Remember the 2006 movie Blood Diamond? Academy Award nominated flick starring Leo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly about conflict diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to diamond manufacturers to profit warlords and fund brutal wars involving shocking human rights violations? According to a report by progressive media site Toward Freedom, subtract diamonds and insert Sony's international sales-record-trouncing PlayStation 2.

Blame it on a dull black substance called coltan, also known as columbite-tantalite, also occasionally dubbed "black gold." Coltan has been a source material in the manufacture of cell phones, DVD players, computers, and you guessed it: game consoles. Earlier this month, Toward Freedom claimed the metallic ore had exacerbated a decade-old conflict in the Congo, controversially rebranding it "The PlayStation War."

The allegations include charges that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of coltan was stolen from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during its bloody 1998-2003 conflict, mostly by Rwandan military and militias supported by the Rwandan government, but also by several western-based mining companies, metal brokers, and metal processors that allegedly partnered with the Rwandan factions.

Contesting allegations of impropriety, Sony claims the company has taken steps to ensure it is in fact not using illegal coltan. According to Sony spokesperson Satoshi Fukuoka, the PlayStation 2, PSP and PlayStation 3, "are manufactured mostly from independent parts and components that manufacturers procured externally."

While Toward Freedom's article focuses on Sony, it's important to note that the DRC produces only a fraction of the world's total coltan output.

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In the Congo, the 1998-2003 war is more commonly known as "Africa's World War." While it technically ended in 2003 following a peace accord, reports from the eastern DRC continue to highlight conflict flare-ups and widespread sexual violence against women. The issue today, according to Toward Freedom and London-based NGO RAID ("Rights and Accountability Office") remains unpunished Western-based mining companies that continued to operate in or purchase minerals and metals allegedly stolen from the DRC during the war.

When the war launched in 1998, says Toward Freedom, "millions of Americans were still waiting for a PlayStation 2...which Sony says was having manufacturing issues." Sony needed electric capacitors badly. These capacitors were manufactured using coltan-derived tantalum, a powdered substance which can withstand extreme heat, thus sending worldwide demand for the material soaring. Between 1999 and 2001, the price of tantalum skyrocketed from $49 to a staggering $275 a pound. Enter the Rwandan army in 1999, which invaded the eastern DRC and took its coltan mines by force, going on to secure over $250 million selling DRC coltan to mining companies and metal brokers.