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Rumor: Slant Six worked on Medal of Honor PS Vita game
At one point, Slant Six Games was apparently working on a Medal of Honor game for PS Vita. Some concept art for the game showed up over on an artist's portfolio site, spotted by the @supererogatory Twitter account. Medal of Honor: Warfighter was the latest entry in the Medal of Honor series, developed by EA's Danger Close studio. Following that game's poor reception, EA's Peter Moore announced the franchise is now "out of the rotation." Slant Six Games' last release was the lackluster Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City for Capcom - a spin-off that takes place during the outbreak of Raccoon City, first seen in Resident Evil 2. In April, Slant Six Games issued temporary layoffs, a stopgap measure to help keep interim operating costs down in-between contract work. Slant Six issued similar layoffs in 2010 and after shipping RE: Operation Raccoon City last year.
EA kills licensing deals with gun makers, keeps those guns in games [Update]
Behind the scenes, EA is dropping licensing ties to real-life gun manufacturers, but on-screen it still intends to use branded guns in its games. Most recently, EA has worked with gun manufacturers such as McMillan Group International and gun magazine maker Magpul to promote Medal of Honor: Warfighter, but now those deals are off – even though EA still plans to use name-brand guns in its shooters. "We're telling a story and we have a point of view," EA Labels President Frank Gibeau tells Reuters. "A book doesn't pay for saying the word 'Colt,' for example." EA spokesman Jeff Brown says branded weapons lend games "enhanced authenticity," which is why EA wants to keep them in its games. However, all official agreements between EA and gun companies are now severed. "The action games we will release this year will not include licensed images of weapons," Brown says. Following December's mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the NRA and a handful of politicians and pundits blamed video games for encouraging gun violence. One week after the shooting, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said video games represented "a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people." Brown says that the NRA's comments have nothing to do with its decision: "The response from our audience was pretty clear: They feel the comments from the NRA were a simple attempt to change the subject." EA is currently involved in a lawsuit with Bell Helicopter, who argues that use of its helicopters in the Battlefield games goes beyond fair use and infringes on Bell's trademark. A jury trial is set for June to decide the issue, which could easily apply to EA's new gun-licensing theory. Update: Jeff Brown tells Ars Technica that EA has never paid a licensing fee to a gun manufacturer, nor has it been paid to use specific branded guns in its games. EA will simply continue this practice in the future. "No other EA game or service has used licensed gun images in a game," Brown says. EA did work with McMillan and Magpul for that Medal of Honor: Warfighter campaign, a charity benefiting veterans that encouraged gun makers featured in the game to donate. Those that did were featured on a Warfighter sub-page as "authentic brands" in the game. All of the money went straight to the charity, Brown says.
EA: Medal of Honor is 'out of rotation' following poor Warfighter scores
The Medal of Honor series is now "out of rotation," EA announced during its third quarter financial call. Following Medal of Honor: Warfighter's poor commercial and critical reception in October, EA is taking Medal of Honor out of commission."The game was solid, but the focus on combat authenticity did not resonate with consumers," EA COO Peter Moore said. "Critics were polarized and gave the game scores which were, frankly, lower than it deserved. This one is behind us now. We are taking Medal of Honor out of the rotation and have a plan to bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings."EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said EA missed the mark, and the marketplace, with Medal of Honor: "We're in a hit-driven business where it's about what you can build in a certain period of time and really deliver for the marketplace, and frankly we missed on Medal of Honor. And we take responsibility for that."Gibeau continued, "If you look at Medal of Honor as a specific case, it was really about a hit missing."EA's remaining shooter repertoire includes the Battlefield and Bad Company franchises, Army of Two and, err, Syndicate.
Black Ops 2, Warfighter banned in Pakistan for depicting country in 'very poor light'
The All Pakistan CD, DVD, Audio Cassette Traders and Manufacturers Association banned Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Medal of Honor: Warfighter in Pakistan, claiming that the games depicted Pakistan in a bad light. All stores were ordered to remove the games from their shelves, or face the consequences."The Association has always boycotted these types of films and games," the Association wrote in a notice translated by Fox News. "These (games) have been developed against the country's national unity and sanctity. The games (Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2) have been developed against Pakistan, and the Association has completely banned their sale. Shopkeepers are warned and will be responsible for the consequences if found purchasing or selling these games."President of the Association, Saleem Memon, further explained the ban when speaking to a foreign media outlet: "The problem is that there are things that are against Pakistan and they have included criticism of our army. They show the country in a very poor light."The owner of Pakistan capital Islamabad's largest retail game store said that he hadn't heard about the ban and that both games were "hot sellers." Black Ops 2 sold more than 5,000 copies since its launch and Warfighter sold 1,000 in Pakistan, the owner said. Pirated versions of both games were still available in Pakistan, some selling for less than $2, and these figures didn't contribute to official sales numbers.
PSA: Medal of Honor Warfighter 'Zero Dark Thirty' maps out this week
Medal of Honor: Warfighter's Zero Dark Thirty map pack, featuring maps based on locations from the movie inspired by the search for Osama Bin Laden, is available on Origin for PC today. Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be available tomorrow. Totally coincidentally, the Zero Dark Thirty movie opens this week as well.If you bought the Limited Edition of Warfighter, this multiplayer DLC is free. Otherwise, it's $9.99.
