Latest ArmA2 & ArmA2:OA Press Coverage | NO discussion here!

[alx 20]

One way to diffuse this would be to release say a 10 minute movie of the GM in action showing the frame rates and lack of error messages. Granted there could be some issues around mission spoilers. This could be done and on Youtube by tomorrow morning and would do a lot to alleviate tension. Is BIS PR up to the task?

[Fred DM 0]

Aw common any slub can be a games reviewer! :rolleyes:

I knew a guy who had just got out of highscool that got to be a games reviewer its not rocket science, they judge your writing but they can't tell how experienced you are in gaming really :D

Especially in online aswell ;)

I'll just wait and se e what happens.

i know, i know. but if you're writing for a mag as big as PC Games, you know how to install and test games. it's simply ridiculous how some people here discredit the reviewers because they dare to criticise the game.

[thyco 0]

My German is a bit rusty but, as far as I could tell, the original article did not mention any problems during installation.

Some people speculated about it on this thread and it soon became a "fact".

it was assumed there were install errors as one of the brief translator posts on page 409 ( post 4086 iirc) stated that they were getting error pop ups about missing files, which would really only happen if something wasnt installed correctly.

[walker 0]

Hi all

I think a few people do not understand what a Press embargo is or what its purpose is.

Generally it is when you only get supplied with something if you promise not to release it until everyone in the same group gets it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo_(journalism)

It is to prevent news media from scooping each other unfairly.

The main cost is usually that journalists no longer get preview copies and info as none of the publishers trust them not to scoop their competitors.

Of course pcgame site compounded their error by not checking with their source to verify what they were about to say was correct. That is just plane embarrassing.

Kind Regards walker

[Balschoiw 0]

which would really only happen if something wasnt installed correctly.

Not really.

It can also happen if mission.sqm or description.ext links to units, objects, etc that were used during the build of the game but got removed afterwards without removing the entries in the missionfiles.

[Fred DM 0]

they [pc games] should just go out and buy a retail copy. no press embargos to worry about, then. the game's out in german-speaking europe.

[4 IN 1 0]

sometime there will be no error pop-up even if the installation is faulty, got that a few times on my old machine with numbers of games, turns out my CD-Rom is borken, but thats a different story, right now, we basiclly dont know jack on what happened, the bug that PC GAMES.DE have might be a result of just about anything, mission.sqm, description.ext, corrupted scripts etc

Edited May 27, 2009 by 4 IN 1
typo

[Rebel@heart 10]

No german demanded a early release at all.

In fact in all Forums, people yelled formly to delay it further....

As i posted it earlier it was the Publishers fault as he ordered storing-spce in all big stores for this date and he had to pay high penalties when he not delivers the game on this date.

The Date was set out of fear from a summer release of OFP DR :rolleyes::j:

Installation errors the cause?:

Robert-Horn just posted that they did not had any installation problems on any of the 3 systems they used.

So that a bad installation was the cause could be excluded now i think.

To the Embargo:

Yes i think they violated the review embargo and as stated before i find this also highly unprofessional. On the other hand i consider this as some sort of Warning, which many of the german game-community guys have demanded the press guys since some buggy released over the last years.

New Positive report from a Communtiy guy in german Forums:

His 2.83GHz Quadcore gets utilized up to 80% by the game (He Mentioned a Firefight with 20 vs 20 tanks vs 50 Soldiers in that case). He has set now 10KM Viewdistance and it runs fluid, he had to lower shadows though as this brings his GTX9800 to its knees.

His final statement to performance is that when you have a fast Quadcore, the Graphics-Card is the Bottleneck.

link pls?

[mr.g-c 6]

link pls?

To what point in particular?

The positive report is in german forums under hx3.de under "Arma2" category in the Topic called "Erste Eindrücke von Arma2" or so.

The Other thing cna be found in the linked Article from PC-Games.de in the comments field. It has currently ~200 comments so you must open it in their Forums and read through all posts. Look at the post from "RobertHorn" and "Sw@PCG" or so....

[Balschoiw 0]

they [pc games] should just go out and buy a retail copy. no press embargos to worry about, then. the game's out in german-speaking europe.

That wouldn´t change the legal situation unfortunally as the review platform still would be legally bound to the NDA.

It were regular retail copies btw, 3 of them, installed on 3 different computers, all delivering the same results.

Campaign basically isn´t unplayable because of the bugs from mission "Manhatten" according to reviewers.

Of course I´m sceptical about the release now. Even if some people are only concerned about MP and most of the malfunctions appear to pop up in the SP campaign, I´m probably one of those who enjoy SP gaming alot and a non-functional campaign is certainly a stopper for me.

Another technical deficits like the non-existing fuel consuption of tanks, the motorcycle malfunction (once grounded it can´t be used anymore) seem to be bugs that can hardly be debated away.

Sure, I´ll be getting Arma 2, but I´m not confident that it´ll work fresh out of the box.

