six-days-in-fallujah posts

Earlier this year internet rumors stated that Atomic Games' military shooter Six Days In Fallujah was completed and was just awaiting a publisher. However it now sounds like the game still has a bit of work left to finish before it's really done. Our sister site Joystiq reports that Atomic Games' head Peter Tamte says that while all of the game's levels are indeed done but that there still needs to be some"additional AI and graphics" added to the title before its completed.

The article, based on chatting with Tamte during PAX East last weekend, does a good job going over the basic premise of the Iraq War-based game and the controversy surrounding the title which lead to its original publisher Konami deciding to ditch the game just a few weeks after it was officially announced in the spring of 2009. Tamte says that the game has "interested parties" that are looking to take over publishing Six Days in Fallujah. In the meantime they are working on their multiplayer shooter Breach that's due out later this year.

The rumors last year of Atomic Games being close to being shut down were apparently just that: rumors. The developer of the controversial third person military shooter Six Days In Fallujah (which is, according to other rumors, now done but still looking for a publisher) just announced their next game; a first person multiplayer-oriented shooter called Breach.

The game was announced via an email press release that you can see above. The game is supposedly based on stuff that Atomic may (or may not, as the case may be) have developed for the CIA. Uncovering those blackened segments reveals only a little more, with the game supposedly based on the spy organization's Special Activities Division. The rest of it . . .well, let's just say it's the equivalent of, "Sorry, try again later." Here is is:

so you've managed to decode this section to reveal the classified information. Come on! Did you really think it was going to be that easy? Yes, we do work for military and intelligence organizations. Yes, we are creating a game that will blow your mind. Yes, some of it was actually redacted. Yes, many of us have security clearances. So what that all means is I can't tell you anything more than is in this release until it's okay. Until then, we are high-speed, low-drag and ready to work. Molon Labe!

According to the ever accurate Wikipedia, "Molon Labe" is an ancient Greek expression that means, "Come and take them!" with the English equivalent meaning something like, "Come and get it!'

The controversial modern military shooter Six Days in Fallujah, once thought to be on ice, is actually still in play and according to one article is ready to be released. IGN reports though unnamed sources that the Atomic Games-developed title that the plan is to still release the game but no release date or publisher has been revealed. It's entirely possible that Atomic Games could release the title on its own via digital download.

Just a reminder on this game's history: Six Days in Fallujah is based on the real battle in the Iraq city during the early days of the current Iraq war. Atomic Games secured a publisher for the title in Konami but after the game was officially revealed last April it got hit with protests from veterans groups who felt the game was going to be exploitative. Konami quickly caved to the protests and severed their publishing contract with Atomic Games. In August rumors hit the internet that the vast majority of Atomic Games' development team was laid off.

Earlier this week Atomic Games admitted that they had let go of an unknown number of their team members after not being able to find a new publisher for their true-to-life military shooter Six Days in Fallujah. Now IndustryGamers is reporting via unnamed sources that the situation may be more than just a few team members being layed off.

According to their source the team, which before the layoffs numbered 75 people at their Raleigh, North Carolina offices, now consists of less than a dozen people. Furthermore, the source claims, "The remaining team is basically a skeleton cleanup crew that will be gone soon too," adding that Atomic Games at this point is "pretty much dead". If all this is true it's a sad ending to both a developer and a proposed game that seemed like it was trying to do something different and got blasted (perhaps needlessly) for doing so.

It has not been a good year for the revised version of developer Atomic Games. Their debut title, the upcoming military shooter Six Days In Fallujah, was quickly slammed by some veteran groups and their families, saying it was inappropriate to create a game based on the real 2004 battle of Fallujah during the Iraq War. Then the game's publisher Konami pulled out of publishing the game just a few weeks after the game's official announcement.

Now Gamesindustry.biz is reporting though unnamed sources that one of Atomic Games' key personnell, its creative director Juan Benito, has departed the company for unknown reasons. Atomic Games won't comment on the rumors and Benito himself has yet to be reached for comment. So far Atomic Games has yet to find a publisher for their title.

