MOH dev: Try it before you judge us

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 12 October, 2010

Taliban furore just a "misunderstanding".

Medal of Honor developer Danger Close Games has urged gamers to try controversial Afghanistan shooter Medal of Honor before judging it.

The furore sparked by being able to kill US troops as the Taliban in MOH's DICE-developed multiplayer portion was all just a "misunderstanding", the EA-owned developer insisted.

Weeks before release EA and Danger Close decided to change the name of Medal of Honor's bad guys multiplayer faction from Taliban to Opposing Force – a move slammed by analysts.

In a statement executive producer Greg Goodrich said the decision was taken in response to feedback from soldiers and their families.

"It's just a misunderstanding," Danger Close marketing director Craig Owens told Joystiq.

"I think eventually, as guys like us - I'm 42 years old, right? - so as I get older and stuff, we're becoming a world of gamers that are gonna be at all levels and I think that'll go away.

"It's just one of those transition points, where people who don't play games still think they're just for 12-year-olds and they're just all fun and games and they could never really tell a story like a movie does."

Owens refuted the suggestion the removal of the Taliban was an attempt to convince US shop GameStop to go back on its decision to refuse to sell the game at its Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores.

"Really the big thing was playing as a Taliban killing US troops," he said. "So we basically just changed it to 'Opfor' - which is a term they [the US Armed Forces] use, some of our competitors use - more out of respect."

Last month Goodrich told Eurogamer Medal of Honor uses the Afghanistan war, Taliban insurgents and Al-Qaeda because that's where the game's stars, the Tier One Operators, were deployed.

Medal of Honor is out in the UK on Friday. Eurogamer's review will be published at 2pm BST today.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • djed #1 2 years ago

    'give us money (before you judge us)'

  • KRadiation #2 2 years ago

    Give us a demo before you ask us to buy it

  • Boomerang #3 2 years ago

    The sensationalisation of this situation by the media does my tits in.

    Gamers - y'know, the people who'll be buying and playing it, (as opposed to politicians spouting rhetoric in exchange for votes) - don't give a shit if the opposing forces are made up of Girls Aloud or our gran, we just want a decent game with which to shoot people in the face.

  • Cronan #4 2 years ago

    The review embargo for this game lifts today at 2pm BST, we'll get a better idea then.

    I'm still going to wait to see what normal people say about the multiplayer - reviewers very seldom get a good idea of what the multiplayer really is like, they play it for too short a time, normally under unnatural conditions.

    According to a few early starters, the single player game is less than six hours long, and they weren't able to review the multiplayer, as the servers weren't up.

    Scores so far
    Gamers.at – 87%
    CVG – 8.5/10
    PlanetXbox360 – 77%
    IncGamers – 8/10
    Edited by Cronan at 12/10/10 @ 09:12

  • CaptainQuint #5 2 years ago

    Like Black Ops, I shall be renting this purely for the campaign.

  • SBfistfun #6 2 years ago

    Are they releasing a demo for this?

    If there's no demo, I can't try it!

  • Shikasama #7 2 years ago

    Nothing to do with the Taliban marketing stunt. More to do with it being a proto-American ubermacho piece of patriotic crap palette swapped from BFBC2.

    But worse.

  • beastmaster #8 2 years ago

    Wonder if EG are going to just review the SP as well?

  • Seoh #9 2 years ago

    ouch, this must mean their pre-orders are a little low if they are begging people to try the game

  • coolbritannia #10 2 years ago

    He sounds desperate, projected sales must have nosedived. Between Reach and Black ops I got no room for this anyway.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #11 2 years ago

    I shall be trying it very soon I hope. Zavvi shipped my copy today.

    Managed to pick up the PS3 limited edition for just under £30.

  • MinerWilly #12 2 years ago

    Its only the second game i have pre-ordered (brand new) this year , the main reason is so i can get into the BF3 beta . If its cack and I dont believe it will be i can trade it in for F1 or GT5 or Red Dead or any other number of great games I have yet to get this year .
    I have read some reviews and its picking up a very respectable 8/10 and the multiplayer has been highly rated , since when was 8/10 a bad score !! There are comments on various sites giving it a dogs abuse for getting 8/10 !!

  • arcam #13 2 years ago

    Goodrich: "It's just one of those transition points, where people who don't play games still think they're just for 12-year-olds and they're just all fun and games and they could never really tell a story like a movie does."

    Boomerang, +6: "don't give a shit if the opposing forces are made up of Girls Aloud or our gran, we just want a decent game with which to shoot people in the face."

    Maybe the people who don't play games have a point...

  • Machetazo #14 2 years ago

    #3 Nail. Head. I think it's incredibly cheeky, to request people "try" your game, but, then, rely on the point, that you've not given them any way to see for themselves, before buying, anyway! It's utter crap to try that.

  • RevanNL #15 2 years ago

    fixed: Buy before you judge us (and we don't care if you judge us as long as you buy a copy)

  • bloodflowers #16 2 years ago

    They should have left it as it was, and told all the people whining about it to grow up and play another game if they don't like it.

  • DefendoCroc #17 2 years ago

    @KRadiation "Give us a demo before you ask us to buy it "

    This ^ .... £40 is a lot to pay for a Frostbite/Unreal frankenstein experiment.

  • Quak #18 2 years ago

    I'm 42 years old, right?

    Couldn't they find someone who at least knows his own age to front the PR?