DLC Brings bin Laden Manhunt to Medal of Honor: Warfighter

[Marshall Honorof]

DLC Brings bin Laden Manhunt to Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Movie tie-in DLC set in Pakistan will benefit military charities.

Osama bin Laden, arguably the most notorious terrorist of our time, is dead and gone, but Electronic Arts will urge players to continue the hunt for him this Fall. No, the software giant hasn't embraced necromancy (yet), but when Zero Dark Thirty [http://www.amazon.com/Medal-Honor-Warfighter-Limited-Xbox-360/dp/B0050SY5BM], which chronicles the event in detail. Furthermore, EA will donate 10% of each map pack purchase to military charities, aiming to provide at least $1 million for veterans and their families.

To get the disappointing news out of the way first, neither map included in the pack actually allows players to hunt and kill bin Laden, instead simply providing new environments that play host to competitive shootouts. However, both environments are real-world locations: the Darra gun market, and the northern Chitral region, both in Pakistan. The actual bin Laden connections in both locations are somewhat tenuous, but both will likely play some role in Zero Dark Thirty.

At $9.99 a pop, EA plans to donate $1 from each purchase to its Project HONOR [http://www.medalofhonor.com/project-honor] campaign, which benefits the Navy SEAL Foundation and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. To reach its goal of $1 million, EA will have to sell a million map packs. This may sound like a lot, but the Zero Dark Thirty DLC will come as a bonus to those who pre-order Warfighter, or track down its Limited Edition after release.

Whether EA can move a million presale units or individual map packs will be decided largely by the game's merits and the market's receptivity, but its goal is laudable, even if the DLC in question doesn't bring players as close to killing bin Laden as they may want. Few would deny that SEAL Team Six [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Special_Warfare_Development_Group#Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden.2C_Pakistan.2C_2_May_2011] did a great job, but there is still a line of people out the door and around the block - well, actually, around the world - who are still waiting for the chance to get some digital catharsis.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/news/medal-of-honor-warfighter-gets-military-only-edition-6382493]

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[Tsaba]

well as long as they don't make a repeat of

Spoiler: last time

[link]http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/707922/military-bans-medal-of-honor-on-bases/[/link]

even then, I don't see 1 million as a difficult feat.
[link]http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/medal-of-honor-2010/1128912p1.html[/link]

 

[SlamDunc]

1 Fucking dollar? This is not enough to justify a day one map pack. They should donate at least all profits. Or all the money and take a loss on it for charity. It is not charity if you profit from it.

 

[Platypus540]

I get the feeling I'll be one of the only people who says this, but that actually sounds like a good idea.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Destroys 2 buildings, most notorious terrorist. When are you guys going to get over it?
Reminds me of the National Geography commercial.
"An event that changed the whole world." Nope. It just woke up the US from their sleep and showed them the real world.

And why do they think that donating part of the money to the army will get people to buy it? It's like a anti-commercial for the most part of the world.

*sigh* Americans.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Spoiler: BiH-Kira

Destroys 2 buildings, most notorious terrorist. When are you guys going to get over it?
Reminds me of the National Geography commercial.
"An event that changed the whole world." Nope. It just woke up the US from their sleep and showed them the real world.

And why do they think that donating part of the money to the army will get people to buy it? It's like a anti-commercial for the most part of the world.

*sigh* Americans.

careful friend. take this:
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/13/132154/2262045-FlameShield.jpg

I hope this does not go in the same way as <a href=http://kotaku.com/5229698/the-fate-of-six-days-in-fallujahSix Days in Fallujah.

 

[Kapol]

An important question to ask is if EA is going to donate it for each pre-release pack and limited edition or just keep it strictly to purchases. As well, giving 10% of the profits to charity isn't enough to justify a $10 price tag for 2 maps. Give 20% of $5? Then it'd likely be a bit less less an excuse to charge more in my eyes. But as it stands it seems more like they're using the fact they're giving $1 to charity for each unit sold to charge $5 more (not going into the argument about it being day-1 DLC anyways).

A somewhat Noble endeavor that seems more like an excuse to charge more is what it comes down to to me. It'll be better if it does include the pre-release copies and the limited editions. But even that won't make it seem less like they're charging way too much for not much at all.

 

[Notsomuch]

Always thought it sucked that you didn't get to kill Hitler in the WWII Medal of Honor games.

1 Fucking dollar? This is not enough to justify a day one map pack. They should donate at least all profits. Or all the money and take a loss on it for charity. It is not charity if you profit from it.

It's still charity, whatever you think about how terrible the amount or their intentions are.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Oh this is fantastic.

Day 1 DLC, EA still managing to be dicks by giving only $1 per download, the undoubtedly controversy because of the event it surrounds and playing on good old American patriotism especially by announcing it today of all days. Oh, and it's also a licensed tie-in technically as well. [sub] Admittedly that last part may not be quite as big a deal [/sub]

It's like EA are trying to hit the jackpot of news articles in any way possible.

Stay classy, EA.

