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Report: SEALs disciplined over MoH: Warfighter involvement, walruses sternly scolded
A group of Navy SEALs are in trouble with Uncle Sam for consulting on EA's Medal of Honor: Warfighter. So far seven SEALs have received letters of reprimand, effectively denying them the prospect of promotion, and had half their salaries docked for two months.One of the affected SEALs was part of SEAL Team Six, the outfit made famous for taking down Osama Bin Laden. Though Medal of Honor: Warfighter has no missions based on the storming of Bin Laden's compound, the SEALs were privy to classified data they were forbidden from sharing, CBS reports. It may be unrelated in the consultation, but Warfighter does have DLC loosely based on "Zero Dark Thirty," the movie adaptation of – you guessed it – the Bin Laden mission.Four of the seven SEALs affected are still engaged in active duty and under investigation.
Medal of Honor Warfighter review: The single shot
In the year leading up to the launch of Medal of Honor: Warfighter, EA and developer Danger Close Games touted their pursuit of humanizing the soldiers – showing us how these Tier 1 Operators balance their lives with one of the most intense jobs on the planet. After playing through Medal of Honor: Warfighter's campaign, it's clear Danger Close failed in its objective.Danger Close's promise manifests in a few brief cutscenes that show snippets of protagonist Preacher's life. Here's Preacher in a hospital bed, there's Preacher sitting in a cafe with his family. Now we see his wife having a terse, passive-aggressive phone conversation – presumably while he's out on a mission – as she sadly stares out the window of an empty motel room. There's clearly some strife, but we never get a glimpse at why this man does what he does. Does he just love to shoot bad guys? Is he in it to protect his country?Some men were just born to fight wars, I guess.%Gallery-168105%
Medal of Honor: Warfighter trailer tours Zero Dark Thirty maps
Zero Dark Thirty is a movie based on the mission to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden – a perfect tie-in to a game about hunting down terrorists such as Medal of Honor: Warfighter. EA will deploy a $9.99 multiplayer map pack in honor of the film, part of the proceeds of which will go to charity through EA's Project Honor program – all pre-orders will get the additional maps free of charge.The program was initiated with the goal of "raising awareness and generating charitable contributions for fallen warriors from the Special Operations Community." The Zero Dark Thirty map pack includes two multiplayer locales based on real locations where Osama Bin Laden was suspected of hiding in Pakistan: the Darra Gun Market and Chitral Compound. Feel free to gather intel on each in the video above.%Gallery-164844%
Getting friendly in Medal of Honor: Warfighter's multiplayer mode
The US government may tell us all it's an army of one, but Danger Close games is making a good case for the buddy system. At the heart of Medal of Honor: Warfighter is an interesting co-op dynamic, where two players are paired together into a fire team.There are six different classes in total that can pair up to form interesting compliments to each other; however, from the first moments of Medal of Honor: Warfighter multiplayer, Danger Close oddly chose to have one class unlocked. It takes a few hours before you have them all unlocked, as I experienced during a recent private multiplayer event. (You can sample the multiplayer now in an exclusive Xbox Live beta.)The initial barriers to other classes is a very odd design decision, meant to ease you into the experience. For someone like myself who has played tons of shooters and is well-versed in class-based multiplayer, it was an unnecessary stopgap and only served to invalidate the single best feature in multiplayer: fire teams.%Gallery-168105%
Medal of Honor: Warfighter heads to Somalia for 'Shore Leave'
In the Medal of Honor: Warfighter single-player mission "Shore Leave," Tier 1 Operators are assaulting an Al-Shabaab pirate stronghold on the Somali coast. The mission opens up with a beach siege by boat while our stalwart crew of Stumps and company are under heavy fire.This particular mission features a diverse array of set pieces and gameplay scenarios that keep things from stagnating and falling into the usual shooter doldrums. What starts as the usual cover-based shootouts eventually segues into breaching heavily defended rooms full of Somali pirates, leading to a portion where you must control a heavily-outfitted drone to clear the debris of a recently bombarded building full of errant pirates.Shore Leave ultimately culminates in a particularly tense sniper segment where the Tier 1s must clear distant rooftops of RPG-wielding baddies so that a chopper convoy can come in and clean up the town. And by clean up the town I mean shoot every single guy who doesn't have a ZZ Top beard.In addition to Shore Leave, another