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Controversial Iraq War game 'Six Days in Fallujah' delayed until late 2022
The questionably revived shooter was previously supposed to arrive this year.
Controversial war game 'Six Days in Fallujah' questionably revived 12 years later
Former Destiny and Halo developers are working on the first-person shooter.
Atomic Games still wants to finish Six Days in Fallujah
The saga of Six Days in Fallujah hasn't completely ended yet -- Atomic Games' Peter Tamte admits that the game isn't actually finished (no duh), but tells VG247 that "what we need is the funding to complete it." While showing off the company's new downloadable shooter, Breach, to journalists in London, Tamte said that publishers just aren't willing to commit to telling stories like the ones told in Six Days, and that's resulting in falling industry sales. "It should be clear to them," Tamte says, "that the path we are on right now is taking us downhill. And yet when I have conversations with publishers, I still get the message back – 'No, we pretty much want to keep doing what we're doing.'" Atomic is trying to counteract that with Breach, a full-scale military shooter that's being sold for a DLC price, designed "to disrupt the way games are priced and to create an environment where original content can flourish." Breach isn't Six Days remade -- rather, it's a re-use of the engine that Atomic developed, along with some tries at strong innovation in terms of destructible environments and cover. And it sounds like Tamte hopes that Breach will make finishing and publishing Six Days possible again. Sounds good, but of course let's get one game out there before we start promising two -- Breach is scheduled for release sometime next year.
Status update: Six Days in Fallujah, with Atomic Games president Peter Tamte
When it was first announced in April 2009, Six Days in Fallujah, from developer Atomic Games, raised more than a few eyebrows. Peace groups, veterans and some families of killed American soldiers lambasted the studio and its then publishing partner Konami for turning the unpopular war into an interactive entertainment experience. Taking place within a six-day span during the gruesome November 2004 campaign of Operation Phantom Fury, Six Days in Fallujah attempts to tell the true stories of multiple veterans who experienced the ordeal and, according to Atomic, several of them collaborated with the developer to help create the title. Speaking with Joystiq during PAX East 2010, Atomic president Peter Tamte offered a lengthy update on the game's development progress. He addressed in detail its tone and the potential controversies inherent in its subject matter. November 2004 is still considered the most brutal single month of the Iraq War in terms of US casualties, and there are questions about how Six Days in Fallujah will handle the deaths of real people. The game not only has a responsibility to be respectful, it has a responsibility to be truthful. %Gallery-49389%
'Breach' game code theft at PAX East ends in arrest [update]
[Photo: Kevin Kelly] digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/30/breach-game-code-theft-at-pax-east-ends-in-arrest/'; An attempted theft of Atomic Games' Breach code on the PAX East show floor on the last day of the event was thwarted by vigilant members of the studio. According to a representative for the company, the suspected thief managed to download some of the code and then run into the crowd after he was spotted. He was eventually apprehended in the large crowd and the game's code was found on his computer. "The suspect did admit to us several times, including as he was doing it, that he was stealing the code. He said to myself and several other team members, after being caught, that it was not a big deal, he just really liked the game and wanted to play it with his friends," David Tractenberg, a spokesperson for Atomic, explained. "This guy had only succeeded in copying about 14MB to his laptop before our staff caught him," Atomic Games President Peter Tamte told Joystiq. "Because of the work we do for military and intelligence organizations, we take security issues like this very seriously ... It is fortunate for him that we caught him before any of this ended up on the internet. Many of the hackers who stole Valve's Half-Life 2 code were tracked down by the FBI's Cybercrime Task Force." %Gallery-88941%
Hands-on: Breach (XBLA)
Breach wants to go after Battlefield 1943. Atomic Games president Peter Tamte summed up DICE's digitally distributed title as a "stripped down version of a retail game," and believes that Breach can outdo last year's surprise XBLA hit with its accessibility and sandbox-style destructibility. Atomic hopes to have the game on XBLA this summer with a price of $15. Focusing on eight-on-eight multiplayer with combative and objective-based game modes, the game heavily emphasizes utilizing cover ... and blowing stuff up. %Gallery-88941%
IGN: Six Days in Fallujah complete, awaiting release [update: it's true!]
