EA: New Medal of Honor Won't Be "Propaganda Piece"

[cheese_wizington]

Do you know what's going to happen now? The same thing that happened to 6 days in Fallujah. (which looked shite, so no big loss, but still)

Because it actually gives a balanced and rational view of the war, it's going to be shut down and protested against for somehow being 'disrespectful' to the soldiers who died in the war.

Don't quote me on this, but it's sadly a plausible outcome.

Does anyway.

I'm afraid this will happen also. It seems the only way you can actually get by in video games is making it totally unrealistic if it has violence in it. I'm guessing that since EA is such a massive brand it may not work out just like that though.

 

[cobrausn]

Now if only they can leave out any smarmy political commentary coming from the other side of things, it has the potential to be a good game.

 

[Drejer43]

Patriotism is an odd beast. I'm a Canadian and I honestly feel that I live in the greatest country on earth. Our health care system has saved the lives of people close to me, our education system is definitely adequate and violence, while not unheard of in any part of the nation, is very uncommon. Our low crime rate, the strict laws regarding gun ownership, humane prisons, the blocking of fundamentalist involvement in government, the list goes on and on. That said, getting a huge chant of "Go Canada!" or getting people to proudly sing the national anthem at the drop of a hat, that kind of pride doesn't run as deep with out country, we know full well the short-comings of our nation.

And while not extensively well-travelled, I know that there are things other countries do better than us. Denmark, for instance, is far more politically active, and as I understand it, that level or participation is found to varying degrees throughout Europe. And in other nations, were people are getting the economy back on its feet, a lot of nations offer free university education to citizens, now THAT's a progressive idea. So yes, I assume that I could come up with dozens if not hundreds of things other countries do better than us. I think most Canadians are acutely aware of that.

So how DOES a media, any media, anywhere in the world, successfully create a propaganda piece in the 20th century? If Hollywood continues to make back to back movies where in the first part Americans single-handedly wing the Second World War and in the sequel they fight the "Evil" Russians (how's that for revisionists' history?) how can they make money? I mean, sure it's a nice lie, but its pretty blatant manipulation and World War II is perhaps the most prevalant topic on the internet (after the porn). Anybody with so much as a dial-up connection already inherently knows that that's not how it happens. And I don't mean to pick on the Americans. At least free enterprise is responsible for most of its propaganda, which marginally superior to the state-sponsored propaganda found in the more unfortunate parts of the world.

Go Denmark!! go go, go Denma
sorry nationalism clouding my mind

 

[The Big Eye]

"Bearded justice..."
Oh, Mister Funk, you do make me laugh sometimes.

 

[MR T3D]

Im just waiting for the MOH MW3 game that has you killing Hitler in person while "America, Fuck Yeah" plays in the background.

i think that correction is necessary.
yeah, it'll be in modern warfare 3, hilter was just cryogenicially frozen, data was in that satellite in MW2, and its his secret grandson was on the cargo ship in MW1.

activision/IW want to do this, i know.

i say cool, i found teh hurt locker to be an interesting movie, and to have that kind of 'realistic' style, but as a LOLOPERATOR doing LOLOPERATOR shooting stuff.

 

[Brockyman]

And I have a sinking feeling that people are going to completely miss the sarcastic tone in the first two or so paragraphs.

The internet is a wonderful place.

I'm quite glad. I have to give it to World at War for bringing it back to reality somewhat. The Americans didn't win the war single handedly, the best they did was storm a castle. The Russians pwned Germany like nothing else. It was nice to see a somewhat more open view on the war for a change. Hopefully with this one they'll follow suit and treat the enemy as more than waves of faceless enemies. Give it some actual weight.

Where Modern Warfare 2 went Hollywood, Medal of Honor needs to go arthouse.

While you're 100% correct that the US didn't "do it alone", I would be semi uncomfortable with the Soviet Union ever being portrayed as the stalwart hero b/c Stalin was just as if not more evil the Hitler, killing millions of his own citizens and solidifying communism, and creating a nightmare cold war that lasted til the late 80s/early 90s.

