Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the United States of America's highest military honor, awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. The medal is awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U.S. Congress to U.S. military personnel only. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, and one for the Air Force. Personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version.

The Medal of Honor was created as a Navy version in 1861 named the "Medal of Valor", and an Army version of the medal named the "Medal of Honor" was established in 1862 to give recognition to men who distinguished themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity" in combat with an enemy of the United States. Because the medal is presented "in the name of Congress," it is often referred to as the "Congressional Medal of Honor". However, the official name is the "Medal of Honor," which began with the U.S. Army's version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the "Medal of Honor", and less frequently as "Congressional Medal of Honor".

Honour

Honour (also honor in American English, see spelling differences; from the Latin word honor) is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation. Accordingly, individuals (or corporate bodies) are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large.

Dr. Samuel Johnson, in his A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), defined honour as having several senses, the first of which was "nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness." This sort of honour derives from the perceived virtuous conduct and personal integrity of the person endowed with it. On the other hand, Johnson also defined honour in relationship to "reputation" and "fame"; to "privileges of rank or birth", and as "respect" of the kind which "places an individual socially and determines his right to precedence." This sort of honour is not so much a function of moral or ethical excellence, as it is a consequence of power. Finally, with respect to sexuality, honour has traditionally been associated with (or identical to) "chastity" or "virginity", or in case of married men and women, "fidelity". Some have argued that honour should be seen more as a rhetoric, or set of possible actions, than as a code.

Medal

A medal or medallion is, strictly speaking, a small, flat, and round (at times, ovoid) piece of metal that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped, or some way marked with an insignia, portrait, or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for sporting, military, scientific, academic, or various other achievements. Military awards and decorations are more precise terms for certain types of state decoration. Medals may also be created for sale to commemorate particular individuals or events, or as works of artistic expression in their own right. In the past, medals commissioned for an individual, typically with his portrait, were often used as a form of diplomatic or personal gift, with no sense of being an award for the conduct of the recipient.

An artist who creates medals or medallions is called a "medallist" (UK) or "medalist" (US). There are also devotional medals which may be worn for religious reasons. Medals have long been popular collectible items either as a variety of exonumia or of militaria. Medals may also be produced in a rectangular shape, though these would more correctly be described as a plaquette, and official awards such as military decorations are often in shapes such as crosses or stars, but are still loosely called "medals", as in the star-shaped American Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a 2002 first-person shooter video game developed by 2015, Inc. It was published by EA Games and officially released for Microsoft Windows on January 22, 2002 in North America and on February 15, 2002 in Europe. Aspyr published the Mac OS X version released in August 2002. A Linux version was also released in 2004.

Allied Assault is the third game in the Medal of Honor series. It is the first game in the series for Microsoft Windows, and the only game in the series with expansion packs. The game uses the Quake III Arena engine, with modifications from Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.², to simulate infantry combat in the European and North African theaters during World War II. In the spring of 2014, GameSpy announced the shutdown of their master servers, which were responsible for MoH:AA's in-game server browser.

Gameplay

Single-player

In the game the player takes on the role of Lt. Mike Powell of the United States Army Rangers who works for the OSS. Single-player missions include assaulting German bases in Algiers and Norway, storming Omaha Beach on D-Day, and rescuing comrades behind enemy lines in occupied France. The game's levels are often compared to Steven Spielberg's 1998 film Saving Private Ryan; many of the levels are direct quotations of the scenery (or even complete sequences as in the Omaha Beach mission) in the film. Omaha Beach was re-created in Medal of Honor: Frontline for consoles.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a first-person shooter video game developed by Danger Close Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is a direct sequel to 2010's series reboot Medal of Honor and the fourteenth and final installment in the Medal of Honor series. The title was officially announced on February 23, 2012, and was released in North America on October 23, 2012, in Australia on October 25, 2012, in Europe on October 26, 2012 and in Japan on November 15, 2012 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The games' single-player campaign picks up where Medal of Honor left off, as it reveals Tier 1 operator Preacher returning home to find his family torn apart from years of deployment. The campaign also reveals that the deadly explosive, PETN, had begun to appear around the globe.

Warfighter was both a critical and commercial failure. Due to the game's failure, EA pulled the Medal of Honor series out of rotation.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Warfighter features different aspects than its predecessor. Features from the previous game such as peak and lean, requesting ammunition (now unlimited), and sliding returned. New features in the campaign like the Dynamic Door Breach and micro-destruction have been added.