Is the world ready for a true Modern Warfare game?

PS3Addiction.com writes:

"Monday, April 6th, Konami and developer Atomic Games announced plans to release a new war-time shooter, 'Six Days in Fallujah', which will be based on real time events occurring in the war we are in now, better known as Operation 'Iraqi Freedom'.

The new game is said to take place during the second battle in Fallujah, codenamed Operation Phantom Fury which took place from November 7th, to December 23rd, 2004. According to Atomic Games president Peter Tamte, the game will follow the real life story of the Marine lead battle for central Baghdad over the course of six days.

The question, is it ok to playout scenarios in a war so recent?..."

[Majors]

Of course we are ready... After all we had a few games based on real life incidents. Medal Of Honour & Cod 1,2 & 3 to name a few are based on historical events and the fact that so many people actually learned a lot from these games without knowing. Sure beats school history lessons.. We need more games like this as it helps us understand what our soldiers went through.. Major Respect for them..

[Jinxstar]

You know I was deployed there and supported these marine groups... I am excited and worried all at the same time... I wont get into detail but... It;s not wrong but I feel there needs to be more too it then what Meerkat below says... I hope it doesn't get portrayed that way... I feel most people will mentally side with Meerkats view but I would hope most people would try and make an effort to understand the game as it is.... I feel nobody can truly appreciate it unless they have been there and I fear any dev will get it wrong... I would like people to know but like I said I'm conflicted...

Is it too early? No. Will gamers understand it? probably not. Will they appreciate it? only if it has multiplayer... These are some of my fears... if I am wrong then I will be super happy and this game will be great. I hope I am wrong but feel I am not...

[Carbide7]

A TRUE Modern Warfare game?
We've got Operation Flashpoint 2 and ArmA 2 to take care of that.

[Rofflecopter]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006...

A friend was shot there. I think everyone should read these stories.

I think that its a good idea, but i do not feel that devs will get everything right. I believe that it may be realistic and somewhat accurate, but I just dont want to to turn into another CoD. If they are going to replicate a conflict, they need interviews at the very least. It's gotta be real..

[Raf1k1]

WWII games are played out against Nazis who 99.9% of the world's population sees as being evil so those games are widely acceptable in nearly all of the world's different societies.

However, I think that a game based in a conflict in Fallujah is going to upset quite a few people. This is because not all of the Iraqi's who died actually deserved to die (unlike the Nazis). In such conflicts it is highly likely that some people would have believed Saddam's propaganda and volunteered to fight simply to protect their homes, land and way of life which they are likely to have thought was what the American led forces were trying to destroy.

Sure, I can understand the point of view of the American led forces since its pretty much kill or be killed but many people in Fallujah will have lost relatives and friends in the conflict. For these people a game such as this may be opening up old wounds they would rather not remember.

I get the feeling this game is going cause a controversy.

[PrimordialSoupBase]

Infinity Ward have the capability since they've shown they have a grasp of unique storytelling methods in CoD4. What they don't have, however, is publisher that would ever let them explore that territory.

Shame, because marines versus terrorists isn't as simple as good versus evil. There are deeply troubled people on each side.

[JsonHenry]

If you do not like it you do not have to buy it. So let the market decide if it is too soon or not.

[GameGambits]

If anyone played Metal Gear Solid 4 there is a part where Big Mama talks about videogames and war. Videogames are videogames made for fun, and should be treated as such. When a game that comes out that borders so close to reality, then people get the wrong impression of what war really is. People enlist into the army for the perks of money, job, etc. War is something you need to sign up into in order to protect something you really care about, and know full heartidly there is real loss within it, and things a game can't give you the effect or knowledge of.

Kids play videogames so much with shooter games that they become desynthesized to war itself to think it's just a game. They think joining the army is just another game when they get deployed and don't even know what they are fighting for.

A game like this needs that part from Metal Gear Solid 4 iterated before the title screen for a while so kids get the right message.(I'm the last person to ever give a fudge about morals and stuff, but I was going to join and enlist until I played MGS4 and had that thought instilled into my head.)

[Tito Jackson]

You should see that movie valkyrie with tom cruise.
Not everyone in the Nazi party was evil.
Several assassination attempts were made on hitler by the people the german army and nazi army(yes at one time they were separate, but still under hitlers command).
anyway, it was a good movie man, check it out.

I think we should be able to play what we want. This is america, dammit. Sure it may piss off some of the extremists off, but what doesn't now-a-days? lol.

@zlatko:
Thats a great message. Seriously it is. But considering that the Army is often a "last resort" for many young americans----the need to put food on the table, and have a bed to sleep in at night will always prevail of the morality of such a decision.

