Bangladesh cut out of SOCOM 3

A number of references to Bangladesh are to be removed from Sony Computer Entertainment America's forthcoming SOCOM 3: US Navy SEALs title, after reports of official complaints from the government of the country.

One of the missions in the game - which also features missions in locations ranging from Poland to Morocco - was set in the Asian state, which angered the Bangladeshi government, according to news reports last week.

A report on bangladesh-web.com claimed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in the process of contacting Sony to demand the removal of references to the nation, with a government source accusing Sony of "maligning" Bangladesh.

Now Sony has confirmed that it is to cut references to the country in the final version of SOCOM 3, which will be launched in North America this autumn, with a spokesperson for SCEA telling US website GameSpot that "we have decided to remove any reference to Bangladesh from the final version of SOCOM 3."

The Bangladeshi position was backed by a number of technology and software focused associations in the country, with the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh president Akteruzzaman Manju accusing Sony of "tech-terrorism".

"Sony should [offer an] apology as it will never be able to prove that Bangladesh is, or was, a terrorist country," Manju said, before going on to argue that the government should ban the game.