Ahh, how we long for the simple days of yore, when choosing a multiplayer faction came down to a preference for red or blue. In the upcoming Medal of Honor, which skin you pick could well be a political act - after all, the UK's Defence Secretary has gone so far as to call for a retail ban over the game's inclusion of playable Taliban characters. Looks like we'll be weathering the media storm for a bit longer then.

The US media are predictably continuing their field day over EA's controversial decision to allow players to take on the role of Taliban agents. Completely erroneous reporting suggests the game allows Taliban-faction players to combat British troops - despite the latter's absence from Medal of Honor's line up.

Nevertheless, feeling are running high enough that UK Defence Secretery Liam Fox has called for a retail ban out of respect for those whose lives have been touched by the Taliban's actions.

"At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. ... I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product."

What we have here is a hype storm with the potential to outrank Modern Warfare 2's "terrorist" level furor. Cynics are forgiven for using the phrase "free publicity".

Does recasting the Taliban as video game boogeymen dismiss or highlight the group's very real activities? Should games avoid depicting current real world conflicts and focus on historic or imaginary situations?

Via CVG.