A video gaming company has been accused of being ‘crass and insensitive’ to the feelings of relatives and Iraq war veterans including injured servicemen and Muslims because of a proposed release of a video game. The video game at the centre of the controversy is titled ‘Six Days In Fallujah’ a battle which took place at the end of 2004, which is due to be released by Japanese gaming company Konami next year.
The report on the upset caused to war veterans, and the families of those killed or injured was featured in the Telegraph. The video game which is based on one of the worst battles in the Iraq war was reportedly developed with the assistance of a group of US marine war veterans, who made contributions taken from diaries, videos and photographs taken at the time of the battle.
The video game which has been developed for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 is described as a ‘Survival Horror’ title. Criticisms have also come from the British Army in the shape of a British Army Colonel who has called for the game to be banned even before its release. Tim Collins believes that the timing is completely wrong for the release of such a video game featuring extremely sensitive events that are still ongoing. Another voice of disdain is that of Reg Keys whose son unfortunately died as a result of an attack by an Iraqi mob said that the video game ‘demonstrates very poor judgement and bad taste’.
The president of U.S. game developer Atomic Games, Peter Tamte believes that there is a valid place for the video game giving people an insight into the history and to experience the event through the eyes of a soldier or a civilian or even an insurgent.