[santafee 10]

There was a thread with ArmaII Beta Gameplay Videos.The Links were removed+User banned,why?:confused:

[cm 0]

I don't like the way the mods have been keeping this suppressed in one HUGE thread, instead of allowing at least one break-away thread. Makes it look like they've got something to hide. Makes me worried.

Please put on your tinfoil hat :rolleyes:

There was a thread with ArmaII Beta Gameplay Videos.The Links were removed+User banned,why?:confused:

Because it was troll video.

It had a static pic of an armoured (unrelated to armaII) vehicle with some german lame-pop-techno music.

[4 IN 1 0]

There was a thread with ArmaII Beta Gameplay Videos.The Links were removed+User banned,why?:confused:

from the first post, it seems its a spam video to start a forumwar instead of a real gameplay video

But there is this one break-away thread, it is just locked. Was still enough to get me here to check out what is going on. Actually thinking about going downtown Munich in about an hour to look whether I can find a copy :p

Actually didn't plan to buy it before late June as I will be "afk" for a few weeks anyway, but now it might be worth a try two days early :)

Regarding the problems, could it be that the copy protection messed something up - I seem to remember this being one cause for the early problems with the german ArmA release...

might be, but we still dont know jack, PC games doesnt seems to stated very in depth what error have poped up, nor there is any .RPT files for us to look into, nor screenshots, in fact, notthing holds :(

Edited May 27, 2009 by 4 IN 1
typo

[4 IN 1 0]

Not quite the case, its PC Games.de own people who tested the retail verson, not the betatesters idea hired earlier, in any case, if it makes BI so panic, it doesnt seems to be a imcomplete betatest that leaves the bug unchecked, might be something happened when publisher sent the wrong version gold DVD to be boxed if both PC Gamer and BI are not teasing us.

Edited May 27, 2009 by 4 IN 1
typo

[Fred DM 0]

not quite the case, its PC Gamer.de own people who tested the retail verson, not the betatesters, in any case, if it makes BI so panic, it doesnt seems to be a imcomplete betatest that leaves the bug unchecked, might be something happened when publisher sent the wrong version gold DVD to be boxed if both PC Gamer and BI are not teasing us

it's PC Games. and they've tested retail copies, apparently.

[mr.g-c 6]

A new rather positive first-hand review by a Arma2 owner... feel free to translate it - im to busy currently...

http://www.gamestar.de/community/gspinboard/showpost.php?p=10819227&postcount=302

So, dank des örtlichen Saturnmarktes und einem Anfall geistiger Umnachtung, bei dem ich meinen Prinzipien Untreu wurde, habe ich ArmA2 vor etwas über 2 Stunden installiert.

Mein System:

Vista Home 32Bit

Intel Core2Duo E8400 3,0GHz

2 GB Ram

Nvidia 8800 GT

Mein erstes, kurzes Fazit nach 2 Stunden Spielzeit:

Ich bin positiv überrascht - wirklich.

Ich war auf ein komplettes Bugdesaster vorbereitet.

ArmA 2 läuft mit allen Optionen auf "Hoch" immer noch flüssig und fühlt sich "organisch" an.

Die Sounds sind stimmig, wenn auch für mich ein wenig zu "Hollywood-like" aber wirklich gut gemacht.

Was mir sehr gefällt ist die Umsetzung der Geräusche beim laufen. Je nach Tempo klappert einem die Ausrüstung am Leib mal lauter und mal leiser.

Das Funksystem wurde überarbeitet. Man hört zwar immer noch dass die Meldungen "zusammengestückelt" werden, es ist aber nicht mehr so roboterhaft wie beim Vorgänger.

Eine Offenbarung ist es nicht, aber weitaus weniger nervig als vorher und viel angenehmer für die Ohren.

Die Gegner- und Freund-KI hat sich in den 2 Stunden wirklich gut benommen und reagiert, bei Gegnern je nach Schwierigkeitsgrad, glaubhaft schnell und präzise.

Das Waffenhandling kommt gut rüber, die Bewegungen wirken flüssiger und die Animationen weniger steif. Der Magazinwechsel ist nun im laufen möglich und man kann über niedrige Hindernisse springen ohne dass vorher die Animation komplett angehalten wird.

Die ersten Missionen der Kampagne sind Atmosphärisch inszeniert und machen Lust auf mehr.

Die Funkstation in der ersten Mission auszuschalten hat viel Spaß gemacht und situationsbedingte Entscheidungen zu treffen ist ein neues Element das gut und stimmig umgesetzt wurde und wodurch sich neue Nebenmissionen ergeben.

Zu den Bugs die ich in den 2 Stunden erlebt habe:

Das Teamkommandotutorial ließ sich nicht abschließen da, egal was ich versucht habe, der angesagte Hubschrauber nicht auftauchte.

Kurz vor dem Start zur ersten Kampagnenmission erhielt ich die In-Game Meldung, dass eine Musikdatei nicht gefunden wurde, das Spiel lief aber normal weiter.

Da ich bei solchen Spielen lieber die Soldatenatmosphäre spüren möchte, habe ich die In-Game Musik sowieso ausgeschaltet, daher stört mich das nicht weiter.

