(If Peter Tamte's name sounds familiar to you, it's because he's president of Destineer, a publisher of Mac games, and he's also the founder of MacSoft.)

If we take Atomic Games on their word, they're trying to tell an extremely relevant and pressing story. If we remove the pro/anti-war elements of the debate, Atomic Games draws flack from Iraq war veterans and their families who consider the game distasteful towards the soldiers' memories. But over 40 Marines involved in the conflict contributed to the making of Six Days. Rather than approaching the Marines, Tamte explains that the Marines approached them: "After they got back from Fallujah, these Marines asked us to tell their story. They asked us to tell their story through the most relevant medium of the day -- a medium they use the most -- and that is the video game."

The close ties the developers have had with some of the Marines who fought this battle helps undercut some of this criticism, but it's hard not to feel like the game is making light of a war that has taken the lives of thousands. The game may be able to convey the story of the Marines respectfully, but it's tough to convey the weight of loss when you can restart a level and ensure your buddy doesn't get ambushed this time around.

But these questions of narrative distance and appropriateness are nothing new for other forms of media. As Matt Peckham at points out in , movies and books are regularly released that are less objective and are less accurate. How is Six Days more offensive than war documentaries such as "Generation Kill" or major film releases such as "Valley of Elah?" The issues of conveying the weight of war and respecting those who fought are present there as well. But you won't see the level of hate thrown at films or books because they're not video games.

"Every form of media has grown by producing content about current events, content that's powerful because it's relevant," Tamte told . "Movies, music and TV have helped people make sense of the complex issues of our times." But video games haven't yet, and instead are still thought of as toys. Tamte is hoping that Six Days will help change that. "Artists can help people understand things that can't be communicated through words. Video game creators can help people understand things that can't even be communicated through pictures."