It turns out that the soldier sporting the “Grizzly Adams” mountain man beard in the promotional image for EA’s Medal of Honor reboot is actually a real person, and his name is “Cowboy.” I’m not making this up.
Yesterday, EA announced a new game in its Medal of Honor FPS series in an effort to revitalize the franchise – overshadowed by Activision’s Call of Duty and even EA’s own Battlefield – and update it to a modern-day setting.
Interestingly enough, a sticking point for some gamers seemed to be not the idea of a modern MoH, but rather the facial hair sported by the “Tier 1 Operator” soldier in the image. What, we were supposed to believe that this elite operative was sporting a beard that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a trapper in the frigid Canadian wilderness – or a homeless guy sleeping in a subway station? Psh, yeah right. No modern-day military force would let their on-duty soldiers end up looking like Grizzly Adams.
Well… actually, as it turns out, they would. As UGO points out, the man on the MoH cover bears a striking resemblance to a real U.S. Special Forces operative nicknamed “Cowboy,” who was photographed by Life Magazine in 2002 as part of a feature on the war in Afghanistan. Cowboy’s hobbies apparently include building up those bulging biceps, staring down detainees, and cruising in ATVs.
The next question that comes to mind, of course: Will the new Medal of Honor be Cowboy’s story (in a similar vein to what was promised in the lost-in-limbo Six Days in Fallujah), or is this just a case of EA’s artists going “Whoa, that dude looks f*ckin’ hardcore, let’s base our main character on him!”
We’ll find out when we get a more in-depth look at the game at next Saturday’s Spike VGAs. Maybe Cowboy will be the one presenting the footage. He wouldn’t have to say anything to get the audience to quiet down, either – he’d just have to look at them and glare.
…please don’t hurt me, Mr. Cowboy, sir.
(Via OPM)
