Report: Konami may skip 'Six Days in Fallujah' Euro launch

by Xav de Matos { Apr 14th 2009 at 4:00PM }

The dust has barely settled on the announcement of Six Days in Fallujah, but it once again finds a way into the news. During Konami's Gamer's Day in Frankfurt last week, unnamed representatives for the publisher told GamePro.de that they were waiting to see how Atomic Games would portray the brutal battle for Fallujah before deciding if the game would see a European release. Representatives also told De Telegraaf that it was unclear what the level of violence would be in the "documentary-style" shooter.

Since announcing the title, developer Atomic Games has been publicly lambasted by peace groups, veterans and their families for developing a video game based on an ongoing (and already controversial) war. Recently, a group of US military Iraq War veterans announced support of the title in an interview with G4TV, saying the project could hopefully "bolster support" for troops.

With Konami's European reps questioning a release, we wonder if Six Days in Fallujah will ever step out of the controversy long enough to hit store shelves anywhere.

Gallery: Six Days in Fallujah

Tags: atomic-games, controversy, konami, shooter, six-days-in-fallujah

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

fwacce @ Apr 14th 2009 4:06PM

Just publish it everywhere. Let the consumers decide.

Nick8708 @ Apr 14th 2009 5:30PM

Localizing and publishing a game for multiple regions is time consuming and expensive. My guess is that they're actually worried the game won't sell well rather than that it'll upset people, but stating that publicly wouldn't be good for PR even though it makes absolute business sense.

JoeTheBlow @ Apr 14th 2009 4:06PM

I can kind of understand their fear, the opposition to the American led war still rages on here (just observe the recent G20 riots)........... still, this is just a damn game.

As long as they don't include a level that involves stacking naked Iraqi prisoners in a pyramid and laughing at them i'm sure we can just take it for the piece of interactive entertainment that it is.

Jake B @ Apr 14th 2009 4:22PM

Actually there is, it's DLC. It's called Dr. Usay. And you stack falling inmates into a box by orienting their position and when you fill a line it clears! Kinda similar to that Dr. Luigi or whatever it was called.

I Al2x I @ Apr 14th 2009 4:10PM

WAY too much hype for this game. I know Konami is a respected developer, but as far as we know this game could be just as good as something measly like Kane & Lynch.

The Baron @ Apr 14th 2009 4:11PM

Controversy sells copies - and besides, you should never listen to the media or parent/family 'moral watchdog' groups. Absolutely everything they say is even more wrong than the concept of a group of overreactionary bastards deciding what's 'right' and what isn't.

JoeTheBlow @ Apr 14th 2009 4:44PM

Sex in games is one thing (ironically not a thing Europe cares about), but yankee back-patting about the Iraqi invasion would really get the continent riled up.

I'm not saying thats what the game is, at all, but thats how the media might spin it.

The Baron @ Apr 14th 2009 5:56PM

Even so, the worst that could happen is some people don't buy the game because it's "USA is number 1!" heavy. I'm sure if the wonderful tabloid press we have here in Britain started some kind of moral crusade against the game, not only would they be unsuccessful, but the sales figures would increase tenfold from all the people who hear the coverage but aren't offended.

swimtedswim @ Apr 14th 2009 4:12PM

excuse me while i drive drunk, go bowling with my cousin, pick up a hooker,go bowling with my cousin, run her over for a "refund",go bowling with my cousin, shoot the cops chasing me in liberty city.

MystileArmor @ Apr 14th 2009 4:12PM

"De Telegraaf" is a Dutch newspaper, it's not german...

Xav de Matos @ Apr 14th 2009 4:14PM

Who said it was German?

MystileArmor @ Apr 14th 2009 4:44PM

No one did, but with the Konami Gamer's Day being in Frankfurt, and the interview from GamePro.de being mentioned, it's easy to think it's a German newspaper.

Being Dutch myself (although living in the US since a couple of years), I just had to y'know... represent?

Another interesting bit from the article from that newspaper is that they pretty much copied everything you guys have been saying the last couple of days.

tmacairjordan87 @ Apr 14th 2009 4:14PM

Out of all the places they consider holding this back from, they pick europe? It's our troops we're dealing with in the game here...

Markez @ Apr 14th 2009 4:38PM

I'm not following you. Seems understandable they would consider something like that given the public sentiment towards the war in Europe.

