Medal of Honor
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Medal of Honor PC beta starts October 4
Medal of Honor will launch a PC beta for its Call of Duty-esque multiplayer component on October 4. The two modes available in the open beta are Sector Control, a territory-grabbing game type, and Combat Mission. The beta will turn back into an IED pumpkin on October 7. The beta also appears to be part of a PR campaign in light of the military's sensitivity to subject matter in the game. EA Games Label Frank Gibeau states, "We also hope that by offering the Multiplayer Open Beta, we can clear up any misunderstanding about the patriotism and respect that are the foundation of this game. The Medal of Honor franchise has always shown extraordinary reverence for American and Allied soldiers -- this game is no exception." %Gallery-103178%
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%
Medal of Honor preview: Three missions, three pairs of boots
During a recent EA press event, I played through three missions of Medal of Honor. The successive missions were taken from the middle of the game and were representative of the full game's transitional pacing. You don't play as one individual over the course of the late-2001–2002 campaign, but rather you switch between three different branches of the U.S. military: the Army Rangers, Air Force and the Tier 1 Operators. My session was supervised by EA product manager Kevin O'Leary. He looked the part, sporting a Tier 1 Operator-level beard of his own and watched as I made my way through the first mission: "Belly of the Beast." %Gallery-102439%
Source: Military-based GameStop stores will not carry Medal of Honor
EA's upcoming Medal of Honor reboot has attracted some controversy due to the inclusion of Taliban fighters in the game's multiplayer mode. A source has informed Joystiq that, in response to the backlash, GameStop stores in Army and Air Force bases will not stock the game. According to the notice sent to employees, "GameStop has agreed out of respect for our past and present Men and Women in uniform we will not carry Medal of Honor in any of our AAFES based stores." The notice specifically mentions playable Taliban fighters as cause for the pullback. The affected stores will have "all marketing material pulled" and will no longer take reservations for the game. While the move showcases GameStop's sensitivity to the hot-topic issue, stores are nonetheless encouraged to direct buyers to a non-military store. "Customers who enter our AAFES stores and wish to reserve Medal of Honor can and should be directed to the nearest GameStop location off base," the note explains. The full statement can be read after the break.
Former SAS op Chris Ryan handling Medal of Honor prequel novel
EA has tapped British author Chris Ryan to write a prequel novel to Medal of Honor, which will use in-game missions as the basis for "an authentic and respectful account of an elite soldier fighting in Afghanistan." Ryan is the author two bestselling novels, in addition to The One That Got Away, a narrative account of his time as a Special Forces operative on the Bravo Two Zero patrol in Iraq. Presumably he'll use both his combat experience and storytelling prowess to do the game franchise right. Hopefully his first line will be better than the one we came up with: "They loaded their guns carefully, knowing that soon, they'd be shooting a lot of people." The creatively named Medal of Honor: The Book will be offered as a bonus with preorders of the game from UK retailer HMV, but we're not sure if it will be available for sale elsewhere -- we've contacted EA for comment and will update if we hear more. We sure hope it sees print in the US, if only to find out what a former British operative thinks of the Medal of Honor, a uniquely American military decoration.
Preview: Medal of Honor (single player)
You won't always play as a Tier-1 operative, a.k.a. "the scalpel," in EA's upcoming Medal of Honor reboot. I got to see a portion of "the sledgehammer" side of the single-player campaign at an EA event last week. While this segment stayed true to the core values that definine EA's vision for the game, one thing was clear: you can't always be the hero. With the player and his squad pinned down by a Gatling gun atop a hill, the situation called for a support effort, not heroics. While most games would have you storming the hill against all odds, or finding a convenient way around, Medal of Honor approaches this situation quite differently. You have to accept that you're rather powerless. You're told that your best option is to simply lay down some suppressive fire. I watched as the demonstrator stayed behind cover, peeking out just enough to roughly spot the target. Then he fired away. While you may not be scoring any kills doing this, you are providing a sufficient enough distraction for your squadmates to plant charges underneath the gunners and blow them to pieces. Seeing as how "modern warfare" was recently interpreted as "riding snowmobiles while dual-wielding Uzis," it's refreshing to see that EA's approach isn't obnoxiously bombastic.
PSA: Bad Company 2 Steam owners have access to Medal of Honor beta ... right now!
Tired of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and yearning for a more twitchy shooter, but you only play games made by Swedes? You'll be glad to hear that the Sweden-based DICE has opened up the multiplayer beta to Medal of Honor on Steam to folks who own the former. Get to it!
Flameseeker Chronicles: The end of the War in Kryta
It looks like we dismantled after all: the War in Kryta is over. Things came to a sudden end late last week with the addition of two new quests, and I have to admit that I was surprised. The NPCs involved in all of this have been hinting that the White Mantle were planning something big, but since Salma also mentioned that we still had more Inquisitors to take out, I assumed that we'd have quests for the rest of them first. Sneaky Inquisitors! Click that handy little "read more" button to see how the War in Kryta ended, join me in some pondering of the future, and find out about the new direction Massively's Guild Wars guild will be taking this week!
