Six Days in Fallujah

War is as fundamental to video games as plumbers who can jump really high. Without war, what the hell would we play? Space marines, Roman centurions, and American GI's are featured prominently in the vast majority of games that are released. Movies and television also make good and profitable use of war. I'd be willing to bet that World War II has won more Oscars than any three other events combined. We sure do love us some war. In most cases, I actually think this is OK. What real harm can come from winning an inter stellar war in Halo or leading your legions against Carthaginian barbarians? I think that changes a bit, though, when the recent past is portrayed, particularly in video games. While playing through D-Day is thrilling, it's also a real event that our grandfathers took part in. For them, there was no save point, no reset button, and watching digital representations of American soldiers gunned down on a virtual Normandy beach is always a little chilling and off-putting.

This phenomenon is even more apparent when talking about a war that is currently underway. Konami is planning to release a game called Six Days in Fallujah, which follows American troops through the worst days of the Iraq war. The company is attempting to make a sort of game documentary, but at the same time says they want to show "the horrors of war in a game that is also entertaining." This, to me, is completely incongruous. I don't think anyone would argue that war is in any way entertaining. Certainly not Iraq, where American soldiers are still dying.

Iraq is, in many ways, our generation's Vietnam. While it does not have the same impact on our daily lives and we aren't getting drafted, it has shown us that America's mere presence in a war does not automatically mean victory. It is a war with unclear objectives and no definitive end in sight. Years after we supposedly "won", American soldiers and Iraqi civilians die regularly. To make Iraq "entertainment", especially while we are still there, is immediately distasteful to me. While there are games about Vietnam, I've never played one and have no desire to, and I think I would always feel the same way about Iraq.

I do, however, play games and enjoy films about World War II. It certainly has something to do with WWII being further in the past, but it also seems like America's last "pure" war. We were attacked, we knew our enemy, and the forces of evil were advancing throughout Europe. It is almost mythic in its stark good guy/bad guy lines. Iraq simply is not. The murky morality and frankly unjust nature of pre-emptive war against a country that had not attacked us does not make for "entertainment." It is simply a tragedy.