When EA announced their modern day Medal of Honor yesterday, they simply pegged it as a 2010 release. However, today they narrowed that estimate down a bit.

EA's website is now accepting pre-orders for the game. That might be news-worthy to you by itself. However, what's of greater interest is that they list the game as "Fall 2010" on all three platforms (PS3, Xbox 360, PC).

A big name franchise getting a holiday release? Yes, we were similarly shocked. Activision will most likely release another Call of Duty next fall as well so be prepared for endless comparisons between the two games. The urge to turn the situation into a head-to-head match-up will grow even stronger if Call of Duty 7 turns out to be set in modern times as well.

Obviously this release information isn't etched in stone. Still, the fact that this is EA's own store rather than some third-party like Gamestop gives the Fall 2010 estimate an extra bit of credibility. Also consider that they're not willing to provide a release date for the PC version of Battlefield 1943, a game that will probably arrive quite early in 2010. They probably wouldn't have elaborated on Medal of Honor's release at all unless they were pretty sure when the game would land.

Anyway, the game's first proper trailer will be shown at the Spike VGAs next Saturday. If EA's comfortable calling MOH a fall release, they'll probably say so at the end of the trailer as well.