And Now Medal of Honor: Warfighter Has Bin Laden-Themed DLC

Remember when Medal of Honor: Warfighter developer Danger Close Gamessaid it would avoid cashing in on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, because it "wasn't their story to tell?" Well, they're still not telling that story, thankfully. However, EA has found an alternate way to cash in on the hunt for the world's most notorious terrorist in the only way EA really knows how: through a marketing deal with a license holder.

Today, EA announced a partnership with Sony Pictures to release a downloadable map pack for Warfighter based on the upcoming film Zero Dark Thirty. The movie, which is directed by The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow, is based on the years-long manhunt for Bin Laden across various parts of the Middle East. This DLC pack will include two locations in Pakistan: the notorious Darra gun market, and the northern Chitral region, where Bin Laden purportedly hid out for an extended period.

In order to perhaps make this whole thing seem a bit less disgusting, EA will be donating $1 from each map pack download to its Project Honor campaign, an initiative the publisher founded to donate to various military charities. A minimum of $1 million will be donated out of the profits from the map pack.

While that's all well and good, there is literally no way to do anything related to Bin Laden at this point that doesn't look like a cheap publicity grab. The fact that this multiplayer pack is such a tangential relation to the hunt for Bin Laden altogether makes the association with Bigelow's film even weirder. It's not as if EA is licensing plot and/or characters from the movie. They're literally slapping a brand on a map pack and invoking the specter of Bin Laden for the sake of "authenticity."

Sorry EA, but when it comes to authentic Bin Laden hunting, your game was beaten years ago.

funny how they have the same fighting style.

i sure am glad i wont be purchasing this heap of shite....

I liked that FBI hunting videogame, the fights were kinda hard from what I recall

Really EA? Really?

What Jeff said about the game during the PAX Panel is dead on, they're trying to make a good game, the teams commited, but every time they open their PR mouth.....

@QKT said:

funny how they have the same fighting style.

they both received the same CIA training.

The epic knee kick at the end of the video really sells it.

Well I'm going to run out and pre-order 5 copies now.

I remember F. Hunter ... what a game!

What I want to know is, what real gun would best go with this map pack? Maybe EA could recommend something...

@QKT said:

funny how they have the same fighting style.

they both received the same CIA training.

FUGITIVE HUNTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Osama has a mean uppercut

*facepalm* ugh.

just go all out and have a team of bin laden vs a group of troops

If I shoved my face into my palm anymore I'd have a hole in my head.

Jesus Christ.

It would have been hilarious if that giant leaping knee at the end wold have just knocked him out of the other side of the copter totally negating the fight and capture before it. That would have been such a commentary on the entire war... way to miss an oppurtunity to spread a political message Black Ops Entertainment.

@BlastProcessing said:

FUGITIVE HUNTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

"Bulletproof vest; shot to the chest" fo life!

I feel slightly embarrassed by this, but having watched this trailer, I'm actually very intrigued by the game. The weapon variety looks fun, and the tech looks decent for an early 00's game.

Thanks OBAMA!

Train wreck.

@CptBedlam: Exactly! He pull the trigger and a real President! We need innovation in the US and stop outsourcing everything!

@GAMEPHRENIC said:

If anyone does not realize how GREAT MOHW is, then your a complete idiot. My copy has been ordered. Its also likely, those that does not pick up #MOHW likely lives with their Mom and needs permission to purchase a game.

Its a Man's Game, so keep being a COD Noob, only real Men are allowed on MOHW....hate that the future is here and stay small minded. Intelligent Men will purchase #MOHW, the rest are just kids!

Are you having a stroke?

You could be better then this EA.

@benson said:

@QKT said:

funny how they have the same fighting style.

they both received the same CIA training.

There is no way this will go wrong

No wonder they shot Bin Laden in the head, with a mean roundhouse like that, you just can't risk it!

The proceeds from this better go to Al Qaeda and Bin Laden's 20 children.

They'll have dedicated servers constantly running as_Abbotabad.

@benson said:

@QKT said:

funny how they have the same fighting style.

they both received the same CIA training.

Ha!

I really wish this whole Bin Laden thing could just stop. I get it, he was a terrible man who led a terrorist organization. I get it, it was a huge triumph when the US finally killed him. Can't we just let the man die now and let this moment in time be relived only in history classes.

Anyone thinking of making a game based on his assassination or even making a multiplayer map based on it, really need to give their head a shake and ask themselves if this really makes the game better or will it sell any more copies? I really hope there are not people out there who will buy the game solely for that map.

Maybe because I am not from the US, I do not fully understand how much this guy actually meant to them but god damn, just let it go at this point. The US got him, end of story.

Wtf is that game? It's like the ending of Metal Gear Solid 4 up in there

Ok are EA pulling some type of elaborate existential joke? Somehow making a parody of their own absurd image as corporate soulless sellouts by actually outdoing the stereotype and being even worse than the joke? Oh EA what happened... You were on the path to interesting things a few short years ago.

Oh... it's another EA COD clone. lol

I hope they loop a Linkin Park song in the background for these maps. That would make it a super authentic experience.

@spilledmilkfactory: That, my friend, is Fugitive Hunter.

I remember the days when those kill Bin Laden flash games and videos were a thing...

I didn't know they were already making a film about everything leading up to his demise, however! It is a little odd that Medal of Honor: Warfighter is trying to take from it, though.

I'm probably one of the few people who will look at this and just shrug. At least they are donating to a charity which is more than you can say for a lot of other triple A developers, and it's basically a map pack so whatever. Not a big deal.

In order to perhaps make this whole thing seem a bit less disgusting, EA will be donating $1 from each map pack download to its Project Honor campaign,

...and they'll probably charge $3 extra to cover that.

@TrafalgarLaw said:

Alex Navarro How about the sacrifices tens of thousands afghans and THeIR families made? Half of afghanistan is destroyed in the hunt of 1 man and yet I don't see you writing a single word about it. Now that IS shameful.

Because he's a games journalist not a CNN editor?

Oh and trying not to offend anyone is the short track to unfunny writing.

Oh fucking well.
 
Hey Internet, you're overreacting. But then that's business as usual.
 
edit: Also fuck you guys. Zero Dark Thirty is most importantly a song. If you see that title and think "oh the 2012 movie?" You're doing it wrong.

This is good anti-piracy policy. Make game so bad that no one would even play it for free.

Osama Bin Lahden / Where ya been hahdin'?

We comin' for you / on the PS2.

This is the reason why I have a sealed, mint condition copy of Fugitive Hunter on my shelf.

bin laden was totally turtling in that video. what a newb!

Maybe there will be an underwater themed level?????? He WAS buried at sea??????

All this talk of authenticity reminds me of this:

*facepalm*

Oh, ok, now we're getting self-righteous about using modern-day warfare to sell video games. Not in 2007, but now. Because we're using bin Laden's image instead of just tossing generic soldiers with no names into a meat grinder. The latter's fine, but this ... this will not stand.

Got it.

I dont understand why every press release that comes out of EA about MOHW completely marginalizes the main draws of the game. There like hey guys we made an "authentic military experience that respectfully captures the experience of the troops" and then start advertising real guns, giving moronic interviews, having shitty nu-metal-pop band linkin park do your soundtrack like your making an advertisment and now having multiplayer battles on a historical site that is still a very tender subject for most americans.

It seems like they are trying to offer a more realistic and gritty product than COD to lure away some of that audience but are advertising the game like its even more of a rediculous spectacle than even that game. It makes me think there is some conspiracy for EA to dive on its own sword :P

this game is a bad taste extravaganza.