MedalOfHonor
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Medal of Honor: Heroes downloadable demo
We told you new demos were coming soon. Who knew they'd come out this soon? EA's critically acclaimed FPS is now available for you to try out.1. Download the demo ZIP file.2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file.3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.5. Copy ULED90008 folder into directory. Check out our new demos site:demos.pspfanboy.com
Alive and gaming in Baghdad
"We can't go outside, so I prefer to keep inside and keep myself alive."The words are from Wisam, a gamer living in Baghdad. Wisam is a rarity, and listening to his story on Iraq blog / vlog Alive In Baghdad explains why. Wisam, a recent graduate of the Baghdad University English Department, explains that he spends upwards of $200 on electricity each month -- partly from a local generator that runs 4 p.m. until midnight and partly from the fuel he buys for his personal generator. That's a hefty sumWisam said he learned his English from games such as Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy. MTV News' Stephen Totilo has a thorough piece on Wisam and the crew of Alive in Baghdad. Among the game-related topics discussed, Wisam talked about the decline in interest for war shooters like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. "We hate the attacking, the gunfire in games," Wisam told MTV News. "We started to hate it."In a sad note, Wisam described how Grand Theft Auto is much like Baghdad right now. Omar Abdullah, who interviewed Wisam for Alive in Baghdad, concurred, telling MTV News that "it was very, very similar to Baghdad. We were like, 'Oh my God. These are the same actions that happen in Baghdad.' There are some places that are divided. For each place, there is a gang ruling that place. You can go down the street and drive any car. If you want to jump on a motorcycle, you can do it."With all the news that circulates about Baghdad, include tonight's U.S. Presidential address, it's thought-provoking to see a often missed perspective on the region.
Medal of Honor Vanguard announced for Wii, PS2
Just announced Medal of Honor Vanguard looks to replace Airborne in Wii and PlayStation 2's early 2007 lineups. Rest assured, Vanguard is not a poorly disguised rehash; that's not to say it will offer much beyond WWII shooter standards -- unless you're a sucker for motion controls (on Wii, not PS2).It appears that there will be some loose correlation between the Vanguard and Airborne plotlines, as both games focus on characters in the 82nd Airborne Division and share common mission locales, like Sicily. The "Vanguard" name implies players will be engaging in operations at the very front of the frontline (even behind enemy lines). It's unclear when EA decided to nix development of Airborne for Wii and PS2 and go for a wholly different tie-in -- perhaps it was the top-secret plan all along. In any event, it's for the best, as Wii and PS2 versions of Airborne wouldn't hold up against their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC counterparts. Here's to hoping Vanguard gets the deserved attention it needs, earning its place as co-heir to the Medal of Honor franchise.
Brothers in Arms' uncompromising move to PSP
It looks like IGN's PSP team is on a roll. They had a chance to play the upcoming Brothers in Arms game on PSP. Just like Medal of Honor, this WWII franchise is attempting to make the jump to PSP without losing anything in the transition. According to IGN, the game features maps from previous entries in the series: Road to Hill 30 and Earned in Blood, plus four new levels exclusive for the PSP. There will, thankfully, be a lot more checkpoints in the handheld version, to make it easier for gamers-on-the-go. It's also nice to know that the PSP version won't skimp on any features: it'll still feature the series-defining overhead view, which allows players to see the battle from above, and make strategic decisions. The game also features suppression gauges, which will allow you to see places to get cover much more easily. And finally, the game will also have a co-op mode and many of the multiplayer features found in Medal of Honor. Overall, it seems like Brothers in Arms will be an impressive package. The real question is: will PSP gamers care?According to amazon.com, the game is coming out December 5th for a nice budget price of $30.
Deals of the Day: cheap Memory Sticks and more
There are a ton of great post-Thanksgiving deals at retailers everywhere. 2GB Memory Stick for $40 at Target[Via PlayStation Forums] 4GB Memory Stick for $70 at Buy.comAfter rebate, and Google Checkout discount.[Via IGN Boards] Medal of Honor: Heroes for $33 at Circuit CityThat's $7 cheaper than MSRP.[Via IGN Boards] It's a little depressing for people like myself who remember how costly Memory Sticks were at the PSP launch. My measly 256MB card cost as much as the 2GB does now!
IGN picks its top 10 PSP games for this holiday
Just in time for next week's infamous Black Thursday, IGN has released its 2006 Holiday Buyer's Guide and has also added their 10 choices for PSP games that should fill your stockings this Christmas. That's if you've been a good boy or girl, because if you've been bad, you get Family Guy. Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Daxter Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories Killzone: Liberation LocoRoco Medal of Honor Heroes Mercury Meltdown Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror Tekken: Dark Resurrection What, no Sega Genesis Collection or EA Replay? And while Daxter is a very good game, I don't think too many kids will go Nintendo 64 Kid crazy over getting a game released in March. Still, this is a pretty decent list, and I can't argue with it too much. If you're PSP shopping for someone, you might want to refer to this list.