[FantasyStar]

Don't you mean "desensitized". Desynthisized? WTF?

[sutton32]

completely agree with you majors, of course we are "ready", to actually question it seems illogical to me... its fine for people to actually put their lives on the line and fight in wars for real, yet people cant be ready to play a simulation of that? hmmm.. ok

[The Meerkat]

Lets kill those rag head M***** F*****s

[San Frandisco]

hmm,i wonder if this game will get released in Iraq or be banned?

[JeffGUNZ]

They are developing a game where you fly plans into buildings, this game will give people a new perspective and respect for the marines who put their life on the line day in and day out to protect our freedom. It's more of a respect/honor in a sense that it's inappropriate.

[Raf1k1]

'It's more of a respect/honor in a sense that it's inappropriate. '

Sorry, what???...

[JeffGUNZ]

My bad, forgot "than". Suppose to say: "It's more of an honor to the marines, then a game that should be looked at as "inappropriate".

[Phantom_T]

But put it in a "what if" fantasy setting.
Only reason i don't approve of the six days game is because i see it as a company cashing in on people who lost there lives in a war very recently.
I mean so soon? I'm pretty sure that wounds still raw with there families.

[Leio]

You will play as a American soldier and go kill Iraqies not the opposite so as an American how is that offending??

[Raf1k1]

I think he meant wounds of Iraqi people who lost people close to them.

From an American point of view, the game isn't offensive to Americans.

On another point, if this game was to have co-op, I wouldn't be surprised to hear silly immature idiots shouting anti-Iraqi chants.

[Rich1631]

No!!! I am not ready. MOMMY, I AM SCARED!!! What sort of BS is this anyway? Modern Warfare 2 is the ONLY modern Warfare game, fictional or not, we all know it will kick unparalleled amounts of A$$ that many devs will try to copycat, the same way Bad Company, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and Resistance 2 stole the whole XP ranking/unlockable gear. And Konami as the publisher...DEAR GOD... this game will fall on it's face if it uses an online setup similar to Metal Gear Online, which has the worst online infrastructure known to man. Anyway, as you can tell I couldn't give a sh!t less about this sure to be CoD4 clone.

[Aggesan]

You really believe that CoD4 was the first game to make use of ranking and unlockable gear? Ever heard of a game called Battlefield 2 or Battlefield 2142? I'm sure there are lots of more games that used systems similar that was released pre-CoD4. What rock have you been living under for the last years?

CoD4 is a nice game, I liked it. But too many people seem to think it was doing revolutionizing. It was NOT! It was only a game that did its stuff right. Just like Killzone 2.

[Rich1631]

I don't do PC games since I hate using a keyboard and mouse, but yeah as far as console games go CoD4 was the first for unlockable gear/weapons/attachments at least to my knowledge along with being the first to have the "+5 Xp" thing pop up on the screen for doing certain objectives, Bad Company 2, R6V II, and Resistance 2 were just copycats. Or we can just say CoD4 was the first to get it right and make it mainstream?

[Raf1k1]

You're right COD4 probably did help bring the whole xp and unlocks thing to the console masses.

But you seem to be saying it's bad to be copying what others have done previously.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember Medal of Honor being the game that help start off the whole WW2 shooter craze. COD was pretty much a clone of that but did it much better.

As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with copying what others have already done since there is always the chance that someone out there will be able to improve it much like the way COD improved on the MoH game.

[Snatcher]

To camp with the rocket launcher, spam grenades over the map, plant claymores on places, and do some ninja defuse. Phahahahaa.

[DelbertGrady]

Abu Ghraib mini games ftw! They could also make QTE where you have to navigate a minefield with your Hummer. Too slow and your friends get blown up! All courtesy of the United States government for not giving the vehicles proper armor plating in the floors. Money > life =)

If they want to keep it authentic you should have the option to destroy civilian targets by using "smart bombs". And kill innocents. That's part of the job, since the iraqi guerilla are disguised as innocents and the U.S. soldiers don't give a f*ck who they kill. As long as someone dies.

[UnwanteDreamz]

They could also make a mini game where if you kill a battle buddy with friendly fire you have to cover it up by lieing to the family members.

[DelbertGrady]

Using the Mass Effect dialogue system.

[heyheyhey]

awesome fvcking post... too true

you forgot about the friendly fire though... there has to be an achievement for killing at least 10 of your own men for every 1 "hostile".. then you have to push circle as fast as you can to issue a statement to the deceased family saying that they died a brave, honorable death while protecting and serving the United States

[rhood022]

I think the answer is yes. If anything, no one is forcing people to play it assuming they find it objectionable.

