If a game lets players take on the role of the Taliban and takes place during the current war in Afghanistan, it's only natural that it will garner a good deal of controversy. And that's exactly what has happened with EA's upcoming Medal of Honor reboot. But after receiving some negative press from outlets like Fox News, EA has said that it has no plans to change the content in the game.

A recent report on Fox News featured Gold Star Mom Karen Merideth protesting the fact that the game is set during a current conflict and allows users to play as the Taliban.

"We've just come off of the worst month of casualties in the whole war," she said. "And this game is going to be released in October. So families who are going to be burying their children are going to be seeing this and playing this game. I just don't see that a video game based on a current war makes any sense at all. It's disrespectful."

The game also caught some flak from UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox earlier this week, who asked consumers and retailers to boycott it.

"It is shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban," Fox said. "I am disgusted and angry. It’s hard to believe that any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product."

This won't affect the game.

"We respect the media’s views, but at the same time [these reports] don’t compromise our creative vision and what we want to do," EA Games President Frank Gibeau told Develop. "The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralized, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Bringing Medal of Honor back was no small feat."

EA previously defended the game in a statement saying that "if someone's the cop, someone's gotta be the robber... in Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone's gotta be the Taliban." Gibeau took a different tack when defending the creative decision to set the game in Afghanistan, saying that it was an artistic choice.

"At EA we passionately believe games are an art form, and I don’t know why films and books set in Afghanistan don’t get flack, yet [games] do," he explained. "Whether it’s Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform.

"Games have been set in Afghanistan before. We anticipated this when we decided on the concept of the game—this is about being a special forces solider. What’s really important for us is that we partnered with the US military, and the Medal of Honor Society as well. We’ve gone out of our way to produce the best story for the game."

Konami attempted something similar last year, when it revealed plans to publish Atomic Games' Six Days in Fallujah, a game based on the real-world experiences of several US marines who served in Iraq. After receiving negative press, however, Konami decided to back out, leaving the game without a publisher.

The new MOH hits the PC, 360, and PS3 on October 12, 2010.