While I get the fact that the old Medal of Honor series over did the "My country tis of thee" thing, it does irk me that many Europeans are so quick to cry fowl. I get criticism from the countries and factions the US is currently in conflict in, but (the way it appears to me) many Europeans just like taking jabs at the US when nothing we do effects them. Sometimes, it even feels disrespectful for the number of US troops the died trying to liberate them (France, I'm looking directly at you with a strong stare)

The US has done some pretty fucked up things, and some questionable things in the last 200+ years, and most Americans will admit it, but if you look at the histories of France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and the Netherlands, you'll see that they did the same kind of stuff, if not WORSE done in Africa, India, Asia, and to each other and their OWN populations.

Honestly, I love my European brothers and sisters, but I think this anti-American attitude is unfair. I understand being critical and disagreeing with some of our recent actions, but none of them should be strong enough to have you hate us for it.

EDIT: I don't know if the poster that I'm quoting is European or not... but this does go to other Americans as well...

 

[Brockyman]

I'm perfectly fine with a game not carrying any kind of "pro" or "anti" theme. In fact, that's the way it should be. Modern Warfare 2 did it fairly well, and I hope that Medal of Honor can follow suit. But I'm also really glad that in an industry that seems to lean to the left on occasion can do it without CRITICIZING the current wars or past officials.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Sweet. I was like of god-damn "GO AMERICA!" in games. An I'm an American, and a Republican.

oh your one of the XD lol i joke im not even american and im glad too see a game that doesnt have US marines beating there chests screaming "Hoo Raah" constantly.

arent republicans,bigot, war monger,bible bashers (thats what i hear from people) i'd like too hear from one if thats true...no offence XD

Nope. I'm a non-religious Republican.

 

[Ignignokt]

Sweet. I was like of god-damn "GO AMERICA!" in games. An I'm an American, and a Republican.

oh your one of the XD lol i joke im not even american and im glad too see a game that doesnt have US marines beating there chests screaming "Hoo Raah" constantly.

arent republicans,bigot, war monger,bible bashers (thats what i hear from people) i'd like too hear from one if thats true...no offence XD

That's just what the hardcore liberals want people to think. The extremes of each side try to demonize each other. And I must say, they've done a pretty good job of splitting the country in half. You might hear bad things about republicans more often because young people and their internet tend to be a more liberal leaning.

 

[The Cheezy One]

I remember when I first played CoD 4 and I started off playing as a British S.A.S. soldier. I was like "Wait, England? But we're never the main characters!"

and then all the americans die
i (being british) was like "did that happen?"
i actually looked up whether the game designers were based in britain
also the russians live, and some of them are good, which is especially strange

I fail to see what's so bad about us sticking our red, white and blue combat boots up Hitler's ass.

ummm... the fact that you didnt?
russia captured berlin first, while the allies waited to the west for full time
im not saying america wasnt neccessary, as if they werent there ww2 would have been a victory for the germans
but, all joking aside, the same could be said for almost all, if not every, nation that took part, spreading the german, japanese and italian forces. in fact, america only joined when their own land was attacked, so the protectors of peace were actually only protecting themselves (prepares for some hate)
but russia took a big hit themselves, and derserve to be appreciated for it. they fought to the borders of their most famous city, the equivilent of new york really.
ww2 was not americas war. being british, and so probably very biased, i believe it was our war or the frances war. because there was a time when it was just britain against occupied europe

And EALA still doesn't realize that people won't care what they say until they admit that dissolving Westwood was a fucking retarded idea?

red alert 1 was a genius mix of gameplay and story, as much as you can in an rts
ra2 was (much) better in graphics, but the storyline confused me a bit. what time(line) are they in? so about even, maybe slightly worse
ra3 was a mind f*ck, and was basically porn, in a bad, selling-out oh-look-this-girl-isnt-doing-her-top-up way. and how does the timeline work? is this before ra1? before ra2?
the original developers must cry themselves to sleep

 

[Andronicus]

You make some very good points. But I wonder, is there such a thing as a japanise world war two game?

