Six Days in Fallujah
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary, Games
Recently there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the game being developed by Atomic Games called Six Days in Fallujah based upon the battle that happend in 2004 – named for the city where it took place. There has been so much outcry against this game, because people are saying that it is insensitive to the veterans and the fallen. I think that some of the outcry against the game is incredibly ignorant.
There have been many games based upon wartime tragedies, victories, and losses. I think that probably the most common is the second world war. D-Day is quite a common re-enactment. If you do a quick search on Google, you can find a bunch of information about D-Day – a common place is Wikipedia. Looking at the estimated numbers of fallen soldiers at D-Day was ~2,000 – More than 20 times as many that fell at Fallujah.
Please do not think that I am insensitive to people’s concerns. I know that if it wasn’t done correctly, it wouldn’t feel like an homage but an insult. But despite that, even if it wasn’t done 100% right I think that it would still be better than nothing. To teach people about what happened, the sacrifices, the honour, the courage is what should be the focus. I know that I have learned quite a bit about the second world war through video games, about the sacrifices, courage, honour, and the self-sacrificing nature of those who died so that we could maintain the way of life that we have.
I think that public outrage against this because that it might be offensive is not intelligent. I think those that want it to be done right, should be part of the solution – not the problem. If this were being made into a movie, I doubt that there would be half as much outcry because video games always get blamed for the school shootings. It is video games that get connected to tragedies and mistakes quicker than anything else, and it is becoming incresingly common.
I would hope that one day people would realize that video games are an interactive story, not just some mindless entertainment. If done right, a video game can have a greater impact on a person’s views than a passive experience like a movie. Here is hoping that this game still gets published, even though Konami doesn’t have the guts to follow through to the end.
Tags: Commentary, game, political pressure
Flock
Posted by Mike | Filed under Games
Quite a while ago, I found out about this game called Flock. It seemed to be a silly little game with a time old premise, alien abduction – cartoon style. I tried the demo and I was hooked.
After trying the demo, I immediately wanted to know when this game was coming out so that I could purchase it. I looked for a while, and then I finally found the date for the begininning of April. When the time came, I was more than happy to pay the $15 price tag for this game, and I have not regretted it yet.
It has a nice and simple gameplay, and there are a bunch of levels. So far I have completed 42 of them, and I have discovered that there seem to be quite a few left for me to do. If you need to have some fun, and don’t mind a little cartoony style, I think you should check out Flock as it is a great little game that will pass the time.
The release date for this game was difficult to find, and I blame both Sony and Capcom. I had quite a difficult time, and I think that there could be a much clearer way for the release date of PSN games to be made public. If there is such a method, I haven’t found it. The date that I found was for the same week, but the beginning of the week – not the Thursday that it actually came out.
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