Authenticity in Video Games: Medal of Honor Warfighter

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I’m a fan of  Medal of Honor Executive Producer Greg Goodrich’s ethics around the Military and his commitment to ensuring that the community is well represented. He cares and it’s appreciated by guys in the Spec Ops community.

Ethics on Point

Here’s a great interview Greg gave recently in response to an attack on Medal of Honor Warfighter’s ethics and the Military, by Tom McShea. I still don’t understand the point Tom is/was trying to make about a game not being “fun”??? His narrative is confusing and I personally would have choked him out if I was Greg – kudos for the restraint on his part.

100% Weapon & Gear Authenticity Still Lost

I’m disappointed that most these games (Medal of Honor included and Call of Duty the worst offender by far) tout weapon authenticity but end up sacrificing this same authenticity for sponsorship dollars.  You end up with authentic gear and weapons but NOT the actual up-to-date equipment that the guys are currently using.

These games make a TON of money off sales and I find it perplexing that the authentic gear that operators actually use gets benched because other manufactures pay for product placement to bump ’em out.  An example is the fact that Medal of Honor uses Surefire tactical lights exclusively when the Princeton Tec Charge light was invented by and for SEAL TEAM 6 (DEVGRU).

My point is, you will not see Princeton Tec in the game because they didn’t have enough money to pony up…

Keep up the good work Greg, hopefully we’ll see some more authentic gear companies in the future even if they can’t pay up.

Thoughts?

Filed Under: Op-Ed

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  • GoLoud

    I have high hopes for this one.  I loved the campaign on MoH 2010, my favorite to this day, I’m hoping Warfighter stays true to the feel of that one.  Yeah, that interviewer was kind of a douche.

  • gunslinger6

    This guy Tom is a Douche Bag!  Talking about a video game not being “real combat”, does he not know it is a game and meant to be fun.  I dont think this Douche would like to play a game where his characer was riding in a convoy and hits IED and game over, or comes out from behind cover and gets shot and game over.  If this guy wants real combat he can sign on the line and join up!

  • Chris Martin

    I was very impressed with how well Greg handled himself in the interview; he ran circles around the editor. I think this little ‘controversy’ probably did way more to sell the game to potential buyers than push them away.
     
    BTW, the single player campaign in MOH (2010) was excellent and this one seems to be shaping up to be even stronger from what we’ve seen thus far. I really appreciate that the development team does their homework.

    • Ravage

      [email protected] Martin I very much enjoyed the MoH (2010) campaign. It was like reading (or waching to be more accurate) Blabers book about the AFO teams. The lingo, the humor – it was all there.Very much thrilled to see the old gang back. Wished they had more Wolfpack missions though. I’m very much fascinated in the whole recon+ATV concept. Ohh well, maybe we’ll see more of Panther, Vegas and Double D in Warfighter.

      • Chris Martin

        [email protected] I’m guessing we’ll probably get a cameo of some sort for Panther, Vegas, and/or Deuce, although this one seems like it’s going to be even more ST6-focussed than MOH (2010). That said, Dusty is very strongly hinted to be returning (and probably as a playable character), having moved on from Delta to the CIA’s SAD/SOG.

  • FormerSFMedic

    There is something to be said about people that have spent time with SOF members and have taken the time to learn about these individuals from a personal perspective. With that said, Greg is a guy that “gets it”. I would consider him a member of a small percentage of civilians that have taken on a SOF mindset simply by being around operators. SOF guys have an almost contagious energy and passion. This emotion becomes apart of their families and friends to the point where these individuals are a part of the community. I consider Greg to be one of those people. So, even though the interviewer isn’t talking to an Operator, he is talking to a “sponsored” member of the community. I think Greg did a fantastic job staying professional in his answers and basically made the interviewer look like an idiot! How does this guy know what Authentic is if he has never been around the authentic SOF community? The answer is, he doesn’t know! Greg is a more patient man than I am because I would have throat punched that dude!

