Six Days in Fallujah--too soon?

Not surprisingly, a game set in a war that hasn't even finished yet is drawing some flack.

A highly decorated British Army colonel and the father of a lance corporal killed in action in Iraq has criticized the game and called for it to be banned.

“It’s much too soon to start making video games about a war that’s still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history. It’s particularly insensitive given what happened in Fallujah, and I will certainly oppose the release of this game,” he said.

Reg Keys, whose son Thomas was a Red Cap killed by an Iraqi mob in June 2003, added: “Considering the enormous loss of life in the Iraq War, glorifying it in a video game demonstrates very poor judgment and bad taste. It is particularly crass when you consider what actually happened in Fallujah.

Interestingly this article is quoting British soldiers, not American. The game is said to have been developed in collaboration with some US Marines--and collaborators are always evil--so perhaps US game developer Atomic Games is handling the game carefully? Or perhaps the game portrays the US as heroes and the Brits as cowards? I could live with that, but it might perturb, bemuse, or even dare I say nonplus the Queen.

I feel that these soldiers, while understandably sensitive to the situation, are reacting prematurely. At least wait and see what the game is like before assuming it is "glorifying" the war. Of course, as is said of war films, perhaps there's no such thing as an anti-war game?

(thanks disturbingly named gadgetophilia.com via ANI!)

update: WSJ has a more detailed rundown of the source material for the game: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123902404583292727.html