During the gamescom event in Germany, members of the Iran National Foundation of Computer Games were on hand to discuss the current cultural challenge of having Iranian games sold in western nations.

The political climate between the United States and Iran -- including sanctions -- makes it impossible for Iranian video games to be sold on the mass market in the U.S., but Iranian game officials hope video games made in Iran will enter several European Union nations in early 2010.

"We need more investors," said Amir Tarbyatjoui, head of Parsan Business Development Solutions who spoke with the BBC.  "The [U.S.] sanctions do affect our industry, but they cannot stop it."

The region has a rich cultural history that many Iranian game developers are using in their titles, but even the most highly publicized games don't garner much attention outside of the Middle East.

The most well known Iranian game likely is "Special Operation 85:  Hostage Rescue."  In the game, Israeli forces kidnap two Iranian nuclear scientists who are then saved by the Iranian special forces -- skirmishes between the Iranians and Israeli/U.S. forces take place throughout the game.

Unfortunately for Iranian developers trying to work through a very difficult political situation, the game wasn't well known inside Iran, but attracted international media attention.  In the future, game developers hope to prove their game making ability by creating games that will be playable in the western world without a high level of controversy.