ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead discussion thread

[jw custom 56]

Maybe we should have a "Official Operation Arrowhead Cover" thread :D

Seriously, they should make a competetion and the best cover would win a copy of OA and have their cover used :)

[Windexglow 10]

That camo version is amazing - It shows it off as a military shooter and has the feel that a lot is in the inside of the package.

The cover we have now for OA is downright silly.

[mr burns 132]

[dob 0]

ha ha nice 3d image

[txalin 2]

Yeah, i love it :)

[pauliesss 2]

I don´t want to sound stupid, but the camo on that cover is not accurate according to OA, because OA is more focused on US Army, and original Arma2 was focused(or based) on Marines - they use Marpat.

So maybe you can try to make a cover with ACU instead of desert MARPAT. :D

[raizjames 10]

Another good cover

[Barely-injured 0]

Sheeesh you guys, seriously ? What is it now like 8 pages of discussion about the cover ? I don't like it either but it is not that much different from all the other covers of the series minus the flag.

Seriously in this day and age who cares about how the cover looks like anymore ? No one buys stuff based on how the cover looks, like they used to in the old days. Get over it....

[Laqueesha 474]

So maybe you can try to make a cover with ACU instead of desert MARPAT.

This. ^ ;)

[SWAT_CDN 0]

Agree about the Packaging not mattering so much.

I think most people who play this game play it becuase they like it.

It has gone through growing pains and well supported by the developers.

Maybe I am wrong but I sell this game on it's merits (Good and Bad).

The family will grow while the others will fade away.

I am sure a lot of the people who play this series (OFP, Arma, Arma2) listen to other people about the crap being put out and save their money!

What will give Bohemia Interactive the advantage is their attitude towards improving the series, thusly selling their product with "LOUD VOICES" of the people play it and who sell it for what it is a "Great Game" that is different and has issues but not issues gone unattended as other developers have done.

This will attract new blood, the New blood that will appreciate the series for what it is and it's style of game play.

It is a known fact that HIGH PRICED marketing can also financially kill a product.

There is no better advertising than "WORD OF MOUTH", It's cheap and typically does not lie>:j:

[Binkowski 26]

I don´t want to sound stupid, but the camo on that cover is not accurate according to OA, because OA is more focused on US Army, and original Arma2 was focused(or based) on Marines - they use Marpat.

So maybe you can try to make a cover with ACU instead of desert MARPAT. :D

better watch out. it might be too bright and blind users. therefore reducing sales.

[Lhowon 10]

For the love of sanity please release a new video, this inane conversation is rotting my brain.

[S-M 10]

I suspect it might sell better than the original game, for these reasons.

The chances are it should be less taxing on peoples computers.

The basic vanilla game now plays a HELL of a lot better than when it was released, for the majority of people.

If the press see and feel all the extra improvements in the engine, over the old game, they will no doubt rave about it more.

"ENEMY TOOOO our front FAR" appears to have been "sorted" this made people think it was amateur crap.

The crazy flashing textures (Z fighting?) has been sorted via the patches.

The demo for A2 was utter horrible, and it put people off, i know of a mate who tried the demo and thought it was utter garbage, not sure if the new game will get a demo? but if its made with a recent patched up version of the engine its bound to have a better effect.

[MavericK96 0]

The crazy flashing textures (Z fighting?) has been sorted via the patches.

It has? Not for me... :confused:

[Flash Thunder 10]

The crazy flashing textures (Z fighting?) has been sorted via the patches

This equals Bullshit.

Its still very present in the Beta code.

[AnimalMother92 10]

better watch out. it might be too bright and blind users. therefore reducing sales.

I see what you did there.

And I don't care about the box art, I'll just buy it on Steam

[james mckenzie-smith 1]

Speaking from a personal point of view, the OA box is not destined to be my favorite box art, but then, I am going to buy the game anyway.

Speaking from the perspective of one who was once in advertising, the proposed Operation Arrowhead cover is fine. Its first, and one might say primary, purpose is to act as a point of sale advertising piece. The shouting of the soldiers shows some urgency, and the weapons, outfits, the apparent geographic location, and activity of the men implies the marketable heart of the game; tactical infantry fighting, toe to toe with a present-day enemy. Of course, there is much more to the game than that, but conveying the total freedom in OA on a cover is pointless. That is the back of the box's job. The front provides attraction and interest, the back provides the description of the product, creating desire, and offers a call to action.

Imagine if you saw the cover art, as it is now, on a box in a store, but bearing the name "Firefight", and a subtitle blurb "Operation Battleaxe" or something. Do you like tactical shooters, set in the present day? If so, I am certain that you would pick the box up, and look at the back, if ony to sneer. Front cover mission accomplished. It's up to the back cover to make the sale.

To those who remarked on the US flag in the background of the NA release, well, that will help sell it in that market. Of course, that little trick does not work for every product, and is not always necessary. For a game that will not be as heavily marketed as MW2, every little extra effort must be made to attract this sort of gameplay's fanbase, and the background flag will not hurt.

I would be interested to see the spine of the box, as in places like EBGames, that is often the first part of a PC game that one sees. ArmAII's European release was actually a little weak in this regard, as the name ArmAII was hard to read, and it conveys little to people who do not know what 'ArmA I' could possibly have been. The name 'Operation Arrowhead' should work rather better, however. The word 'Operation' with another warlike word after it conveys a message in itself, so should attract the fingers of browsers looking for a combat fix.