single-player mission was available: Hot Pursuit. This mission places players behind the wheel as they chase down a suspect through the streets of Karachi, a massive city in Pakistan.Danger Close Games tapped talent from EA Canada to help develop this driving mission, which sees a Tier 1 operator tear through vendors and shacks with reckless abandon. Honestly, I felt like kind of a jerk just plowing through peoples' lives like that.Hot Pursuit has a lot of the same principles seen in Shore Leave – spectacle and large set-piece moments. I was impressed with the mission and the driving felt very solid, not the heavy tank-on-ice vehicle I expected from a driving mission in a shooter. Even though Hot Pursuit is quite the juxtaposition, the mission didn't feel out of place in the slightest. See a trailer of the Hot Pursuit mission after the break.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter beta ships out on Xbox 360 October 5
This Friday, Xbox Live Gold subscribers can download a free Medal of Honor: Warfighter beta. The Xbox 360 exclusive beta will feature multiplayer mode Hotspot, which tasks players with attacking and defending randomly chosen locations.Twelve of the total 72 Tier 1 Operators can be unlocked in the multiplayer demo, ranging from the British SAS, to the German KSK and US Navy SEAL. The particular map available in this Medal of Honor: Warfighter multiplayer demo is Bosnia's Sarajevo Stadium, known for hosting such festivities as murder and the annual Sarajevo Saucejam. So many sauces!
One shot, one kill: Medal of Honor: Warfighter takes us to sniper school
While the years of training that go into becoming an elite sniper are impressive, we'd be lying if we didn't say the coolest thing in this Medal of Honor: Warfighter video is how these guys can alter the sound of their voices. How do they make themselves sound like robots? So neat!
Confusion of war in Medal of Honor: Warfighter's multiplayer
War can be a confusing beast to tame. My time with Medal of Honor: Warfighter during E3 2012 featured as much bombastic action as expected from a war-based shooter, but it also featured another bit of confusion. I was confused as to why I would only get to play one match, but had to watch a 15 minute presentation explaining each class first. And the variety between each class – different damage models and weapon loadouts, and different bonus killstreaks for each – meant for a sharp learning curve once we finally did get into a match. It wasn't the ideal situation, a complex demo on a very tight timetable.%Gallery-157253%
Medal of Honor: Warfighter gets military-only special edition
We can't begin to imagine what serving in the armed forces is like, but we couldn't guess it would net vets some sweet gaming perks. A new EA initiative called Project Honor aims to honor fallen vets and their families by basically putting a bunch of licensed stuff into Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and by selling exclusive Medal of Honor-branded items. Proceeds from these specific items will go to "the Navy SEAL Foundation, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and other charities."In addition to selling special goods, EA will also issue a special "military edition" of Medal of Honor: Warfighter, exclusive to active, reserve and veteran US military. This "military edition" will be sold exclusively through GovX, Inc., and will include special in-game unlocks exclusive to this special edition. You can pre-order it right now ahead of Warfighter's October 23 launch date.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter brings back real-world vets Preacher and Mother
EA is bringing back real-world veterans for Medal of Honor: Warfighter, its follow-up to 2010's Medal of Honor reboot, USA Today reports. Rather than use their knowledge to recreate the events of any single campaign -- such as killing Osama Bin Laden -- they're helping shape a game focused on a new threat called PETN.It's a recent tool of terrorism; a deadly explosive agent called pentaerythritol tetranitrate. "It's a very real world threat that the guys are faced with keeping off our shores and out of our shopping malls and train stops," says Greg Goodrich, who returns as producer at Danger Close.Warfighter will focus mostly on Preacher and Mother, two SEALs seen in the previous game. The Tier One operators who helped script the campaign are meant to humanize the soldiers, providing us a glimpse of their home lives and the repercussions of their lifestyles."It is meant to be entertaining, and we hope people really enjoy that, but in the process there's a lot of misconceptions that will be stripped and there's a lot of clichés that will be destroyed," said Nate, one of the mysterious Tier One operators and co-writers of Medal of Honor: Warfighter. "And there's a lot of humor that will be injected. But at the end of it you hope people get a sense of 'Wow this is not who I thought these guys were.' They are very likable, very approachable, very family-oriented guys."