    • Mayhem Actual

      Agreed FormerSFMedic.  Not only does this O’Shea d-bag not have a clue about the SOF community, what’s even worse is he’s a writer for GameSpot and didn’t even play the game.  That’s supposed to be his area of expertise.  Greg asks him repeatedly, have you played the game?  If you’re going to come to the table with an argument, at least come to the table with the experience to back it up.  This guy is ignorant on both levels.  His face would have gone through the table.  Kudos to Greg for keeping things professional.

  • FormerSFMedic

    A quick word on authenticity of gear. I hear the same argument that Brandon brings up all the time. However, as many well know, it’s inaccurate to say that SOF uses this not that. The reason is because guys use a number of different setups across the community. Is there some authenticity lost because Princeton Tec isn’t in the game? No, because the stuff that is used on the game is also used in the community. I do see where Brandon is coming from though. I was very dissapointed when I saw some serious weapons and gear problems in the movie “Act of Valor”. This was a movie touted as being the most authentic SEAL movie ever and yet they had some serious missteps. However, the gear used was still gear those guys might use, so it was very close. With that said, MOH may lose some points but it’s still accurate.

    • BrandonWebb

      [email protected] make a good point but I’m talking fundamental issue stuff…like seeing Trijicon EVERYWHERE and no EOTECH…

      • [email protected]@FormerSFMedic MoH has both.  EOTECH on the M4s and Trijicon on the EBR

  • GoLoud

    Seems the throat punch should be the official strike of SOFREP/Loadout Room.  Throat Punch t-shirts, anyone?

    • Mayhem Actual

      +1

    • gunslinger6

      [email protected]
       +2

    • HugeFan

      [email protected]
       +3

      • LauraWalkerKC

        [email protected]@GoLoud +4

    • FormerSFMedic

      @GoLoud +5

      • SleazyWeazel

        [email protected]@GoLoud +6…….Who’s next?…..I feel a throat punch campaign coming on!! 🙂

        • GoLoud

          [email protected]@FormerSFMedic
           Have worked up shirt design and sent to site staff.

  • Trango

    <p>Make a game that isn’t fun???? Really? What a dumbass!! Yeah, the COD franchise has the best selling product of any entertainment media out there…because it’s NOT fun. Sure.  I did some poking around the web on this d-bag and it appears he gets attention through being a complete A-hole and throwing out bad reviews on games otherwise loved by their fan-base. That and he does write for Gamespot, which has largely lost its credibility with gamers. So that says even more.</p> <p>Here is a quote from McShea’s twitter feeed @TomMcShea, “Is it possible to construct a pillow fort so majestic the hotel cleaning staff dare not tear it down? By the end of E3, I’ll have my answer.”Not only does he look like a pansy, he sounds like one too.</p><p>On the subject of product authenticity, yeah it’s whomever can throw the most money at these developers. I know of one manufacturer that gave 6K in product to Infinity for MW3, just for them to play around with. These games, for better or worse, are bringing in new customers who are completely unfamiliar with this industry and are willing to spend $$$ simply because they saw it in a game or in a movie. Hell, on page 12 of the 2012 EOTech catalog, there is a MW3 product reference. It would be nice to see more realism in the gear/weapons and the ACTUAL features/capabilities these products bring to the table but as we all know, in the entertainment industry, money talks.</p>

    • FormerSFMedic

      @Trango So basically what you’re saying is this guy is the definition of troll?!?!

      • Trango

        [email protected], and a pretentious one at that.
         

  • kevinnash87

    whos the consultant for these game? i know Dalton Fury was a consultant for COD MW3

  • SleazyWeazel

    I saw this same video a few days ago on Gamespot.com and I found it particularly amusing that Greg is trying to get his view across to an individual who didn’t even play the Medal of Honor of 2010 from Danger Close studios.  How can someone critique something so mercilessly and NOT have played the previous installment.  Personally I enjoyed the single-player campaign and found it to be one of the more moving stories at the time, especially the tribute at the end written by the operators.  It did however suffer quite a bit when it came to the multiplayer component produced by DICE because it felt very “rushed” when they were getting it to market.  Found it comical that you could eliminate a target with a handgun at 300 yards better, at times, than an assault rifle.  Realism?…….Not quite.  It’s unfortunate that the Moh series couldn’t use or implement a wider variety of current gear, but from their perspective, they are having to please Electronic Arts who is financing their product and I don’t know of a single company that isn’t trying to make a profit or trying to please their stockholders.
    NOTE:  I WILL be getting Moh Warfighter by the way when it comes out in October. 🙂    
    XBOX CALLSIGN: SleazyWeazel7

    • BrandonWebb

      [email protected] also found it ridiculous…like critiquing food without it eating….

