 and studying 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.”