Report: GAME outs new Need for Speed, reaffirms Medal of Honor sequel
Someone at British brick-and-mortar franchise Game seems to have confirmed our expectant attitude towards EA's Need for Speed franchise. The British retail outlet's Twitter account documented a trip to EA for a presentation, and casually noted plans for a new Need for Speed ("Need for Speed 13!"), not to mention a word on the as-yet-unseen Medal of Honor sequel. As Eurogamer reports, the tweet is no longer available, though other volleys from the account confirm the retailer's presence at an EA presentation. EA has spoken about a Medal of Honor sequel in the past, though this is the first we've heard of it in quite some time. It's said to be developed by EA's Danger Close studio, and we're not sure if Battlefield studio EA DICE will be once more tasked with handling the multiplayer component. Meanwhile, following the pattern of annual Need for Speed releases, it's likely that Burnout studio Criterion will be tasked with the thirteenth (!!) entry in the series. We've reached out to EA for comment, but aren't expecting much more than some light under its breath cursing. Update: In response to this report, an EA rep told Joystiq, "We do not comment on rumor or speculation." [Image credit: GAME]
EA: Medal of Honor sells two million in first two weeks
According to EA's latest earnings report, "Medal of Honor is off to a strong start, selling-through 2 million units in just two weeks in October." Translation: EA sold 2 million of copies of Medal of Honor last month, following its October 12 launch. Two million is a pretty impressive feat for the reboot of a franchise that was all but sunk -- not to mention marred in a bit of controversy leading up to launch. It just goes to show you that overcoming any obstacle is as simple as shooting it with a gigantic gun. Growing a beard probably doesn't hurt, either.
Medal of Honor marketing director explains 'Taliban' removal
In writing about the "controversy" surrounding Medal of Honor's multiplayer and the subsequent name change of one faction from "Taliban" to "Opposing Force," we've heard from two sides, primarily -- EA corporate and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. But we've never heard directly from the folks developing MOH -- Danger Close Games. Earlier this week at an EA event in New York City, we talked with Danger Close marketing director Craig Owens. Owens spoke to why he believes the name change occurred, what it will accomplish, and how internal reactions have been at Danger Close. In his eyes, it wasn't a result of AAFES-based GameStop stores not carrying Medal of Honor -- as he points out, the change hasn't affected the AAFES' sale embargo of MOH. "The objection was, kind of from an older generation that doesn't understand games, that the soundbyte was 'Play as the Taliban and kill US soldiers,'" though he admitted "There still is, it seems, a group that's still a little bit leery of a game taking place around an active conflict." Owens further clarified, adding that "Really the big thing was playing as a Taliban killing US troops. So we basically just changed it to 'Opfor' -- which is a term they [the US Armed Forces] use, some of our competitors use -- more out of respect." The AAFES, he contends, didn't factor into the decision whatsoever. He also pointed out that during the beta earlier this year, there were "about 500,000 people playing it, as the Taliban, killing US troops," without a single complaint. He further lamented the nefarious "soundbyte" that lead to the seemingly inevitable controversy, adding "Later that soundbyte kinda caught wind and got taken out of context, really."%Gallery-103178%
Military base GameStops reconsidering Medal of Honor sales
On the heels of this morning's announcement that Medal of Honor's multiplayer mode swapped the "Taliban" moniker in favor of "Opposing Force," we asked GameStop and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service if they would now allow the sale of the title on military bases. A representative for GameStop referred us to the AAFES, refusing to give comment and suggesting that we should check if the the military retailer's "position had changed." A representative from the AAFES told us that the service is "aware of reported changes to the latest Medal of Honor game" and that "the organization has been, and continues to be, engaged in a thorough review to fully understand the extent of the modifications." EA's Jeff Brown noted that the publisher isn't directly asking to "rescind the ban on the game," but did send the AAFES a letter last month "clarifying some facts about Medal of Honor." It seems there's still a possibility that this October's release will be available on military bases after all.