The Baron @ Apr 14th 2009 4:43PM

I think he's suggesting that because the war has a lot more support in the US, people there are more likely to be offended by the game.

tmacairjordan87 @ Apr 14th 2009 4:50PM

The war used to be popular here but it's just as unpopular now as anywhere else. My point was though it's our guys that are getting killed and wounded in that battle, why should europe be offended at all? Just because they don't like the war? Tough shit, it's still our guys getting blasted. If anyone has a right to be offended at all it's us (I'm not though, btw. I support the whole freedom of speech/expression thing).

tmacairjordan87 @ Apr 14th 2009 4:53PM

Let me explain further by saying yes I know other countries participated in the war. I should have stated this specific battle instead of the whole war by accident as Fallujah was mostly us.

MystileArmor @ Apr 14th 2009 4:55PM

There have been and still are European troops there as well, not just US troops. It's not just US troops that have been dying there.

Markez @ Apr 14th 2009 5:06PM

Ah, I gotcha now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_willing

Ben @ Apr 14th 2009 5:26PM

tmac, are you really suggesting that opposition to the Iraq war is all about whose guys get blown up the most?

Get. Fucking. Real.

Popfrogs @ Apr 14th 2009 6:03PM

@Ben: No, he's suggesting that Americans, whose forces make up the bulk of the troops there, should be the ones with the loudest voice, not Europeans, so this is a strange announcement.

Regardless of the "popularity" of the Iraq situation, Konami should be more concerned about US reactions to this. He who brings the most pew pew gets the most QQ.

Cellien @ Apr 14th 2009 4:17PM

I wasn't interested in this at all, but the fact people are in outrage about it makes me want to play it. Let the controversy continue on!

TheBigBadNath @ Apr 14th 2009 4:19PM

A controversial war? I didn't know they existed.
/sarcasm

KoSzNik @ Apr 14th 2009 4:25PM

hehehehehe, i know why they doing this... to many european would like to play as opposit side;)

The Baron @ Apr 14th 2009 4:41PM

This guy does not speak for Europe.

JoeTheBlow @ Apr 14th 2009 4:45PM

Eat a shit sandwich and die in a fire, you spamming fuck.

Popfrogs @ Apr 14th 2009 6:04PM

Weird when comments vanish huh?

The Dark Wayne @ Apr 14th 2009 8:21PM

but hilarious at the same time

JoeTheBlow @ Apr 15th 2009 5:06AM

lol, i didn't realise the Joystiq'ers could wipe comments out competely, nice admin work there guys.

Markez @ Apr 14th 2009 4:48PM

I didn't see the expletive in there initially, and was wondering why you'd want him to eat a sandwich and then die in a fire.

Gary @ Apr 14th 2009 5:31PM

what's the difference between this and america's army?

The Baron @ Apr 14th 2009 6:00PM

America's Army is (I'm pretty sure) based on fictional conflicts. The fact that this game portrays recent events in which real US soldiers died is something that will rile some people. The game could be trying to show the courage of the soldiers, and show how war is harrowing experience, but all the media will care about is that it's a game, and since video games are apparently stupid, for children and just for fun; therefore people must be experiencing fun at seeing all the american soldiers die in-game.

grp110nyr @ Apr 14th 2009 6:12PM

I doubt there would be much controversy if a movie was made. What is the difference when you consider that a movie and video game are immersive in their own ways. If Konami can tell a true story of via a game so be it.

RudyHuxtable @ Apr 14th 2009 6:15PM

Just sell it to a coalition of the willing.

Kyle @ Apr 14th 2009 6:24PM

The Podcastle made an interesting point about this, in that people are saying it's wrong to make a game about this, but fine for people to make games based on the Second World War or the Vietnam War. Why is one war okay to portray in a game and not another? Because it's ongoing? I call shenanigans on that. People still died in these wars, family members of people who died in these wars are still around. It's like people are saying it's not okay to do this now, but it'll be fine in ten or fifteen years. As Jim Sterling pointed out, it doesn't make sense to have some kind of arbitrary grace period for subjects like these, you should either be opposed to the portrayal of war in games or not.

And I think it's bogus that they're considering not bringing it out in Europe. Caving to the demands of the few is not the way forward. The problem is that the people against something are always the most vocal.

xtremeholymuffin @ Apr 14th 2009 10:54PM

ENOUGH ABOUT THIS GAME

DOES ANYBODY ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT THIS GAME?

Sinbad @ Apr 15th 2009 1:01AM

yay about time to kill some IRaqis, oh wait am Iraqi....Doh

evelez84 @ Apr 15th 2009 1:41AM

Just release the damn game and forget what people say. I do not understand what the big deal is, its a fucking video game. They have games on all the other wars and conflicts. All these emotional and moral preachers need to get off the high horse and let the businesses do what they do.