The red phones connecting the world’s defense/defence ministers must be working fine, as yet another member of that group has jumped on the anti-Medal of Honor videogame bandwagon.
This time around Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay took issue with the Electronic Arts game, specifically over the ability to play as a member of the Taliban in Medal of Honor’s multiplayer mode. MacKay, via the Ottawa Citizen, had this to say about the game:
The men and women of the Canadian Forces, our allies, aid workers, and innocent Afghans are being shot at, and sometimes killed, by the Taliban. This is reality. I find it wrong to have anyone, children in particular, playing the role of the Taliban. I'm sure most Canadians are uncomfortable and angry about this.
MacKay joins UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox, who started the hysteria by calling MOH “disgusting” (and urged retailers to not sell it), New Zealand Defense Minister Wayne Mapp and Dutch Defense Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech, who called the game “tasteless,” in bashing the title.
Thanks Cheater87!
Comments
Re: Another MOD Criticizes MOH
"I'm sure most Canadians are uncomfortable and angry about this."
No, actually, Canadians are doing what they always do: nothing. People here don't like to get worked up over nothing, considering we have some real idiocy to face (like how 50+ seats of our federal government are taken by a separatist party).
Why didn't they freak out about the movie Iron Man? If they weren't Taliban forces, what were they? THE "AMBIGOUS TERROR SQUAD"? But no, they never use the word "Taliban" so they're totally fine but MOH is out of line? Ugh, just like "No Russian", this is going to create tons of free press for MOH, a game that will likely be no better than MW2 anyway... It makes me angry that a game that likely doesn't deserve the attention anyway is getting so much of it FROM THE DAMN GOVERNMENT.
Re: Another MOD Criticizes MOH
What is up with the "think of the children" argument. Don't we have a game rating system designed for this specific thing? WTF is it for if this kind of PC crap still transpires?
Moreover along the line of reasoning used by the haters, there should be no movies, TV shows, news, books or art produced with a Taliban element - real or imagined.
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
Re: Another MOD Criticizes MOH
Riddle me this, morons who are protesting players playing as the Taliban:
If the heroic US forces are one side in multiplayer, who should they be fighting against?
The Russians? The Chinese? Generic brown-people-we-tend-to-drop-bombs-on-for-no-good-reason? Aliens? PETA? Mel Gibson? The bad-guy from Quantum of Solace who's nefarious master plan was basically to raise Bolivia's water bill?
And funny how no one ever mentions that in Counter-Strike, which is probably the most-played multiplayer shooter of all time, one side is "The Terrorists". How come no one was ever up-in-arms about that?
Someone has to be the other side. That's how Multiplayer works. When you play cops and robbers... someone has to be the robbers.
Re: Another MOD Criticizes MOH
You know something else. Beside, MOH do you know the upcoming game, Homefront? Yeah did you know this game was heavily promoted during the time when North Korea is threatening South Korea and probably the whole world thanks to the sinking of the Cheonan. 46 South Korean sailor died in this incident. Yet, I never heard any complaint from news media, Politicians (including UN), or South Korea about the game or the way they promote Homefront. Only gamers complain about it. The way the game was advertised/promoted because they were kind of giving North Korea a positive light like this and also this. What do you think the South Korean would've thought when they see this promotion, I didn't like the way THQ promoted this game at a time when South Korea has lost 46 sailors, that's disrepecting them.
Re: Another MOD Criticizes MOH
The game is rated 17 and older. Children will only be playing it if the parents are ignorant and don't care or they know its a game and won't do anything to their kids because their kids know from right and wrong.