Medal of Honor multiplayer beta client available for download
On Monday, PC players looking to get a taste of Medal of Honor's multiplayer component can participate in an open multiplayer beta. Anxious would-be soldiers can download the client in advance over at Big Download. Preparation is, like, the first thing they teach you in the military, folks. The beta includes Sector Control on Kunar Base and Combat Mission on Shahikot Mountains -- both of which we recently sampled at an EA event. The beta concludes on October 7. For more details, hit up the official site here. Download: Medal of Honor Multiplayer Beta Client at Big Download (1.6 GB)
Medal of Honor devs rename 'Taliban' to 'Opposing Force' in multiplayer mode
In a reaction to outcry from friends and families of fallen soldiers, Medal of Honor developer Danger Close and publisher EA have decided to rename the multiplayer faction in their game from "Taliban" to "Opposing Force." Executive producer Greg Goodrich announced as much on the MOH blog this morning, explaining the alteration by saying, "We are making this change for the men and women serving in the military and for the families of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice -- this franchise will never willfully disrespect, intentionally or otherwise, your memory and service." This isn't the first such predicament Medal of Honor has faced in its development -- early last month it was revealed that GameStop stores within Army and Air Force bases wouldn't carry the game, with GameStop's internal memo naming the playable Taliban as its reasoning. Unfortunately, we're not sure we see a solution here -- considering combatant casualties in any war are "opposing forces," won't considerably more people be offended this way?
Medal of Honor really wants you to know about Tier 1
These Tier 1 guys, they sure know how to ... umm ... remind us that Medal of Honor is a modern war game -- you know, in the sense that they're tough looking and are clearly armed to the teeth. Heck, amidst all the danger they're in, they don't even shed tear one!
Medal of Honor multiplayer preview: A DICE-y compromise
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Medal of Honor wants to have Modern Warfare 2's babies. It's evident in the entire makeup of the multiplayer package -- from the progression system to the Killstreak-like Support Actions right down to the run-and-gun, lone wolf style of play. But, it has that patented DICE touch, which gives it just enough character to stand on its own two feet. %Gallery-103178%
EA won't bow to Medal of Honor controversy
Allow gamers to take up the mantle of the Taliban in your game and you're bound to receive some ire. EA is learning all about that with Medal of Honor, as the mainstream media and the British government have vocalized concerns. British Defence Secretary Liam Fox has actually called for a countrywide ban of the game outright, stating that it's "shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban against British soldiers," even though you don't actually kill any British troops in the game. Still, EA Games president Frank Gibeau isn't sweating the bad press. "We respect the media's views," Gibeau replied, "but at the same time [these reports] don't compromise our creative vision and what we want to do. 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 demoralised, but at the end of the day we're proud of what we're doing." Gibeau even compared the flak to the same types of reports that went on about Modern Warfare 2's infamous airport sequence -- one of many comparisons the two games have received. Gibeau is of the mind that the collaboration between EA and the US Military and Congressional Medal of Honor Society is what will win people over in the end, not just because of the accurate depiction of the ongoing conflict, but because it has allowed EA to produce "the best story for the game." Plus, we all know the world has a natural affinity for whiskered gentlemen -- just look at the popularity of Grizzly Adams! [Thanks, fais]
Medal of Honor campaign detailed on GameTrailers TV
If you missed the latest episode of GTTV, fret not: just past the break, we've embedded the episode, which pulls back the curtain on Medal of Honor's campaign mode. Initially, all we knew was that the game would take place in Afghanistan and you'd be among one of the beard-sporting elite known as Tier One Operators. However, thanks to executive producer Greg Goodrich, we now know a bit more -- specifically, that the campaign will be divided up into three parts and follows a team on the hunt for Al Quaeda. Goodrich also mentions the story will be told "from two different sides," implying that players will eventually be able to take up the mantle of the terrorists themselves. But, hey, why are we still gabbing on? Head on past the break and absorb this intel first-hand for yourself, including a look at two never-before-seen single-player levels. Consider it an order, soldier!
