The brand-new box art for the Medal of Honor reboot
When EA announced that it was cutting 1,500 jobs and refocusing its business of core IP, the publisher hinted at new developments for its Medal of Honor franchise. Today EA finally made it official: the company is reinventing Medal of Honor for the first time in the franchise's 10-year history. The game will launch on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime next year.
Rather than setting the next game in the traditional WWII theatre, the new Medal of Honor will put players in the more modern war-torn Afghanistan. This is the exact same path that Activision took with Call of Duty; every single game was set in WWII until Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
The central point of the new Medal of Honor is that EA is introducing the Tier 1 Operator: "a relatively unknown entity directly under the National Command Authority who takes on missions no one else can handle." The development team at EALA has been collaborating with reali-life Tier 1 Operators from the U.S. Special Operations Community "to create the most authentic modern war experience." The gameplay will be inspired by real events based on mission's today's soldiers would be given.
In addition to a single-player campaign, EALA is getting help from EA DICE to create the multiplayer experience. Multiplayer, of course, has become a huge component of shooters today, and is one of the main attractions for Modern Warfare 2.
“When we first set out to reinvent Medal of Honor, we wanted to stay true to its roots of authenticity and respect for the soldier but bring it into today’s war. The Tier 1 Operator is the most disciplined, deliberate and prepared warrior on the battlefield. He is a living, breathing, precision instrument of war,” said Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer, Medal of Honor. “We are honored to have the rare opportunity to work closely with these men to create a game that shares their experience.”
“EA has always been an advocate for telling the soldiers’ story. The new Medal of Honor follows that tradition. We felt it was important to tell the story of today’s war and today’s elite soldiers via today’s most relevant medium – videogames,” said Sean Decker, VP and General Manager of EALA. “We are so proud to bring together two powerhouse development teams to make this game a reality; EA Los Angeles and EA DICE. Medal of Honor promises to be an unforgettable entry in the modern shooter genre.”
EA will be providing a first look at the game during Spike TV’s 2009 Video Game Awards on Saturday, December 12 at 8pm PST. We're very curious to see how this game shapes up, as it would appear that EA is now directly taking on Call of Duty, and that could be quite an uphill battle. It's like creating a fantasy MMO to directly compete with World of Warcraft. That said, we give credit to EA for rebooting the franchise. Sticking to the WWII theme would be a disaster. Certainly, the U.S. armed forces will love this game; if it's as true to the real soldiers and missions as EA claims, the game could essentially serve as a recruiting tool like America's Army.
2 Comments
December 2, 2009
This announcement for Medal of Honor: Modern Warfare 3 comes one day after the proposed surge for Afghanistan – I’ll let others decide whether that constitutes good timing or not.
December 2, 2009
Ever the follower, never the leader. Their timing problem seems off by years, not days.