Californians can celebrate Veteran's Day with Medal of Honor
If you live near Alameda, CA, you may want to check out GamePro's Medal of Honor: Heroes tournament. You don't need to have a copy of this well-reviewed PSP-exclusive WWII FPS, but you do need to bring your system. All participants will get a free copy of the game and a t-shirt, making this event totally worth your time. If you're able to survive the 32-player multiplayer matches, and make it to the end of the tournament, you'll find yourself winning a subscription to GamePro (boo!), Shure E2-cn earphones (yay!), and more. If you're interested, head over to the registration page.
Metareview: Medal of Honor Heroes
You think that having massive thirty-two player multiplayer Infrastructure battles would give Medal of Honor Heroes higher marks, but critics these days... they're hard to appease. While the game isn't poorly reviewed by any means, it hasn't been glowingly reviewed, either. Maybe WWII games are becoming a bit too stale and familiar? Maybe the analog nub wore out the critics? Let's find out: IGN (84/100) loved the game enough to ignore most of its flaws: "Heroes has set a new standard for portable first-person shooters. It has a number of issues, a few of which can irritate quite a bit, but when put into perspective they all seem rather small. It says a lot about a game when its highpoints do a great job of excusing, maybe even hiding its blemishes." Gamespot (73/100) hopes you like playing online: "If it had more depth, Medal of Honor Heroes would be a great game. No matter how you shake it, with a single-player story that's just four hours long, the game's over far too quickly." Game Informer (64/100) thinks we've killed enough Nazis: "Everything about Heroes feels like a rehash of old concepts, even if this is effectively a new game. As a full-on PSP FPS that manages to work and control moderately well, that may be enough to satisfy some players. The rest of us, meanwhile, are going to feel like we've seen this game a hundred times before, and not only are we ready for something new, but we've played that something new in the form of other, better titles." It does seem like EA has crafted quite a technical achievement with Heroes, especially in multiplayer. But I agree with Game Informer: I'm done with WWII shooters. And players that skip out of the multiplayer experience will certainly feel burned by such a short single-player campaign. But, it looks like anyone looking for some solid FPS multiplayer action on the PSP will have to look no further. The game is now available in stores.
IGN editors fight to the death in Medal of Honor
Those jerks at IGN think they're all fancy, being allowed to play the upcoming PSP-exclusive Medal of Honor's massive 32-player Infrastructure multiplayer mode. Here's what they had to say:"It actually runs well with the maximum number of people playing. EA hosted a 32 player deathmatch event for members of the press recently to prove just that. The process of signing in and getting started is simple and relatively pain free."Unfair. I wanted to be part of their party too! Well, it looks like us gamers have a lot to look forward to. According to IGN, the game featured a respectable framerate and very little lag, even with 30+ players in the match. The server did fail once during the test, so hopefully, EA will be able to work out all the kinks before the game ships in less than two weeks.
Medal of Honor hype on IGN
IGN has a huge blow-out on the upcoming PSP Medal of Honor Heroes. They have one written-by-a-marketing-team write-up that features profiles of the in-game characters: Generic McAmerican, Jimmy Paterson, William Holt and John Baker. Snore... The other is an interview with the game's producer, Peter Choi. It very similar to a previous interview, but it's great to know that he understands some of the things PSP fans are looking for from a game: 32 player online (Infrastructure) multiplayer. I can't stress enough how awesome that sounds. "The game is also optimized to have very short load times, which is hugely important for gamers on-the-go." (Yes!) "User Hosted Server feature along with official EA Nation Server games, are both fully customizable and have very detailed leaderboards and stat tracking." (Yes!) If all that hype wasn't enough for you, then you might want to check out the newest trailer for the game. It looks a lot like the previous videos, but with even sharper, prettier graphics.
