Arma 3 Community Alpha - Announcement!

[dmarkwick 261]

I think what he means, and I'm not normally in the business of interpreting metalcraze's ramblings, is that strong marketing is sometimes indicative of a poor game and in that case, the marketing budget would have been better spent making the game better.

But that's not what he said, he said all herring are fish, therefore all fish are herring :)

[Tankbuster 1744]

Indeed. It's not like metalcraze has been know to talk bollocks in the past is it? :p

[chortles 263]

As his lawyer I strongly advise my client to not "explain" himself.

And in turn will take my lawyer's advice to not "explain" myself, nor do I intend to comment on the alleged truthfulness of metalcraze's statements. ;)

On the question of marketing, though... BI's already done their marketing, it's called the E3 presentations and the showcases, and they will be doing more marketing this month, it's called Gamescom! :rolleyes: After all, YouTube videos and "costs of having a booth at E3/Gamescom"* are (hopefully!) cheaper than print ads or off-site banners... and to be frank, DayZ has single-handedly propelled the name of ARMA into the semi-mainstream. Mission accomplished (on the hopefully-cheap) people!

I can see why BI might not want to publicize the community alpha so much that too many people try to download the apparently-open alpha at once and crash BI's servers though. :p

* No idea how much the showcase-playing PCs cost, but the build that Jay Crowe posted is definitely within the reach of a PC gamer.

[Cythose 1]

Wow definitely looking forward to this, big improvement on the graphics!! Woooo.

[stk2008 14]

oh my god a bloody alpha I cant wait I cant wait.

Arma 3 is going to be so good e love you BIS :)

EDIT

After the initial excitment of reading about a alpha release and finally reading some posts I dont care how much content is not in it I just ant to see how it runs on my rig and just have a little play with the new engine I so cant wait for this like all the other arma`s released damn even OFP i waited a year for LOL.

Edited August 8, 2012 by stk2008

[dirk_diggler 1]

I've always been against nvidia phsyx but this time -for a3's sake- I hope its good so game wont look or perform bad. I also hope indoor navigation - gunplay is improved.

[chortles 263]

TO STK2008:

For perspective, here is the rig that was used at E3 2012, courtesy of BI's own Jay Crowe, and PC Gamer's Evan Lahti reported that the E3 build of the ARMA 3 presentation build seemed to be running at about 50-60 fps. No idea how your system will compare or how well the community alpha will do at scalability, but I thought that this would help you by being a "known quantity".

TO DIRK_DIGGLER:

How indoors gunplay and navigation are improved is THE most important thing I'm looking for in ARMA 3.

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

So what's the latest news on this - are they planning to ship all their testers to Prague for a closed alpha/beta? I think open testing is viable, community seems mature and feedback would be specific and concise. :)

[chortles 263]

So what's the latest news on this - are they planning to ship all their testers to Prague for a closed alpha/beta? I think open testing is viable, community seems mature and feedback would be specific and concise. :)

Thing is, I'm pretty sure that BI is looking for more than just the ARMA community to playtest the alpha... specifically, new-to-FPS and migrating-from-arcade-shooter players. ;)

I say, not one step back from the infantry control quality of the E3 build!

[oksman 37]

I just hope realism and stuff is not degraded because of people only playing mindless FPS games ._.

Will this be open or closed? Sucks if I have to fly to Prague to test the game out for an hour.

[metalcraze 290]

But that's not what he said, he said all herring are fish, therefore all fish are herring :)

No I said what Tankbuster said.

And btw look at DayZ marketing budget (whopping $0.00) and how many copies (arma2 copies that is) it sold.

If BIS wants ArmA3 to sell well they need to polish it as best as they can to avoid their usual "version 1.0" thing and add a good SP campaign since that's what a lot of people use to get introduced into the game.

The best marketing for BIS is when every reviewer doesn't complain about how buggy the game is so put more money into a bigger QA team maybe?