    • HugeFan

      [email protected]
       XBOX CALLSIGN: bolt2153

      • Chris Martin

        [email protected]@SleazyWeazel Xbox Live account: The Nature Roy
         
        I’m not a big multiplayer gamer but I may be looking for some people to play this with when it comes out…

        • SleazyWeazel

          [email protected] [email protected] problem Chris.  You are more than welcome.  Trying to find people to play with that aren’t excessively immature and spoil the experience online are semi tough to find.  I typically have spent time with Battlefield 3 because, overall, you have a more mature community, which I like.  The Moh series and Battlefield share a lot of that same people.  Moh even more so.  ‘Warfighter’ I KNOW I will enjoy…..no question.  There ARE adults that enjoy these things too……ask Chris Kyle and his addiction to them. 🙂

  • Ullr

    I think I get what the interviewer is saying.  If you can peel back his layers of doucheness, his real beef is that here’s a modern shooter that claims authenticity with regards to gear/weapons (sorta), locations, story, and fact that characters are based off real SOF personnel -BUT- no attempt (as far he knew) was made to make the gameplay realistic, like a simulator. In his mind, “authenticity” and “realism” are the same thing.
     
    So while Greg has honorable intentions of trying to give a sense of what these warfighters experience, and has to keep his customer base happy by making it fun, the immersion created by all the authenticity could be shattered the moment you shake off a few 7.62 rounds to the junk, grab a health pack to make you insta-better, and continue to shoot baddies in the face.
     
    I think McDouche gives an example of another game where you take one to two shots and you’re dead, then it’s game over. So maybe his question is: why market MoH:WF as an authentic experience, when there’s going to be a huge case of “Breaking the Fourth Wall” as soon as you get into a firefight?
     
    Maybe that was his point.  I don’t know.  I stopped playing military shooters after MoH: Allied Assault back in ’02.  It felt authentic until I realized I was playing an Army infantry lieutenant, and not once did I ever get lost, nor get assigned a mission to jump up and down on a Sherman tank to test its suspension.  That just killed it for me.

    • BrandonWebb

      [email protected] last part was funny as shit…

    • [email protected] That last paragraph killed me.  During a short time writing TMs for TRADOC, I saw a manual for mechanics to test the turret movement for an M-60A2…”Grasp turret handles with both hands and rock to see if there is movement.” 😀

  • JShepard

    Loved the single player in the first MoH!  Probably one of my favorite story lines, and unlike most video games SP (CoD, Bf3) the story is believable.  That was some powerful stuff at the end and I swear it got really dusty in the room all of a sudden.  I’d say Greg and the guys at Danger Close did their job and did it well.  The advantage that this game has as Greg said, it is a medium to show the world what our brave men and women do for us everyday.  Multiplayer is always a giant CF and there’s really no good way to do it.  By focusing on it is just shows that the interviewer is just a troll that got some kind of legitimacy through a unpopular gaming site.  The singleplayer, if its like the first, is a communications medium with a important message in addition to being a game.  

    • [email protected] Dude, my wife came in the room when I first hit that final mission and was just completing it.  Got dusty in the house, here too.

  • I had a blast with MoH single player.  The story line was awesome (still can’t get my time down on the first mission! dammit!).
     
    I’m a huge fan of the CoD line.  Maybe when warfighter comes out we have a SOFREP shoot-off ! 😛

    • SleazyWeazel

      [email protected] like the “Blue-on-Blue” concept for multiplayer for MOH: WF.  Lots of bragging rights to be had. 🙂  I enjoy the COD franchise as well because I understand that it’s Hollywood, thrill ride “fluff”……..but FUN fluff. 🙂   I’m more particular to Battlefield 3 myself because of the ballistics and physics involved, even though that still has a long way to go as far as being true to real world firearms.

