Medal of Honor game draws fire because you can play Taliban side in multiplayer

The heavily anticipated first person shooter from Electronic Arts, Medal of Honor, has drawn controversy as gamers will be allowed to play as the Taliban in multiplayer.

The option to play as the Taliban has drawn criticism from various news groups and specifically the mother of a soldier recently killed during the war. First lieutenant Ken Ballard was killed as the result of an accidental discharge of a mounted M240B from an M1 Abrams MBT. His death was initially reported as Killed In Action, but that was later changed when Army Criminal Investigation Division ruled the death an accident. EA has said that in all games, there are good guys and there are bad guys. In the past, game companies have pulled games that have caused furors. Konami, for instance, canceled a game called Six Days in Fallujah after a public outcry. See Industry Gamers for more.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.