The making of Medal of Honor Warfighter's 'Zero Dark Thirty' maps
This developer diary details the creation of the Zero Dark Thirty maps in Medal of Honor: Warfighter, inspired both by the movie and the real-life hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The promotional map pack based on a real, and very recent, war launches the week of December 17.
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's Zero Dark Thirty maps get a flyover trailer
The latest footage from Medal of Honor: Warfighter released by EA takes a closer look at the upcoming "Zero Dark Thirty" map pack, which will recreate some of the locations featured in the based-on-a-true story movie about the hunting and capturing of Osama Bin Laden. The Chitral Compound and the Darra Gun Market are featured here again, and both maps will host the game's frantic multiplayer gameplay.The Zero Dark Thirty pack is free if you picked up the Limited or Deluxe versions of Warfighter, and it'll be available during the week of December 17, just a few days before the movie arrives in theaters. You can see more screenshots of the content in the gallery below.%Gallery-170348%
Battlelog iOS app gets MoH: Warfighter update, support for iPhone 5
Electronic Arts has released an update for the iOS version of Battlelog. The new update adds "initial support" for Medal of Honor: Warfighter, as well as support for the iPhone 5 according to the Battlelog Twitter account. The iTunes listing for Battlelog also notes that the update packs in support for iOS 6 (though strangely doesn't mention the Warfighter support).Finally, Battlelog can put that extra screen real estate to use, giving you more space than ever for your friends' aggressive victory messages and lewd emoticons.
EA posts $381 million loss in Q2, offset by 38.5% digital upswing
Electronic Arts posted a net loss of $381 million for the second fiscal quarter ending September 30, a year-on-year increase of 12.1 percent. Net revenue also suffered a slight decline, down to $711 million from $715 million for the same period last year.The company did enjoy an upswing in digital sales this quarter, with a 38.5 percent rise in digital revenue from last year's Q2, and mobile digital revenue up 36.4 percent. EA's online boom was offset by a retail decline, with "Publishing Packaged Goods and Other Net Revenue" down year-on-year by 18.9 percent.Software-wise, FIFA 13 scored 7.4 million sales (excluding mobile downloads) in its first four weeks, while Battlefield 3 Premium subscriptions are now over the 2 million mark. EA is, however, bracing itself for a "soft" Q3 following the the weak critical reception to Medal of Honor: Warfighter and the cancellation of NBA Live 13.
EA recognizes Q3 will be 'soft' due to Medal of Honor: Warfighter, lack of NBA
A running theme during today's Electronic Arts second quarter investor call was the impact of Medal of Honor: Warfighter's critical failure and the publisher's canceled NBA game. No less than three times the pair of titles were mentioned in a negative manner, particularly when compared to the success of Battlefield 3 Premium and FIFA 13."We are managing the ups and downs. Our Q1 and Q2 were better than expected. Our Q3 appears soft, due mostly to Medal of Honor," said EA CEO John Riccitiello. He went on that the company reduced its guidance for the year because of the "weakness in Q3 associated with Medal of Honor."New CFO Blake Jorgensen also mentioned Medal of Honor's "weaker than expected performance" in his prepared remarks, also mentioning the decision to cancel the company's NBA title would also impact Q3 performance."EA Sports is committed to basketball and we will publish a basketball game when we can match the quality of franchises like Madden NFL, NHL Hockey, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and FIFA soccer," remarked EA labels prez Frank Gibeau later. He went on to note that Medal of Honor: Warfighter's critical reception fell below expectations, but that the company feels it's a "good game with a receptive audience."EA plans to support Medal of Honor: Warfighter with more marketing over the holidays, and, as Gibeau put it, going to school to improve NBA and meet EA Sports' standard of quality.
Some Medal of Honor: Warfighter achievements not unlocking properly
Several players are having trouble unlocking certain Medal of Honor: Warfighter achievements, according to the game's forum. Specifically, the "Global Warfighters" achievement, awarded for unlocking "a soldier from each unit, and the "Warchief" achievement, awarded for unlocking all soldiers in multiplayer, will not unlock when the requirements are met.The majority of the complaints seem to center around the Xbox 360 version of the game, though the problem has been reported on the PS3 version as well. For the moment, there doesn't appear to be a solution or workaround. We've contacted EA for comment.[Thanks, Brandon!]
Medal of Honor: Warfighter unseats FIFA on UK charts
Shock and awe, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which is receiving some of the worst reviews of the season so far, took first place in the UK last week. This is either a sign of the media's impotence or a hat tip to the brilliance of publisher EA that it withheld review copies until launch. A similar situation occurred with Resident Evil 6 a few weeks ago, a game which still sits pretty at tenth place on this week's chart.Other new releases last week included portable games Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask and Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park, which debuted at eighth and ninth place, respectively.If you're wondering about Just Dance 4 ('cause how can you not on the UK charts?), it may have slipped two spots from fourth to sixth, but sales were actually up one percent. Dance Central 3 debuted in 39th place. Shimmy on past the break for the UK top ten.
