I don't really see why this is such a huge deal, but that might just be because I don't live in the US.

I'm sure someone will pick this up, hopefully someone who won't chicken out.

I heard the game itself wasn't esspecially strong.  Maybe thats part of it.  I just don't want to join the chorus of the obvious by saying konami pussied out.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

This is bull shit
Websites saw this game announcement and went how can i write a story about this, lets just talk about how controversial this could be and make assumptions of it with out even playing it. In a month or two the same websites will bitch about how games are too similar and predictable.

And yet american keep making games of WW2

They shouldn't have backed out even if he concept was dumb.

Simple fact is that people become desensitized to events over time once they shift out of recent memory and into the history books. WWII shooters are accepted because of it and the majority of people playing them dont' know anything about the events of WWII anyway so to them it's just a game and is ok to be "fun".

Like someone else said too it's never good to be playing the side of the "bad guys" or at least the morally questionable ones so for that reason you're always fighting against the Nazis not with them.

It's a shame though that the gaming industry feels it's not ready to handle a topic like this in a serious and mature way. What would be so wrong with playing through a shooting game which is heavily sim orientated. If the gaming industry is to go fully mainstream and reach more mature audiences it needs to be more bold about producing content which is not necessarily "fun" but still satisfying to play. People watch movies all the time which are a bit depressing but worth watching because you feel you know more, empathise with others more or just to gain a deeper insight into some topic.

"Blazer74 said:

"Game was sounding bad anyways from quality persepctive. Not to mention the idea once you go into well lets get the side of the story from terrorists as well. Really Konami? You going to have players strap on bombs and kill civillians on purpose or worse? Cut off kidnapped prisoners heads? Not likely. "

Yeah we might as well have an Abu Ghraib torture simulator as well, as well as having American Soldiers rape 15 year Iraqi boys, that's if you want authenticity."

there's no such thing as bad publicity. Konami sucks for not knowing that.
or maybe since the top of Konami is Japan-based, they said "cancel it quick!" because they're not as imbedded in this war as much as Americans and Middle Easterners are, therefore can't really get a scope of how offensive the game will be. or how pissed off people will get with Konami. despite the American-Konami team saying "everything will be fine, don't worry about the protesting and death threats"  

Oh noes, it deals with current events. CONTROVERSY WAH!

One huge difference between a WWII shooter and one set in Iraq is that WWII ended over 60 years ago. We are still in Iraq, and there are still armed soldiers in Fallujah.

Another problem is the fact that it's set in Fallujah, as in one half of the widely-known term "Fallujah massacre". Think of what would happen if you named a WWII game after Dresden or Hiroshima. Yeah, there's some stigma there, huh?

I've been very intrigued by this whole situation. The reaction to the game seemed largely on the side of "too soon". However, there's been other media properties made surrounding the war in Iraq. Generation Kill, a miniseries on HBO, centered around the war. The American missions in CoD4 were based in an environment that was, let's face it, basically the war in Iraq. Does it help that the name was so blatant? No, probably not. At the same time, the negative reaction seems almost disproportionate. I feel like everything has been overblown with the situation surrounding this game.

"

"After seeing the reaction to the videogame in the United States and hearing opinions sent through phone calls and e-mail, we decided several days ago not to sell it," a public relations official of Konami said. "We had intended to convey the reality of the battles to players so that they could feel what it was like to be there."

"

I dont think it was necessarily in bad tastes, I just think it wasnt the right time to release this kind of game.

Oh noes, this game is getting too much attention. Pull the plug, PULL THE PLUG!

Grow some balls Konami.

I say there were standards created for this game by the American populace that were not capable of being fulfilled by the actual game itself. Konami saw this and decided to take a minor PR blow in preference to the major backlash the public would give if the game were to be released in it's unserious state.

wow konami bitched out big time. play it safe, yeah, thats always been good advice. pff. take chances for once....said thing is though, most of know this game is going to be pretty crappy. and chances are no other publisher is going to pick this up now. 

Personally, I don't really give a hoot, I wasn't going to play this game anyway unless it got spotless reviews (which seems highly unlikely in retrospect). But it's a little disappointing that public sensibility is getting in the way of artistic creativity and experimentation. I guess that's why games with really weird plots or innovative gameplay mechanics like Zeno Clash can only be developed by indie studios now-a-days. :-(