      • [email protected] On of my students last semester tried to get to play BF3, but a guy only has so much time on his hands lol.  I guess it’s easy when you’re a student and don’t have a wife and critters and a house and a tractor that keeps breaking down… etc etc.  I pick 1 game and that’s about all I have time for.
         
        Maybe when I hit Powerball?

    • BrandonWebb

      [email protected] doesn’t give a shit about the Military, just making $$$ I’m told…

      • [email protected] I haven’t played either in a long time, perhaps I’m crossing EA with the CoD guys.  I meant the EA/Danger Close crew.  I’m old and probably have alzheimers or I’ve just been hit in the head too often.
         
        I’ll clarify:  I’m an EA/MoH fan. 

      • kevinnash87

        then again which video game company cares about the military ? its all about the money. they use you guys to build up their credibility…..i guess there mentality is that if they tell gamers that you or your buddies help develop a game then they will sell alot more games.

    • wannabearmyteen

      [email protected] kids don’t have the patience and dedication needed to play hardcore realistic games. In most realistic games, you can’t just jumped into the game and learn how to play as you go like you would in games like COD and other mainstream FPS.You could spend hours training and learning the basics before you even start playing the game. When you finnaly do get to play it people find out the gameplay is not fast paced and hollywood like they wanted it to be. So they quit. This has caused the more realistic games to be not well known to gamers in general. These gamers stay in isolated communities and they mod the game to improve features of it. One game I would suggest to all who want to have the best realisim as possible in a game would be ARMA 2. In the shortest words to classify it. It would be considered a realistic sandbox game.     

      • [email protected] have played Arma II.  Don’t have enough keys on my keyboard to keep track of all the commands.  alt, ctrl, alt+ctrl,  after a while it gets a bit tedious.

        • wannabearmyteen

          [email protected], this game requires alot of switching between key to key. lol
          Wish I could still play it but I don’t have the time anymore. 🙁

      • wannabearmyteen

        @wannabearmyteen To better understand the game skim through this guide to playing the game (unmoded)
        http://ttp2.dslyecxi.com/basic_rifleman.html

    • HugeFan

      [email protected]
       I’m in! PS3 or Xbox?

      • [email protected] Xbox

  • best line in MoH: 
     
    “RPG!”
    “FUCK!  Don’t they ever run out of those things?”

    • SleazyWeazel

      [email protected] so many of them floating around the Stan, I’m surprised the damn thing isn’t printed on the country’s flag by now. 

      • [email protected] The rocket should be their national bird.

        • wannabearmyteen

          [email protected]!

  • And yeah, Greg should have choked him out.

  • You gents are going to make my life get more expensive than my budget can handle 🙂  I didn’t want to invest in a gameplayer or game until I heard people with real credibility i.e. you recommend it.  One thing I enjoy doing is watching live action trailers for those games and occasionally download and edit them together so I’m not paused by my snail-fast DSL connection (I sometimes adjust the video so that the gear is easier to see and embed them on my domain so that the screen size is nicer).  Let me know what you think and if I should keep looking for good realistic trailers!
    http://twolftfeet.com/video_game_trailers.html

  • ArcticWarrior

    The best part of MOH 2010 wasnt the load out discrepencies or weapons variations, it was the message it conveyed, from the beginning intro weather report on WNBC radio in the beginning, to the the news of THAT day, to the Bone flying by. And on to the game.
     Watching my kids play and coaching them on the firefights I could feel that ending coming. As the team waits on the Chinook that lump just sits in your throat, you feel the anxiety and feel  the ” wtf why is it taking so long”. As the ‘Nook pulls away door open and you see the E models pound the mountain nothing needs to be said,  the rabitt foot is held and the sullen feeling just smothers you. My youngest had tears in his eyes when he realized what happened. I had a long talk with the boys about how there is no mulligan or respawn when guys do it for real. My oldest copied down the Soliloquy at the end. I just asked him. He saved it in his email. For a game the “Emotion” was as real as you could make it.
     
