I heard about this on the news last night. I figure since it's gaming related, people here will be interested.

Next year, a company are planning to release a game called Six Days in Fallujah. This game will follow the very real story of a group of American Marines during their mission to take the city of Fallujah during the Iraq War. Many have said that the battle for Fallujah was the most intense and dangerous urban warfare experienced by American soldiers in at least half a century. Many of them lost their lives during this mission.

As soon as the publishing company got wind of the reaction to this game, they dropped the games company. However, the games company are continuing on their own, looking for a new publisher. They say that this game will be the closest anyone can get to the Iraq war without going into combat (though why anyone would want to be there, I don't know).

Of course, families and friends of the brave Marines who died during the mission are outraged. I am on their side in this one, as my cousin served in Iraq, though thankfully he is still alive. It hurts these families to imagine people playing this game seeing someone die and just going, 'Oh well.' It pains them to imagine a restart button. More than that, it pains them to imagine laughter during this game, say in multiplayer, or if they shoot an insurgent who falls over weird.

The creators of the game say that it is part game, part documentary. Marines are being consulted to get everything right, they say, and if you shoot an innocent it's automatically game over. I think they're placing a bit too much faith in the gaming population.

What do you think?