Virtual Vets Flesh Out D-Day - Little footage exists of the bloody action behind enemy lines during the D-Day invasion. So what's a modern documentary maker to do? By John Gaudiosi. [Joystick]

If you've ever watched a war documentary on the History Channel, you know there's always a lot more listening than actual, well..watching. Epic accounts of some of the greatest and most tragic events in the history of civilization watered down by a bunch of bearded, middle-aged southern gentlemen running around a field with old war costumes on. I remember once watching a civil war documentary on the Battle of Shiloh which had a few hundred actors representing 70,000 men-- with numbers like that, it's hard to feel the impact they're trying to convey. So how do they get the full scale effect without a Hollywood budget? Games, baby.

Wheel the Cannon down the paved road for a better shot!

If you've ever tried to play Normandy Beach on the hardest setting in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, you might have a pretty good idea what it was really like on June 6, 1944. Thousands of rounds searing through the water as you try to make it to the shore while using your own troops, peppered with shells, as protection from the relentless Nazi fire-- beats a short, silent video clip of the actual beach, right? And that's what makes a game special: the immersion factor. Complete visual and interactive control over the environment. Gearbox Software has taken the responsibility of creating this same real experience in a World War II documentary by studying maps, photos, and video to make a highly accurate battle reenactment. Sure, they could just rely on their imagination, but it's the authenticity that gives it that emotional kick. The characters are based on real people and created in detail using pictures of them taken during the war. Real people, real stories, real good. But can it be soo good that, maybe it's too..real?

Now that's more like it..

Alright, so they use video games to make realistic battle situations on the telly. It's cool, no doubt, but not too extraordinary. But this tells us something more. There is a new era on the brink, and the dam is about to burst. What if one day we have the power to create 3-D rendering so real, it's impossible to distinguish the two? Would we really want to do something like that? This thought really hit me when I saw Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines a few years ago, when apparently there was a wardrobe malfunction and The Terminator's skin was a few sizes too big. If they really do plan on making another movie, they couldn't possibly use the aged Arnold, but how could they even fathom making the movie without him? 10 years from now, a completely virtual Schwarzenegger with 250 pounds of lean muscle ripping buildings apart may grace the silver screen. A new western opens in the summer featuring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. The look, the swagger, the voice, everything. While this would be considered unbelievably amazing in a game, on film or TV it would deceive. Using computer games to throttle video realism is ultimately cool, but could it get out of hand? Maybe one day we'll find out.

"I'll be back"