Raizjames, you're right, MoH has a good cover, fine art direction and it is very evocative. However, I noted on another forum a lot of whining about how crap it is. There's just no pleasing some people.

[mr.g-c 6]

SEE ? Keep his mouth shut, and the cheese factor goes down 5 levels immediately !

Now you got me interested at giving a shot at it...

Here are my versions :

First

Second

Third

WOW!!!!!! The third one is superb! Amazing! BIS pls change that, EricM pls contact all the publishers asap :-)

EDIT: @ MrBurns, you remember that awesome package shot, pre-Arma2 release by Amazon UK? The creme-white colored background, with Red corners and the fat Arma2 Logo in the middle? This is still my favourite one.

Edited May 5, 2010 by mr.g-c

[Laqueesha 474]

speaking from a personal point of view, the oa box is not destined to be my favorite box art, but then, i am going to buy the game anyway.

Speaking from the perspective of one who was once in advertising, the proposed operation arrowhead cover is fine. Its first, and one might say primary, purpose is to act as a point of sale advertising piece. The shouting of the soldiers shows some urgency, and the weapons, outfits, the apparent geographic location, and activity of the men implies the marketable heart of the game; tactical infantry fighting, toe to toe with a present-day enemy. Of course, there is much more to the game than that, but conveying the total freedom in oa on a cover is pointless. That is the back of the box's job. The front provides attraction and interest, the back provides the description of the product, creating desire, and offers a call to action.

Imagine if you saw the cover art, as it is now, on a box in a store, but bearing the name "firefight", and a subtitle blurb "operation battleaxe" or something. Do you like tactical shooters, set in the present day? If so, i am certain that you would pick the box up, and look at the back, if ony to sneer. Front cover mission accomplished. It's up to the back cover to make the sale.

To those who remarked on the us flag in the background of the na release, well, that will help sell it in that market. Of course, that little trick does not work for every product, and is not always necessary. For a game that will not be as heavily marketed as mw2, every little extra effort must be made to attract this sort of gameplay's fanbase, and the background flag will not hurt.

I would be interested to see the spine of the box, as in places like ebgames, that is often the first part of a pc game that one sees. Armaii's european release was actually a little weak in this regard, as the name armaii was hard to read, and it conveys little to people who do not know what 'arma i' could possibly have been. The name 'operation arrowhead' should work rather better, however. The word 'operation' with another warlike word after it conveys a message in itself, so should attract the fingers of browsers looking for a combat fix.

Quoted for truth. +1 ;)

[Flash Thunder 10]

Do you think OA would sell better if it was just called Operation Arrowhead in bold and in small text beneath it it would say an Expansion for Arma 2.

Arma 2 kind of has a bad name since release people who wont spend the time to research the product, will most likely not touch it due to all the negative publicity it got.

Performance problems etc.

Im thinking Operation arrowhead in Bold only would sell more copies

Then on the back, first thing is first, get a quote from the press stating how the "performance" is Smooth as silk.

Multiplayer should play a bigger role on the back of the box aswell instead of getting into all the niche details, like types of factions etc. The average consumer if they feel like they might buy the game would probably sell them if the cover showed that alot of the game is community and PVP based.

[Zipper5 74]

Arma 2 kind of has a bad name since release people who wont spend the time to research the product, will most likely not touch it due to all the negative publicity it got.

Arma 2 has gotten a lot more good publicity recently, especially from PC Gamer. Many issues of their magazine now have mentioned Arma 2 and even OA in a positive light. Heck, Evan Lahti, the senior editor of PC Gamer, is now doing ARMACast. With the number 1 PC magazine speaking of Arma 2 so positively, I don't think BIS need to worry about Arma 2's "bad publicity".

[Flash Thunder 10]

Arma 2 has gotten a lot more good publicity recently, especially from PC Gamer. Many issues of their magazine now have mentioned Arma 2 and even OA in a positive light. Heck, Even Lahti, the senior editor of PC Gamer, is now doing ARMACast. With the number 1 PC magazine speaking of Arma 2 so positively, I don't think BIS need to worry about Arma 2's "bad publicity".

I should of mentioned this but im targeting the average consumer like Me, I randomly saw Arma 2 on the shelf and bought it, didnt due alot of research prior to buying it.

But yes alot of good publicity lets hope BIS spends this time wisely polishing up the campaign and other issues that were plaguing arma 2 at launch.

[Laqueesha 474]

I should of mentioned this but im targeting the average consumer like Me, I randomly saw Arma 2 on the shelf and bought it, didnt due alot of research prior to buying it.

But yes alot of good publicity lets hope BIS spends this time wisely polishing up the campaign and other issues that were plaguing arma 2 at launch.

Good point. Not many people, let alone the average gamer, knows what an "ArmA" is. With say, a more prominent title such as "Operation Arrowhead"; that will give the consumer a general idea of what the game is centred around.

[Zipper5 74]

SEE ? Keep his mouth shut, and the cheese factor goes down 5 levels immediately !

Now you got me interested at giving a shot at it...

Here are my versions :

First

Second

Third

Guess I missed these, but wow, those are awesome. I agree with mr.g-c, the third is the best. If BIS were to ever consider changing the cover they have right now, they should definitely get in contact with you, EricM. ;)

[DracoN 10]

boring covers.