Someone had to be the Nazis. I loved playing as the Nazis in Allied Assault. I guess it's because its a more recent war it's an issue. Kinda like telling a hurricane katrina joke so soon after the disaster. Just gotta wait a while.

Some general somewhere who probably never actually participated in the war made the call.

Military bureaucracy.

Great PR. ERTS will sell even more now. Also if I was of a particular religion that may feel persecuted (rightly or wrongly) and wanted to shoot back at Americans I'd buy it. Could be even bigger for all the wrong reasons - I'd be pushing it hard in the Middle East.

We can make movies about current conflicts and see Allies killed on screen (and even win Oscars) but we cannot play a video game that depicts something not dissimilar.....

Gus, I understand what you mean, but isn't there a difference between watching and (virtually) doing?

If game developers say "we want our work to be held to exactly the same standards of acceptability as movies," aren't they in effect rejecting the one thing that makes computer games special -- the interactivity? Is that really desirable as either a business strategy or an artistic standpoint?

Conversely, if interactivity matters, if it naturally creates a closer connection between the consumer and the material than any passive media form can generate, then is it really unreasonable to hold games to a higher standard of what's acceptable and what's not (however that gets defined)?

I haven't come to a conclusion on GameStop's decision personally, but I think the question may not be as cut-and-dried as is currently being suggested here.

Obviously not everyone who will play the game is American (but I'd assume a majority of sales will in fact be from the United States), but as an American, I would not be interested in playing a game set in the modern era where the campaign included fighting battles as a Nazi against the United States, or any similar scenario where I would be fighting America.

In these games though, with multiplayer inevitably requiring someone to play as the "enemy" it does seem poor form to pick a real life conflict and ask people to play as a military force that is currently fighting against their country. Still, I don't think people will be turned off by being offended. I do think there will be a little bit of the same effect of the recent movies depicting the Irag/Afghanastan wars where Americans don't want to live out something they are ambivilant about. Especially with Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops also on the market.

Didn't America's Army have it set up so, no matter what, you always played against the terrorists? Each team would be on the American side, but view the opposing team as the terrorists. That way, every player was fighting against the terrorists in their gameplay.

I thought people in the army go kill other people. I didn't know they had thoughts or emotions.

And FPS'ers are decent at training. Maybe the other army will play the video games and kill you more. gg

Yeah man, shooting at American's in a game is morally wrong

/goes back to taking out pedestrians with a sniper rifle from the top of a building in GTA4

I have to imagine that this will only impact <1% of there stores. GameStop being sensitive to peoples feelings is, however, a funny notion.

Medal of Honor has always been a series that shown respect for the Armed Forces, something that the Call of Duty developers over the years have moved away from .

Just another bullet point on a long list of reasons gaming is not taken seriously as a form of entertainment.

I'am happy that recently game like Mafia II and incoming MoH are making controversy and putting over the table more important issues than only gameplay mechanics... Is great to see that games are starting to say something about something.

@ Curtis: Did you know there are hundreds of MOS in the Army? And the 2nd part of your comment makes no sense at all.
I can see there could be an issue with currently deployed men and women or people strugling with PTSD. But personally I could care less, to me its a game, and there aren't too many games "cross the line" as far as I'm concerned. I say game on...

Thank you D PH for bringing up GTA. Americans have been killed before in video games. Some are not even military but civilian. Is it ok to kill future Americans in Deus Ex? Or past Americans in WWII shooters? If the answer is yes, then why the double standard for current events.

It seems that only Russians, Japanese, Nazi's, and unnamed terrorist are ok to shoot (also aliens and zombies but I will stick to humans). Get off the high horse America. This is just another FPS game.

To go the cliche route. What's in a name? If the Taliban was called a fictional name, then no one would care but it would be the same game. Stupid if you ask me.

And my rant goes on....According to a radio report this morning US troops are actually looking forward to this game. They can't wait to see how EA interprets the struggle they are apart of. EA also used military personnel to help "authenticate" MOH (like they have done with WWII games).

You want controversy? Come out with a game that plans terror attacks on American soil. You can call it, Death to America! That's offensive. That's something I wouldn't want to see on a retail shelf.

"Customers who enter our AAFES stores and wish to reserve Medal of Honor can and should be directed to the nearest GameStop location off base."

All right, so, as Yoda says: Do or do not, never try”, if you don’t wanna sale it in-side de base, what´ s the difference in selling it out-side ? they can get de game anyway, can´ t they?

I understand is a sensible topic, I don´ t have a final opinion about it yet….

But I have to say I am not American either Taliban, so I don´ t really care wich side I have to play. It´ s not my war so I don’t care who dies…(in the game). Haven´ t you think about all those anti-imperialist customer who would buy the game just for the fact to play as a Taliban and kick a few American’s asses ?

So they would´ t play as VC en BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM either, would they ?

… and what about the afghan people ? do you think they´ d find nice to be killed by foreigners ? In a campaign mode or multiplayer? Come on… it´s a game, if you wanna be moralist so think both sides, afghan and American…

Either way, it is just another “do what I said but not what I do“