Medal of Honor™: Above and Beyond News

In a momentous occasion for the video game and interactive entertainment industry, Colette, a documentary produced by Respawn Entertainment, a studio of Electronic Arts, and Oculus Studios has won an Oscar® for Best Documentary Short at the 93rd Academy Awards®. Marking the first time a video game company has been nominated and awarded an Oscar®, Colette is directed by Anthony Giacchino and was originally featured in Medal of Honor(™): Above and Beyond, an immersive VR experience that puts players in the boots of a soldier during World War II. Colette follows the emotional journey of a 90-year old former French Resistance fighter who travels to Germany for the first time after World War II, and with the importance of wanting this story to be seen, the documentary was also made available to stream through The Guardian late last year.

“We could not be more proud of Anthony Giacchino and the team's work in bringing Colette’s story to life as part of Medal of Honor, a video game franchise rooted in history and the retelling of veterans’ stories to generations for years to come,” said Peter Hirschmann, Creative Director at Respawn Entertainment. “As we continue to take steps towards further legitimizing the creativity and passion of those in the games industry, we hope this is the first of many Oscars® for video game companies who have shown time and time again how powerful and impactful storytelling through this interactive medium can be.”

The documentary short follows Colette Marin-Catherine, one of the last living members of the French Resistance, as she returns to Germany for the first time in 74 years. Colette had refused to step foot in the country since the conclusion of World War II, but that changed when a young history student named Lucie entered her life and encouraged her to visit the concentration camp where the Nazis killed her brother. Colette received a festival and theatrical release ahead of the launch of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, winning numerous awards, including Oscar®-qualifying wins at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and St. Louis International Film Festival.

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Hello there! Update v1.26

This is the fourth update to Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Thanks to everyone for their feedback!


New “Skip Narrative” Feature During Story Sequences
• Most of the campaign’s in-game cinematic story sequences are now skippable. This includes Mission Briefing scenes.
• Hold down both controller triggers to skip.
• Note: you can't skip any scene where you interact with an NPC, e.g. giving or receiving an in-game item.

New Crouch Functionality for Seated Mode
• Players with seated mode enabled now have an additional option to activate Crouch.
• To enable, choose the “Accessibility” section in the Options menu, and set “Seated Mode Crouch” to “Hold” or “Click."
• When enabled, the existing Sprint thumbstick / trackpad button activates Crouch.
• Note: seated Crouch functionality is only used in single-player, not multiplayer.

Epilogue Scene
• After finishing the last mission of the campaign, the final "Coda" narrative scene now plays automatically. Previously it was only accessible through the main menu.

Other Changes:
• WMR Headsets (including the HP Reverb G2) now officially supported.
• New signage in the OSS Room points you to the OSS Archives. New areas of the Archive unlock after every mission.
• Opening the Campaign menu in the OSS Office now automatically activates the companion menu.
• Multiplayer: In “Mad Bomber” matches, the game now automatically cleans up a player’s bombs if they disconnect early.
• Multiplayer: Fixed an occasional crash when loading “Bunkers of Fort Schmerzen” in Quick Match.
• Additional fixes and optimizations.

Thank you again for your feedback!

Hello there! Update v1.24

This is the third update to Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Thank you again to everyone for their feedback and suggestions.

New Options to Hide Your Torso and Cuffs

• You can now choose to hide the in-game representations of your torso, your sleeve cuffs, or both.
  
• Under Options, choose the “Gameplay” section, and set “Body Visibility” or “Cuff Visibility” to “Disabled.”
  

New Full-View Sniper Scopes

• Added an option to render the sniper view directly in the scope.
  
• To enable, go to Options, choose the “Gameplay” section, and set “Scope Type” to “Realistic.”
  
• Added a new “Scope Resolution” option. Bumping this down can improve performance on some systems.
  

Sniper Rifle Zoom Button

• The button to adjust zoom levels on sniper rifles is now assigned to whichever hand is dominant, instead of always being set to the right hand. (Vive controllers keep the button on the right hand.)
  
• Tip: this button also adjusts the firing rate on the M1918 automatic rifle when equipped.
  

Multiplayer “Quick Match” Playlist Now Cycles All Maps and Modes

• Choosing “Quick Match” now cycles between maps AND modes.
  
• Without leaving your session you could play Team Deathmatch in the Sub Pen, Domination in Streets of Dubuisson, then Mad Bomber in the Rockets of Peenemünde.
  

Oculus Native Mode Support On Steam

• When launching the game through Steam, Oculus users now have the option to launch directly to the Oculus native environment.
  

Lower Min-Spec NVIDIA GTX 1080

• The recommended spec stays the same.
  