    “This is a dedication to America’s servicemen. A dedication  to the debt we owe to Warriors lost and to all of our military forces who  continue to defend freedom around the world. men and women who have honorably  served throughout our nation’s history – who stood and continue to stand fast in  the face of a determined enemy and defeat them with unwavering discipline. Most  people don’t know what they experience they don’t know what these Warriors  endure in combat, nor do they understand the selflessness and love of the  brothers besides them. men within this community bring the fight to the enemy,  engage aggressively and stand their ground. Born unto a different cloth, these  men could have chosen a life of prosperity and chased every opportunity afforded  by our great nation. Giving life as they live it, they chose to leave these  pursuits behind and devote themselves instead to a higher calling, living with  indomitable purpose, by simple truths – Brotherhood. Honor. Sacrifice. Words  molded into their character, exemplifies by their actions. It is their final  hour we celebrate – our fallen brothers who shine a light on the greatest  attributes of dedicated men. With their sacrifice, legends are born and will  live as examples to inspire the heroes that will lead our nation to victory in  the years ahead; making our founding fathers proud and acting as a promise to  America’s next generation. This is to our fallen brothers. you will honored in  our community’s history as the greatest heroes. As men who shouldered our  nation’s burdens, you will remain as beacons for our heroic ideals. Taught to be  proud and unbending in failure and humble in success, there are no greater  examples for which this nation stands for and which this nation is built from –  the ideal of service to country and to others. To all who wear the uniform –  Thank you for your service to the nation, and to those in this hour who are  still in the fight, keeping our enemies awake at night.”
     
    Great article BW.
     
     
     
     

    • [email protected] I like what you said.  Never thought of it that way, but it could be looked at as part of Information Warfare for future voters!

      • ArcticWarrior

        [email protected]
         I think my boys mentally mastered small unit tactics in the “Send in the Rangers” sequence. There may be something to the games abilities to mentally imprint on tomorrows war fighters.

        • [email protected] I believe that Lt Col David Grossman is correct in that video games can be used as effective simulators.  One CO during OIF noted that that was the best generation of killers he had seen – which was intended naturally as a compliment.

    • SleazyWeazel

      [email protected] remember watching the cinematic before that moving dedication as you watch the chopper exit the AO with rabbit’s body covered in the chopper and you look out the back of the Chinook as the mountain is being bombarded by air.  The music tying together the pain and the emotion of losing a brother….a warrior.  I had that pit in my stomach that wouldn’t subside when I watched that and the dedication that followed.

    • BrandonWebb

      [email protected], couldn’t agree more. -BW

      • ArcticWarrior

        [email protected]
         Thanks Brandon. BTW my youngest still talks about you, your pack and your Trident. Some kids meet Albert Pujols and get that way, mine met BW and got that way. Wouldnt trade it.

    • [email protected] Yeah, that last bit, after playing that last mission, and with Roberts’ Ridge in mind… as said below:  it got a little dusty in the house think I left a window open and the wind picked up.

    • [email protected] OK.  Fuck this.  I’m gonna go replay the single player from word go.  Dammit Brandon!  I’m supposed to be de-weeding the back yard, NOW… wife’s gonna come home and find me playing video games.  I’m not getting laid this week.  White pants, Mister.

      • Trango

        [email protected] I know, “the look” all too well…
         

  • Chris Martin

    I was very impressed with how well Greg handled himself in the interview and he ran circles around the editor. I think this little ‘controversy’ probably did way more to sell the game to potential buyers than push them away.
     
    BTW, the single player campaign in MOH (2010) was excellent and this one seems to be shaping up to be even better from what we’ve seen thus far. I really appreciate that the development team does their homework.

  • gaelichunter

    So, he critiques the game, but does not play it.  Critiques the realism of combat and (I’m guessing here) without serving in a SOF Group.  If that were not enough, he bitches on the internet about all of it and makes himself a “critic” (I had never heard of him, but I’m the wrong demographic by a long shot) by complaining about all of the popular games.  
     
    This guy “Tom” is out of his mind.  CoD Black Ops – sold 650MUSD in 5 days when it was released.  Greg is correct – he is in the entertainment business.  “Tommy” should go back to academia or playing with his controller.

