The Death of Zarqawi...The Video Game?
Via MTV News:
On Wednesday, June 7, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by an air strike from U.S. jets.
This Friday, a little more than two weeks after that event, the world will be able to play a video game about it.
The result of harried breaking-news development by a handful of game creators in New York, "Kuma\ War Episode 75: The Death of Zarqawi" will put players in the position of a U.S. soldier just outside the house in Hibhib, Iraq, where al-Zarqawi was killed. The game presents a first-person shooter scenario — players can either call in the same air strike that killed the terrorist leader, or test an alternate attack by rushing the guarded house on foot in an attempt to take al-Zarqawi alive.
"When the Zarqawi event took place, there was no way we could just not report on it," said Keith Halper, CEO of Kuma Reality Games. "It's one of the key events in the war so far" (see "Autopsy Finds Al-Zarqawi Died Of Internal Injuries 52 Minutes After Bombing").
Not every game executive would describe creating a game as "reporting." But that's what Halper says his company has been doing since early 2004, when his vision for episodic game missions focused on modern combat and his team began creating what grew into 74 single- and multi-player PC missions based directly on engagements from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The company also does contract work for the U.S. military, providing game development that is used for training.
"Kuma\ War" has depicted the U.S./al Qaeda firefight of Operation Anaconda and the no-shot-fired capture of Saddam Hussein. Halper said the "Kuma" missions have been downloaded 800,000 times. ...
On Wednesday, June 7, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by an air strike from U.S. jets.
This Friday, a little more than two weeks after that event, the world will be able to play a video game about it.
The result of harried breaking-news development by a handful of game creators in New York, "Kuma\ War Episode 75: The Death of Zarqawi" will put players in the position of a U.S. soldier just outside the house in Hibhib, Iraq, where al-Zarqawi was killed. The game presents a first-person shooter scenario — players can either call in the same air strike that killed the terrorist leader, or test an alternate attack by rushing the guarded house on foot in an attempt to take al-Zarqawi alive.
"When the Zarqawi event took place, there was no way we could just not report on it," said Keith Halper, CEO of Kuma Reality Games. "It's one of the key events in the war so far" (see "Autopsy Finds Al-Zarqawi Died Of Internal Injuries 52 Minutes After Bombing").
Not every game executive would describe creating a game as "reporting." But that's what Halper says his company has been doing since early 2004, when his vision for episodic game missions focused on modern combat and his team began creating what grew into 74 single- and multi-player PC missions based directly on engagements from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The company also does contract work for the U.S. military, providing game development that is used for training.
"Kuma\ War" has depicted the U.S./al Qaeda firefight of Operation Anaconda and the no-shot-fired capture of Saddam Hussein. Halper said the "Kuma" missions have been downloaded 800,000 times. ...
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 3:53 PM
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