I dread to think what that could possibly be like.

See: Grave of the Fireflies

*headdesk*

OMFG That movie was on TV on Monday night and I completely forgot to watch it! I had it circled in the guide and everything! Man, I am so pissed off right now. Grahhhh...

OT: I've noticed they never ever feature Australians in war games. I expect the all Aussie adventures aren't quite as shiny or heroic as those about Americans or Russians. If they made a game about Gallipoli, I can imagine it would be something along the lines of "You are to run as fast as you can along this long stretch of land towards the heavily fortified Turkish strongholds into oncoming bullets. If you manage to make it all the way across, you get the achievement "Bullet-Proof", because nothing short of invincibility can possibility hope to help survive. Good luck."

Hmm. It occurs to me that a game in which one could rewrite history and give the ANZACs the upper hand might come across as either really inspirational, or just really insulting. I shall have to ponder on this further...

 

[Stormz]

as long as the game has a good singleplayer and isn't tacked on like most fps games lately I'll be more then happy to pick this game up when I have the money.

 

[cobrausn]

I remember when I first played CoD 4 and I started off playing as a British S.A.S. soldier. I was like "Wait, England? But we're never the main characters!"

The very first CoD on consoles was like that. It went from a Russian soldier's missions, to a British soldier's, then to an American's.

Can't really argue that it was a fair representation. Russian campaign was mostly Stalingrad, British campaign was 3 missions with the Long Range Desert Group in North Africa, and American campaign was the longest going from France to the Battle of the Rhine crossings, which including among its bullshit a Black guy commanding an entire platoon of tanks, single-handedly clearing out entire villages full of enemy Panzers in a Sherman, engaging and destroying multiple 88mm guns (and able to take more than one shot from said tank-killers),clearing two houses full of Germans on foot, a single squad of Americans walking into a German town, engaging an (unarmed and open) German APC and a couple platoons of German soldiers, clearing the entire city, taking out a King Tiger with a single Panzerschrek rocket, escorting tanks and an armour bulldozer to the last bridge across the Rhine, and finally doing a one-man assault across the entire bridge, clearing out an entire tower full of German troops, and shooting down an entire wing of Stuka's using a quad-barrel AA machine gun. No mention of anyone else fighting in France (especially Canadians, the THIRD LARGEST COUNTRY fighting in West Europe). From what I've heard, similar non-US and non-Russian campaigns in later CoD games (especially the Canadian campaign in CoD3) were a massive joke and full of rather blatant mistakes (YOU GOT THE FUCKING FLAG WRONG IDIOTS). CoD4 looked to be changing that, then... CoD5 & 6.

Well, it was originally an American game for an American audience by an American producer... so I would think the primary missions being American ones is an understandable thing.

Also, with regards to single soldiers killing boatloads of Germans... I remember seeing a History channel special about a group of precisely two Airborne troopers clearing a village of over eighty german troops in extremely close quarters combat. It's not that it happened a lot, but it's not unheard of... although the downing of an entire Stuka wing was just a wee bit excessive.

 

[Squilookle]

"There's been a lot of really good movies - the Gotham Awards just came out and Hurt Locker was the top one,"

That pretty much sums up the entire EA board meeting when deciding what to do with the next Medal Of Honor. They could have stopped making crap ww2 games and started making decent ww2 games, but hey, it's so much easier to make a crap modern warfare game, right?

I want to say there was a game that pulled Modern Warfare's "musical chair protagonist" gimmick, but switched you between different sides of the same conflict. If there wasn't, there should be. Something that plays with the fact that no one is a villain in their own eyes.

I'd like to see that too, but anyone who's played online with auto-team switch knows how jarring a sudden side shift can be. I think Battlestations: Pacific has the right idea- a campaign for each side, plus bonus special challenges for both teams.