  • Ben K

    I don’t even understand why this was a controversy – video games are about entertainment, not realism.  If I was playing MoH 2010 realistically, I would have been killed 10 times over before I was halfway through the first mission.  The experience I was expecting was the chaos, the explosions, the noise and the terror of battle, and on some small level, that’s exactly what I got.  When I want to be in an action movie, I play Call of Duty (I liked Modern Warfare, even 3 – so sue me).  I don’t see the gear and the storytelling as realism, I see them as attention to detail, which I can definitely respect.  I just wish MoH’s campaign was longer (hell yeah TSgt. Ybarra) and I’m looking forward to Warfighter as well.
     
    I’ve been seeing trailers for another Spec Ops-themed game (Spec Ops – The Line) doing the rounds.  Thoughts on that?  According to what I’ve heard, it’s setting up to be Apocalypse Now in Dubai with sandstorms.

    • [email protected] K I understand how you feel.  I have mixed feelings about them, but I don’t let it bother me because I’m not the Empress of the Universe so I have no control over such things.  When I have the time (or now the $$ to get a new machine) – I enjoy them because they’re simulators for me.  For some of the population with poor frontal lobes, they can desensitize an cause them to act out. (“On Killing” LtCol Dave Grossman discusses this).  In my lifetime I certainly have seen a lot of things on TV and movies imitated mostly in a harmless way like the sales frenzy of the Model 29 during the Dirty Harry times, but just for a few examples (and they’re the only ones which were reported) the guy who used his car to run over groups or a group of people after Death Race 2000, the fellow who drove his car into a police station (I don’t remember if his intent was to assault after) after Terminator and no one said anything but I’d bet big $$$ that the North Hollywood bank robbers loved Heat.  Still, I’d love to have a good new fast video player but I’ll never be a problem for anyone (who doesn’t threaten me).

    • TylerMFarley

      [email protected] K Spec Ops- the Line looked very promising prior to the beta demo release, but I became fairly disappointed after playing a day or two of it. It has very unique dynamics, but the execution was so-so. It will probably be worth a borrow or a buy/return, but not a pre-order.

  • eeek.  I am on a seriously tight budget.  So what do I do?  Go the the Princeton Tec link and now I have one on the way.  I wish the IR one wasn’t so restricted though 😉  Not only that – this place is so darned addictive that I didn’t get out until 4pm!!!!!  I’m old enough that I used to occasionally go to an arcade and play Area 51 and stand and grip the pistol in a realistic way to get multiple target and no shoot practice.

    • Ben K

      [email protected] I used to work as an attendant at one of the local arcades.  Loved watching genuinely skilled people play but I cringed whenever I walked by the House of the Dead machine because everyone would hold the light guns gangsta style.  It doesn’t even add anything and probably makes your arm more tired because you’re (a) holding it one-handed and (b) throwing the weight around with your exaggerated gangsta movements.

      • [email protected] K Love it! A man after my own heart!  I think I hate seeing people do the gangsta thing more than I hate hearing “clip” being misused or maybe even rap music! 🙂

      • Trango

        [email protected] [email protected] Loved House of the Dead. One of my favorite pastimes on base was to plug about $5 in quarters into the machine and shoot zombies while sucking down Rolling Rocks. Never shot gangster style though…
         

        • [email protected]@Ben K Haha Go Trango!

        • Ben K

          [email protected]@Trango  I was down at Fort Hamilton the other week and they had a cabinet for the original HotD down in one of the mess halls.  It was like going back in time.

  • skunkworks

    Why not focus on the Real World support and respect for the community? Why isolate and criticize a medium specifically tailored to be entertaining? A Video game will never be War and its absurd to try and position your argument based on an impossible and undesirable trait. This guy had too much self righteous and not enough brain. I liked Greg before this and I like him even more now. This “journalist” needs some feedback and could use an extended vacation to ponder the industry he works in and how seriously he takes his job.
    Thanks for posting B.
     

    • Ben K

      [email protected] I think that a small part of it is the struggle of video games for mainstream acceptance.  You can see it occasionally in journalism involving hobbies that sorta tread the borderland between people saying “wow that’s awesome” and people giving you bizarre looks.  Things like video games or japanese cartoons or what have you.  Because they struggle to justify themselves, there will always be a few journalists in these areas that take themselves too seriously.
       
