EA to Release Medal of Honor Multiplayer Beta to Clear up Controversy

[Logan Westbrook]

EA to Release Medal of Honor Multiplayer Beta to Clear up Controversy

After the negative press Medal of Honor has received over its setting and multiplayer, EA is going to let people try it for themselves so that they can put their fears aside.

EA is releasing an open beta for Medal of Honor [http://www.amazon.com/Medal-Honor-Limited-Xbox-360/dp/B000TI836G/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285328264&sr=8-1] on the PC early next month, in order to clear up any "misunderstandings" that might have arisen from EA's controversial decision to feature the Taliban in the game's multiplayer.

Medal of Honor is set in modern day Afghanistan, and EA has come under fire from people all over the world, who say that setting a game in a current conflict - not to mention allowing people to play as the Taliban and shoot US troops in the game's multiplayer - is disrespectful to the people serving in the country, and those who have died there. The anger at the game's setting and content even reached [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102952-UK-Defense-Secretary-Calls-for-Medal-of-Honor-Ban] the upper echelons of British politics, as UK secretary of defense Liam Fox urged retailers not to stock the game, calling it "un-British."

The two map beta is supposed to allay peoples' concerns and show the "patriotism and respect" that are the core of the game. EA Games Boss Frank Gibeau said that the Medal of Honor series had always shown incredible reverence for American and Allied forces, and that the reboot was no exception. This seems to be a slightly different approach than EA's previous responses of "it's just a game," but it might be a little bit more effective, and it's a pretty good way of generating some extra buzz about the game.

The beta will run from the October 4th to October 7th, just before the game launches on October 12th.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-24-moh-pc-beta-to-clear-up-misunderstanding]



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[Toasty Virus]

Good on them, I've been dying for a shot of it.

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

How exactly is this gonna prove to everybody that this isn't disrespectful?

 

[Javex]

This is assuming that the beta doesn't crash on them!

 

[The Cheezy One]

shame im not a PC gamer, but im not that interested anyway. i reckon this is the airport from MW2, just an attempt to get publicity with very little actual in-game notice. at the end of the day, youre shooting blobs in the distance that are trying to shoot you first. you arent going to see the uniforms 90% of the time, so it could be anyone

EDIT: just tried going on the MoH beta info page. after putting in my location (UK) and DoB (im 18) it said i do not fulfill requirements to enter the site. didnt say whether it was age or location. thats annoying.

 

[Still Life]

Just because it is an ongoing conflict, does not mean that an individual should have the morality of a politician imposed upon them. If our 'leaders' are so patriotic and care about their soldiers, then perhaps they should think twice before sending them to die in the name of their questionable 'leadership'.

And, since when the fuck did patriotism mean being becoming a lobotomized sheep for your government? Since when did supporting our soldiers mean adhering to a two-faced political agenda and the mantras repeated by indifferent pencil pushers?

 

[Autofaux]

...or they're showing the new changes they've made to the game. Technically, this might not even be a beta, more a demo. Everyone seemed to ***** about how bad the beta was when betas are never a finished representation of the product.

 

[warprincenataku]

I never really understood the issue anyway. If the enemy is some faceless killer from Sandcrotchistan then no one cares, but set it in an actual country with actual real-life terrorist and it all goes to hell. Sure we can shoot each other, but only with fake terrorists.

 

[Dogstile]

How exactly is this gonna prove to everybody that this isn't disrespectful?

It's not. It's showing that the tabloids and the politicians claiming that you can recreate the acts of the taliban are utter lying...

I'm not so sure of the use of the 4 letter word beginning with C on here, but if you know it, feel free to add it in.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Do you think that the politicians bashing this game are actually going to play it? Absolutely not. This is actually a genius move by EA. Either they lose the little credibility they had by not playing it and continuing to talk about it or they play it, realize that it isn't a "terrorist training simulator" (which, by the way, is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard in my entire life) and have to admit that they were wrong. Chances are, though, they'll choose option A because the news can't be bothered to take 10 minutes out of their daily schedule of trying to come up with lies about the president to actually play a game before they go all over television condemning something they know absolutely nothing about...

