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GameStop Bans 'Medal of Honor' From Military Base Stores Over Taliban Depiction

by Ben Deitz on September 3, 2010 at 11:30 AM

medal of honor
Video game playing soldiers looking forward to the upcoming 'Medal of Honor' will have to go elsewhere for a dose of non-lethal action. The game has been banned from all GameStop stores located on military facilities, due to its inclusion of Taliban forces as playable characters in multiplayer shoot-outs.

The ban has been enforced by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which operates retail stores on military facilities. In an e-mail to its employees, GameStop said that the decision "was out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform." However, the same e-mail also directed employees to send interested customers to GameStop stores located off base, which would be carrying the title. Clearly, GameStop's "respect" doesn't extend to its own coffers.

The upcoming title is a reboot of the long-running FPS franchise, and takes place during the current war in Afghanistan. The game has already garnered controversy over the playable Taliban characters, as Liam Fox, the Secretary of Defense in the United Kingdom, has called for it to be banned outright. Given 'Medal of Honor's' long history of celebrating the military and the fact that players only play as the baddies in multiplayer (meaning those who get saddled with Taliban only do so for dueling firefights), this is less about terrorism and more concerned with good and evil in interactive, 'versus' action.

Tags: air force, AirForce, army, ea, gamestop, gaming, medal of honor, MedalOfHonor, military, taliban, terrorism, top, videogames

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