medal-of-honor-2010
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EA: 'We're going to be in the Medal of Honor business for a long time'
EA's upcoming reboot to the Medal of Honor franchise has a few major contenders, one of which EA itself created, to compete with when it arrives at retail this October. But EA Games prez Frank Gibeau remains confident in MoH, telling Gamasutra in a recent interview that, "With Medal of Honor, we're rebooting the series to get into the top 10." Gibeau lays out plans for an extensive marketing campaign first aimed at "core shooter fans," then branching out to a "true mass-market campaign." Speaking frankly, he claims "It'll be a big launch with a lot of dollars behind it. We're going to go in and we're going to compete." He believes that, between the IP's pedigree and the quality of this reboot, EA's " going to be in the Medal of Honor business for a long time." Meanwhile, executive producer Greg Goodrich and senior creative director Rich Farrelly do their best to assuage worries of internal competition between themselves at EA LA and DICE, the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 developer now working on MoH's multiplayer mode, or the ex-Infinity Ward founders' new studio that EA recently inked a deal with. Goodrich says, "Battlefield and Medal of Honor are two very different franchises. They have a certain tone, and we have a certain tone for our game. We think there's room for both, not only in the genre, but within EA." Also of note, apparently DICE has been working on MoH's multiplayer since "right after Battlefield 1943 came out" (last July), which might help to explain why we've seen such little post-launch support for the downloadable title. That said, with Medal of Honor's development assuredly nearing completion, we're holding out hope that those folks will have some time to invest in the other downloadable title we heard about recently.
Medal of Honor rebooting on Oct. 12, 2010
EA's Medal of Honor franchise reboot will launch in North America on October 12th and in Europe on October 15th, the publisher has announced. Developed by EA Los Angeles, the single-player campaign thrusts a band of fictional soldiers into Afghanistan (quite a realistic upgrade from the usual Desertikistan), where they'll co-operate with the Tier 1 Operator as they tear the enemy a new one. The multiplayer component of Medal of Honor is being developed by DICE, the studio behind Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Check back later today to catch another glimpse of the game in a new trailer entitled, "Leave a Message." (Duty just hates talking to a machine.) Update: If you have an EA account, you can already view the new trailer on the official Medal of Honor website. If you don't, it's also on YouTube.
Medal of Honor offers M24 sniper rifle for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 players
Has the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 disc ever gone for a spin inside your console? Well, you may have unlocked a spiffy new gun for Medal of Honor -- the game isn't out yet and you're already unlocking content for it? Man, you're awesome! The Battlefield blog breaks the news, detailing early access to the M24 Sniper rifle in multiplayer. Of course, there are a few caveats: You need an EA account and you must have registered a Battlefield: Bad Company 2 VIP code. If you haven't done either of those things, you have until March 31, 2011 to get it done -- PC players need to only have participated in an online match to be eligible for the unlock. If you purchased a VIP code through the Bad Company 2 store, sorry, you're not eligible. The other requirement is that you have to pick up a copy of Medal of Honor when it releases later this year. Yes, we're serious -- if you want the gun in the game, you're going to have to buy the game to get the gun. We know, it's totally not fair!
