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Battlefield and Medal of Honor audiences different, says EA

Labels president Frank Gibeau says publisher is "very careful" to make clear the differences between shooter franchises to avoid "sequel fatigue."

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Electronic Arts' two major shooter franchises--Battlefield and Medal of Honor--have been intentionally designed to attract different gamers, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said in the latest issue of the Game Informer magazine (via Attack of the Fanboy). The executive claimed that only half of Medal of Honor gamers also play Battlefield, and this was a result of planning.

EA wants to make sure Battlefield and Medal of Honor are different experiences, Gibeau says.
EA wants to make sure Battlefield and Medal of Honor are different experiences, Gibeau says.

"We are very careful that Battlefield and Medal of Honor stay differentiated," Gibeau said. "There is an inefficiency to having two different brands coming out alternating like that; there is some upside. You don't have the annualized, sequel fatigue. With Medal of Honor we tried to embrace that the game is real. The multiplayer is different than Battlefield. We're trying to use a sequencing strategy to keep it as fresh and different as possible."

Gibeau explained further, saying EA did research and found the Medal of Honor community enjoys "more authentic shooters and the story." Additionally, he stated that the real task is "figuring out how to grow both of them together." For more on the latest entries in both franchises, check out GameSpot's review of Battlefield 3 and latest preview of this October's Medal of Honor Warfighter.

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cccp3000

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I don't want to think about all of that, just give me a gun and unleash me.

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blue_shift_91

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whatever. just make sure it's not another CoD.

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RAGEofSTUNTS

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Make Medal of Honor like COD, which they seem to have already done with the first one and B3, and make Battlefield a Bad Company experience, though the actual Bad Company games should be more fiction-ish like the previous ones.

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Hrodwulf666

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@RAGEofSTUNTS The first part of that doesn't make much sense mate.

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VintAge68

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Wise decision, but how will this work: at once differentiating and growing together both franchises...?

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nameaprice

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SOMEONE SEND ME A PLACE TO DOWNLOAD "vietcong" PLEASE!!! I used to kill in on Vietnam and that less known game "vietcong". that game was too good, super realistic guns loading and jamming. i averaged like 56K to 12D

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rann89

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Dude is worried about sequel fatigue yet they're already working on Battlefield 4 before Battlefield 3's second out of four expansions is even out.

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triadwarfare

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@rann89 Battlefield 4 will probably just be like BF3 but will include all the things they intentionally left out from BF3. Proper VOIP support, BFBC like SP, unrestricted dedicated servers (i'm hoping, but it's very unlikely due to internal EA politics), the removal of the lens flare, and the distraction caused by the sun (hoping to get the bfbc2 style sun which isn't distracting).

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Hrodwulf666

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@triadwarfare Those were the days... Used to love that game.

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nameaprice

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@triadwarfare kinda dont want the lens flare and sun blind to go, a little more realistic ya know? and it can be used to ur advantage some times, one more weapon/tactic?

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triadwarfare

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@brokenleglad just to ensure that what we have the same idea on what we are arguing about, lens flare is also known as the 'dirty lens effect' and not the reflection caused by the sniper scope. I'd say, for the sake of realism, lens flare must go since the visuals kinda looks like it was taken from a cheap videocam. If you insist on retaining the 'dirty lens', it should be localized to only when you're looking through a scope or through a camera because you won't really see lens flare with your naked eye unless you have lived your whole life wearing glasses.

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nameaprice

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@triadwarfare yea but thats what would happen in real life at certain times of day...

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deactivated-61b373e886fd9

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@triadwarfare lens flare should stay sniper noob, pick up a mans gun and play the game instead of hiding

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triadwarfare

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@nameaprice As for lens flare... It really has to go. Totally unrealistic. They could localize the lens flare when you're looking through your scope. Try to look directly at the sun if you can see lens flare through your eyes.

For the sun, they should reduce it's effects... probably the BFBC2 sun is just enough. This is a game and games need balance. If the sun's the reason why you got killed just because the sun shined too strong to see the enemy... it kinda pisses me off.

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danielcliment

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I'm fed up with this sand pit games style, having a bunch of REDBULL over dozed 12 old kids running around in the map shooting like there is no tomorrow is worst than a strobe light flashing at your face....

