Kieron Gillen and Lucas Siegel Discuss MoH Taliban Controversy
Medal of Honor is certainly in the news at the moment, especially in relation to EA’s decision to remove the name “Taliban” from the in-game bad guys, instead opting to call them the totally unimaginative “Opposing Force”.
Usually, however, discussions in the mainstream media turn into ignorant shouting matches (see Geoff Keighley talking about Mass Effect ‘sex’ on Fox News) and very rarely add anything of value.
Talking with GRITtv, Rock, Paper Shotgun‘s Kieron Gillen and Newsarama‘s Lucas Siegel (who is himself a veteran of the recent Iraqi conflict) sit down to have a rational, thoughtful discussion of the game and the surrounding issues. They also touch upon the increasing cultural footprint videogames have as well as the game Hey Baby, where you a play women who has a rifle and can shoot men who call names, say suggestive things and in general act like misogynistic dickheads.
They all hit upon some interesting points over the course of the 12 minutes, and it’s worth your time to watch.
via: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
After playing the finished product, I’m certain that EA have known that the name change would take place this whole time. MoH is awful, but by stirring up controversy a week before it’s release, EA have ensured that it will be a hot topic when the game would have otherwise been dead on arrival.
Naughton, are you writing the review?
Interesting, I only ever knew Keiron Gillon from his comic book series, Phonogram, I had no idea he was a gamer, too.
@Jack Frost: I’m not a reviewer, but I’ll be writing a community review in the next few days.
Didn’t Gillen quit RPS recently because there is no future in videogame journalism?
@Naughton: Cool.