Update: An Atomic Games representative got back to us this afternoon and said, "Yes, IGN did talk to somebody, we can't say who, but they did talk to someone. From what I understand that person did say that the game is finished and coming out. What I have for information is the game is still going to be coming out. 'Cause we have a game coming out first, we'll be working on that before Six Days in Fallujah. But yes it's finished. That doesn't mean there won't be new features, and new technology incorporated into the game engine." We'll be speaking with Atomic Games later in the month regarding the game, so keep an eye on the site in the coming weeks for more information. Original: According to IGN, "a source close to the game's development" at Atomic Games confirmed that the studio's controversial FPS, Six Days in Fallujah (based on the real-life Battle of Fallujah), is not just "coming out," but also "finished." There is no clear declaration whether or not Atomic has acquired a new publisher for the title after Konami dropped it last year, nor is there any information on a possible release date. When last we heard from studio head Peter Tamte back in October, he was still saying his company "remains committed" to the eventual release of Six Days in Fallujah. We've contacted the developer to confirm the anonymous source's claims and will let you know if we hear anything back -- but don't hold your breath. %Gallery-49389%
Rumor: Six Days in Fallujah creative director leaves company
We knew things weren't exactly going well for Six Days in Fallujah developer Atomic Games when the game's publisher, Konami, dropped out of the equation. GamesIndustry.biz is reporting today that the game's creative director, Juan Benito, may also be out. In contacting both Atomic and Mr. Benito, neither would comment on the possibility. Atomic Games president Peter Tamte has said multiple times that he would like his company to continue with development -- even going so far as to argue the game's case on Fox News. Thus far, however, Mr. Benito's departure remains a rumor. The fate of Six Days in Fallujah seems more uncertain than ever.%Gallery-49389%
Atomic Games' Peter Tamte says Six Days in Fallujah 'about two-thirds' complete
We know, we know: For us to approach video game coverage on Fox News and expect anything more than "fair and balanced" reporting (with a heavy dose of bias and spin) is, to say the least, simply asking too much. Things get much worse when a game with as controversial a setting/plot as Six Days in Fallujah falls into the mix. Atomic Games prez Peter Tamte appeared alongside the game's consultant, Capt. Read Omohundro (a gentleman who fought in the actual battle of Fallujah), and Tracey Miller, a woman who lost her son to the fight, on the channel's "Fox & Friends" program (found after the break) recently, to talk about the game and the controversy surrounding it. Tamte reveals to the show's host that "about two-thirds of the game is complete at this point ... we only have about a third left to go." Atomic Games' challenge now, he says, is to find a new publisher for the game after Konami pulled out of the project in late April. The show ends with a totally fair and balanced comment from the show's host, who says, "Obviously you knew that you might get some blowback on it, 'cause, uh, some people lost their chidren in that battle," before cutting off any more comments and excusing all the show's guests. Anyone want to place bets on this game never being released? We've got $20 on "Never. Ever ever ever."[Via Big Download]
Atomic Games still searching for 'Six Days in Fallujah' publisher
Despite all of the controversy surrounding Six Days in Fallujah, the latest of which has seen Konami drop the game, developer Atomic Games is still hunting down a publisher gutsy enough to get behind it. In speaking with Newsweek, Atomic Games' Peter Tamte goes into detail exactly how the project came about, how far along the team was when Konami pulled the plug, and, most importantly, that he still wants to finish the game. Madness? Perhaps ...With the game being a $20 million project, Tamte sees the fate of Atomic Games directly tied to the fate of Six Days in Fallujah. "If for some reason it doesn't work, we'll have to think about making some very significant changes to the studio," he told Newsweek. Does Atomic Games have a realistic shot at gaining a publisher for Six Days in Fallujah? As much as we hate hearing about companies going under in this economic climate, we'd say the magic 8-ball is not offering the most reassuring glimpse into the future at this point in time.[Via Big Download]%Gallery-49389%
Fallout from Fallujah fiasco continues
Atomic Games' head Peter Tamte hasn't said much since his company's game, Six Days in Fallujah, was dropped by its publisher, Konami, this past week. Other than saying his team is still interested in completing the game, Mr. Tamte has done little to stand behind Atomic Games' foray into "documentary-style" gaming. Though during his keynote at the Triangle Game Conference this week, Tamte asked the crowd, "Are we really just high-tech toymakers, or are we media companies capable of producing content that is as relevant as movies, music and television?"Expounding on the reasons Six Days in Fallujah stands up to the relevancy of the aforementioned mediums, Tamte said, "It is the dilemmas you face, and the choices you make, that give you insight into the events that are shaping our world in a way that no passive form of media can." For instance, when we choose which limb to eviscerate on that super mutant barreling down on us, right? Okay, maybe not. He continued, "We hope that Six Days in Fallujah will have the opportunity to change expectations of what a video game can be." Though we're more than a bit wary of Mr. Tamte's lofty expectations for the game, we've yet to get our mitts on it and will reserve our judgment until that day comes.[Via GamePolitics]
Konami announces 'Six Days in Fallujah,' based on real battle in Iraq
Sourcing dozens of US Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, the Atomic Games-developed Six Days in Fallujah was announced this morning for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Set for release "next year," the third-person shooter takes place during the real-life 2004 US Marine-lead battle for the central Baghdad city and attempts to recreate the battle on a day-to-day basis. "We replicate a specific and accurate timeline -- we mean six days literally," Atomic Games president Peter Tamte told the Wall Street Journal. "We track several units through the process and you get to know what it was like from day-to-day." Unfortunately, for all the realism touted by the game's developer, Konami's VP of marketing, Anthony Crouts, gives the impression that the publisher's still playing it safe, saying, "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. At the end of the day, it's just a game." With little go to on other than the handful of screens you can see below in the gallery, we'll just have to wait and see more on Six Days in Fallujah before we cast any judgments. One thing's for sure: With the battle this game is based around having occurred so recently, its developers have a built-in audience to appease (who grew up with video games, mind you) and we wish them luck.%Gallery-49389%
