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

[arigram 0]

There is very nice bunch of screenshots over here:

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,686796/ArmA-2-Maxed-out-graphics/News/

presumably with maxed out graphic settings as the title goes.

[froggyluv 2136]

If they just(1) updated the physics aspect of the engine(2), after they are comfortable with the state of Arma2, that would be the 'Queens Gambit' I'd happily pay for! Puhleese oh Please! :rolleyes:

.

...or even release the Sp physics pack until technology catches up to allow them to do an Mp version :D

[Maddmatt 1]

The thing about the physics, well you need to consider that ArmA 2 is already very CPU demanding. A high end physics engine adds a lot more work for the CPU.

[Scrub 0]

CPUS Maddmatt, CPUS :D

[4 IN 1 0]

It will be nice if physics do get improve in the future, but i think true FLIR (not some mock-ups with black and white over blooming stuff) is need if they want to sell well, as a pack

[Maddmatt 1]

It will be nice if physics do get improve in the future, but i think true FLIR (not some mock-ups with black and white over blooming stuff) is need if they want to sell well, as a pack

I really don't think FLIR is going to have much of an effect on sales.

Really, there are far more important things.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Maddmatt

[sparks50 0]

COD 4 had FLIR and sold 10 millions

http://gamerush.zoomshare.com/files/news/002587_Call_of_Duty_4_sales_hit_10_million.htm

So yes, include FLIR and sell 10 Millions :p

[Jorge.PT 10]

If BIS wants a better rating they should have delivered a more bugfree and complete product than Arma 2 is/was when it hit the german shelves. Easy as that.

Nitpicking about the reviewers won´t solve the problems Arma 2 has.

The first wise words in such a long thread.

[^Th0mas^ 10]

The first wise words in such a long thread.

Yeah, cant really understand the rush about getting the game out in Germany. The game should IMO be shipped world wide at the same time, and they should not have pushed the game to 19. june when the game was supposed to be released later. Why? To make sure the finale 505 version will contain atleast 1.02 patch so people wont whine of about bugs. Patching a game is one thing, but when people buy a game, they want to play it bug ridden right away, but the "hardcore" fans like us on these forums might be more tolerant waiting for patches to fix the game in time.

[txalin 2]

The most important spanish games website gives 9 to Arma 2 :D (I think he analized the 505 games version, but not sure)

http://www.meristation.com/v3/des_analisis.php?pic=PC&id=cw4a2d4f10db9ab&idj=cw46cc10e6b4725

[Fred DM 0]

Yeah, cant really understand the rush about getting the game out in Germany. The game should IMO be shipped world wide at the same time, and they should not have pushed the game to 19. june when the game was supposed to be released later. Why? To make sure the finale 505 version will contain atleast 1.02 patch so people wont whine of about bugs. Patching a game is one thing, but when people buy a game, they want to play it bug ridden right away, but the "hardcore" fans like us on these forums might be more tolerant waiting for patches to fix the game in time.

ask Morphicon.

also, who says the 505 release will include version 1.02? last time i checked, Marek Spanel said it will be version 1.01.

[whisper 0]

Yeah, cant really understand the rush about getting the game out in Germany. The game should IMO be shipped world wide at the same time, and they should not have pushed the game to 19. june when the game was supposed to be released later. Why? To make sure the finale 505 version will contain atleast 1.02 patch so people wont whine of about bugs. Patching a game is one thing, but when people buy a game, they want to play it bug ridden right away, but the "hardcore" fans like us on these forums might be more tolerant waiting for patches to fix the game in time.

It's easily understandable from Morphicon point of view : they sell it 3 weeks early, that makes 3 weeks of selling the game worldwide, far more than just the german market, their sale figures just go boom.

So, a potential scenario :

- 505 can't sell to Germany for whatever reason

- BI search for Germany resellers, only Morphicon says "yes"

- Morphicon accept the deals if and only if they get an exclusive 3 weeks ealier availability, for the obvious reason stated above

- BI, locked by contract, rush a gold version (that must be delivered few weeks before official release) they know is bugged, and time the release of the first patch for the same day of the Morphicon release

- BI get screwed by resellers selling the game 2 days ealier, ie without patch available

=> you get your reviews and bad reputation right there. And now the damage is done in Germany, German reviewers will simply hunt for any bug and declare the game dead.

GG Morphicon

[Fred DM 0]

It's easily understandable from Morphicon point of view : they sell it 3 weeks early, that makes 3 weeks of selling the game worldwide, far more than just the german market, their sale figures just go boom.

then why didn't they leave the english language option in the game? i'm sure that would have attracted even more foreign customers. i think they had to take it out of the game so as not to steal customers from 505.

- BI search for Germany resellers, only Morphicon says "yes"

that seems to be the main problem. i'm not sure why it is so hard for BIS to find a publisher. perhaps most companies don't think they could make a decent profit with a non-mainstream game like ArmA 2.

BI get screwed by resellers selling the game 2 days ealier, ie without patch available

BI didn't get screwed. that's how it always goes.

