Medal of Honor shows its resemblance to Modern Warfare

Electronic Arts's long-running first-person shooter franchise "Medal of Honor" is finally taking it's first steps in a "modern" direction when it's newest title - aptly named "Medal of Honor" - hits shelves this fall.

The game's release will come three years after Activision's "Call of Duty" franchise launched "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare." Ironically, the development team from the first two "Medal of Honor" titles defected in the early 2000s to create their own development studio.

Now it seems like EA is trying to play catch-up by mimicking a lot of the visual look of the first two "Modern Warfare" installments with it's newest title set in Afghanistan.

Check out the latest trailer for "Medal of Honor" below:

Dante's Inferno Demo Review

Oddly, a stroll through Hell is nothing new for video game fans.

I'm not talking about the dark ages of the Nintendo 64, I'm talking about the various video game incarnations of the dismal abyss mostly notably the "Devil May Cry" series.

Electronic Art's will soon release "Dante's Inferno" a very loosely-based video game translation of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" written in in the 1300's.

The demo release of the game places protagonist not too surprisingly named "Dante" in a quest to reunite with his slain wife Beatrice - similar to the epic poem.

However, what ensues is an all-too-familiar camaraderie of hack-and-slash action, combo upgrades, magic, and command-based finishing moves.

Basically "God of War" in nearly every way.

A static, yet constantly repositioning, camera work is nearly identical to the popular Sony-exclusive series as is the overall visual flurry of blood splatter and weapon flinging fan fare.

It's certainly not a bad thing to mimic one of the most popular video game franchises as of late, but "Dante's Inferno" is almost exactly "God of War" in every possible way.

In fact, if you mix "God of War" and "Devil May Cry," plus you take a little polish off of each, you have "Dante's Inferno."

Certainly not a bad first-apperance in the free demo, but it feels like more of the same.

Medal of Honor Engages Modern Warfare

Just weeks after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's record breaking release Electronic Arts made an announcement yesterday that the company's popular first-person shooter franchise Medal of Honor will receive a much needed restart.

In a press release the company wrote the typically WWII-only FPS series will explore modern conflicts through the eyes of the elite Tier 1 Operator a military entity under the National Command Authority.

According to the release, development studios and EALA will handle the single-player campaign while EA DICE will design the multiplayer side of the new title set to launch on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC in Fall 2010.

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.

No news on the gameplay of the shooter as of yet, but the story will surround a band of fictional soldiers as they interact with not-so-fictional events in Afghanistan.

Sean Decker, VP and General Manager of EALA, said the new title simply named "Medal of Honor" is going to focus heavily on its narrative.

EA has always been an advocate for telling the soldiers’ story. The new Medal of Honor follows that tradition. We felt it was important to tell the story of today’s war and today’s elite soldiers via today’s most relevant medium – videogames.

It appears that players will encounter possible moral delimmas when facing real life events in one of the most violently active corners of the globe according to the release.

Inspired by real events, Medal of Honor reveals the mission of today’s most elite American soldier – his will, his mindset and his uncompromising professionalism.

As of now there is little on the game's official web site aside from a 9 second video that simply shows what is likely to be the game's tagline "I fight with my mind. My hands and my weapons are an extention of my will."

Finally, eager fans of the series ready to see the franchise take a step away from the oversaturated World War II genre can get a first-look on Spike TV’s 2009 Video Game Awards at 11 p.m. EST/8 p.m. PST Saturday, Dec 12.

Console War May Be Over If Microsoft Buys EA

In an attempt to freak out everyone in the video game industry, there are a flurry of rumors circulating that Microsoft may be planning to purchase Electronic Arts.

Although reuters.com called the recent rumor "unsubstantiated chatter" and seattlepi.com received confirmation from Microsoft spokesman David Dennis who said "There is no truth to this rumor" and "we have no plans to purchase EA," that didn't stop EA stocks from reaching about $20 a share today.

Alas, that affect would a monstrous merger like Microsoft purchasing EA have on the entire industry?

A whole lot.

Electronic Arts has historically been the single largest video game publisher in the industry releasing the most popular franchises on the market such as "Rock Band," Need for Speed," and the hugely popular "Madden" brand in their "EA Sports" line.

If Microsoft purchased EA and dissolved it into its publishing network, all of these multi-platform titles could potentially become Xbox 360 exclusives.

That would mean that you would have to own a Xbox 360 or PC to play "Madden," or even something like "Spore" or "Burnout."

However, we saw the success Microsoft last had with purchasing development studio "Rare." Which has yielded about two games - "Perfect Dark Zero" and "Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts" - which is fewer than the Nintendo 64 received in its heyday.

Because of that, Microsoft may allow select franchises such as all "EA Sports" titles to remain multi-platform while collecting royalties from Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 purchases.

Other franchises could become Xbox 360 exclusive and would create a substantial dent library of games for both Nintendo and Sony making the Xbox 360 a potential forerunner and possible victor in the current console war.

A grim possibility indeed, unless you're a Xbox 360 owner.