That was the line as delivered by Electronic Arts in defense of its upcoming addition to the Medal of Honor franchise. Perhaps I reside in some Bizzaro-type universe as I cannot help but not see the problem here. Apparently, others reside here with me.
EA has taken a hard stance against the negative press it has been receiving from media outlets such as FOX NEWS, who had on Gold Star Moms’ Karen Meredith, who stated, “We’ve just come off of the worst month of casualties in the whole war,” she said. “And this game is going to be released in October. So families who are going to be burying their children are going to be seeing this and playing this game. I just don’t see that a video game based on a current war makes any sense at all. It’s disrespectful.”
Even politicians such as UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox, who, calling the game “Disgusting”, have joined in, asking both retailers and consumers to boycott the game – a request which seems to have fallen on deaf ears, while simultaneously pushing for an effective ban:
It’s shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban.
I am disgusted and angry. It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game.
I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.
It should be noted that UK soldiers do not appear in the game, though they have served in Iraq. Only U.S. forces appear in this title.
Of course, this is not the first time a video game has been targeted due to the way it portrays the present conflict. Developer Atomic Games’ Six Days in Fallujah, a title based around the real-world experiences of Marines serving in Iraq, was left without a publisher after Konami backed out due to receiving large amounts of negative press. Of course, the difference here being that Atomic Games’ President Peter Tamte made the mistake of saying they used the input of insurgents in development.
Not to long ago, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was also targeted as a result of an (optional) scene where the player, portraying an undercover agent operating within a terrorist cell in Russia, walks through an airport terminal as the terrorist fire upon travelers, employees, and officers. In this situation, even if the player chooses to play the scene, they do not have to fire their weapon at civilians to successfully complete the mission. They do, however, have to fire at FSB troops. The scene was flagged heavily with negative media. Despite this, it continues to sell heavily, even recently earning the title of the Best Selling Game Ever in the UK.
Responding to the negative press directed at Medal of Honor, Electronic Arts’ Amanda Taggart initially released a statement saying, “We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven. If someone’s the cop, someone’s got to be the robber, someone’s got to be the pirate, somebody’s got to be the alien. In Medal Of Honor multiplayer, someone has to be the Taliban.” Strangely enough, this is nothing different than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, in which, on multiplayer, persons can play as members of the
OpFor, who happen to be terrorist. However, I can recall nor find any controversy relating to this. I’m reminded of a statement by Christopher Mintz-Plasse of the film
Kick-Ass, “People are so angry at Chloe [Grace Moretz] for saying bad language but she murders a ton of people and no one seems to be offended by that.” It seems like
cherry picking to me.
EA Games’ President Frank Gibeau later told Develop.
“We respect the media’s views, but at the same time [these reports] don’t compromise our creative vision and what we want to do. The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralized, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Bringing Medal of Honor back was no small feat.
At EA we passionately believe games are an art form, and I don’t know why films and books set in Afghanistan don’t get flack, yet [games] do,” he explained. “Whether it’s Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform.
Games have been set in Afghanistan before. We anticipated this when we decided on the concept of the game—this is about being a special forces solider. What’s really important for us is that we partnered with the US military, and the Medal of Honor Society as well. We’ve gone out of our way to produce the best story for the game.”
Medal of Honor releases October 12th, 2010 for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Rockstar Games has announced that the first of two pieces of Downloadable Content for GTAIV, which will be exclusive to the Microsoft Xbox 360, is – barring any delays – set to launch on February 17, 2009 worldwide via Xbox Live.
According to GameSpot (via USA Today), this will be no small DLC. Instead, this will introduce a brand new protagonist named Johnny Klebitz, a member of the biker gang known as “The Lost”. It will also leave behind the clone of Manhattan and move onto a clone of New Jersey, effectively introducing a brand new game. Reportedly, Niko Bellic will also make an appearance.
“Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background. I can’t go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City,” Rockstar Games Vice President of Creative Development Dan Houser told USA Today.
Players will also be treated to new vehicles, weaponry, multiplayer modes, and an entirely new soundtrack. These new additions, however, have not yet been detailed.
SAN MATEO, CA — November 19, 2008 – Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is proud to announce the “Season of Street Fighter®” in celebration of the imminent release of Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix, coming to PlayStation®Network on November 25, 2008, and Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on November 26, 2008. The “Season of Street Fighter” will feature an assortment of Street Fighter-themed downloadable content (DLC) packs, music inspired by Street Fighter, and newly revamped digital destination points for both the Xbox LIVE online games and entertainment network and PlayStation®Network.
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Los Angeles – Nov. 20, 2008 – Film, television and video game composer Garry Schyman has created the original music score for the newest installment of the Destroy All Humans! video game series. Developed by Sandblast Games (THQ Inc.), Destroy All Humans!® Path of the Furon™ is set in the 1970′s and the game’s score is inspired by music styles from that era. Schyman’s musical influences for DAH Path of the Furon include classic 70’s film scores by Lalo Schifrin, Jerry Goldsmith and Roy Budd. The DAH Path of the Furon score was recorded with a live symphony orchestra as well as brass band, flute soloist, saxophone soloist and wah wah guitar performed by “A-list” musicians in Hollywood.