However, I'd love to see the "war" genre expand beyond what's been given--such as games that follow other groups besides the US, British, Soviets, Canadians, etc. I think a game where you play as Nazi's, Japanese, Iranians, Iraqis or other similar groups would expand the genre and offer new scenarios besides the typical fare.

Unfortunately I don't think that would go over well--even among those who would defend this game. It might be TOO much for some to shoot at Americans or to play real battles where one of the above groups beats American soldiers. I can guarantee you that if such a game was released, it would be criticized beyond belief.

I mean, that Iranian game Special Operation 85 (despite the fact it looked like a flash game) was heavily criticized for being nothing more than anti-Israeli and anti-American propaganda when it was released. From a certain perspective, that's exactly what it was. But considering this is the premise of the game:

"Two young Iranian nuclear scientists, Saeed and his wife Maryam, are detained by US military forces while on a religious pilgrimage to Karbala, Iraq, and are sent to a prison in Israel. Bahram Nasseri, an Iranian special operations agent, is sent to Israel to save the scientists and four other Iranians. While in Israel, Nasseri also exposes an Israeli-Iranian responsible for leaking classified information about Iran's nuclear program to Western powers. The name of Nasseri's mission is "The Special Operation"

and considering some of the other paper thin and cliched stories that fill some of the US special ops games, is it really any different? Other than the fact you play as an Iranian killing American and Israeli soldiers while infiltrating Israeli bases instead of the other way around, I see no difference.

[Leio]

Agreed but Americans wont like that just like the Iraqis banned all those games... the world is just simply not ready for that kind of
"all round" games

[rhood022]

It's a shame though. There are some great battles spanning World War I to the present where the "good" guys don't always win.

Heck, I'd love to a see a WW II game with the b*lls to include the Hiroshima and Nagasaki mission.

[Raf1k1]

Leio is right there. The world definitely isn't ready.

A game where you play as Nazi's killing Brits, Americans, Jews and everyone else they went after would be a brig problem in the western world.

Plus, I don't think it would sell too well either. I don't think any parents would allow their kids to play such a game. Even if it was a mature rated game, people would be worried about what others might think if they were even seen playing such a game.

[DirtyLary]

Just another modern day Brothers in Arms flop.

Move along now.

[GameGambits]

Also to everyone stating that this game idea goes over well in the western world, because you are going to kill the "bad guys," are idiots.

People are complicated individuals that vary from person to person. You think every Iraqian who died there that day did nothing but evil from day 1 to then? We forget that there is no winners or losers in any war...

When this real event took place an offensive strike took place, others retaliated defensively for the sake of lives, but both sides were fighting for the purpose of bettering some peoples lives in some way. We may not understand why someone would crash a plane into a building entirely, because we have little to go on about it, but I can think of plenty people in the world who'd do the same thing in certain condtions.

If everyone you cared about deeply was being hurt, or worse off killed, and no one was going to do anything about it, then someone tells you theirs hope if we get our message out to the world and retaliate back by crashing this plane into this important building, then wouldn't you want to help those people you love?

If anyone cares I'm 100% white, but I originally came from Bosnia. I was an immigrant to the USA when I was a little kid about 5 years old. I had to leave there because a war was going on. When the lives of many are decided by a few behind closed doors through a war, then those are the real bad guys in the world.

War shouldn't even be an option. If people are so smart and full of so much potential, we keep evolving everyday, and yet when push comes to shove we result in being idiots through war.

In the end though this game----is a game, and hopefully people treat it as such.

[xg-ei8ht]

Most people think WAR is either just what they see in the movies, or on the news.

I've never been in a war situation and quite frankly don't want to be.

I don't fancy losing my limbs,head,sight all for the fake war that the usa and uk planned.

All terrorist attacks in USA,UK were staged.

It's all about OIL.

If you think anything different, you need to wakey wakey.

[heyheyhey]

yeah.. the war economy vision in MGS4 isn't far off, that's why i love the plots in MGS games... Kojima tells it like it is with brilliant storytelling

[Spike47]

they just have to defend their country. I am sure that killing aanother human bieng in real life is not compared to a damn game. Therefore, if I was the dev of this game I would scrap the idea because I doubt they can portray it in a good way.

[XLiveGamer]

Yeah... but Do you mean like classical Hollywood FPS Action War Games?

[sak500]

Try watching youtube vids of actual encounters in iraq. U think its so simple, i watched a few and i was pretty scared imagining myself in either of their situation. Dont know if the game can create such intensity but lets see.

[Avenged Sevenfold]

I just want MW2!!!!!! Don't disappoint me IW! Grr...argh!!! I need that game.