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Monday, April 13, 2009

Huh, well theres a risky choice


Via Bigdownloads:

Few games in recent memory have generated as much critical comment as Six Days in Fallujah. The upcoming third person military shooter from Atomic Games and Konami is based on the real 2004 battle in the Iraq city where a number of US soldiers lost their lives. Konami recently held a press event for a number of their upcoming games and our sister site Joystiq got a chance to see a very brief gameplay video of Six Days in Fallujah.

However it's their interview with Atomic Games president Peter Tamte, creative director Juan Benito and one of the game military consultants, US Marine Corps Corporal Michael Ergo, that's very enlightening. Tamte claims that in addition to US military and Iraq civilians, they have also gotten input on the game from the insurgents that were involved in the battle. Tamte didn't reveal any more info on exactly how the insurgents were "contributing" to Six Days in Fallujah, saying, " I need to be careful about the specifics that I give." Tamte added that the game doesn't take sides on whether or not the US should have started the Iraq war, saying, "We're focused now on what actually happened on the ground."

Getting feedback from insurgents is a really risky move, but not for the reasons people think. The "Uproar" caused by this will fade when people find something else to get angry about. However, this will raise the expectations for making a successful game. If it turns out to be fantastic, people will defend it saying that they got input from all sides to make a truly realistic experience and a great game. However, should the end result be crappy, the developer will be accused of using the idea of collaborating with enemy combatants to gain press attention for a crappy product.

I wouldn't do it, but more power to them. Would anyone care if the creators of Silent Hunter spoke with German U boat captains? Doubt it

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