Medal of Honor trailer defines Tier One Operative (in case you were wondering)
The latest trailer for EA's upcoming reboot of the Medal of Honor series, which debuted this week on GTTV, really goes out of its way to explain exactly the kind of gentlemen you'll be piloting this summer. These guys are Tier One Operators -- "experts in the application of violence." That seems pretty self-explanatory ... but we've never been able to turn down a video featuring expertly applied violence. Check it out after the break. %Gallery-79326%
Impressions: Medal of Honor
It's impossible to avoid comparisons between EA's upcoming Medal of Honor reboot and Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare series ... so, I'll just get it out of the way: Medal of Honor unapologetically follows in the footsteps of Call of Duty. In fact, I'm willing to raise the possibility that Medal of Honor could be the "true" sequel to the Call of Duty 4 campaign many of us are still waiting for after suffering through Modern Warfare 2's increasingly preposterous storyline. Recently, I got a peek at a new Medal of Honor trailer which lays it out like this: There are two sides to every war: the sledgehammer and the scalpel. What Call of Duty 4 did so well was to portray exactly how these two components work in tandem, as it featured scenarios in which large assaults aided small elite forces, and vice versa. Medal of Honor promises to recreate similar battlefield situations, with the "scalpel" represented by the Tier 1 Operators, an elite branch of SOCOM. %Gallery-87981%
Medal of Honor screens lack renowned facial hair rendering
Click to bust into the image gallery! We've got some good news and some bad news for those of you eagerly awaiting EA's Medal of Honor reboot this summer. The good news first: Five new, high-resolution images of the game -- albeit stills from the debut trailer -- are in the gallery below. Now, the bad: We count only one Tier 1 Operator featured in the screens with a beard. We know, we know -- it shocked us, too! We'll make some calls and demand that the appropriate amount of facial hair rendering be included in the next batch. You can thank us later. %Gallery-85956%
Medal of Honor, APB dated for Summer 2010
According to EA's list of upcoming titles in its latest earnings report, a couple of high-profile games are going to be released this summer between July 1 and September 30: Realtime Worlds' crime-themed MMO APB (which is likely to be the "major MMO" to whose spring release John Riccitiello referred to previously), and ... a "TBA" Medal of Honor title -- possibly the one with the beard. EA did say that game would be out before March 2011! The summer release is listed for consoles, PC and handhelds. Also due out in the quarter: the expected spate of annual sports franchises (Madden, FIFA, FIFA Online, NHL), a Monopoly game for consoles and handhelds, and a new MySims title -- we're guessing MySims Sky Heroes.
The 'Medal of Honor' Beard Cover Interview
In early December, EA revealed the cover for its Medal of Honor reboot and all anyone could say was: "BEARD!" Well, after months of trying to get an explanation of how that grizzly (Adams) decision went down, Craig Owens, director of marketing at EA Los Angeles, has finally delivered the answers. Here are the declassified details of our exchange: Joystiq: How did you select the cover image for the Medal of Honor reboot? Craig Owens: What you see today as the key art (or box front image) is the result of a long process that's been going on for nearly a year now. When we set out to reboot the Medal of Honor franchise, we knew that the key art of the new game had to accomplish two very important things. First, it needed to stay true to the authenticity that the brand is known for. Secondly, it had to be unexpected not only for the brand but also for the shooter genre. After several months of reviewing many, many concepts, it wasn't until this past summer that the new face of Medal of Honor was born. During an agency pitch meeting with several creative agencies, our current partner – Ignition Creative based in Santa Monica, California – revealed a concept, using a photographed model with this real, epic beard. That concept was nearly identical to the final image you see today. When the development and marketing team first saw it, we immediately knew that was our guy. He was authentic to a Tier 1 Operator and unexpected for both MOH and the current characters out there in the gaming space. %Gallery-79326%
EA: Medal of Honor, Dead Space 2, Crysis 2 before March 2011
During EA's half-hour investor callstravaganza yesterday, CEO John Riccitiello unleashed a flurry of game titles set to be released in the company's "FIscal 2011." For EA, that falls anywhere between April 1, 2010 and March 30, 2011 -- a window that now holds the release of "a great new version of Medal of Honor, a revitalized Need for Speed, Sims on console, FIFA in a World Cup year, an innovative and new take on Madden, Dead Space 2, Crysis at full margins, a new MMA game, and many others." Considering this laundry list of games is getting little more than a 12-month window for release, we're taking the logical next step and throwing darts at images of the games on our cork-board calendar. According to our impeccable aim... everything is coming out in November. Not helpful! [Via Eurogamer]
Spike VGA 2009 Wrap-up: The awards, the trailers, the premieres
As you can probably tell by looking at our front page, last night's Spike Video Game Awards show was a pretty prolific source of gaming news. From the big reveals of games like Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, to new trailers for Crackdown 2 and Halo: Reach, to ... well, the actual awards, it was a pretty busy night for all parties involved. We've collected all the stories, trailers, and winners of each award in this post to prevent you from hunting through our archives -- or our hateful, hateful liveblog -- to find what you're looking for. You'll find them all listed after the jump!
First gameplay footage of Medal of Honor revealed
It's been a while since the Medal of Honor franchise has found its way on to store shelves, but we're interested for what the series will bring to the crowded realm of modern shooters. At tonight's 2009 Video Game Awards, the first footage of the recently revealed Medal of Honor impressed with solid visuals and a metric ton of explosions. Not enough for you? The gameplay trailer concluded with one NPC kicking a booby trapped prisoner through a high rise window. Now we're not marketing pros, but that should be the first bullet point on the back of the game's box. Check out the trailer -- in all its YouTube quality glory -- after the break. Update: Hi-res version now available above.
