When EA revealed that in their upcoming Medal of Honor game the Taliban will be a playable force, it's no surprise that controversy was on the menu. Fox news was unsurprisingly first to go for the throat at this, but today, British Defense Secretary Liam Fox has announced his disgust towards the game.
The Conservative politician has called for the "tasteless" game to be banned, saying, "It's shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban. At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. I am disgusted and angry. It's hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product."
The game doesn't have a Taliban campaign (something I'm sure would cause a considerably larger outcry), but in the storyless multiplayer modes it was inevitable that a game set during current conflicts would force one side to be the opposing organization.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport were quick to bring up that this is Fox's personal view, and issued their own statement saying they support the 18+ rating given by the BBFC.
EA naturally expected the response about the playable Taliban, but stated their intentions weren't to be controversial. The games producer, Patrick Liu, stated: ‘We can’t get away from what the setting is and who the factions are but, in the end, it’s a game, so we’re not pushing or provoking too hard.’
In my opinion this is another uninformed public figure trying to take the high horse on an industry they know little about, but what do you all think of the fiasco? Is Fox just spouting a load of hot-air or will measures be taken to impede the UK release? Any other thoughts on the game itself? Leave your thoughts below.
Via: Electric Pig, T3
One thought on “Defence Secretary Urges British Retailers to Ban Medal of Honor”
One would wish that really Liam Fox would find many things more pressing to do with his time than complaining about a video game. People are dying for real, for Chrissakes, isn’t that kind of a priority?