      Not every video game / anime / weird european thingy is trying to be a modern art masterpiece, no matter how much we wish it were.

      • skunkworks

        [email protected] K Very well said.

  • ThomasVictorio

    Well I find the interviewer to be fixated on things that video games are just not… including this title.
    But I like how patient Greg is with him!

  • mrader

    the dude needs to play the game before opening his mouth! Greg and the team did a great job on this game!

  • mor

    Wow, I’m really impressed with Greg.  Great patience and professionalism when faced with someone that is ignorant and closed minded.  Video games are just that, games.  Greg and his crew are providing a form of entertainment and are using that medium to bring awareness to the men and women who bravely and selflessly serve our great country.  What did Greg and his crew do to this twerp to make him go out of his way to slam them? 

    • Ben K

      [email protected] Nothing directly, my guess is that this issue was just something that had been bothering him for awhile (things like regenerating health aren’t universally accepted in the video gaming community for various reasons, “realism” being one of them), and seeing the demonstration of Warfighter at E3 with Greg talking up the realism was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.  For all we know, he may just have an axe to grind against first-person shooters generally, or military shooters, or something else entirely.

      • Chris Martin

        [email protected] [email protected] I wasn’t aware of the editor prior to this deal, but I’ve since read elsewhere that this has been a long-standing pet peeve of his (not just MoH but military FPSs in general). Although, if it’s that long-standing, you would think he would have been better prepared to present his case…
         
        Anyway, for the record, Greg has always gone out of his way to never call the game ‘realistic.’ ‘Authentic’ is the mantra as opposed to ‘realistic’ and Danger Close uses the two words to mean distinctly different things, although I suppose you could get caught up in a battle of semantics if you really wanted to.
         
        And that’s not a new thing used simply to backtrack for this video debate — check out this NY Times piece from two years ago, which mentions Medal of Honor (2010)’s ST6 and Delta consultants, who asked the developers to back down on the realism in some areas:
         
        “Goodrich says the consultants helped to make the game “authentic and plausible” rather than “accurate and realistic.”
         
        http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12military-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
         

  • SleazyWeazel

    Just posted today:  www.medalofhonor.com/project-honor

  • Frosty

    Greg deserves a slow clap for his performance in that interview. Tom was completely unprofessional and a complete idiot throughout the whole thing. Greg should have kicked him in the throat as soon as Tom started to talk and said this is for pretending you know shit about military life. You want to see real war why don’t you walk into a recruiting office ask to join.

  • SEAN SPOONTS

    I agree about MoH being the standard when it comes to authenticity. I also liked the part where Goodrich says that no video game can accurately portray combat. I’ve had those discussion with people who think it does(First of all and last of all, you’re sitting on your living room couch guys). That being said, the game does offer immersion. I loved the little details like the dust and flying bugs. I thought the Apache mission was GREAT. The flying was very smooth and simulator like, I even found myself reflexively tilting my head in the banks and turns. The chatter in the cockpit felt very accurate. The fight down the hill to the extraction was very good and really got your heart rate up and adrenaline flowing. I also liked that you had to shoot from cover to survive, that the enemy AI was at the ‘elite-retard’ level versus the ‘drooling-retard’ level on display in most games. The worst immersion break for me was the restrictive terrain and where you could move on the maps. I wish we could use more of the map for cover. It would make replays more realistic.

    • Ben K

      [email protected] SPOONTS Something along the lines of Crysis or Far Cry, you mean?  Absolutely.  Medal of Honor still falls into the Call of Duty trap of being too arcade-y with its level design.  It’s easier for scripting cinematic setpieces I think, like when the Rangers and SEALs link up and come out of that tunnel and get to see the Afghan sunrise.

      • [email protected] [email protected] SPOONTS More dynamic and sand-box-y level design would add to the replayability.  In MoH, on the Tier 1 mode (LOL) once you play a mission through a few times you can predict AI really really easily.  After that it’s just hand-eye coord practice.

      • SEAN SPOONTS

        @Ben K Yeah, don’t get me wrong. I loved the game. If it’s even proper to call them ‘games.’ I tend to see them more like movies that you get to play a role in than games now-a-days. So I really appreciate the cinematics in them. I would also add that MoH does a better job with night time scenarios than anybody else out there. It’s just the right blend of light and shadow.

