If Six Days in Fallujah has shown us anything, it’s that the general public still does not take gaming seriously.

The controversy surrounding the game stems from the belief that a video game can never communicate the horrors of war. They, the critics, believe Six Days would merely trivialize the bloody event by turning it into entertainment.

What the general public fails to realize, though, is that games not all games are there for mindless entertainment. No, many games are an experience with emotional ups and downs that players can empathize with and even learn from. To claim that games can not communicate complex emotions of remorse, respect, or sadness is downright ignorant and insulting.

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When it releases, Six Days in Fallujah will be one of the most controversial games ever made. Dealing with the War in Iraq, its immediacy is unprecedented, and with it, Atomic Games can single-handedly change our expectations for video games.

The animated documentary Waltz with Bashir parallels Six Days in lots of ways. With any luck, Six Days will treat its subject matter as seriously as Waltz, because in order to be justified, it has to become more than just a video game. It has to paint the reality of war, not glorify it the way so many games do.

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