The Medal of Honor beta has been more than a promotional tool for developer Danger Close Games (formerly EALA) and DICE. According to a recent post on the official PlayStation blog, the studios have been re-tooling and fixing portions of the final game based specifically on beta user response and complaints. In other words, its been treating the beta like a real beta.
According to the blog post, technical problems like the game's spotty hit detection and crashing bugs have been addressed. Now, supposedly, every bullet that hits an opponent registers as a bullet instead of a low-velocity beanbag. And even better, the game won't shudder and crash every sixteen seconds! Neat!
Content is being added to and fiddled with, as well. The post says weapons can now be picked up from the ground from fallen opponents. No more suicidal ammo crate runs are needed. The tech tree will have a more "extensive series of choices" to choose from and the weapons you'll earn or modify have been given an in-depth round balance tweaking and polish. Oh, and the visuals? They're better now.
The MOH beta didn't win over a lot of people as a result of its bugs and balance issues, but it was, after all, a beta--things aren't supposed to work perfectly, and you're kinda expected to report problems. The good news is that, seemingly, Danger Close and DICE are holding up their end of the beta bargain by directly addressing what users are pointing out as broken or bad. And they'll need to continue doing that, too, if they have any hope of toppling the Call of Duty juggernaut at some point in the future.