    • HugeFan

      [email protected] SPOONTS
       Preach on about being able to use cover and accessing clearly attainable positions. Now because I have 100% NO CLUE how to write video game language I don’t want to sound condescending or somehow knowledgeable about how to do this but it would seem to me that preventing a player from being able to break doors or jump up a foot onto a cover offering ledge would not diminish from the difficulty of any game. Frankly, in an interesting twist, I find it equally absurd that one cannot follow common-sense logic while under fire due to restrictions in the program yet there are often “flaws” (glitches) in the game that the 12 and 13 yr olds have down before I even get the fuckin’ thing unwrapped. NOW THAT IS FRUSTRATING!

      • SEAN SPOONTS

        @HugeFan Lol. And when you ask these same 12 and 13 year olds to fold their laundry and put it away they act like you just asked them to plan a mission to Venus. How does that work? I do get your point. A couple of times in the game I thought; ‘let me get on that roof and I can rain it down on the bad guys.’ Nope. Or; ‘Let me just scramble 10 yards up this embankment to that boulder and I can shoot into that machine gun bunker’…..ahh nope. It doesn’t ruin the game but it breaks you out of the experience if you know what I mean.

  • Trango

    I see Magpul just officially announced itself (via fb feed) as an industry partner with MoH. I’m hoping that MoH will set a new precedence in the gaming community by showing that these games, while making money off of the “cool” factor of military operations, should also support and give back to those who gave all in the real world operations.

  • StevenHildreth

    That Gamestop guy is a fucking hippie. And he seriously need to know his role. If you’re gonna criticize a game, at least PLAY it. That’s like criticizing a book or a film without having partaken in it first.

  • HugeFan

    Greg kicks ass. He handled himself extremely well, this ass-clown McShea needs to look for new line of work.

  • Shane A

    Greg is a fucking bad ass! This is why I am applying for a job at EALA (Danger Close) this fall. This McShea guy is a fucking idiot and needs to be fired. 

  • Drake P

    Tom McShea is the type of idiot that ruins gaming.  I love games like Red Orchestra.  You know why? CAUSE THEY’RE FUN!  He wants a FPS game that isn’t fun?  He thinks games like Red Orchestra are good because they’re not fun?  Is this guy retarded?  The whole point of entertainment in any medium is to have fun.  Whether it be through someth’n arcadey like CoD, or simulated like Arma, and everything in between.  When playing it, your having fun.  Every-bodies definition of fun varies, that’s why we have all these different types of games.  Greg handled himself remarkably well and professional.  Tom was less of a professional and more like a kid in special needs class.

  • BrianHess

    I’m doubtful having a Princeton Tec light on a character’s helmet is going to change the gameplay. Something like a SureFire weapon light will likely make a much larger impact on the player’s experience.
     
    Perhaps Princeton Tec didn’t approach the developers, and the developers didn’t approach Princeton Tec for practical reasons.
     
    MoH 2010 is a great game, MoH 2012 will no doubt be just as great.

  • Viking Six

    Thought i’d share a Screenshot from in game footage of Singleplayer of MoH:W. https://plus.google.com/photos/107463031787143617695/albums/5756528316284107713?authkey=CPi3-6eiqrqP1AE

    • Viking Six

      It shows the  Princeton Tec Charge light mounted on the side of his Ops Core Ballistic helmet. also with a Manta Strobe.

    • [email protected] Six I may have a url for you to link to soon….  just got the MPLS Charge, but I don’t have a k-pot which is on my wish list (no I’m not crazy, I live in earthquake and riot country <grin>) – or get a mounting kit to put on my bicycle helmet.

      • [email protected] Six Voilà!  I enlarged and tried to enhance it to bring out detail without the jaggies and keep the exposure/saturation right.  I just realized, that’s a perfect Moroccan colored house – must be popular there.
        http://twolftfeet.com/sofrep/medal-of-honor-warfighter1a.jpg

  • HugeFan
  • poidog22

    That guy conducting the interview is a dumbass. What the fuck dont he understand.

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