Last month we had a good discussion revolving around the politics of Six Days in Fallujah. I had mentioned I believe there is a reasonably amount of hypocrisy when it comes to war placed in the context of games. If there were a game where you battle Somali pirates on the high seas would there be public outcry? Today Kuma Games released Somali Showdown as a free download with apparently no public backlash.

“During a simulated hijacking, crew members will attempt to fend off the pirates and regain control of the ship’s operations room. Players joining the game as pirates will try to take over the operations room and sail the ship into Somali waters. –Gamasutra

[KumaGame via Gamasutra]

All of us are affected by war. Whether it be directly in the service, through a family member, indirectly by actions taken by our governments’, or what we interpret from news agencies; it is reasonably safe to say, most of us will feel the effects of war.

At the beginning of April, a firestorm spread around the videogame/documentary “Six Days in Fallujah”(SDiF). Developed by Atomic Games and slated to be released by Konami, SDiF was to portray the real world conflict as accurately as possible, while still remaining fun to play. Atomic Games interviewed soldiers from Fallujah, reviewed satellite imagery to remain faithful to the actual location and anticipated using material to further develop a training simulation for the military.

However, “at the end of the day, it’s just a game,” tells Anthony Crouts, vice-president of marketing for Konami. “We’re not trying to make social commentary. We’re not pro-war. We’re not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience.”

“Compelling entertainment experience” struck a chord with military veterans and the general public. A lot of time and attention was paid to making this design accurate. Atomic Games even interviewed Iraqi civilians and insurgents to get their perspective on the conflict.

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In a recent symposium held by Japan’s Ministry of Defense a conference took place and caused great controversy. Titled “Towards The Realization Of Gundam“, it sparked a lot of discussion on the feasibility of an actual program to develop a Gundam as a defense system, however the expo dealt more with the development of technology which are used in Gundams but for developed for other purposes, such as a functional exoskeleton and better armor materials.

While the prospect of fighting with giant robots in space seems pretty damn awesome, warfare isnt so much about things hitting other things as it is more about building things that can efficiently throw things (usually explosive) at other things. Too many things and not enough giant robots says this humble writer.

[tobeASIAN]