GameStop Pulls Medal of Honor From Military Bases

donniebaseball23 writes "EA's Medal of Honor reboot doesn't ship until October 12, but it's already seen a fair amount of controversy thanks to the publisher's decision to allow people to play as Taliban in multiplayer. The controversy just got escalated another notch, reports IndustryGamers, as the world's biggest games retailer GameStop has decided it won't sell the title at its stores located on US military bases. The new Medal of Honor won't be advertised at these stores either. GameStop noted that they came to this decision 'out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform.'"

Re:Censorship?

[idontgno]

Actually, this Gamespy article [gamespy.com] makes it sound like AAFES* asked Gamestop to pull the game. Logically (a dubious word to use in conjunction with military bureaucracy, but run with it a second)... Logically, that means that AAFES will pull the game from its own shelves as well.

This doesn't say anything about NEX (Naval Exchanges) and MCX (Marine Corps Exchanges), which were independent organizations last time I checked, so maybe the Sailors and Marines will be able to buy the game. And mock the Soldiers and Airmen.

*For those who haven't picked this up from context, "AAFES [wikipedia.org]" means "Army and Air Force Exchange Service".

Decision made by AAFES, not GameStop Corp.

[imthesponge]

TFA doesn't make this clear. Here's a better one: Video Game Pulled Globally From Military Stores Over Taliban Inclusion [kotaku.com]

The Army and Air Force Exchange Services has confirmed to Kotaku that they requested the game pulled from the 49 GameStop's located on bases in the continent U.S. The ban, an AAFES representative told Kotaku, also extends to all military PXs worldwide.

"Out of respect to those we serve, we will not be stocking this game," the Army & Air Force Exchange Service's Commander Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella, told Kotaku. (emphasis added)

Re:Censorship?

[Scarred Intellect]

I'm a USMC Infantry Machine Gunner. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan. For a time, I was the farthest forward-deployed unit in our military. I'm pissed. GameStop just lost all my business. I don't care that you can play as Taliban on a game, even I'll do it just for kicks. I seem to remember something (http://www.slate.com/id/2096112/) about the Japanese fighting against the Japanese in a different MOH title. It's not a big deal. Really, though, thanks for treating us like children, and "protecting" us from the evils of those Taliban, who we haven't walked with on streets holding rifles, or shot at or been shot at in reality. We obviously cannot handle it. GameStop, I hope you die.

Re:Censorship?

[mr_mischief]

Whether you'd kick his ass or not, he says he wouldn't want to do it. Someone else might not try it specifically because you're such a Bruce "Rampage" Norris badass. Just because there's more than one reason not to do it doesn't mean he'd have to consider them all to make a decision not to.

Damn, this is supposed to be a geek site. How can you not understand:

if ( could_try_to_cut_in_line ) {
    if ( is_rude_enough ) {
          if ( is_not_afraid ) {
                cut_in_line();
          }
    }
}

I mean, there's absolutely no reason to imagine what would happen if he did something if he had no desire to do it in the first place. It's like saying you don't want to be kicked in the balls because you might get mud form someone's shoe on your pants crotch. I'd say I didn't want to be kicked in the balls in the first damn place, so I wouldn't worry about the mud.

Speaking from a military view...

[kevinkite]

I'm a servicemember. I've been to Afghanistan and seen the places shown in this game first hand. I've seen men and women die for freedom, and some die for no reason at all. I still want to play this game. I've not been home a full year yet, but I want a small piece of that time back. I want to see things I know and feel the same heart racing fear of going around a corner when Taliban snipers are looking over your shoulder. This isn't internet tough guy talk, I'm a broadcast journalist and I've shot plenty of video showing what I'm talking about. Some of us (military members who have deployed and fought the Taliban) still want to play this game. I don't live in the States and there are no GameStop's here so it doesn't really affect me, but I know that if I were in America and wanted this game, I'd like to be able to go to my nearest game store (most likely a GameStop) and pick it up. They're not removing it from all of their stores, just the bases. That makes it more about the attention will get from this move, and less about the people affected.