=> you get your reviews and bad reputation right there. And now the damage is done in Germany, German reviewers will simply hunt for any bug and declare the game dead.

GG Morphicon

that's not entirely true, either. the game has bugs, you can't just ignore that. and at least GameStar have maintained that they will adjust the score if justified by future patches.

[Jorge.PT 10]

The most important spanish games website gives 9 to Arma 2 :D (I think he analized the 505 games version, but not sure)

http://www.meristation.com/v3/des_analisis.php?pic=PC&id=cw4a2d4f10db9ab&idj=cw46cc10e6b4725

Thanks for the link. I wonder why there is no info of ArmA2 in Portugal...

@BI: Send me the game and I will review it for you in Portugal.

200€ = 25% score

300€ = 50% score

500€ = 100% score (special offer, available until the 19th only)

Edited June 10, 2009 by Jorge.PT

[bravo 6 0]

Yeah, Would like to have info in Portugal!

We are a small country but good people.

[Greg Wild 10]

Hello chaps,

I've reviewed ArmA II over on thereticule.com. Despite the negative verdict, I shall be re-reviewing it once I get access to the online features, and more importantly, feel that the issues with bugs and optimization have been dealt with.

[couple of minor spoilers perhaps, mostly related to some of the objectives you are asked to complete. Less about the actual results of completing them.]

A couple of people have inquired at our dubious sounding "singleplayer only code":

haha, I know what you're thinking, must be a pirate!

Basically, the code we were given doesn't seem to give me access to multiplayer servers. Chris who's been handling the reviews codes we get has got back in touch with our contacts to see if it's intentional or otherwise, though we haven't received a reply in time for our deadline, so we opted to make it clear that it's a singleplayer only review. I've not read any of the print reviews for it yet (I prefer not to affect my evaluation through having read someone elses), so I couldn't say for certain if this is the case across the board.

I'm in adamant opposition towards piracy. Indeed, as a bottom-rung member of the industry, our policy is stringent, clear and opposed towards any form of piracy affecting the quality of our reviews standards since it affects our legitimacy and livelyhood too.

Hope that clears things up

Best Regards,

Greg.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Greg Wild

[Hitman 10]

Hello chaps,

I've reviewed ArmA II over on thereticule.com. Despite the negative verdict, I shall be re-reviewing it once I get access to the online features, and more importantly, feel that the issues with bugs and optimization have been dealt with.

Nice review, I like it.

[*tcf*jackal 10]

Nice review, but I would recommend you edit the post to say it contains spoilers. Placebo will not be happy.

Edited June 10, 2009 by *TCF*Jackal

[Greg Wild 10]

Sure thing.

[maddogx 13]

@Greg Wild,

excellent review. About your performance issues, you should make sure to try the following:

- Set fillrate to 100% when playing on high resolutions like 1080p.

- Don't set terrain or object detail above medium, regardless of your other settings.

- Try setting shadows to very high instead of high. It can indeed boost fps.

- Don't go overboard with your view distance. 1.5-2km is enough until they optimize it a bit more.

- Max out the anisotrophic filter setting. I see almost no performance loss between "disabled" and "very high" but there is a big visual difference.

- If you have a 512MB gfx card, set textures to high. If you have 1GB video memory, set it to very high.

:)

[Greg Wild 10]

Cheers!

Will do. I'll try that out, and add an addendum to the review if it helps - and I'll link back to your post for thanks :)

[Killerwatt 0]

Your review begs the question. Why haven't you got access to the online portion of the game?

[Greg Wild 10]

haha, I know what you're thinking, must be a pirate!

Basically, the code we were given doesn't seem to give me access to multiplayer servers. Chris who's been handling the reviews codes we get has got back in touch with our contacts to see if it's intentional or otherwise, though we haven't received a reply in time for our deadline, so we opted to make it clear that it's a singleplayer only review. I've not read any of the print reviews for it yet (I prefer not to affect my evaluation through having read someone elses), so I couldn't say for certain if this is the case across the board.

I'm in adamant opposition towards piracy. Indeed, as a bottom-rung member of the industry, our policy is stringent, clear and opposed towards any form of piracy affecting the quality of our reviews standards since it affects our legitimacy and livelyhood too.

Hope that clears things up :)

Edited June 10, 2009 by Greg Wild

[maddogx 13]

haha, I know what you're thinking, must be a pirate!

Basically, the code we were given doesn't seem to give me access to multiplayer servers. Chris who's been handling the reviews codes we get has got back in touch with our contacts to see if it's intentional or otherwise, though we haven't received a reply in time for our deadline, so we opted to make it clear that it's a singleplayer only review. I've not read any of the print reviews for it yet (I prefer not to affect my evaluation through having read someone elses), so I couldn't say for certain if this is the case across the board.

Since the single player scenarios seem to work fine for you, I assume you have the 1.01 (non-beta) version, which should be the same as the 505 release.

[Killerwatt 0]

Cool. The reason I was asking was that if it was indeed of "questionable origin", then the gameplay could well be very different from a normal copy thus rendering any review useless.