LOS ANGELES - In the world of video games, realism reigns supreme, but the makers of a game based on the infamous private security firm Blackwater are intentionally steering clear.
There's no blood, the enemies are fictional and civilians can't be killed.
"It's a game," said Erik Prince, the company's founder. "This is not a training device. This is not a simulator. We're not doing this to teach folks how to conduct military operations in an urban terrain. That's not it at all. This is more along the lines of kids running around their neighborhood playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians."
Prince partnered with developer Zombie Studios and publisher 505 Games to create the game using Microsoft Corp.'s motion-sensing Kinect technology for the Xbox 360. The camera-based system detects players' movements as they dodge enemy fire, kick down doors and lunge across rooftops while shooting foes across virtual battlefields in a fictional North African country.
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The game's protagonists are a team of made-up Blackwater operatives tasked with protecting aid workers and other dignitaries in a volatile nation overrun by a warlord. Along the way, the four-man team - with each member armed with a different type of weapon - must blast away the hordes of minions.
The game is Prince's first attempt to leverage Blackwater as a brand. After founding the company in 1997, the former NAVY Seal stepped away from daily operations in 2009 but retained licensing rights to the Blackwater name. The security firm, which is still in operation and is now called Xe Services, was sold to investor group USTC Holdings last year.
Blackwater, which provided services to the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, drew criticism after a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that killed 17 people. Those accusations were thrown out after a judge found prosecutors mishandled evidence, but the case was resurrected this year by a federal appeals court.
The game, which is scheduled for release Oct. 25, isn't an attempt to convalesce Blackwater's reputation, according to Prince. He said his motivation was to ultimately create an active and engaging shooter that would make players' entire bodies sore instead of just their thumbs.