Mehr habe ich bisher nicht entdecken können. Ein "Showstopper" war jedenfalls nicht dabei. Die KI-Kollegen haben Ihre Ziele bekämpft und ihre Routen beibehalten. Niemand trat dem anderen auf die Füße.

Die Übersetzung ist Ok und die Schreibfehler nicht all zu groß, aber ich freue mich auf den Patch der die englischen Texte bringt.

Schlussbemerkung:

Wie gesagt fühlt sich die belebtere Umwelt, die flüssigeren Animationen und die wirklich hübsche Grafik bei diesem Titel wie ein organisches Ganzes an.

Das BIS natürlich noch mit der Poliermaschine ran muss ist klar, allerdings habe ich schon jetzt das Gefühl, dass hier nicht die gröbste aller Schleifpasten zum Einsatz kommen muss. Wenn ich an das Release-Desaster von ArmA 1 denke, dann bin ich mit diesem Titel hier besser bedient worden, trotz der Ecken und Kanten.

Jetzt entschuldigt mich bitte, mein Razor-Team wartet auf mich....

[Bad Pilot 0]

And www.pcgames.de has posted an update, google translated here (readable)

One of our testers, developers want criticizes problems Bohemia Interactive and publisher Peter Games take place tomorrow, in advance we have already achieved a first patch fixes. This is not yet in the final version, but as a beta patch. Currently the tests of our colleagues in full swing, we expect no later than tomorrow with results. The list of improvements made by the patch is long and includes, among other things, AI problems and crashes. Our editors are currently in close contact with developers and publishers to Friday for a test with all relevant information to be able to publish.

Since we Publisher Peter Games, like other editors, the retail version in advance to receive our tests, we are forced, at the request of our publisher impressions from this trial version of this article again to remove. The use of preliminary versions of the publisher we can grant or revoke, as long as they do not normally commercially available. Peter Games is purported to be about the publication of test impressions before sales start on Friday, 29 May 2009. Starting Friday, we announced as the regular test, and publish our impressions. On tomorrow, Thursday to Bohemia Interactive Games, and Peter also comment on the problems we found relate.

it is a good user review mr g-c

Edited May 27, 2009 by Mr Fenix
comment on review above

[sidhellfire 0]

Well, maybe they had that bad luck, and somewhat had corrupted install files, or outdated driver installed, or overall configuration was unfortunate etc. Clearly once installation didn't go well, the result is appearance of unexpected bugs. Thousands of players have problems with games, while others do not. We've got saying here "one swallow doesn't make it springtime".

[ComadeR 0]

bla bla bla...... However , we are fans and we'll buy and we''ll play this fucking amazing game with inconceivable enjoy !

[Deadfast 43]

I'll wait for more reviews before I jump the whine wagon :p

[4 IN 1 0]

And www.pcgames.de has posted an update, google translated here (readable)

it is a good user review mr g-c

from what i see so far it sounds like there is one beta patch have already been ready b4 pc games.de test the game, BI might know some problem that remain unfix in the retail version and are waiting to release it once the game is out, but pc games.de post the bug report showing some unexpected new bug together with some know one without telling BI first, and BI are in for a shock, right now they are working on to fix it with pc games.de tester help

[NeMeSiS 11]

A new rather positive first-hand review by a Arma2 owner... feel free to translate it - im to busy currently...

http://www.gamestar.de/community/gspinboard/showpost.php?p=10819227&postcount=302

Things that interest me

-Good AI (Both Friendly and enemy, fast and precise)

-Good weapon handling, no more sluggish animations

-Beginning of the campaign is interesting (I think he is still at the beginning and hasnt played any further, so no bad words about the rest of the campaign. ;) )

-He didnt found any game killing bugs (!!!), just some small ones which arent gameplay affecting

:D

[4 IN 1 0]

Things that interest me

-Good AI (Both Friendly and enemy, fast and precise)

-Good weapon handling, no more sluggish animations

-Beginning of the campaign is interesting (I think he is still at the beginning and hasnt played any further, so no bad words about the rest of the campaign. ;) )

-He didnt found any game killing bugs (!!!), just some small ones which arent gameplay affecting

:D

so the missing file bug is a know one from now on, but what about other bugs that pc games.de mentioned? script errors, AI(the user review say the AI is fast and precise but depend on what the diffcult level are, while PC games.de say they are slow and pathfinding is a NO-NO) and "showstoppers"?:confused:

Edited May 27, 2009 by 4 IN 1

[quicksand 0]

Ha!I knew it,feels good to be on BIS side on this one.Pcgames was irresponsible and it cost BIS canceled orders..Can't get to wait my hands on Arma 2!!!

[Fred DM 0]

Ha!I knew it,feels good to be on BIS side on this one.Pcgames was irresponsible and it cost BIS canceled orders..Can't get to wait my hands on Arma 2!!!

what? so the opinion of the reviewers who criticised the game are to be dismissed, yet a random stranger on an anonymous board is to be believed? :confused:

and how was PC Games irresponsible? for testing the game and warning their readers? come on.