• However, with the expanded video options and optimizations from the last patch, plus feedback from the player community, the min spec has been lowered to an NVIDIA GTX 1080 or equivalent.
  

Other Changes and Additions:

• Smoother fade-in when returning to the OSS hub from a level.
  
• Objectives now show on the user’s left wrist when the left hand is set as dominant.
  
• New floating label for the Live Fire Gauntlet doors in the Quartermaster area. (Check these play areas out for some classic Respawn gauntlet challenges.)
  
• Fixed some grab issues with the MG42 and M1918 mounted weapons.
  
• Fixed issue where enabling Seated Mode in certain conditions could leave the player’s view high off the ground.
  
• Fixed grab guide visuals being offset for the right hand when using HTC Vive wand controllers.
  
• On the OSS Room typewriter, type "Open Sesame" and hit the carriage return to unlock a chest of Respawn Easter Eggs.
  
• Additional under the hood fixes and optimizations.
  

Thank you again for all your feedback!

Update v1.21

This is the second update to Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Thanks again to everyone for their feedback and suggestions.

New Option for Controller-Oriented Movement
• Added an option to base movement off of the controller’s direction instead of the player’s view direction.
• In the Options menu, choose the “VR Comfort” section, and set “Movement Orientation” to “Controller.”

New Video Options
• You’ll find these in the Options menu, in the “Audio/Video” section.
• Texture Streaming: 400MB, 700MB, 1000MB, 2000MB, or Auto
• Texture Filtering Level: Anisotropic 1x, 2x, 4x, or 8x
• Anti-Aliasing Mode: MSAA 2x, MSAA 4x, Temporal AA, or Off
• Anti-Aliasing Quality: Low, Medium, High, or Default

Even More Streamlined Gameflow
• We removed the need to pull the trigger at the start of every campaign segment.
• Levels now start playing as soon as the title card comes up.

Star Ranks Off by Default for New Players
• The stars that draw over enemy heads in the Campaign are now Off by default for new players.
• Existing players will keep whatever setting they last used.
• As always, star ranks are in the Options menu. Choose the “Campaign” section, and setting “Enemy Rank” to “Disabled” or “Enabled.”

Arm Sleeves Now Hide When Close to Player Eyes
• The sleeves on the player’s arms no longer show when brought close to the eyes.
• This fixes the issue of looking down the sights with an eye opposite to the player’s dominant hand, e.g. aiming with the left eye when right-hand dominant.

Other Changes:
• NPC eye logic improved.
• Improved server performance in multiplayer matches.
• Lowered grip sensitivity when using Valve Index controllers.
• Fixed zoom controls on scoped weapons when launching the game through Steam.
• Fixed a glitch when re-opening the Multiplayer in-game menu.
• Fixed a rare crash that could trigger from switching party leaders in Multiplayer.
• Fixed a "Connection to server timed out" issue when trying to play Mad Bomber.
• Various updates and fixes for localized text.
• Additional under the hood fixes and optimizations.

Thank you again for the feedback! Another update coming before the holiday!

Happy Holidays! Update 1.19

Our first update. We really appreciate the time everyone took to share their feedback at launch.

New “Smooth Turning” Option
• By popular demand, you can now choose Smooth Turning as an alternative to the default Flick Turning.
• Try it out by going to the Options menu, clicking on the “VR Comfort” section, and setting “Turn Style” to “SMOOTH”.
• You can further adjust the “Smooth Turn Speed” value here (default 50%) to find what works best for you. This only has an effect when smooth turning is enabled.

Streamlined Mission Progression
• We removed all the "Victory!" screens from level progression.
• You now only get a completion screen when you beat one of the six missions.

Quartermaster Area Changes
• It is now much easier to pick up weapons from the tables and weapon racks.
• Health Packs now respawn after a short duration.

All Videos in the Gallery are Unlocked from the Start
• All of the Gallery content — every location, interview, and 360-degree panorama — is now unlocked from the very beginning.
• Originally they would unlock as you played through the campaign, but now you can watch them in any order.

Louder M1 Garand “Ping” Sound
• Louder. We made it louder. You asked for it, we’re more than happy to oblige.

Other Changes:
• No longer need to choose "Equip" when selecting a multiplayer avatar.
• In Multiplayer menus, fixed an issue with the party invite Accept and Decline buttons being difficult to press.
• When launching the game for the first time, the initial Options menu now displays correct localized text.
• Fixed a respawn issue with the landmines in the Mission 2 Live Fire Gauntlet.
• Fixed an issue with truck collision in the Avalanche level.
• Various under the hood fixes and optimizations

Thank you again for the feedback! Keep your eyes peeled for another update coming later this week!