Taliban computer game upsets dead soldiers' families

A computer game which lets players fight alongside Taliban soldiers against the US in Afghanistan has created a perfect storm in a tea cup.

The new version of Medal of Honor has not actually seen the light of day yet, but already Fox TV and the family of parents are calling it to be banned.

The game will be launched in October, is a multiplayer game based on an elite group of US soldiers sent to "apply their unique skill sets to a new enemy in the most unforgiving and hostile battlefield conditions of present day Afghanistan".

But the Electronic Arts appears to have miffed lots of people because it uses an ongoing conflict as a source of entertainment, and allowing gamers to pick which side they want to fight with.

Karen Meredith, the mother of a US soldier who died in Iraq, told Fox News that the US was going through a really, really bad time in Afghanistan . "This game is going to be released in October so families who are burying their children are going to be seeing this." She pointed out that her son didn't get to start over when he was killed.

By that logic we should also ban driving games every time there is a car accident. There is no problem with people playing conflict games with wars that are in the past. Vietnam and World War Two are popular, even when there are people alive who remember the horrors of those wars. However if you do something recent and you seem to get people's knickers in a twist.

When it comes down to it, the thing that seems to have got on the tits of the Fox crew is not so much as it has a game set in Afghanistan, but more that you can play the Taliban.

However, Fox appears to have forgotten that until the US went into to Afghanistan the Taliban were glorious allies against the Russians. Clearly Fox should also be screaming for the banning of Rambo II where Sylvester Stallone also fought on the side of the evil Taliban.

We guess only allowing the playing the "good guys" would really screw up childhood games of Cowboys and Indians too.

Ron Curry, chief executive of the Interactive Game and Entertainment Association of Australia told AP that the vast majority of homes have videogame machines ... so it stands to reason they will bring emotive content to this medium."

Colin Jacobs, chairman of free speech lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, added that adults have a right to consume entertainment material they see fit within reason.