These fictional countries and locations in the Middle East serve many purposes. For example a game could be set in "Madeupistan" simply to cater for large-scale destructive battles in order to showcase impressive graphics. Another use might be to create allegory or parallels with current day events, politics and wars, without actually needing to be bold enough to admit that your game takes place in Iraq (or Afghanistan, or Palestine).
Alternatively, especially among earlier games in the pre-9/11 era, it was somewhat common for fantasy games, such as role-playing games, to feature some kind of Arabian Nights inspired Middle-Eastern setting without giving the location any particular name.
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