Edited August 9, 2012 by metalcraze

[Madeon 6]

The best marketing for BIS is

The irrefutable fact is that DayZ is the best marketing for BIS. DayZ has been a phenomenal success, and in the greater scheme of things Arma3 is destined to play second fiddle.

[chortles 263]

The irrefutable fact is that DayZ is the best marketing for BIS. DayZ has been a phenomenal success, and in the greater scheme of things Arma3 is destined to play second fiddle.

Second fiddle amongst BI's range of titles, but we're not talking about marketing for DayZ now are we?

No I said what Tankbuster said.

And btw look at DayZ marketing budget (whopping $0.00) and how many copies (arma2 copies that is) it sold.

This is pretty much why DayZ is so big -- it sounds like it's been nearly pure profit for BI, why wouldn't -- or shouldn't -- they try to keep the money train rolling? I'm pretty sure that BI and Cold War Crisis about because they wanted to make more money than they spent on development and operating costs, after all...

If BIS wants ArmA3 to sell well they need to polish it as best as they can to avoid their usual "version 1.0" thing and add a good SP campaign since that's what a lot of people use to get introduced into the game.

The best marketing for BIS is when every reviewer doesn't complain about how buggy the game is so put more money into a bigger QA team maybe?

While I may disagree on you when it comes to what ARMA 3's game design SHOULD be, I am definitely in agreement with you on this, not least since a lot of the hype for DayZ is tempered by or rebutted with what you just described, the notorious bugs -- and a bunch of DayZ's own defenders blaming ARMA 2 for the bugs or security vulnerabilities.

I to some extent have hopes for the SP campaign to be decent, if only because as Ivan Buchta voiced previously, it was meant to be a tutorial of sorts for the gameplay... but frankly, ARMA 3's potential and customizability, and even the campaign story quality are not as important as it WORKING.

(People, that's no small part of why iOS/iDevices are so popular, as well as consoles -- a reputation for just working out-of-the-box as intended/advertised. We don't need another "Harvest Red"...)

[Madeon 6]

but we're not talking about marketing for DayZ now are we?

Perhaps you aren't

And btw look at DayZ marketing budget (whopping $0.00)

But we were...

[ProfTournesol 956]

Guys, this topic is about ArmA3 alpha, not DayZ or whatever.

[whisky 1]

Guys, this topic is about ArmA3 alpha, not DayZ or whatever.

Lol, I love how after that comment everybody stop talking....

[gossamersolid 155]

Lol, I love how after that comment everybody stop talking....

Because there's nothing to talk about. We haven't recieved any news on the alpha... there's only so much you can talk about the meagre details we have.

[Banke 1]

I slowly drool :P

[Ekko 1]

I need more news ASAP!! or just some pictures of gameplay...

[PuFu 4600]

why don't you take a chill pill instead of spamming this thread with useless comments. I, and many others, visit this thread to see actual news, not spoiled brats demanding news on the subject. Please try to stay away unless you actually have something worth writing done here.

[Ekko 1]

Okay... I am really sorry PuFu,I will take a chill pill, but it seems as if you also need one, dont need to go all mad just because of my useless comment :D There havent been any news lately but I figure you don't really care so much, you just need to discuss some really important matters on this announcement thread I suppose. There are lots of better threads for actual news... Everyone is just talking about DayZ in this thread anyway so my comment doesn't really count as spamming does it...

Ops... I did it again didn't I, this will most likely overload the forums database!

Edited August 12, 2012 by Ekko

[gonk 0]

Just wait a few days until we gets news from GameCom 2012. I hope to see more info on the status of the Public alpha.

[Placebo 29]

Unless this thread is made "no discussion" as long as comments are ontopic then there's no problem, sorry but if someone wants to post that they're really looking forward to it etc that's ok, for now ;)

[chortles 263]

I sent a specific community alpha question to W0lle, so hopefully he'll be asking it at Gamescom along with my other questions!

\/ Pretty much why I sent that question that I did... I'd like for us to have specific answers.

Edited August 13, 2012 by Chortles

[totnine 10]

I think more things will be revealed during the GC.