“The idea for DAH3 was to continue the approach set in DAH1 and DAH2 as though I was a film composer writing in that period,” said Composer Garry Schyman. “Of course wah wah guitar is slathered throughout because it was so ubiquitous and influential. Personally this is my favorite of the three DAH scores. I love this style of music!”
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It’s rare when such a game comes along like Left 4 Dead (PC Version Reviewed). However, when it comes to Valve, we usually expect nothing less than Pure Gold. With releases such as Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, Portal, and even going back to the original Half-Life (which spawned mods of it’s own including Counter-Strike), Valve has shown and continues to show it knows how to make a great game. So when I was offered the demo for Left 4 Dead, I could not help but pounce. What happened next was a wallet opening and a card being charged for a copy of Left 4 Dead. Once the download was complete, I could only sit and wait for 12:00. Time to cure the infection, “One Bullet At A Time”.
At first, I looked for something to compare Left 4 Dead too. Resident Evil? Dawn of the Dead? Perhaps 28 Days Later? None of these seemed to fit. The reason is Left 4 Dead stands on its own. Ironically, the game is presented somewhat as a film. The cinematics are great though and help to further the story which is made up mostly of you and your allies trying to stay alive. The story revolves around 4 main characters, Francis, Bill, Zoey, and Louis. Francis seems to be more of a hard-nosed Mercenary type while Bill seems to be an older seasoned person, likely with experience in war. He’s also a bit of a strategist and seems to serve as a leader figure to the group. Zoey, the lone female, is more of a fearful person, but does not hesitate to help others before herself, and Louis is a more jumpy person ready to shoot anything formerly human that moves. Together, the four attempt to escape the infection and the mass hordes of zombies ready to assail them around any corner.
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London, UK – November 17, 2008 - Fonix Speech, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fonix Corporation (OTC BB: FNIX), and Ubisoft announced today that the highly anticipated Tom Clancy’s EndWar, now available at leading video game retailers, features Fonix VoiceIn technology for its voice command interface. EndWar, initially available in US and UK English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian and Polish is available for both the Microsoft Xbox® and the Sony PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems. A PC version in the same languages will launch in Q1 2009.
“Ubisoft chose Fonix speech software for its convenient user interface, low memory and processing power requirements. We needed to ensure that everything done in the game could be done by voice commands and Fonix VoiceIn offered us the technology to accomplish that,” commented Vincent Greco, worldwide technical coordinator at Ubisoft. “Fonix provided us with a unique set of tools for game development across multiple platforms.”
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CHICAGO – November 16, 2008 - Midway Games Inc. today announced that Mortal Kombat(r) vs. DC Universe has arrived on store shelves throughout North America and is available for purchase for the Xbox(r)360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the PLAYSTATION(r)3 computer entertainment system. The standard edition is available for a U.S. suggested retail price of $59.95, and the Kollector’s Edition is available for a U.S. suggested retail price of $69.95. Cultural icons collide for gamers and comic book fans alike as the eagerly anticipated face-off between heroes, anti-heroes, villains and vigilantes is unleashed in unmistakable Mortal Kombat style.
Some of the most popular characters from the DC Universe, like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and The Joker, go toe-to-toe against Mortal Kombat favorites, including Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Sonya and more. Featuring a brand new fighting system and unique intertwining storyline written by top comics writing team Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe combines spectacular multi-tiered fighting environments, such as Metropolis or the Batcave, with a compelling line-up of fighters to challenge and master.
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– Today Ubisoft announced that Far Cry® 2, its open world first person shooter on Xbox 360™, PLAYSTATION®3 and PC, has already reached one million units sell-through worldwide in less than 3 weeks of availability at retail.
“The holiday quarter is off to a solid start with the successful launch of Far Cry 2,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “The game is well on track to achieve our expectations for the year.”
Starting September 5th, what has been rumored for months now will finally occur: Microsoft has confirmed that the price of the Xbox 360 will be dropping all across the board.
The Xbox 360 Arcade Edition, previously priced around $279.99 will see it’s price drop to below that of the Nintendo Wii’s ($250) at a modest $200. The Xbox 360 60GB Edition will experience a price drop of $50, going from $349.99 to $299.99. Meanwhile, The dark trimmed Xbox 360 Elite Edition will see it’s price drop from $449.99 to $399.99 matching it directly with the PlayStation 3.
The Rumor Mill is spinning once more. This time, it seems there may be a new set of coming our way courtesy of the now independent Bungie. Kotaku has a report on a new batch of Halo 3 Achievements which were included in the “Mythic” build of Halo 3 as seen at the Penny Arcade Expo this year.
“With 30 Achievements in all for a total of 750 coveted Gamerscore points, the “Mythic” something-or-other features accomplishments based on the Legendary and Heroic map packs that have already been released.”
The full list of the unconfirmed achievements are after the jump. Remember, this is pure speculation, though granted the extreme clarity of the associated photos, it seems pretty legitimate.
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