Update: Kotaku received a press note from Atomic Games admitting that the lack of a publisher for Six Days of Fallujah "caused us to reduce the size of our studio today." There is no word on how many team members were let go.

Following this week's article on Six Days in Fallujah in Newsweek magazine, Fox News took on the subject of the contraversial upcoming Iraq War shooter on their Fox and Friends program on Thursday. Atomic Games head Peter Tamte was part of the discussion along with one of the game's advisors (retired US Marine Corps Captain Read Omohundro) and Tracy Miller, who lost her son during the Fallujah battle and opposes the game.

Tamte states during the chat that two thirds of Six Days of Fallujah's development have been completed and that they are still seeking a publisher after Konami pulled their inital publishing deal away. Once again we find it ironic that people are against this game when episodic game developer Kuma Reality Games have already released downloadable shooter episodes of their Kuma War game based on Fallujah and other real Iraq War battles.

Atomic Games has been fairly quiet about their upcoming military shooter Six Days in Fallujah since the game's first publisher Konami decided to pull out of publishing the game earlier this year. Now this week's issue of Newsweek magazine (guest edited by none other than Steven Colbert) has a new and extensive feature on the game and the mag's web site has posted up that article for everyone to read.

The article goes into more detail on the genesis of the project and on the issues that many feel the game needs to overcome in order to be accepted as something more than the typical shooter. Atomic Games head Peter Tamte states, "We have a lot of people who are interested in the project. But I'll feel better when we sign something and the checks start coming." Even if that indeed happens the game will have to deal with protestors who feel that Six Days in Fallujah, even if it's respectful and accurate to the actual events in the Iraq War, should not be made.

Last April started out with the always fun April Fool's Day but the goofy and wacky were pushed aside for most of the rest of the month. April had the announcement of a military shooter that just a few weeks later was disowned by its own publisher. The economic slowdown affected even more game publishers and developers. A highly anticipated PC game released got hurt by poor multiplayer networking and one of the biggest PC game developers of all time announced his move to other projects.

It wasn't all gloom and doom, however. There were major new game announcements and the successful merger of two of the industry's biggest game publishers. And everyone is looking forward to E3 in June where lots of major announcements are expected to be made. In the meantime we have picked our selections for the top 10 PC game news stories for April

Click on the image above to continue reading the top 10 PC game news stories of April 2009

Konami's surprise decision earlier this week to pull out of publishing the military shooter Six Days in Fallujah was obviously a blow to its developer, the North Carolina-based Atomic Games. The Raleigh News & Observer web site has some new quotes from the developer's CEO Peter Tamte who defended their project during a game conference held in the state this week.

The game, which will have players controlling characters in the real life 2004 battle in Iraq, has been attacked as being irresponsible to release by a number of military veterans and veteran groups. However Tamte stated during the conference that games like Six Days in Fallujah represent the evolution of games tacking real adult themes. "Every form of media has grown by producing content about current events, content that's powerful because it's relevant," Tamte said. "Movies, music and TV have helped people make sense of the complex issues of our times. 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?"

Tamte stated that Atomic Games has already spent millions of dollars on the game's development and had plans to hire up to 35 more people in the next year. However Konami's pull out could put a stop to those plans. Tamte admitted in the article, ""It depends on what happens next."

While Konami has finally officially admitted it has pulled out of publishing Six Days in Fallujah just a few weeks after the company announced it (a company spokesperson finally got back with us today with the word but would not elaborate), the game's developer Atomic Games has now issued a very brief statement with their side of the story.

IncGames reports that a statement from the developer's founder Peter Tamte said, "[Atomic Games] were informed on Thursday night that Konami had decided to pull out of Six Days in Fallujah. This caught us by surprise. Development of the game had been progressing very well and on schedule. We would very much like the opportunity to complete the game." The statement does not say if Atomic Games is seeking another publisher or perhaps considering releasing the game themselves (Atomic Games' parent company is game publisher Destineer).