I think game developers are paying more attention to this king of gamers, fast, furious, lack of style, zero retention, short spam memory, and no interest what so ever about that old game mode called "CO-OP" non of that.... the second the game start, every one runs like a fu....ing psico to every random direction, and that same wave of gamer are flooding into BF3, and turning in into a "run with a LAV on your one and leave the rest srtanded" kind of game, that's why, I believe they dont utilize all the map....:(

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nameaprice

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@danielcliment I will say the best experiance is when i play with three really tactically involved people. sooooo fun your like jumpin outta ur seat/ falling on the floor laughing cause of what just happened on screan :)

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stan_boyd

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@danielcliment You make it sound like the other BF's were any different, but I remember in BF2 people running around on their own, snipers taking vehicle and going way out to the middle of nowhere with them leaving other members stranded so they could get to their perch fast where they would just sit there the whole match etc.

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rann89

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@stan_boyd @danielcliment BF2 had much more team play, but I'm sure that was because of VOIP.

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danielcliment

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@stan_boyd LOL I have to admit I've never played BF2, so I'm considered as a NOOB in this game, BF3 is the first one on this series and I think is a terrific game. I just got sick if the 300MPH massacre in all the MW's and Cod's.... BF3 at least offers the opportunity to co operate and play together as a team, of course in the "real gaming world", like you well said, that just doesn't happen. Sad.

So I'll keep playing my way, with a group sense and if I have a vehicle, wait for others!! and sing Kumbayaaaa!

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nameaprice

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@stan_boyd I used to kill in on Vietnam and that less known game "vietcong". that game was too good, super realistic guns loading and jamming. i averaged like 56K to 12D

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nameaprice

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@stan_boyd I will say the best experiance is when i play with three really tactically involved people. sooooo fun your like jumpin outta ur seat/ falling on the floor laughing cause of what just happened on screan :)

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danielcliment

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@stan_boyd I will!!

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stan_boyd

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@danielcliment Heh kinda ironic, I just left a clan cause some of the members were immature idiots who liked to toss racial slurs around, I am currently looking for another clan right now, if you know any clans looking for people who primarily play assault or support gunner let me know :P

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danielcliment

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@stan_boyd can I join you clan?! LOL I swear I'm not thaaaaaaat bad!!! :)

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stan_boyd

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@danielcliment key word to getting the most of your BF3 experience is CLAN, find a good clan that works well as a team and you will have more fun.

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DriftEJ20

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@stan_boyd @danielcliment

I agree. Battlefield has never been a game that was like you were screwed if you weren't tactical. What the real difference made was that Battlefield was harder to pick up and less forgiving than some other games so people with low attention spans would stop playing, and for whatever reason the game seems to screw you more if you go off on your own. But really in either game you can do whatever you want if you're good enough. That and the rock paper scissors with vehicles, but as the game evolved it's been more focussed on infantry combat than the days of BF1942 where you would either camp spawn for a vehicle, or walk for 45 minutes and die eventually without doing anything.

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nameaprice

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@brok hahaha love it!

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brok

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@DriftEJ20 bf1942 is still the only one that got the balance of pretty much everything just right. Well, 'cept for the Katyusha health and the TNT blast radius... that goddamned TNT blast radius...

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DarthLod

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I don't care nor want either franchise, CODMW included. I have no interest in the MP aspects and crazy nor the obsessive and egotistical competitive garbage that is in everything now ruining gaming now days. Maybe when they get back to focusing on the SP like the old games I would care, but until then I wont. I quit COD at COD3.

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BestJinjo

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@DarthLod I really enjoyed the "old school" multiplayer with 3-4 friends in games like Goldeneye, Halo, COD:MW2 on consoles (I play on the PC also). However, I hate playing multiplayer with random people by myself online. What's the point of pawning people you'll never meet in your life? With real world friends, you can have some cheers, chips and have a week night engrossed in awesome multiplayer gaming. I guess people nowdays have no real world friends and think their virtual clan friends are real! heheI also agree with you that shooters can have a great storyline and be interesting as single player games - Half Life 1/2, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, No One Lives Forever, etc. Today though, most FPS games are junk: 5-6 hour campaign that guides you through the game via cinematic cut scenes!

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BestJinjo

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@DarthLod *I meant beers not cheers.

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stan_boyd

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@DarthLod There are plenty of good SP games still coming out. I think online multiplayer has made gaming funner, before xbox 360 I was a complete casual only playing maybe 4-5 hours a weeks because I just got bored playing bymyself. Now I play anywhere from 20-40 hours a week.

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koospetoors

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Of course Medal of Honour is different, its going to get a special edition exclusively just for the military, that's how hardcore this revolutionary new Call of Duty clone is!

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Hotswagle7

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if MOH has 24 player battles in ridiculously small maps and all of the guns are the same and have no recoil, this game will suck.

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Mom_said_no

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What a load of BS lol, MOH is just the 2nd part of BF3 we didn't get.

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CptRexKramer

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" EA did research and found the Medal of Honor community enjoys "more authentic shooters and the story."