Metareview: Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Thanks to the internet, you don't have to take just take our word that Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a "design-by-committee approximation of 'AAA military shooter." Game Informer (50/100): "The uninspired single-player campaign, uneven multiplayer execution, and rampant presence of glitches undermine Medal of Honor: Warfighter's efforts to join the Tier 1 of military shooters. If Danger Close keeps executing this poorly, this once-loved series may be dangerously close to being put in a casket." OXM (50/100): "You'll also roll your eyes at cloying cutscenes that never bother to introduce a worthwhile villain, and are instead crammed with insulting caricatures of unhappy military wives. We'll acknowledge it takes a rare breed to succeed in the special forces, but the personifications of dutiful male devotion are too one-dimensional to be human, much less heroic." Destructoid (50/100): "Charmless, cynical, and uninspired, Warfighter encapsulates everything wrong with the annual big budget shooter industry. It's really not an awful game, it's just insipid and shallow, a title that exists solely to exist, and squeeze whatever profit remains to be had from serving the same flavorless porridge to the same unadventurous customers. It will make its money, and keep the FPS factories in business for another year." Polygon (45/100): "While the multiplayer's obtuse design decisions are preferable to the campaign's lack of artificial intelligence, decent mechanics, or interesting level design, it's still difficult to find much reason to recommend Medal of Honor Warfighter over the shooters it wants so desperately to resemble. In an attempt to build a bridge across Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty, Danger Close has once again fallen into the hole between them." DarkStation (40/100): "Here's the aggravating truth: Warfighter is bad. Even given the fact that it's functional and competently designed at its base, the game in no way provides a nutritive and compelling addition to the genre it wants so badly to rule. Its core premise, to provide players an "authentic" special forces warfighter experience, never comes within striking distance due to hazy plot development and abrupt, inorganic pacing."
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 day-one patch notes
EA has released a day-one patch for Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and it appears to be a doozy, fixing or tweaking everything from visuals to the user interface to weapon performance. The PS3 and PC patch are "already staged," while the Xbox patch is "on its way."Some changes seem to be fairly standard, adjusting weapon speed and damage and the like. Others seem to fix more fundamental issues, such as making sure players can't join private parties without first being invited, or ensuring that the team voice chat channel can't be heard by the opposing team.A handful of single-player issues have been rectified as well, though it's difficult to say how significant the issues were without a frame of reference. Among the changes are making the default difficulty normal instead of easy, fixing certain instances of unresponsive controls, improving single-player stability and fixing "progression stoppers."The Warfighter blog notes that the patch is designed to "ensure that your experience when the game ships is outstanding." However significant the changes are, it's apparent that EA found them important enough to hold back press review copies until the patch was deployed. Joystiq's review will be up as soon as possible.You can read the full patch notes here.
PSA: Joystiq's review of Medal of Honor: Warfighter coming soon
As the video game industry's annual holiday rush gets into full swing, it's Joystiq's prerogative to bring you reviews of all the latest games in as timely a manner as possible. Hopefully, these reviews help you to decide what's worth playing in this busy (and expensive!) season.To that end, we wanted to let our readers know that Joystiq's review of Medal of Honor: Warfighter will not be published today. EA has planned a day-one patch for Warfighter and has thus decided not to make review copies of the game available to media outlets until today, the day of its retail release.We should get our hands on the final version of the game today, and will publish our review as soon as we've had adequate time to construct a proper critique. In the meantime, you probably have enough new games to keep you busy as it is, and we appreciate your patience. If you decide to pick up Warfighter anyway, we'll see you online!
PlayStation Plus this week: Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Hell Yeah!
No, that headline isn't our own exclamation of excitement over this week's PlayStation Plus update. Two pieces of Hell Yeah! DLC, Pimp My Rabbit and Virtual Rabbit Missions, are each 20 percent off this week for Plus members, $4 and $2.40, respectively.Need for Speed: Most Wanted comes out on October 30, but this week it's $54 for Plusers who pre-order, opposed to the standard $60. Plus members also get a one-hour timed demo for Medal of Honor: Warfighter in preparation for its launch tomorrow. Sega Master System's Wonder Boy in Monster Land is normally $5 on PS3, but Plus people get it for $1 this week.Check out the full details on the PlayStation Blog, and please, try to contain your hysterical joy.
Buy AMD Radeon HD 7900, get Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs free
AMD is doing something innovative with a graphics card bundle: including games we want to play. Engadget reports the company's new 'Never Settle' campaign gives away Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs with any Radeon HD 7900 series purchase, along with 20 percent off Medal of Honor: Warfighter.The promotion extends across Radeon HD 7770 GHz cards and up. Single 7770 GHz and 7800 purchases get Far Cry 3 and 20 percent off MoH: Warfighter, while dual purchases get Hitman: Absolution thrown in too. AMD places the 7900 bundle's value at over $170, a meaty response to Nvidia's Borderlands 2 freebie with the GeForce GTX 660 Ti.
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%