 

[UberMore]

The PC has already had the beta. The multiplayer was awesome. You couldn't toggle crouch.
And to be honest, it didn't bother me who I was playing as or who I was shooting at. It was just Generic Bad Guy A vs Generic Good Guy B, and all I cared about was when I was getting my air-strike.

I also don't understand the disrespect aspect. Just because suddenly you can play as the actual bad guy, it's disrespectful? I bet the German's get tired of shooting Nazis, and the Muslim culture are tired of shooting at other Muslims.
People don't seem to care about the past, nor do they seem to care about the future, but just because the game is based in a present-day conflict it's suddenly terrible?
Don't get me wrong, I respect and cheer for our soldiers out there fighting the battles and wish that they didn't have to be there, that they could come home sooner.

On another tangent, people shouldn't be arguing about the disrespect shown to the soldiers fighting out there and those that have perished, they should be angry that yet another game is stereo-typing a race as the bad guys, regardless of terrorist activity or not.

 

[Cousin_IT]

I take it this will reveal the multiplayer is exactly the same as Modern Warfare except Infinity Ward were tactful enough to say their terrorist faction was from unspecifiedistan?

 

[DanielO]

Yeah, where's the outrage at being able to shoot Germans, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Colombian rebels, Dutch, French, Spanish, Austrian, Russians, Russians, Russians, Nazi's, Nazi's, more Nazi's and now finally to add to that list is the Taliban. Does anyone notice the autistic hypocrisy with which a high British politician is calling it Un-British? What about the movie ''BRaveheart'' by Mel Gibson, is that one un-British? And the war on Independence, is that un-British?

 

[Christemo]

just because they shoot us troops... the US marines have killed 20 times more taliban than they have lost marines themselves, and they call this disrespect.

i will never understand America, it just doesnt make a shred of sense.

 

[Still Life]

I don't see the controversy at all. USA shooters have made it possible to shoot militants and defenders of their own country for years. Arabian based scenarios. Call them freedom fighters or terrorists, I bet there are plenty of people who see America as an invader and raping their country. In their eyes, those 'terrorists' are freedom fighters. Opinions are divided of course how the population percieves them.

TL;TR : The entire controversy is bullshit.

A divided opinion is one thing, but having a few sanctimonious cunts make a thinly veiled attempt at shoring up support for an increasingly unpopular war is farcicle; this is especially true when they make grossly overgeneralized statements that skirt around the complexities of the respective conflict, and of 'terrorism' in general. Political apparatchikery is a disservice to our soldiers and erodes the legitimacy of our sovereignty.

 

[Jake the Snake]

I wouldn't really even pay attention for what side your playing for. Seriously on MW2, Team Deathmatches are just random affiliations assigned to players. You have a gun, shoot people not on your team. I think its pretty simple. It's a game people, and on top of that its a SHOOTER. The genre is mindless. It's about what you do (physically) not what other people represent. They might as be Space Pirates and Robot Ninjas with guns. It doesn't fucking matter.

 

[mumakil]

Yeah, where's the outrage at being able to shoot Germans, Russians, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Colombian rebels, Dutch, French, Spanish, Austrian, Russians, Russians, Russians, Nazi's, Nazi's, more Nazi's and now finally to add to that list is the Taliban. Does anyone notice the autistic hypocrisy with which a high British politician is calling it Un-British? What about the movie ''BRaveheart'' by Mel Gibson, is that one un-British? And the war on Independence, is that un-British?

Actually i think they dont care about shooting talibans more like they dont want players controlling talibans to be shooting at Americans/british.

its funny actually how everytime everyone talks how people dont respect the dead american/british soldiers when No one not now or ever has talked how we disrespect All the loosing sides. For example all nazi's are evil. Most of them died protecting their own country/ Doing what their leaders told them but no one cares about em. The good guys won so they must be the bad guys... its freaking stupid.

ps: I dont condone what the nazis did i just find out hatred of them stupid


Edit: OH COME ON!!! i got ninjad 3 times while writing this...

 

[Irridium]

just because they shoot us troops... the US marines have killed 20 times more taliban than they have lost marines themselves, and they call this disrespect.

i will never understand America, it just doesnt make a shred of sense.

Its not all of the US, its mostly the politicians and people who don't really understand games. Most soldiers seem to be fine with it, at least from what I've seen and heard.