Electronic Arts has just released its third quarter financial results, revealing that both Medal of Honor and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit have sold more than five million each.
Medal of Honor has made many headlines in the months leading up to, and following, its release. The game received positive remarks from critics but failed to meet the high expectations of what was considered a Call of Duty competitor.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, on the other hand has been less controversial.
Publisher Electronic Arts has confessed that modern military first-person shooter Medal of Honor didn’t meet their “quality expectations.”
However, they denied the game was a failure and have promised gamers that the next instalment will be “something they appreciate more.”
Speaking with Eurogamer, Patrick Soderlund said, “I'm not going to comment on the sales because EA has an earnings report going out and we will unveil sales in that meeting.
EA has announced that Medal of Honor will receive a new multiplayer mode called “Hot Zone” in addition to the previously announced “Clean Sweep” on the 3rd of November.
Hot Zone is a “King of the Hill” game mode wherein two teams vie for domination of a designated location on a map. The winner is the team that held the position for the longest.
Hot Zone will be available on four maps, the newly created Hindukush Pass and Korengal Outpost, and reworked maps Shahikot Valley and Helmand Valley.
EA has revealed that Medal of Honor sold more than 1.5 million copies across all platforms in its first week, in spite of a poorer-than-expected critical reception.
As the embargo on Medal of Honor reviews lifted and scores came in below expectations, EA’s share prices slipped six percent.
In response, EA said to the Los Angeles Times, “Critics' scores are highly subjective. The game had the highest pre-orders in the 11-year history of the Medal of Honor franchise.
Danger Close marketing manager Craig Owens has tried to explain the furore over the inclusion (and removal) of the Taliban in Medal of Honor and has suggested that people try the game before judging it.
At a launch event in New York, Owens told website Joystiq, “The objection was, kind of from an older generation that doesn’t understand games, that the soundbyte was ‘Play as the Taliban and kill US soldiers.
“There still is, it seems, a group that’s still a little bit leery of a game taking place around an active conflict.
Last week Electronic Arts removed the Taliban – in name only – from their upcoming military first-person shooter, Medal of Honor, renaming them the “Opposing Forces.”
As far as the US military is concerned, that’s not enough.
“Out of respect to those touched by the ongoing, real-life events presented as a game, Exchanges will not be carrying this product,” said US Army & Air Force Exchange Service Commander Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella.
Electronic Arts have released a beta client for the upcoming Medal of Honor release on PC.
The beta has been released to load-test the multiplayer servers subsequent to the retail release on October 15.
We've mirrored this at GP Downloads (1.6GB) but you'll need to be quick as the beta is due to finish Friday NZ time.
EA has announced that Medal of Honor has gone into open beta for PC.
To participate, simply download the client from the game’s official website.
The open beta is very brief, running only until the 8th of October NZST.
Medal of Honor’s executive producer, Greg Goodrich, has announced that the Taliban have been removed from Medal of Honor out of respect for “men and women serving in the military.”
EA came under pressure from many corners for its controversial inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer component of the game. New Zealand’s own defence minister, Dr Wayne Mapp, said that the inclusion of the Taliban in Medal of Honor “undermines the values of our nation, and the dedicated service of our men and women in uniform.”
Gameplanet disagreed.
Medal of Honor is being built with a best-in-class single-player campaign. The Medal of Honor development team at EALA has been hand-selected by the studio leadership of General Manager Sean Decker, Executive Producer Greg Goodrich and Senior Creative Director Rich Farrelly. To compliment the single-player experience, EALA has enlisted the multiplayer expertise at EA DICE. This team will develop the multiplayer experience of Medal of Honor. These two studios are coming together to deliver a world-class Medal of Honor that is poised to re-set and re-boot the franchise for a new generation.
Operating directly under the National Command Authority, a relatively unknown entity of handpicked warriors are called on when the mission must not fail. They are the Tier 1 Operators.
Over 2 million Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines wear the uniform. Of those, approximately 50 thousand fall under the direct control of the Special Operations Command. The Tier 1 Operator functions on a plane of existence above and beyond even the most highly trained Special Operations Forces. Their exact numbers, while classified, hover in the low hundreds. They are living, breathing, precision instruments of war. They are experts in the application of violence. The new Medal of Honor is inspired by and has been developed with Tier 1 Operators from this elite community. Players will step into the boots of these warriors and apply their unique skill sets to a new enemy in the most unforgiving and hostile battlefield conditions of present day Afghanistan.
There is a new enemy. There is a new war. There is a new warrior. He is Tier 1.
