There are 2 big boys on the block these days when it comes to online first person shooters: Call of Duty and Battlefield. Well, the once proud Medal of Honor series is looking for a major comeback. They tried last year with a subpar effort when they released Medal of Honor. The game underperformed because the multiplayer was, in my opinion, a Battlefield light game. Designed by DICE using the Frostbite 2.0 game engine, they just tried to hard to make it different.

This time around they are throwing their weight into an all new portion of gaming by partnering with GovX, an online shopping destination for active duty, reserve, and retired members of the US Armed Forces and related government agencies. The hope is to raise “awareness and generating charitable contributions for fallen warriors from the Special Operations Community in honor of the sacrifices they and their families have made for their country.”

Part of this program is to have real-world weapon and gear manufacturers like Kaenon, London Bridge Trading, Magpul, SureFire, Mechanix Wear have their items featured in the game as to increase the “real world” feel to MOH. As we all know, that no matter how cool a game like Burnout Paradise is, if it featured real cars, it would be so much cooler.

The second part, which is the best part in my opinion, is that the weapon and gear partners mentioned above will sell Medal of Honor-themed merchandise in their respective stores, and donate 100 percent of proceeds to the Navy SEAL Foundation, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, and other charities. An example given is that London Bridge Trading is currently offering a series of Medal of Honor patches through its online store.

Medal of Honor Warfighter is due out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on October 23 in North America, and October 26 in Europe. Preorder bonuses will get you the Medal of Honor Warfighter Limited Edition, which grants users the US Navy SEAL Tier 1 Sniper on day one. This unlock would otherwise require about 40 hours of gameplay to acquire.