 

[soren7550]

Ignoring the guy (to the best of my ability anyway) who thinks the murder of 2,000+ innocent people is 'no big deal guies', the crippling illnesses that thousands of other got as a result of the terrorist attacks, the thousands of people whose lives were so grievously changed, and not to mention the 5,000+ brave American lives ALONE that have have been lost in the wars that came as a result of this 'no big deal', this seems like a bit of false advertisement.

"Hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on!"*

[sub]*Can not actually hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on.[/sub]

 

[Baron_Rouge]

It's an interesting proposal...personally, as for hunting down terrorists go, I'd like to see a game that lets you hunt down all those terrorists who did terrible things to the Nicaraguan population, for one, or those terrorists who bombed Yugoslavia and precipitated a genocide, or those terrorists who sold weapons to known terrorist organisations, and supported despotic rulers like Saddam Hussein. There are plenty of terrorists out there.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Ignoring the guy (to the best of my ability anyway) who thinks the murder of 2,000+ innocent people is 'no big deal guies', the crippling illnesses that thousands of other got as a result of the terrorist attacks, the thousands of people whose lives were so grievously changed, and not to mention the 5,000+ brave American lives ALONE that have have been lost in the wars that came as a result of this 'no big deal', this seems like a bit of false advertisement.

"Hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on!"*

[sub]*Can not actually hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on.[/sub]

Was that directed at me, or at BiH-Kira? If so when I said not as big a deal I meant "the licensed tie-in part". I certainly don't think 9/11 was "no big deal" anyway.

Just to clarify is all. I'm just confused since I was the one who said big deal and you seemed to have quoted that part.

 

[soren7550]

Ignoring the guy (to the best of my ability anyway) who thinks the murder of 2,000+ innocent people is 'no big deal guies', the crippling illnesses that thousands of other got as a result of the terrorist attacks, the thousands of people whose lives were so grievously changed, and not to mention the 5,000+ brave American lives ALONE that have have been lost in the wars that came as a result of this 'no big deal', this seems like a bit of false advertisement.

"Hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on!"*

[sub]*Can not actually hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on.[/sub]

Was that directed at me, or at BiH-Kira? If so when I said not as big a deal I meant "the licensed tie-in part". I certainly don't think 9/11 was "no big deal" anyway.

Just to clarify is all. I'm just confused since I was the one who said big deal and you seemed to have quoted that part.

Kira. I got what you were saying, but Kira hit a sore spot (which I'm guessing was his intention).

 

[Andy Shandy]

Ignoring the guy (to the best of my ability anyway) who thinks the murder of 2,000+ innocent people is 'no big deal guies', the crippling illnesses that thousands of other got as a result of the terrorist attacks, the thousands of people whose lives were so grievously changed, and not to mention the 5,000+ brave American lives ALONE that have have been lost in the wars that came as a result of this 'no big deal', this seems like a bit of false advertisement.

"Hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on!"*

[sub]*Can not actually hunt down bin Laden in our DLC add-on.[/sub]

Was that directed at me, or at BiH-Kira? If so when I said not as big a deal I meant "the licensed tie-in part". I certainly don't think 9/11 was "no big deal" anyway.

Just to clarify is all. I'm just confused since I was the one who said big deal and you seemed to have quoted that part.

Kira. I got what you were saying, but Kira hit a sore spot (which I'm guessing was his intention).

Ah, okay doke, just needed to check. And I can see why it hit a sore spot.

 

[BBboy20]

So........were these events like as Michael Bay explosive (all in the destroyed glory of Frostbite 2.0) and every gunmen were equipped with regenerative tissue as this game depicts combat and even AKs had little recoil?

 

[Compatriot Block]

Destroys 2 buildings, most notorious terrorist. When are you guys going to get over it?
Reminds me of the National Geography commercial.
"An event that changed the whole world." Nope. It just woke up the US from their sleep and showed them the real world.

And why do they think that donating part of the money to the army will get people to buy it? It's like a anti-commercial for the most part of the world.

*sigh* Americans.

Wow, you really went all out huh? I have no intention of getting suspended, but you know what people think of you now.

 

[KamikazeSandwich]

I don't really feel comfortable with the idea of Osama bin-Ladin as an end game boss as it gives him stature that he never actually had, but was rather ascribed to him by the U.S. in order to make Al-Qaeda into a larger threat (not saying they were/are not a threat, btw) than it actually was. He should be remembered for his true self: a pathetic, angry individual who ordered the murder of thousands of people and not a semi-mythical Evil Incarnate. A similar example is how horror movies featuring serial killers bizarrely turn them into antiheroes of sorts.

 

[Rad Party God]

Well, it definitely wouldn't be the first time we ever killed a real life figure in a videogame. Multiple times.

 

[TephlonPrice]

Yeah... this is a BAD fucking idea. And I'm an American.

Turning ACTUAL locations into MP maps... god damn. That's some low ass shit. Reducing an actual battleground into a fucking MP map is... just... damn.

As for making the actual mission about killing him, I'd rather not. There's already too much out there about it anyways, and knowing game devs, there'd be a way this would be fucked up.

And really, only $1? I see vets who've lost limbs, got burns galore, and they're struggling to pay the shit off today. Trust me, EA better donate EVERY damn dollar they earn from this considering what they're doing.