14 DAY TRIAL // Call of Duty: Black Ops developer boss Mark Lamia has just expressed his support for rival development studio Danger Close, and its decision to include a playable Taliban faction in Medal of Honor's multiplayer mode.
Medal of Honor and Call of Duty: Black Ops are two of the most expected first person shooters of the end of the year, and both have received their fair share of controversy.
Medal of Honor is currently in the lead, though, as the mainstream media has criticized the fact that you can play as the Taliban in the multiplayer mode.
This, as you can imagine, generated a huge amount of uproar, with media outlets saying that it was still too soon for players to step into the shoes of the Taliban and fight against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
But this shouldn't be so, at least according Lamia, who revealed that creative freedom must be protected, and games shouldn't face such scrutiny while books or movies are allowed to portray sensitive issues.
“We cover the Cold War era [in Black Ops] and there are definitely some controversial topics in there,” he said. “But I look at it as creating a piece of entertainment and we are strong advocates of creative freedom."
“Our game is entirely fiction-based – we’re not doing a historical recreation. We do our research and create that setting so you can immerse yourself in it but that’s just a backdrop for our narrative.
“Our story weaves itself around all kinds of controversial historical periods, but there have been many books and movies that do that, so to single out games in that way seems unfair.”
Without a doubt the whole Taliban controversy will continue to be kept alive by various media outlets, but, in the end, sales figures will confirm whether or not gamers will be swayed by the fact they will be able to shoot American soldiers while playing as the Taliban in the video game.