Military bans video game

US military bases have banned the sale of video game "Medal Of Honor" which is due out October 12th.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100908/D9I3U6680.html

Well, I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. A war game finally hit the point of covering something too soon. Games about World War II are more socially acceptable because they're taking place in a historical setting that very few people still alive can recall firsthand. A game about a currently ongoing conflict was bound to step on some toes, though.

Hm. The thread title is a bit misleading. It should probably read that the military has banned the sale of the game in their Px/Bx/Nex stores, not the actual game.

Anyway, I'm with the military here, since the game endorses terrorism against current military personnel. The military can decide what to sell and what not to sell in their stores, and service members can still purchase the game elsewhere if they want to. Coming from experience, the PX never really has a great selection of stuff, anyway. Except running shoes.

Bumping this topic thread up as there is some current news regarding this game of "Medal Of Honor". It seems a feature of the game, which was causing a bit of controversy, etc., has now been removed from the game:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/ ... onor_N.htm

I'm glad they're making that change, but they should have done that in the beginning instead of using a name that would incite people. I wonder if the military ban on the game will be lifted after this change, or if it will remain. The game does still allow targeting of current military forces, so a case could be made for keeping the ban.

Well, the answer to my wondering in the last post is finally known. The military decided to keep the ban on sales in place. I guess the change was too little, too late.

With that information I would say that the ban on sales had more to do with appearing to endorse a commercial interpretation of a current military conflict rather than only the ability to play against Allied Forces.

Another article concerning this "Medal Of Honor" game, which is due for release today, I think:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plug ... ay/1413536

This game is certainly getting a lot of attention lately and it will be interesting to see how it does with the video game fans.

It sounds like game reviews are really ripping into this one. After drawing so much controversy, I would hope that the game at least plays well. Reviews seem to point out one problem after another, though.

Tanith wrote:

With that information I would say that the ban on sales had more to do with appearing to endorse a commercial interpretation of a current military conflict rather than only the ability to play against Allied Forces.

Yeah, seems like it. The factor of the developers putting a spin on a current conflict while not revealing some of those details to the military doesn't help, I'm sure. This whole thing was definitely handled badly by the game company.