Oh please. EA did the research and decided they'd simply try to clone Activision's COD and try to muscle in on milking that cash cow. Plain and simple. Battlefield, as someone stated below, is a beast unto itself. Medal of Honor, on the other hand, is a joke. If I wanted to play COD, I'd play COD. Not some wreck of a rip-off.

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triadwarfare

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@CptRexKramer CoD destroyed their realism starting in MW2. Since no one's playing CoD4 anymore, I might as well jump to MoH Warfighter. I play battlefield, but I rarely get a kill because everyone else is good at it. Whenever I play tank, I get exploded out of nowhere because someone I didn't see snuck a C4 behind my tank and whenever I play support, it's just like my opponent's tanks are eagle eyed and would kill me from where I'm hiding as if they already knew I was there (even if I was hiding from the bushes). Whenever I play jet, it's hard to get a kill but it seems easy for my opponents.

Plus, I look forward to playing MoH on the Frostbite engine with proper VOIP support, coop with chat, and no battlelog.

You can't say that CoD is an 'authentic shooter'. It never is anymore. CoD tends to a different market.

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wizzzer_thy_133

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thats actually a pretty good strategy compared to COD, which does one thing and is to outdo itself with bloated ridiculousness. the problem is that so far Medal of Honor feels like an amalgamation of COD and Battlefield and unfortunately it inharited their bad parts more than their better.

Battlefield truly is a beast of it's own, and MOH isn't. MOH relays on "authenticity" and it's love to special forces... thats thematically a pretty positive thing, but that's a theme rather than a gameplay element or the experience.

the other problem is that DICE still are big dog around i don't see how Danger Close have half the charisma and expertise to match them and match the "Battlefield" experience.

i still can't see how Warfighter compare to a game where you can jump out of a jet, RPG the jet chasing you and jump back into the jet.

there is a reason Battlefield is so popular, yes it's a millitary first person shooter- but it's a different type of shooter, it's bigger, it's mechanized and it's actually a sandbox experience.

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ZOD777

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I don't think they are all that different when you look at the single player aspect. MOH is just a watered down COD (as far as theatrics), and BF was just a bit more polished (engine, lighting, graphics), but all in all, I don't see a huge difference in the single player of both games.

To say that people aren't fans of both might be somewhat true, but I think seeing as how they are both shooters, it isn't like we are comparing Skyrim to Madden or something along those lines. What is probably a better assertion is that COD fans are more likely to gravitate toward MOH since there is no vehicle combat and the game lends itself better to lone wolf strategy, whereas BF is more of a tactical team oriented shooter.

That being said, I think what he really means is, "MOH is our attempt to recreate COD, and take some of that fan base, while BF is intended to stay closer to it's roots." I just hope that the next BF game totally leaves single player out.

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RiP_ili

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@ZOD777 COD came out in 2003. BF 1942 in 2002. The first MoH came out several years before that. How is MoH a watered down COD? MoH practically invented this genre.

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ZOD777

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@RiP_ili Frank is talking about MOH from 2010, not the entire series that has been on XBOX for years.

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brok

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@RiP_ili @ZOD777 Newsflash: there has been more than one game in each series. And the style of each of those games has changed. Nobody here's talking about the initial releases, and MOH invented nothing.

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brok

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@triadwarfare Ohh man, somebody get this guy their own show! He's hilarious! Unless you're being serious, of course, in which case that's pretty damn sad.

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triadwarfare

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@brok You really are ignorant. You have to admit that before there was BFBC2 and the frostbite engine, CoD 4 was the best DURING ITS TIME (because all other games were sh!t) Can you give me one good game that was released during and before 2007 that has both good singleplayer and multiplayer? Everyone's tired of CS:S and BF2's graphics are already stale at that time.

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brok

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@triadwarfare Hahahaha! Best blend! HAHAHAHA! Oh god... stop, you're killing me here! Hahahaha!

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triadwarfare

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@brok no game is ever truly realistic. at least CoD4 was the best blend between realism and hollywood effects during it's time. After that, they went to total fantasy as if the Matrix world was real.

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brok

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@triadwarfare You're implying COD4 was realistic? BAHAHAHA!

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triadwarfare

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@brok remember that CoD deviated from realism starting MW2. MoH is just bringing the realism back.

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brok

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@stan_boyd I think it was a ripoff of COD:MW as well. What's your point though?

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stan_boyd

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@brok I don't know time lines, but I know that MOH didn't try modern warfare style til AFTER CoD was already successful with it, so maybe the first MOH was out before the first COD, but modernizing MOH and the style they did it with thier Tier 1 and over the top cinematic sequences was pretty much a clear ripoff of COD:MW

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