Gamers Can Experience Battle Of Fallujah
July 28, 2009A new video game has upset the families of some Iraq war veterans. "Six Days in Fallujah" takes gamers into a simulation of the 2004 battle. The creators say this is entertainment with substance. Critics say war is not for the amusement of others.
It's a good listen: Pertinent to recent history and current events, and very relevant to the topic of game design. Go Listen!
[UPDATE] A few links to go along with my comments below about games as art:
- Games Design Concepts: Games and Art
- Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, and his TED lecture.
2 comments:
'War is not for the amusement of others'. Mmm-hmm. I guess I better chuck my Avalon Hill and SPI games, my Axis and Allies, and my chess set.
Since I also read for amusement, I'd better donate (to a disabled Vet's charity, of course) all my books on the machines of WWI and WWII, my books discoursing on the lives of certain war heroes and even my copy of Hammer's Slammers.
Since I do not want my son to become corrupted, I will dispense with his various WWII-themed video games and also his Halo III - just in case it actually resembles at some point a real war.
While we are at it, I suppose I must give up BattleTech. It is nothing but war anyway. And as our poor victims of real war go about their crusade - God forbid anyone should *glorify* war, much less make a dollar off it - we will all be safer from - well, whatever it was they were protecting us from.
Until Fallujah rings the same as Guadalcanal and Antietam; then it will be okay to use it in a video game. No victims will remain who could sue for 'mental anguish'.
Disgustedly,
Cent13
Thank you Steve, you said much that I didn't have time to write yesterday morning. I'll add a few more thoughts now that I can.
---QUOTING NPR---
Ms. KAREN MEREDITH (Gold Star Families Speak Out): The war is not a game, and neither was the Battle of Fallujah.
---ENDQUOTE---
Movies about war (anything really) are well accepted as entertainment, and more than that, these movies are accepted as art. You can make a movie about war that shows the same experiences, and it's OK. I didn't hear anyone complain that Saving Private Ryan was not a suitable topic for entertainment, and this is because the movie was a statement about courage and a tribute to the the soldiers that served in the war; it was art.
Games can be art too. It's a new form, at least in the aspect of simulation video games that can come pretty close to giving a realistic depiction of life (boardgames too, perhaps to a lesser extent).
Look at what happened with comic books. Within my lifetime they have gone from being considered as "trashy kid stuff" to being accept as a serious medium of art for all ages. Comic books have reached acceptance, but game are not there yet.
But they will be.
---QUOTING NPR---
SYDELL: Film director Guillermo del Toro, who was nominated for an Academy award for "Pan's Labyrinth," famously said that he believes in 10 years someone will make the "Citizen Kane" of video games. He and other game lovers say this new medium will make an impact in a way that will be unique to the form. We'll find out if "Six Days in Fallujah" hits that high bar sometime next year when Atomic plans to release the game.
---ENDQUOTE---
Post a Comment