Brothers in Arms D-Day revealed
We knew a new Brothers in Arms game was heading to the PSP. It just took a really long time for any info to be revealed. Ubisoft just unveiled Brothers in Arms: D-Day, which will be exclusive for the PSP handheld. You'll be able to command a Bazooka team, use an MG42 and fire mortar rounds. Supposed additions include surprise attacks, improved AI and destructable cover points. Better yet, it'll feature a co-op mode. The game will be launching in November, a few weeks after the eerily-similar Medal of Honor Heroes.[Via IGN]
Money guy says next MoH uses Unreal engine
For those unable to decipher perplexing acronyms, the game in question would be Medal of Honor: Airborne, EA's next and next-gen entry in the extremely popular kill the nazis genre. By ways of CNN's Game Over column, analyst P.J. McNealy has asserted that 2007's Medal of Honor would be the first game to benefit from EA's adoption of Unreal Engine 3, with an unannounced title, Dead Space, to follow after. The latter game is likely not based on the office block that developed Rise of the Imperfects.The rest of the column ponders the fate of RenderWare, the widely used middleware engine that EA obtained along with their purchase of Criterion just over two years ago. Apart from the obvious benefit of having Burnout in the stable, EA initially stated that they intended to use an updated version of the engine for next-gen products, none of which have so far managed to materialize (Burnout Revenge for the Xbox 360 was mostly a port, after all). While it's conceivable that RenderWare has since been surpassed by Epic's technology, Mark Rein gives a far more reasonable explanation (yes, really) in an interview with FiringSquad.He suggests that "it comes down to smart resource management" and that EA is merely picking the best engine for the job. Unreal Engine 3 would presumably save them time and money for specific games and could be used in conjunction with their in-house tools. Apparently, you can never have too many engines at your disposal. Perhaps a good question to ask would be: how important is the graphics engine to you? Are you more likely to play a game knowing that it uses Source or Unreal, or is the visual end result the only thing that matters (besides that gameplay thing)?Read - EA's Engine Acquisition examinedRead - Mark Rein on EA's adoption of Unreal
Medal of Honor Q&A confirms online play
Yesterday, we rushed to show you the first ever video footage from the newly announced PSP-exclusive Medal of Honor: Heroes. As some intelligent people on the internet pointed out, 32 player multiplayer wouldn't be possible over ad-hoc... and they were right. Peter Choi, producer at EA, was grilled by Gamespot about the new game and here are a few of the juicier questions: GS: How did you approach the multiplayer modes in the game? Will they offer both ad hoc and infrastructure connectivity? PC: Multiplayer is one of the most exciting features of Heroes. We have 32-player infrastructure support with continuous joining so players can simply pick a server and jump in anytime. There are 15 different maps and six different multiplayer game modes, which are mostly team based. We also have a new innovation on the PSP that allows players to download a user-hosted server to their own PCs and run their own dedicated servers. Both user-hosted servers and EA Nation server games are fully customizable, and we have very detailed leaderboards and stat-tracking. Players can also play all these multiplayer game modes and maps with up to eight of their friends in a local ad hoc multiplayer game.
Medal of Honor: Heroes with 32 player (online) multiplayer
Gamespot's On the Spot recently showcased an exclusive preview of Medal of Honor: Heroes, an upcoming PSP game which Peter Dille accidentally revealed during an interview a few weeks ago. Thankfully, the power of YouTube has given those of us that missed the show a chance to rewatch this amazing trailer. There will be "all new adventures" across "12 new European battlefields." Even more excitingly, there will be 32 player multiplayer, and as -Xenofreak- from the IGN Boards has pointed out, the PSP is capable of only 16-player Ad-Hoc. What does that seem to suggest? Yes, it looks like there might be 32 player ONLINE multiplayer! The game is set to hit in Fall, so the wait won't be too hard.
Airborne is online
A trailer for Medal of Honor Airborne is now available on marketplace. I have not had the luxury of checking it out yet so, somebody get busy describing it in the comments. Why haven't I gotten it yet, you say? I was doing my patriotic duty, or jury duty to be more specific. In other news, expect a demo of Rockstar's Table Tennis soonish. The demo is set to feature two-player but no Live play. If you haven't experienced the joy of "Pressing the green button," I hope you'll try it out.[Thanks, X Budd]
EA and Jeep go for a cruise
EA has signed a deal with vehicle manufacturer Jeep to feature one of the most recognizable icons of the Second World War, the Willys-Overland Jeep, in their upcoming title Medal of Honor: Airborne. According to a communications director at Jeep, the deal is designed to "celebrate [the Jeep brand's] history while helping to take this medium to its next level". We're a little confused by this deal. The way it looks to us is that either Jeep is planning to slap their logo all over the jeeps in the game (a blatant anachronism: "jeep" was just a nickname back in the war) and to lobby EA to place the term "jeep" in every other sentence of the script, or EA is taking Jeep for a ride. Surely Jeep could have just sat back and let EA do their marketing for them? It's nearly inconceivable that anyone could create a FPS World War Two game without the legendary Willys-Overland (which most people already call a Jeep). Marketing works in mysterious ways.
