A recent article from San Francisco tech website Ubergizmo asks if a new game, Mass Effect 3, will hurt traditional moral values. Why? Because the latest installment of the RPG shooter will allow players to opt for same-sex love interests. Via Twitter, Mass Effect 3 executive producer Casey Hudson sent out the following message: “Happy to confirm #ME3 supports wider options for love interests incl. same-sex for m&f chars, reactive to how you interact w/them in-game."

In part of a post that went live on Monday, Ubergizmo's Edwin Kee wrote the following response:

This takes after the footsteps where BioWare’s Dragon Age titles left off, letting players do the same thing. Will Mass Effect [3] result in further erosion of “traditional moral values” as you can play the role of a female Shepard who will hit it big with Kelly when the game ends, although it wasn’t as explicit as what Mass Effect 3 will be. As a parent, what is your take on this?

Sure, he has the right to ask that since gay stuff tends toward the hot topic. Then again, the same could be asked of the game's interracial love or interspecies options. (That is, if they even exist. Does that even exist? We don't know. The last videogame we played involved an animated Italian stereotype chasing mushrooms and stars.) Why not mention that as well, Kee? Or, better yet, ask how having something as natural as gay relationships compares to bloodshed in a game aimed at the teen market.

Minutes after the post went live, the publisher's added the following disclaimer: "We realize that this post can be controversial, and while we let our writers express their opinion, they remain their [sic] personal view on the subject."

Ubergizmo also named the article's accompanying image file "mass-effect-homo." Charming.

Go on, readers. Take Ubergizmo's bait. What do you think of same-sex love in violent video games?

Update: Post has been removed. "If one of our writers wants to share his or her opinion about morality and other topics in life, that person can do it on their own blog, instead of using our site as a platform," writes Ubergizmo's publisher. "We have notified Edwin Kee and asked that he stays within the editorial objective of this site in future posts. We apologize to anyone who was offended by the content of this post."

[Thanks for the tip, SFist reader Gary Robertson.]