Preview: Medal of Honor beta
It may surprise you, but you've actually already played Medal of Honor before. No, we're not talking about the Nazi shooting gallery that was the 1999 original. If imitation is a form of flattery, then Modern Warfare 2 must be blushing up a storm right now. There's no way the comparisons can be avoided. From the setting, to the twitchy lone-wolf gameplay, right down to the class progression, Medal of Honor is incredibly reminiscent of Modern Warfare 2. We knew EA wanted to dethrone Infinity Ward's shooter, but we had no idea EA would go as far as to try and create Modern Warfare 2.5. That's not entirely a bad thing for gamers, though. If you enjoy Modern Warfare 2, you're going to find a lot of value in Medal of Honor. Though Medal of Honor isn't entirely the same game as Modern Warfare 2 -- where Infinity Ward went right, on occasion DICE and EA LA have seen fit to go in the opposite direction, sometimes to the detriment of the experience. %Gallery-79326%
Gaikai signs multi-year licensing deal with EA
Gaikai may not be ready for action just yet (the service doesn't have a release date), but the company was more than happy to drop news of a multi-year licensing agreement with Electronic Arts today. The news appears to be delivering on promises that the company's fearless leader, Dave Perry, made back in April of a big E3 announcement. Among the games Gaikai will be bringing to the web-streaming service are The Sims, the Battlefield: Bad Company series, the Dragon Age series, the Mass Effect series, Medal of Honor and Need for Speed. "Gaikai's innovations open whole new experiences for both current players and new customers looking for the best of interactive entertainment," EA's Richard Hilleman said of the licensing deal. We're open to both "whole new experiences" and "interactive entertainment," so that sounds just fantastic to us.
Medal of Honor gets PS3 exclusive HD remake of Frontline
Soldiers who plan to sign up for the new Medal of Honor on PS3 this October will get an added incentive for going with Sony's console: Medal of Honor Frontline. Originally released in 2002, the game's been remastered in HD for the console and will come packed in a PS3 Medal of Honor special edition package.
Medal of Honor beta June 21 on Xbox 360, PS3 & PC
The Medal of Honor multiplayer beta will launch June 21 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Beta codes will be distributed by retailers to pre-purchasers of the game. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 "VIP" members (anyone who bought the game new or bought VIP access) who have also pre-ordered Medal of Honor will receive early access to the beta, beginning this Thursday, June 17. The beta will include two maps, Helmand Valley and Kabul City Ruins, and support for up to 24 players across two gameplay modes, Team Assault and Combat Mission. During its E3 press conference today, EA showcased a live demonstration of the DICE-developed multiplayer. It looked sharp, and it looked a lot like Modern Warfare too. Additional details about beta enrollment are available on medalofhonor.com. Medal of Honor is scheduled for release on October 12.
EA Gun Club loyalty program grants early Medal of Honor beta access
EA just announced a new loyalty program for those who like to shoot at stuff in an e-military manner. The EA Gun Club will offer exclusive weapon unlocks and early access to game demos, among other niceties. Details are slim at the moment about how to get in (do you need to own an EA Gun?), but people will begin benefiting from it soon. Gun Club members will be able to get into the Medal of Honor beta on June 17 -- before the general public. That means that only the people who are likely to be really good will be in the game then. Killing you.
Games on Demand: Medal of Honor Airborne, SoulCalibur IV
Microsoft has added two more popular Xbox 360 titles to the console's Games on Demand system -- Medal of Honor Airborne and SoulCalibur IV are now available for download, priced at $19.99 each. Those of you overseas (or in the US with amazing memories) will know that MoH Airbourne actually appeared internationally back in February, but now everyone can enjoy the relentless slaughter of WWII soldiers from above. Oh, and playing a fighting game as Yoda is fun, too. Xbox.com: Add Medal of Honor: Airborne to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99) Xbox.com: Add SoulCalibur IV to your Xbox 360 download queue ($19.99)
'Online Pass' specific to EA Sports, 'no announcement' on Medal of Honor
Listen, we get it. You're a "pre-owned" type of game buyer. To us, and your online comrades, we're equals in the game owning world. To EA, well, you're sucking its server's bandwidth. Defending EA Sports' "Online Pass," Senior Vice President Andrew Wilson told Develop, "We want to reserve EA Sports online services for people who pay EA to access them." We were curious to find out if the same held true for non-EA Sports titles; specifically, if this program would be implemented with Medal of Honor's online multiplayer. A company representative informed Joystiq, "Online Pass is a program specific to EA Sports. However other EA titles and franchises are planning similar offerings to reward players with bonus content and online services. No announcements today related to Medal of Honor." Begun, the game-owner class wars have.
Medal of Honor trailer calls home
Rather than blast our senses with copious amounts of explosions and military bravado, this new Medal of Honor trailer opts for a more muted approach: a soldier calling home to convince his wife and daughter that everything is going to be okay. Medal of Honor will be released this October.
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%
