LONDON – A video game that allows players to adopt the role of the Taliban is a "tasteless product," Britain's defense secretary said Sunday, calling on retailers to show their support for troops by not selling it.

Liam Fox said he was "disgusted and angry" by "Medal of Honor," produced by California-based Electronic Arts Inc.

"At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. It's shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban against British soldiers," he said in a statement. "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 company did not immediately respond to e-mails from the Associated Press, but spokeswoman Amanda Taggart was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying the game's format "merely reflects the fact that every conflict has two sides."

"We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven: someone plays cop, someone must be robber," the newspaper quoted her as saying. "In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone's got to be the Taliban. Nobody who plays video games is going to be shocked or surprised by this."

Other versions of "Medal of Honor" have been set in the World War II era. The new version is scheduled to be released in October.

source

 "merely reflects the fact that every conflict has two sides." that's all they needed to say. upon reading the title my initially thought was what do they not want us to see. I understand it may be to soon for this kind of game but basically telling us not to play something because they disagree with it is most definitely not British. at least from a historians perspective but I guess modern Britain may be a different story. anyway more advertising.

thats just stupid...

Well i play as a Nazi every time i play a WW2 game, or sometimes i am an insurgent who does car bombs in Project Reality.

Im pretty sure Nazi's are alot worse than the Taliban...

Although I agree that this hits a nerve, more than the MW2 level where you carried out an act of terrorism, Im surprised that no one has ever said the same thing about playing as Nazis in games like CoD WaW. The only difference between the two is one happened over 60 years ago.

Personally wont be buying Medal of Honour but not because of this. Also wondering if the games sales will be impacted by protests and other campiagns, particularly in the UK and the US

Thats just stupid. In far cry 2 you can play as a former IRA terrorist yet nobody cared about that, how is this any different.

"It's hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game."

...and that's where you are just plain wrong.

Myself, I'm disgusted by crap like this. Fact is, there are people dying or losing their loved ones on both sides.

I think it might even get more sales because of this publicity :/.

This. who wanna bet that Medal of Honor will top sales charts in the UK because of this publicity stunt.