Mock the Medal of Honor box art and this man may kill you
It seems the cover star for EA reboot Medal of Honor bears quite a resemblance to a real-life military man -- and not the fictional lumberjack uncle we like to think resides in every Canadian family. Life did a feature on the armed forces in Afghanistan back in 2002, and one of the individuals (codenamed "Cowboy") highlighted in several photos (via UGO) seems to match the one highlighted on the FPS cover. EA did mention working closely with "Tier 1 Operators from the US Special Operations Community," so it seems possible that the main character could be inspired by (if not actually based on) Mr. Cowboy. We've contacted EA to get some intel on this. We'll let you know, if we haven't been taken out for yesterday's ZZ Top joke.
EA aims to reclaim FPS dominance with Medal of Honor, Battlefield
"I'm not saying it's going to happen tomorrow, but in the way that Activision sort of alternates sequels of Modern Warfare and Call of Duty and owns the leadership position in FPS [first-person-shooter], between Medal of Honor and Battlefield, I want it back," EA CEO John Riccitiello declared in an interview with Kotaku. This means war. With the Call of Duty franchise growing into a $3-billion juggernaut, it's no surprise to see EA looking to topple Activision's bulging beast and reap the significant rewards. According to Riccitiello, the newly rebooted Medal of Honor and March's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 represent a strategy of "innovation and quality," one he suspects is bolstered by DICE's multiplayer expertise. "We think we've got an advantage over Modern Warfare 2 with our multiplayer," he suggested. "The guys at DICE do that really, really well." So, you think the console wars are intense? Just wait until you see the war ... wars.
New Medal of Honor promises 'most authentic modern war experience'
Click to enlarge Shrugging off years of mediocrity and partially descriptive subtitles, EA's newly announced Medal of Honor reboot will thrust players into a modern milieu: Afghanistan. Set for release in 2010 on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the new first-person shooter follows the Tier 1 Operator, described as "a relatively unknown entity directly under the National Command Authority who takes on missions no one else can handle," and not described as an oddly militant member of ZZ Top. EA claims that "Tier 1 Operators from the US Special Operations Community" have been involved since the earliest stages of the game's development. The publisher seems intent on throwing the gauntlet down in the modern war arena (do they still use gauntlets?), promising a "best-in-class single-player campaign" from the minds at EA Los Angeles, as well as a multiplayer component developed by the Battlefield veterans at DICE. You can bear witness to the game's full unveiling during Spike TV's 2009 Video Game Awards on Saturday, December 12 at 8:00PM PT. You can witness beard in the gallery below. %Gallery-79326%
EA: Medal of Honor being revitalized, details 'in the months ahead'
After relaying the company's success in revitalizing the long-abused Need for Speed franchise with this year's well-received Need for Speed: Shift during this afternoon's Q2 conference call, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau revealed, "In the months ahead, you'll hear more about our plans to revitalize core IP, including the Medal of Honor franchise." The long-established war series – whose Allied Assault team led to the creation of Infinity Ward and the now dominant Call of Duty series at competitor Activision – has been absent since 2007's triple showing of the poorly received Medal of Honor: Airborne, the poorly received Medal of Honor: Hereos 2, and the even more poorly received Medal of Honor: Vanguard. Yeah, a reboot seems in order.
Rumor: Next Medal of Honor in Afghanistan, based on 2002 Operation Anaconda
Details about the next Medal of Honor have allegedly been leaked in a recent survey sent out by EA, according to French site JeuxVideo (translation). The document supposedly refers to the game as "Medal of Honor: Operation Anaconda," which is named for the large-scale military initiative undertaken in the Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains in March 2002 (finally outside of the WWII comfort zone, are we?). Unlike Call of Duty 4, apparently this version of "modern combat" will focus on historical events, including the Battle of Takur Ghar. The survey suggests players will engage in a variety of scenarios, including front-line and sniper missions, and a "drone attack." Another tidbit claims the game will feature 60 customizable weapons. While still unconfirmed, the entire report is definitely plausible. But would it be enough to make Medal of Honor relevant again? To stay competitive, EA just might have to look to the stars.
