Gadgetopia

War Games: Ripping stuff from the headlines works great for Law and Order, why not video games?

Early next year, Kuma Reality Games plans to launch a service that will allow players to re-enact contemporary news events. Kuma’s first product — centered on the war in Iraq — will brief players with information derived from real-world news reporting, and then allow them to play out missions based on actual troop deployments.

On its Web site, Kuma claims that the new game “presents our soldiers’ acts of patriotism and bravery as never before possible.” And then, the kicker: “In a world being torn apart by international conflict, one thing is on everyone’s mind as they finish watching the nightly news: ‘Man, this would make a great game.’”